Page 62 of Broken Pregnant Mate
Since finding out the truth about my bloodline, I’ve believed that becoming alpha leader of the Grayhides was my destiny, my obligation to avenge my family. I’ve trained for it, prepared for it, centered my entire existence around it.
But now, with the path finally clear before me, I feel nothing but dread at the thought of being chained to this territory, to endless politics and responsibility. What I want—what I truly want—is a life with Emaline. To see her smile as we cross borders into new places, to show her every destination she’s read about in her books, to build something that belongs just to us.
Then I feel it—Emaline tugging on me. “Aidan,” she says, her eyes moving around the room, at the shifters who are still glaring at me like I’ve done something wrong. “Can we—can we get out of here?”
I take her to the only room in this house I know. When we step into Oren’s old bedroom, Emaline doesn’t say a word about the odd decor, just pulls out a dusty stool and sits down, her hand fluttering to her stomach.
“Are you okay?” I ask, dropping to my knees in front of her, eyes flicking from her hand to her eyes. “Are you going to be sick?”
“Maybe,” she laughs weakly, “but that’s not…Aidan, I have something to tell you.”
“Emaline—”
“I’m pregnant, Aidan.” She blurts the words, and they hang between us, transforming the air I’m breathing. Transforming the world around me. Changing the very fabric of my life and lighting me up inside with a joy I’ve never experienced before. Emaline looks down, her hands shaking, and says, “I’m carrying your child.”
The world stops spinning. Everything—the chaos, the leadership dispute, my quest for vengeance—all of it recedes into insignificance compared to those four words.
“A baby,” I whisper, unable to form more coherent thoughts, already picturing what a little kid might look like, with my hair, or her hair—a boy with her eyes, a girl with my nose. A child that we’d have together.
A child that we would care for. A baby who would never go through the things we went through. A way for us to transform our childhood into something good.
Emaline nods, watching me carefully. She takes a deep breath, then says, her voice breaking, “I understand if this changes things for you. If you need to go back and take your place as alpha—”
I cut her off, capturing her face between my hands. “The only thing this changes is that I now have two reasons to want a different life than the one I thought was my destiny.”
“Your destiny?” she asks.
I nod, resting my forehead against hers. “I thought…I thought that I was the chosen one.” I let out a laugh at how ridiculous it was. “When I found out who I really was, I thought the only path forward was to kill Jerrod and take over. But this ismylife, too.”
Looking up, I stroke her cheek, wiping away a tear. “Ourlife.”
“Our life?” she asks, repeating my words again. I expect her to wait, but instead, she leans forward, pushing, “What do you mean,ourlife, Aidan?”
I hold her gaze, liking this new version of her. The woman in front of me who pushes for the truth. Somewhere deep down, I sense that she knows already. She knows that I’m her mate, but she wants to hear me say it.
And I can do that for her.
“I never told you the truth about why I left you that night.”
Her eyes search mine. “You said someone else was your mate. You said I was dead weight.”
“Fuck, Emaline.” I hiss the words through my teeth, cringing at that. “I was an asshole.”
“Okay,” she says, waiting for more, and I slide my hands up over her thighs, squeezing.
“I was an asshole about the dead weight thing, and I lied about having another mate.”
“You did?”
“There has never been anyone but you, Emaline. Never. I only said that because I knew you’d follow me otherwise, and I couldn’t put you in danger.”
“Then why—”
“Because I was a scared kid who’d just found out that assassins were hunting the last Grayhide heir,” I explain. “And I couldn’t stand the thought of them finding you, too. So I pushed you away the only way I knew would work.”
She clenches her jaw. “You thought you were protecting me.”
“I was wrong to lie.” Even now, I don’t know if I would go back and change it—if Emaline had been with me, would we both have died in the desert? “I was wrong to make that choice for you. And every day since then, I’ve told myself I wasn’t good enough for you—that I was too damaged, too focused on revenge. Too tied to a future I didn’t think you’d want.” I take a deep breath, and she slides her hands over mine. “The truth is, I was afraid. Afraid that if I admitted how much I loved you, I’d have something to lose again.”
