Chapter 70 #3
“He’s pregnant, you idiots!” Katerina blurts as she looks between us. “He’s pregnant!”
Julian and I stare at her for a long moment. The clock on the wall ticks by loudly, and then we both start laughing. Katerina looks at us, the perfect comedian, because she doesn’t crack once, and I have to give it to her.
“I may have mumps,” Julian mumbles, and I snort.
“I’m being serious,” she insists while Julian and I laugh.
“Kat. Come on,” I deadpan. “He is a he.”
“And he is pregnant,” she retorts, and it’s not just an act. She’s being serious. “I checked.” She points at Julian with the stick. “The moss grew.”
“The moss?” he asks, glancing at me with a scowl.
“She put that stick on your stomach and moss grew on it,” I explain. “Witchy juju.”
“A—that’s highly offensive. B—it’s life from your lands, and life grew from it when it touched you,” she explains, and now, no one’s laughing.
“There’s no way,” I huff as I look between them, but now Julian’s growing pale again, and I’m starting to freak out. “Katerina, are you hearing yourself?”
“Forget the witch shit and just think about it. All the things he’s been feeling lately are signs of early pregnancy,” she says, and fuck … they are. But—
“No,” I insist, shaking my head. “It’s not possible.”
“Clearly, it is,” she retorts, pointing that stick again, only this time Julian snatches it and tosses it at the door. “Hey!”
“I don’t believe you,” he states with a growl. “I’m not fucking pregnant. It’s physically not possible, so this must be some stupid witchy juju you’re pulling on us, and I don’t care if that’s offensive.”
Katerina presses a hand to her chest, clutching invisible pearls, but Julian carries on.
“What did you do to me?” he asks with narrowed eyes. “Are you trying to kill me slowly, is that it?”
“Now, you’re just being stupid,” Katerina answers with a snort. “Why the fuck would I save your ass so many times, just to kill you? I’m fucked up but I’m not sadistic.”
“Witches hate werewolves,” Julian tries, but she just cackles.
“Yeah, but clearly, I don’t hate you guys,” she says, then glances at me. “You asked why I keep hanging around? Well, it’s because you’re the closest thing to friends I’ve ever had.”
We stare at Katerina, stunned by the bomb she’s just dropped.
“I don’t know how it happened,” she goes on, forcing herself to meet our eyes, but I can’t just up and leave you guys. I care about you—even if you turn into slobbering mutts at night. So, no, this isn’t some ‘witchy juju.’ I didn’t do anything to you. I’d never hurt either of you.”
Something warm swells in my chest, and I feel it flooding the bond between Julian and me too. His expression softens.
“I know that,” he whispers as his shoulders drop. “I’m sorry.”
“For what? That’d be my first guess, too,” she replies with an easy smile. “But I’m not responsible for knocking you up. He is.”
The remorse disappears from Julian’s face, replaced by irritation as heat rushes into his cheeks. “I am not knocked up!”
“UGHHH!” Katerina groans long and hard as she drags her hand down her face. “Fine. Fine, you don’t believe me? Listen.”
“What?” I choke out.
“You don’t believe me, right? So, listen for yourselves.” Her beloved stick rises to point at Julian’s stomach. He covers it, but we all can see it. “Put those mutt ears to good use, and see what you hear. You’re far enough along.”
I frown, but I can’t drag my eyes away from Julian’s stomach once I glance down.
This is bullshit. We know that, but …
My heart seizes as fear trickles through me. I glance at Julian and see the same thought flash behind his eyes.
What do we have to lose by checking for the impossible?
Closing my eyes, I focus on the sounds around us, drowning out everything outside the room.
I focus on the still air, and peel the clock’s ticking away.
All that’s left is our breaths, the three of us, and our heartbeats.
Kat’s flitters on, all on its own. It’s distinct, unlike Julian’s and mine that beat the same tune, and I search for another like it, but there’s none.
But it’s not distinct like Katerina’s … because it drums along with ours.
Budump! Budump! Budump!
“AGHHH!” Julian screams as he jumps off the bed and scrambles away from us while his hands clutch his stomach and then his ears and then his stomach again.
“Holy shit,” I mumble as I stare at my mate—my pregnant mate.
Julian’s eyes are bulging wide while he dances on his toes like he wants to jump out of his own body next. He looks down at his stomach, which my eyes are glued to, and then up at me.
“I’m pregnant,” he whispers hoarsely with a shaky voice laced with the panic clogging our bond. “I—I’m—I’m pregnant.”
My lips part but nothing comes out to comfort him because, while he’s losing his shit, I’m right there with him.
“What are we going to do?!” he hisses hysterically as his eyes dart around like a caged animal.
“Do?” I echo in a slight daze.
“Yes, do!” he shouts, louder than I’ve ever heard him. “Where is it going to come out of?!”
Katerina snorts—actually snorts—before catching his glare and the laugh that dries up. She hides her lips behind her stick to whisper, “C-sections do exist.”
