Page 356 of Alpha Mates

“So, remember that one time that Julian wanted to get pregnant?” Kat twirls the stick in her hand.

“I have never wanted to get pregnant,” Julian declares with an angry huff. “That was Aiden being weird, and you happened to overhear.”

“Well, do you remember it anyway?”

He begrudgingly nods. I do the same.

She smiles. Then, Crickets.

“Kat!” Julian groans angrily.

“Yeah, we remember it … and?” I tack on.

Katerina’s shoulders slump and the proud grin disappears. “Isn’t it obvious?”

“No,” Julian says flatly. “No, it’s not Kat. All that’s obvious is how weird you’re being right now.”

“Come on, guys!” she groans as she clutches her stick like it’s a protective blanket. “He’s tired all the time now—”

“How do you know that?” I cut in, but she carries on.

“He barely eats, and he threw up what he did this morning—”

“Wait, seriously,” I press. “How do you know that?”

“Besides the point,” she steamrolls, shameless. “What could all those things mean?”

“Mumps?” I suggest into the deafening silence.

Julian fixes me with a glare. “I don’t have the fucking mumps.”

“You never know,” I reply with a shrug. It was one of the sicknesses that affected us like humans, and it was the first thing that came to mind.

“I do know,” he retorts angrily. “I’ve only been kissing you, so I know that I don’t have that, Aiden.”

“That’s not the only way you can get it. See, you’d know that if you were any better at Biology. For wolves—”

“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—