Chapter 46
Peony
Atem was definitely freaking out.
She couldn't really blame him. She was on the verge of giggling because it was just so funny to see him well and truly gobsmacked. That was the only way she could think to describe the tight, highly focused look on his beautiful, alien face.
There was no part of her that thought he would react the way Donivi had.
Of course, the science minded guy wouldn't believe in the impossible.
But Atem loved her. He had made her his mate and that was a big deal.
When she told him that she was pregnant, she had no doubt that he would believe it was his.
She even said it outright, just to drive her point home.
His eyes widened at the exclamation, and she couldn't keep her giggle in check this time. She snickered, covering her mouth with her hand. Atem was so cute when he was floored. She was really enjoying his bafflement.
She couldn't wait for it to transform into joy.
“I got you pregnant?” He repeated like she had spoken English on accident.
She nodded eagerly, near squeaking in excitement.
Any minute now. He would break into a smile. He would come rushing at her, so happy and eager at the thought of her being pregnant. He got off one night just on them talking about how sexy he thought she would be barefoot and pregnant.
“You don't...” He stopped, his brain short circuiting as he struggled to find the words.
“It's incredible! Right?!” She gasped, covering her belly.
“Scarlet says we should manage expectations, because no one has any idea what could happen and it's still really early.
Alanna was looking it up and apparently, domini pregnancies tend to be more sturdy and less likely to miscarry randomly, but humans are a lot more up to chance early on, you know?
And since it's a hybrid and all, Scarlet says we shouldn't count our chickens.
Which I just realized means absolutely nothing to you, but the point is, I've decided to be very cautiously optimistic.”
She was babbling. She was aware of it. Partially because she was so freaking excited, and the words were just bubbling up without thought or intention. But she was also buying time for Atem to put his thoughts in order so he could be excited.
Any minute. It was definitely coming.
But he just continued to stare at her. Like he couldn't believe what she was saying. Some of his emotionless mask finally slipped, but it wasn't pleasure or shock or even worry that filled his face – any of those she would have been okay seeing.
Instead, his three eyes narrowed as his upper lip curled up, baring his fangs in a silent snarl.
That expression finally cut through her joy, and she found her heart sinking as some of her energy leeched away.
“Atem?”
No response.
Her throat suddenly felt dry. “Atem, you are happy? Aren't you?”
“Happy?” He repeated the word on a dangerous whisper. “No. I'm not.”
Pain lanced through her chest like a knife, and she actually fell back a step. Her smile crumbled as her brain tried to insist that she hadn't heard what she just heard.
But his hard expression hadn't softened at all. If anything, it was growing fiercer the longer he stared at her, and a horrible thought crept into her brain for the first time.
What if he didn't actually want a baby? What if his impregnation kink was just that? A kink? And the actual reality of it was unwanted.
What if their impossible, miracle baby was unwanted?
The hand that had been eagerly rubbing her belly stilled, turning into more of a shield against the disapproval of its father.
“You're not happy?” She repeated, fighting back tears.
“Why would I be happy about this?” He returned with a harsh growl, ripping her heart into shreds. “How could you do this to me, Peony?”
“Do...? You can hardly blame me! No birth control? No protection? Nothing?! Is it really so shocking that I got pregnant from that?”
“It's not shocking. It's impossible!” He snapped.
Her belly dropped. He did think the same thing Donivi did.
“Atem, this is your baby!” She insisted, taking a determined step forward. Donivi hadn't been willing to listen, but surely Atem, surely the male that wanted to love and cherish her for the rest of their lives, who promised to kill, live, and die for her, would.
“And now you treat me as if I were stupid?” He asked, baffled and insulted.
“Of course, not! I just-”
“Hybrids are impossible, Peony!”
“But ours is-”
“This is really the lie you decided on? Did you not have time to think of a better one?”
Peony's jaw dropped and she gasped, her heart clenching with pain as her tears fell freely down from her eyes.
“I am not lying to you, Atem!” She yelled. “This is your baby!”
“I did not sire that pup, Peony! I am not a fool, and I cannot believe you would lie to me after I expressly asked you if there was someone else.”
“There wasn't!”