Julian falters and seems to relax a bit at that, but then he faces me, and his fury reignites. “You did this!” he accuses, darting his finger between us. “You said she could pop one in the oven.”
“As a joke!” I backpedal fast. “I didn’t actually mean it.”
“You said we could try our hardest and now, look!” he wails before he starts slapping me. “Look what you did!”
“I’m sorry!” I duck, curling into the wall while he rains down hell. “I didn’t mean to!’
The hands of death don’t stop until I manage to snag his wrists. I face him properly, and I realise he’s not mad … he’s scared.
“Breathe, Julian,” I whisper, pulling him into my arms, keeping him tucked against me with his nose in my nape. “Calm down, and breathe.”
I take my own advice, inhaling his scent, letting it relax me like it always does. It’s different, and now I know why.
“There’s a person inside of me, Aiden,” he rasps as his arms wrap tightly around me, and he holds onto me like his life depends on it. “There’s a baby inside of me.”
“It’s going to be okay,” I promise. I don’t know how, but I say it anyway wanting to believe it.
Julian’s breathing calms by force as I keep him close to me, and eventually, the panic lowers to simmer.
We’d talked about kids before, sure, but only because we’d been pushed into the conversation. It felt like a moot point—something to figure out one day. As two alphas, our options were limited enough to grant us time we usually wouldn’t have to figure something out.
But now, an option was here, one that stole the illusion of time away. And even with how unexpected it was, the pack would sooner embrace the oddity than risk the chance of our bloodlines dying with us. So all that was left was to do our duty.
But maybe Julian didn’t want to because it felt like too much. It was, but a part of me—the one that loved Julian with everything I had—wanted this anyway.
“Do you not want it?” I ask into the heavy silence.
Julian lifts his gaze to look at me, and I hate that I can’t tell what he’s thinking.
“We wanted kids,” I say.
“We were discussing having kids, in the future,” he argues, “and I didn’t think I’d be the one carrying them.”
“So … do you not want to keep it?” I ask again.
If he didn’t, then that’d be okay. It would hurt, but he was the one carrying it, so it was his decision.
I wait, shielding myself from the rejection, which makes me ill-prepared for the shove he gives me.
“Of course I’m keeping it, you idiot.” My eyes widen while he shakes his head. “I just have to wrap my head around the fact that we’re having a kid.”
A kid. A pup.
A piece of us that was our own. I’d dreamt about my pups from the day I understood that they were inevitable as alphas. I’d imagined holding them for the first time, teaching them to hunt, guiding them through their first shift.
I’d shelved those dreams when Julian turned out to be my mate because they just didn’t seem possible anymore. But they bloom fresh now as I slide a hand over Julian’s stomach and look into his eyes.
“We’re going to have a kid,” I whisper, lips pulling into a stunned smile and my heart kicks up speed. Julian’s does the same, which leaves the baby’s heart easy to pluck out now that I’m listening for it, and I huff a laugh. “We’re having a kid!”
Sweeping Julian off his feet, I spin him around the small room. He laughs, lips splitting into a beautiful smile as he clutches onto me.
“Congratulations!” Kat says before I can kiss him.
“I forgot you were there,” Julian mumbles as I set him back on his feet.
“Typical,” she mumbles with an exaggerated huff, but I can see the smile on her face.
Julian glances at me with mischief in his eyes, and I nod before we rush over to her. She backs up with arms wide but can’t escape our clutches as we pull her into a group hug.
She yelps as her hands flail between us. “Touching! You are touching me!”
“It’s called a hug, Kat,” I say, squeezing extra tight before we let her go.
She teleports to the other side of the room and shudders as she glares at us. “It’s called assault,” she huffs. “I feel bad for that poor boy—has to grow up with you two as parents.”
Julian stiffens against me. “Boy?”
“It’s a witch thing,” she says with a shrug. “Well, since he’s not dying, I’ll leave you two to it.”
“Wait, Kat!” Julian says, slipping from my grasp to catch up to her. She retreats slightly, but when it’s clear she’s not at risk of a hug, she lets him close enough to whisper something so quiet, even I can’t hear.
I watch her brown eyes widen before she nods. They both look at me and chuckle, and I eye the door.
“What was that?” I ask the second Katerina disappears.
“Don’t worry your pretty little head about it,” Julian says as he saunters back over to me.
The second he’s in reach, I pull him into my arms and kiss him. He falls against me, and into this life we’re building, and my heart swells in my chest as I hang on.
When he pulls away, it’s with a smile on his face that knocks the air right out of me.
“Are we really doing this, Aiden?” he asks softly, with nerves he’d only ever let me see.
I nod, pressing closer, nuzzling against him. “Yeah, we are, and it’s going to be amazing.”
His smile tickles my skin as he wraps himself around me. “I can’t believe you got me pregnant.”
Laughter bellows out of me, and he joins in with chuckles of his own.
“I can’t believe it took this long,” I tease, catching a glimpse of his smile growing wider before he kisses me more, and once again, claims my heart as his.