Page 358 of Alpha Mates

“Do?” I echo in a slight daze.

“Yes, do!” he shouts, louder than I’ve ever heard him. “Where is it going to come out of?!”

Katerina snorts—actually snorts—before catching his glare and the laugh that dries up. She hides her lips behind her stick to whisper, “C-sections do exist.”

Julian falters and seems to relax a bit at that, but then he faces me, and his fury reignites. “You did this!” he accuses, darting his finger between us. “You said she could pop one in the oven.”

“As a joke!” I backpedal fast. “I didn’t actually mean it.”

“You said we could try our hardest and now, look!” he wails before he starts slapping me. “Look what you did!”

“I’m sorry!” I duck, curling into the wall while he rains down hell. “I didn’t mean to!’

The hands of death don’t stop until I manage to snag his wrists. I face him properly, and I realise he’s not mad … he’s scared.

“Breathe, Julian,” I whisper, pulling him into my arms, keeping him tucked against me with his nose in my nape. “Calm down, and breathe.”

I take my own advice, inhaling his scent, letting it relax me like it always does. It’s different, and now I know why.

“There’s a person inside of me, Aiden,” he rasps as his arms wrap tightly around me, and he holds onto me like his life depends on it. “There’s a baby inside of me.”

“It’s going to be okay,” I promise. I don’t know how, but I say it anyway wanting to believe it.

Julian’s breathing calms by force as I keep him close to me, and eventually, the panic lowers to simmer.

We’d talked about kids before, sure, but only because we’d beenpushedinto the conversation. It felt like a moot point—something to figure out one day. As two alphas, our options were limited enough to grant us time we usually wouldn’t have to figure something out.

But now, an option was here, one that stole the illusion of time away. And even with how unexpected it was, the pack would sooner embrace the oddity than risk the chance of our bloodlines dying with us. So all that was left was to do our duty.

But maybe Julian didn’t want to because it felt like too much. It was, but a part of me—the one that loved Julian with everything I had—wanted this anyway.

“Do you not want it?” I ask into the heavy silence.

Julian lifts his gaze to look at me, and I hate that I can’t tell what he’s thinking.

“We wanted kids,” I say.

“We were discussing having kids, in the future,” he argues, “and I didn’t think I’d be the one carrying them.”

“So … do you not want to keep it?” I ask again.

If he didn’t, then that’d be okay. It would hurt, but he was the one carrying it, so it was his decision.

I wait, shielding myself from the rejection, which makes me ill-prepared for the shove he gives me.

“Of course I’m keeping it, you idiot.” My eyes widen while he shakes his head. “I just have to wrap my head around the fact that we’re having a kid.”

A kid. A pup.

A piece of us that was our own. I’d dreamt about my pups from the day I understood that they were inevitable as alphas. I’d imagined holding them for the first time, teaching them to hunt, guiding them through their first shift.

I’d shelved those dreams when Julian turned out to be my mate because they just didn’t seem possible anymore. But they bloom fresh now as I slide a hand over Julian’s stomach and look into his eyes.

“We’re going to have a kid,” I whisper, lips pulling into a stunned smile and my heart kicks up speed. Julian’s does the same, which leaves the baby’s heart easy to pluck out now that I’m listening for it, and I huff a laugh. “We’re having a kid!”

Sweeping Julian off his feet, I spin him around the small room. He laughs, lips splitting into a beautiful smile as he clutches onto me.

“Congratulations!” Kat says before I can kiss him.