Page 38 of Broken Pregnant Mate
“Emaline!” Ash calls, waving me over to where she sits with Veva and Beth. “Get over here!”
I make my way over, grateful for the distraction. Ash pours me a glass of lemonade as I sit down, popping a little umbrella in it before handing it to me.
“How are you doing?” Veva asks, her dark eyes sharp and assessing. “Was your heat manageable? You look a bit pale.”
“I’m fine,” I say automatically, avoiding her gaze, worried any of the women here might get a read on me. Might realize what happened last night between Aidan and I, or the lie that we’re keeping up. “Just didn’t get much sleep.”
Beth cackles, fixing me with one of those looks from behind her huge glasses. “I bet you didn’t, honey.”
My cheeks flush, and I take a long sip of lemonade to hide my reaction. Across the yard, Aidan talks to Emin and Dorian, who bounce one of the twins on his knee.
When it’s time for presents, we gather around and watch the twins tear through wrapping paper, squealing and laughing each time they discover a new toy or stuffed animal.
When it’s time for cake, Kira places both boys in a shared high chair, blue and green party hats strapped under their chins. Dorian lights a single candle on each half of the dinosaur-shaped cake.
The twins stare at the flames in wonder, the flickering of the fire reflecting in their wide eyes.
I stare at them, feeling soft toward the kids, watching as Dorian tries to show them how to blow the candles out, one of his hands on the back of the high chair. I’m wondering about what it must have been like for Kira, being pregnant with twins. Being pregnant with the alpha leaders’ babies.
Then, I reach out to Aidan, hand gripping his arm hard.
“What?” he whispers, those eyes shifting to mine with worry. “Are you okay?”
“Fine,” I whisper, but I know that I’ve gone pale.
Because suddenly, with the complete certainty I felt at the restaurant that day with Kira, Veva, and Ash, I know again.
But this time, it’s not about Kira being pregnant.
Slowly, I lower my hand to my stomach, letting out a long breath, my hand starting to shake. Biologically, nothing has even really happened yet. My mind strains to remember the science classes I took in high school, the process of the sperm finding the egg.
It doesn’t matter that I don’t remember the details.
Because I know with absolute certainty that I’m pregnant. That last night, Aidan and I started something we couldn’t possibly put an end to if we tried.
Turning, I look up at him, watching as he opens a new toy for one of the twins, grinning at them, bopping them on the nose.
The reality of the situation settles in.
I am pregnant with Aidan Grayhide’s baby. And he’s just waiting to go back to his mate.
Chapter 17 - Aidan
“Hey, thanks for doing that.”
I blink and look up, finding Dorian standing with one of the twins tucked unceremoniously under his arm. I think about what Emaline told me last night while she was falling asleep.
Kira is pregnant. Emaline had murmured about it—and a million other things—while I brushed the hair away from her face, waiting for my knot to go down so I could clean both of us up.
Now, I struggle to keep the information hidden away inside me.
Dorian isn’t psychic—not like his wife—but that doesn’t mean he won’t sense the deception on my face. I wonder if Kira has told him about the pregnancy yet, or if I’m being needlessly cautious.
But if there’s anything troubling in my expression, Dorian blows right past it, gesturing to my left hand. “Smart of you to bring batteries,” he says.
“Oh,” I glance down at the batteries in my hand, and the words slip out before I can think to catch them, tuck them back inside. “Yeah, at home, people would always donate battery-operated toys, but never the batteries to go inside. Meant we had to use our imagination a lot.”
I laugh the forced, strange laugh I give any time I realize I’ve overshared, let too much of myself slip. At first, when I got to Ambersky, it was easy to keep all that to myself. It was easy to focus on my training.
