Chapter Ten #3
“I can’t be,” Bel whispered. He was cold with shock. A child? No, demon males couldn’t get pregnant. Yes, Lucifer could but that was because he was an angel.
“You are,” Luci said more firmly.
“I’m a demon!” Bel roared.
Luci’s eyes widened. “Bel…you did know that this was a possibility once you mated, didn’t you?”
Bel just stared at him.
“Wait!” Atlas pounded his fist on the table. “You’re not fucking with us? Bel’s…Bel’s…pregnant?”
Lucifer broke eye contact with Bel to glance at Atlas. “Yes. With your child.”
“But—” Atlas was shaking his head.
Did he not want a child? A baby. Their baby? Bel looked down at himself before very carefully putting both hands on his stomach. He used his magic but couldn’t sense any change inside him. He lifted his gaze to Lucifer. “Are you sure?”
Luci leaned against the desk and placed his palm over both of Bel’s. “Listen.”
His stomach warmed, then Bel could hear it. Low at first before getting louder. The fast thump, thump, thump of a heartbeat that wasn’t his own.
Atlas sucked in a sharp breath.
A baby? His baby? Bel stared at his stomach again. He’d never imagined. Never thought.
“That’s our baby?” Atlas’s voice sounded strained.
Bel turned his head to see tears flowing down Atlas’s cheeks. “Mate?”
Atlas lifted those watery blue eyes. “Our baby. How?”
“I don’t know,” Bel admitted.
Atlas pushed Bel’s chair back. He rolled and smacked the bookcase behind him before he had a lap full of mate. One of Atlas’s arms around Bel’s shoulder and the other hand on Bel’s stomach over his shirt.
They sat quietly for a few moments even though they couldn’t hear the baby’s heartbeat any longer. Or feel him. Bel really had no clue.
“How?” Atlas demanded.
Bel opened his mouth to answer but his mate wasn’t looking at him.
Lucifer watched them with a small smile. “My personal demons, the first, the princes and dukes, can father a child with their mate.”
“We can?” Bel asked. He knew that he’d already asked that question multiple times but this was really news to him.
“Yes. I thought you knew that,” Luci replied. He frowned. “Don’t you all know that?”
“I’m pretty sure that is not something I would forget,” Bel answered.
“I need to talk to the others,” Lucifer said. “You’re the first prince to find a mate, but the others…” He shook his head. “That can wait. Until you’re ready to tell people.”
“Tell people,” Bel repeated.
“And we should probably confirm that a male demon pregnancy is the same as a female. It’s been a very long time since I’ve even thought about this,” Lucifer said.
Still unable to believe this was happening, Bel covered Atlas’s hand on his stomach where his mate was slowly stroking him.
“I’ll find the file and send it over,” Lucifer told them. “Right away.”
Bel nodded.
He was pregnant.
They were going to have a baby.
He was going to have a baby. With his mate.
Lucifer kissed Bel’s forehead before doing the same to Atlas. “I will leave the two of you to talk.”
“Thanks,” Bel managed.
Lucifer was gone, leaving Bel alone with his mate. Well, technically his mate and baby.
“We’re having a baby,” Atlas whispered after several long minutes of silence.
Bel leaned forward, huddling into himself, a little protective of what he carried inside him. Even if he hadn’t known he could get pregnant, now that he did know, Bel couldn’t help but be protective.
“Hey!” Atlas shifted on his lap. “Talk to me.”
“I didn’t know,” Bel insisted. “I swear I didn’t.”
“Bel,” Atlas said. “I’m not accusing you of anything.”
“You were mad that I didn’t tell you we were mates,” Bel pointed out. He didn’t want Atlas mad at him, but he couldn’t be upset over this development.
“Yes, you promised not to keep things from me.”
“I didn’t mean to!” Was this going to be an issue? Would Atlas not want their baby because of it? Did Atlas even want children?
“I know. Bel, honey, I know that. Your shock was obvious.” Atlas pulled Bel’s head to his chest and he petted Bel. “I know.”
Tears fell from his eyes. “I can’t be upset. Even if I hadn’t had a clue it could happen, it did. A baby! There is a baby inside me. Your baby.”
“I don’t understand,” Atlas said slowly.
“My baby, our baby, I want…I want our baby,” Bel was barely able to get his wish out.
“Of course!” Atlas exclaimed. “It’s our baby!”
Bel looked up. He could barely see his mate through his tears. “Our baby?”
“Our baby,” Atlas said firmly. “We will love and protect our baby with everything that we have. This is going to be the talk of the realm.”
“It is,” Bel agreed. “At least they’ll be distracted from all the mate talk.”
Atlas wiped Bel’s tears away. “And you, my demon prince, will be an amazing father.”
“You too, my mate. So protective,” Bel said.
Atlas grinned.
A chime came from the laptop in front of them with an email for Luci popping up into the inbox.
“Should we find out what Lucifer has to tell us?” Atlas asked, pulling the laptop closer.
Resting his chin on Atlas’s shoulder, Bel nodded. “Yeah. Let’s do this.”