Chapter 16 #2
My baby. The words slammed into my mind with bone-deep certainty. I moved before I even thought about it, crouching in front of her, taking her face in my hands. Her skin was warm, her breath uneven.
“You’re sure?” I asked, my eyes never leaving hers.
He nodded once. “I’m positive. A few weeks along, at most.”
I swallowed hard, my chest tight with something raw, unnameable. The war outside the walls, the demons, the Irish, none of it mattered in that second. She was carrying my blood, my future.
“Leave us,” I said to Dr. Kael without looking at him. My voice was low, lethal with intent.
“Roman…” Layla began, but I shook my head, pressing my forehead to hers.
“We’ll talk,” I murmured. “But first… I need a minute to breathe.”
I didn’t breathe. Not really. Instead, I dragged her into my arms, my palms splayed across her back like I could fuse her to me and keep her there forever.
Pregnant. With my child.
The words pounded through me with the same force as bloodlust, but this was different, it was hotter, heavier, it was primal in a way even centuries of living hadn’t prepared me for. I’d killed for her before. I would slaughter continents for her now.
Layla’s fingers curled into my shirt. “Roman, say something.”
I leaned back just enough to look at her, my hands framing her face. “You’re not leaving my sight. Not now.” My voice was rough; more vow than statement. “The world outside doesn’t exist anymore unless I say it does. ”
Her eyes widened, a mix of shock and, damn me, something warmer that only made the beast in me bare its teeth.
“Roman, you can’t lock me away and expect…
” she started, but I cut her off with my mouth on hers.
It wasn’t gentle as I kissed her like I was sealing a claim in blood, like I was reminding her body who had put life inside it.
Her breath hitched, and I felt the tiny tremor that ran through her when my thumb brushed her jaw.
I broke the kiss, pressing my forehead to hers. “From now on, Ashen and Rael don’t leave your side. If you so much as want a glass of water, one of them gets it. You don’t go anywhere without me, one of my brothers, or those two at your back.”
Her mouth parted in protest, but the sound died when she saw my expression. I knew she wanted to argue, Layla never just rolled over, but the protective rage rolling off me must have been enough to choke the fight out of her for now.
“I’ll have Amara prepare everything you need,” I went on. “Your food, your supplements. Anything the doctor says, it’s done before the hour’s out. You won’t lift a finger for anything except what keeps you and…” My throat tightened, just a fraction, “…and our child safe.”
Her lips curved, hesitant but real. “Our child.” She tested the words like they were fragile glass, then looked down at my chest as if the reality was too much to face head-on yet.
I cupped the back of her neck, tilting her head up. “Say it again.”
She blinked at me. “Roman…”
“Say it.” My voice was a quiet command.
Her throat worked. “Our child.”
That did it, the last thread of restraint inside me snapped. I kissed her again, slower this time but deeper, my palm flattening over her stomach, the heat of her seeping into my hand.
There was no war in that moment. There were no demons or Irish, no borders. There was just her. Her, and the blood we’d made into something more.
Vampire children were rare, so rare that most mortals thought it a myth. My kind didn’t breed like humans. We were dead things walking, our blood cold until it burned for a mate. And only with a mate .
It wasn’t about chance; it was about timing. A female could only conceive in the window when her body was at its most fertile, just like mortals, but for a vampire’s seed to take hold, her blood had to be ripe with that fertility. That was why a mate’s cycle mattered so damn much.
Her period wasn’t just a signal; it was an open door.
The blood she lost then was drenched in life, carrying the strongest call to the predator in me.
And when I’d taken her during those nights, again and again, until we were both wrecked and mindless, it hadn’t just been possession.
Instinct had been driving me to claim her in the oldest way possible.
It was why I hadn’t been able to stay off her. Why the taste of her blood in those days had been like fire and salvation both. I’d known, on some primal level, exactly what I was doing. Now, that instinct had paid its price as she carried my child. A living blend of her warmth and my darkness.
When I finally pulled away, I kept my hand over her stomach, my eyes locking on hers. “I’ll kill every fucking person or demon before anything touches either of you.”
And I meant every word. My mind snapped from awe to war in the space of a heartbeat .
I was reaching for my phone before I could formulate a full plan. “Vik, I want all of you here within the hour.” There were still a few hours before sunrise, enough to ensure Layla’s safety be it day or night.
Ashen appeared in the doorway as if summoned by the shift in my voice. “Double the perimeter guard,” I ordered. “No one in or out without my clearance, only family. Not staff or even ghosts.”
“Yes, my lord.” He was gone in a whisper of motion.
Rael stepped in from the hall a moment later, reading my expression before I spoke. “You, Gideon and Ashen are with her. Twenty-four hours, I don’t want her to take a step outside my sight without one of you touching her arm.”
He nodded once, no argument, and went to confer with his brother and Gideon.
I turned to the doctor that had come back into the room, who was packing his kit with meticulous care. “You tell no one about this. Not your staff, not your wife, not even your shadow. You so much as think about it, and I’ll take your tongue.”
He didn’t even flinch, wise man, he slipped out the door.
When the room was finally quiet, I looked at her.
My woman, my mate, the mother of my child.
She had walked towards the couch while I was dishing out orders and was now curled against the pillows on the couch, still trying to process what the hell she’d just heard.
I wanted to go to her, to wrap myself around her and never let go. But the part of me that ruled empires knew better. The world wouldn’t wait for us to savour this. The demons wouldn’t stop hunting, and the Irish wouldn’t stop pushing.
I crouched at her side, brushing her hair back. “No more unguarded moments, Layla.”
Her eyes were wide, conflicted, but she didn’t argue. She could feel it, the storm gathering within me. The fear that I carried around of not being able to protect her.
I kissed her once, slow and deep, tasting the fear and the trust in her all at once. Then I stood, the steel of command already sliding back into place.
The estate would be locked down by sunrise. The safe routes mapped, the safehouses stocked. Every brother armed and ready and every soldier sharpened. And me? I would be the blade at the heart of it all.