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“Apparently,” I said. “And he said that meant… That meant I could get pregnant.”

She grinned. “And it worked.”

I matched her grin. It didn’t feel real, and yet we’d both seen that little positive marking on the pregnancy test. “I know he’ll be excited. I can feel it.”

A familiar laugh carried through the window and over the thumping music. Through the window, I saw Stephan at the bar, laughing at something his enforcer was saying. Blakely, one of the local Lakeview humans, leaned against the bar next to him—a little too close to Stephan for my liking. I didn’t have anything against Blakely, not really, but she’d been cold to me ever since I met Stephan. It didn’t help that she was strikingly pretty, thin, with short red hair and keen eyes. Her lean build was the opposite of my short, curvy figure.

Then, as if he could sense my presence, Stephan turned.

He smiled, and the warmth of it sent a tingle through my whole body.

“Oh my god.” Cassidy laughed. “You’re about to start drooling. Go tell him already.”

“I’m going, I’m going!”

I sidled right up to Stephan’s side, and he held his arm out like he was waiting for me.

Wrapping his arm around my waist, he tugged me close. He was so warm and strong, and smelled so damn good. Being this close to him felt like coming home. I sighed happily and leaned my weight against his solid body.

“Hey,” Stephan murmured in a low voice.

“Hi.” I smiled up at him. This close, I could see the gold flecks in his hazel eyes.

He leaned down and caught my lips in a kiss. The noise around us melted away. I pressed closer and deepened the kiss. He was addictive.

Blakely cleared her throat.

Face flushing, I pulled away. Whoops.

“I’ll talk to you later, Ace,” Blakely said. She tugged at the hem of her shirt. It was a little weird that she was wearing a turtleneck in the summer, but it did get pretty chilly at night.

“Uh-huh,” Stephan said, still gazing at me.

Blakely huffed and stormed away. Stephan leaned against the bar and pulled me into his arms properly, then tucked a lock of hair behind my ear. “How’s the party been? Having fun?”

“Yep. But I think it might be time to get out of here.”

“Oh yeah?” He slid his hands from my waist to my hips. “Upstairs?”

“I want to go to our spot,” I whispered into his ear. “Out by the lake. I want to be with you under the moonlight.”

His grip on my hips, and he made a sound in his throat like a low growl. I loved it when I could make him start to lose control. “Lead the way, gorgeous.”

A wailing siren cut through the noise.

“Ace! We got company!” Stephan’s brother shouted.

The cheerful mood vanished like a bonfire doused with a bucket of water. The music cut off, and the clan membersand visitors all looked around nervously as flashing lights approached the clubhouse.

Stephan’s grip around me tightened as he looked across the bar. His brother, Hawk, was fighting with his girlfriend, Mia. She shoved him in the chest and raced upstairs. They’d been fighting a lot over the summer, but their big arguments always seemed to simmer down over time. I didn’t know them well enough to ask what was going on, but sometimes I wondered.

“It’s Officer Forest,” Stephan’s enforcer called from the front of the clubhouse. “This is about to be a shitshow.”

Stephan sighed and raked his hand through his hair. “It’ll be fine. I’ll handle him.” He gave me an easy smile. “I went to high school with Forest, and he’s still got a chip on his shoulder. He’s probably just here to tell us to turn down the music.”

“That sounds like a lot of cop cars for a noise complaint,” I said.

“Don’t worry. Wait for me out back. This’ll just take a few minutes.” He kissed me, then strode toward the front door. I watched the strong line of his shoulders as the crowd parted around him.