Page 42 of Claiming Xan
With a sigh, I rolled onto my back and ran a hand over my face. “I guess we spend the week together and figure it out…and then we go talk to your mother. Huxley said that was her only wish. To speak with us.”
Xan huffed. “I have nothing to say to her.”
“You think I do?” I retorted, and for a moment, we stared at each other. I frowned. “I don’t want to be the reason your family is broken, Xan, even if she’s the reason that mine is.”
My Omega deflated. “Oh, River. I’m sorry. Come here, baby.” He cuddled in closer and wrapped his arms around me, laying his head on my chest.
“It’s fine,” I murmured. “So long as you’re here, I’ll be okay.” I pulled him into a tight embrace and we laid together forawhile longer, before Xan pulled away. When he did, though, he looked…uneasy, chewing on his bottom lip, his brows scrunched up into a fretful expression. “Xan?”
“River, I…” he started. “There’s something I need to tell you before anything else happens between us.”
My stomach sank at how serious his tone was. “Okay?”
He took a deep breath and sat up on the bed, putting distance between us that I definitely felt. My inner-beast stiffened with a growl, wanting our mate as close as humanely possible, but Xan obviously needed space. Why?
“I know spending my heat together was impulsive, and I don’t think either of us expected to claim the other, but…it feels right, like it’s supposed to be this way,” he said. “But River. We fucked raw. You knotted me, multiple times, and many of those times were after we were mated. After you left, I had this sinking feeling, so I bought a pregnancy test.”
A pregnancy test.
Everything inside of me went still at his words. Even the rush of blood in my skull seemed to quiet to a hush when he stared at me, his brown eyes filled with worry as he bit his lip between his teeth.
“And?” I prompted, when he said nothing, but I already knew the answer when he dropped his gaze and refused to meet my eyes.
“I’m pregnant.” He pulled his arms in, wrapping them around himself, hugging his elbows to his sides. “I know that it’s a lot, and if it’s too much, I understand. I never thought I’d see you again, so I’ve already sort of come to terms with raising the baby alone. Shay and Donovan will help me. I’ve got an apartment picked out and everything, and my boss might be an Alpha-centric asshole, but he?—”
I growled, more so at the way he was defending himself from me than at his words. “You’re pregnant?”
Xan’s whole body quivered. “Yes.”
I expelled a sharp breath, rolling back onto my back once more. Fuck. Unwanted thoughts of me and Sky’s monster spawn came to mind, how fucked up those pups would’ve been had they ever been allowed to grow up. Incest-babies. In a sick way, I was thankful that Dr. Thompson dissected them or whatever-else he did in his lab. At least they wouldn’t be genetic failures.
“I’m sorry.” Xan’s words cut through my haze, drawing me back to reality. “I knew it would be a shock. I just needed to tell you now, before I got myself in any deeper.”
“Xan?” I glanced up to see Xan sitting on the other side of the mattress, wiping tears from his cheeks, and it sent a bolt of alarm through my chest. One that raised the hairs on the backs of my arms and made my insides quake. Xan stood up. I scrambled after him. “Wait! Where are you going?”
He turned to me, his eyes glistening with sorrow. “I’m keeping the baby, River. I’ve only dreamed about being a daddy since I was seventeen and had a near-oops with my high school boyfriend. I understand if you don’t want kids, knowing what you’ve been through in your life, but I do, and I have to follow my heart, even if it’s breaking right now.”
“Xan.” I choked out his name as I reached for him. “I never said I didn’t want it. It’s just… It’s a shock.” I managed to drag myself to the other side of the bed and swing my legs over, but when I went to stand up, they threatened to buckle. “Please, don’t go,” I begged him. “I can’t take it. I can’t do this by myself.”
Tears welled up in my eyes, blurring my vision as I grabbed Xan’s arm and pulled him closer. Xan hiccuped a soft sob and collided with my chest, throwing his arms around my neck.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered, sounding as broken as I felt.
“Don’t be sorry,” I uttered back. “We’ll figure it out, okay? I promise. Just don’t give up on me. Please, don’t give up on me.”
I wasn’t sure my fractured heart could take any more loss, and by the way Xan was clinging to me like his life depended on it? I wasn’t sure his could either.
25
XAN
We spent six days together.Six days just catching up and cuddling while watching TV. Six days bathing together in the large jacuzzi tub, then stretching out damp and naked on the bed and fooling around. Even without the heat hormones, our chemistry sparked hot, and I came again and again.
On the final morning before check-out, we lounged in bed and talked about a little bit about everything and anything—anything except for our fragile future together.
My phone buzzed on the table beside the bed. I groaned. “Ugh.” I already knew who it was before I ever picked it up and swiped over the screen.
And I was right. “Come to the house around ten for a family meeting.” I read Mom’s text aloud before letting my phone drop back down to my chest. I turned my head to look over at River, who growled.