“I told you, I wouldn't be angry. I told you that it was okay to give me the truth. That I would accept it if you gave it to me then, and still you lied!”
“I didn't though!”
“Did you think I was lying?”
“No!”
“Did you think I was testing you?”
“Atem, please just listen!” She took a few steps towards him.
But, to her horror, he took a few steps back.
She came up short, her heart breaking.
She really, truly, honestly hadn't considered this outcome. She accepted that she might have to reassure Atem that it was really his. She even accepted that he might, at first, declare that it was impossible in his disbelief.
But she hadn't prepared herself for outright anger and rejection. She hadn't really thought he would be so unwilling to believe it that he would accuse her of actively lying to his face, not once, but continuously and even now.
“Atem...” She sobbed his name, her fingers wringing together. “Please. I'm telling you the truth. Why won't you believe me?”
He was unmoved. “Because it is impossible.”
“No. It's impossible that anyone else could have knocked me up.”
“What?” He looked baffled.
“Gotten me pregnant!” She snapped, angry that the phrase didn't translate properly. “It's just a way of saying it on Earth.”
He scoffed. “Of course, your Earth males would do something so distasteful as comparing impregnating their female to violence.”
“That's not- Ugh! That is so not the point!”
“Is that the problem, Peony? Are you treating me as a human male? Would a human male reject your pup because it wasn't his?”
She stuttered because there was no good answer to that.
She wanted to give him the blank statement that no, of course not.
But that would be a blatant lie. There were definitely guys that wouldn't want to take on another man's kid.
But that was also not the argument she was trying to have right now, and she wanted to tell him that, but the two answers fought in her throat and neither emerged.
Atem looked insulted when she didn’t answer fast enough. “That's it, isn't it? You lied because you compared me to one of your worthless human males that cannot accept pups as the gifts that they are, just like they cannot accept their females bleeding for those very pups.”
“That is not what this is about!” She finally snapped. “What a man would do is completely irrelevant because you're not a man and this is what you're doing now!”
“I am not rejecting the pup! I am rejecting the impossible lies you insist on trying to tell me about it.”
“It's obviously not impossible, Atem, or I wouldn't be pregnant!”
“The greatest minds in the universe cannot successfully hybridize two species specifically chosen for how similar they are, and I am supposed to believe that you and I just happened to do it completely by accident, so quickly, without even trying?”
“Yes!”
He gave her a look like he thought that she might be the stupid one. She yelled through her teeth in frustration, hackles raising as hot anger combated the hurt he was causing.
“I get what I'm saying seems crazy, Atem, but I know that I wasn't pregnant before I got here so unless those ratchi that took us also decided to do a side gig in artificial insemination, but only on one of us because none of the others are pregnant, then literally the only possibility left is that it's yours.”
He scoffed. “The first option is literally more likely than the impossible happening. Next, you'll try to tell me that up is down and the sky is actually blue.”
“Well, guess what, closed minded?! On my planet, the sky is actually blue!”
“Yeah? Well, do the laws of physics still apply on Earth? Because if they do, then up is still up and I still did not sire that pup!”
“Fuck you, Atem!” She yelled, tears pouring down her face freely.
“Hardly the time, Peony. I don't even know if I can safely fuck you while you're pregnant.”
“That wasn't an invitation! It was an insult, asshole!”
Never had she so acutely felt the differences that divided them than she did at this moment.
They glared at each other, hurt driving both of them.
Fueling their anger. His claws were out, his tail flicking with agitation, his three eyes glaring, and she knew that her face was blotchy, her own hands clutched into fists, and her entire body shaking.
He snarled, turning on his heel.
Startled by the sudden movement, Peony snapped out of her angry stance before gathering herself and stomping after him.
“Where are you going?!”
“To the training arena.”
“No, you're not! We're not done here!”
“We were done a long time ago,” he snapped, turning to face her at the door. “So long as you refuse to be honest with me, this conversation can go nowhere.”
“You're still not listening!”
He barked a sound in frustration, throwing up his hands. “I listened! And now you are only insulting me.”
“You're literally calling me a liar! As childish as it sounds, you're the one who insulted me first, so if you're going to bring that up-”
He waved his hand in the air, cutting her off. “No. I am done with this conversation. We will not talk about it any longer right now.”