Page 359 of Alpha Mates

“I forgot you were there,” Julian mumbles as I set him back on his feet.

“Typical,” she mumbles with an exaggerated huff, but I can see the smile on her face.

Julian glances at me with mischief in his eyes, and I nod before we rush over to her. She backs up with arms wide but can’t escape our clutches as we pull her into a group hug.

She yelps as her hands flail between us. “Touching! You aretouchingme!”

“It’s called a hug, Kat,” I say, squeezing extra tight before we let her go.

She teleports to the other side of the room and shudders as she glares at us. “It’s called assault,” she huffs. “I feel bad for that poor boy—has to grow up with you two as parents.”

Julian stiffens against me. “Boy?”

“It’s a witch thing,” she says with a shrug. “Well, since he’s not dying, I’ll leave you two to it.”

“Wait, Kat!” Julian says, slipping from my grasp to catch up to her. She retreats slightly, but when it’s clear she’s not at risk of a hug, she lets him close enough to whisper something so quiet, even I can’t hear.

I watch her brown eyes widen before she nods. They both look at me and chuckle, and I eye the door.

“What was that?” I ask the second Katerina disappears.

“Don’t worry your pretty little head about it,” Julian says as he saunters back over to me.

The second he’s in reach, I pull him into my arms and kiss him. He falls against me, and into this life we’re building, and my heart swells in my chest as I hang on.

When he pulls away, it’s with a smile on his face that knocks the air right out of me.

“Are we really doing this, Aiden?” he asks softly, with nerves he’d only ever let me see.

I nod, pressing closer, nuzzling against him. “Yeah, we are, and it’s going to be amazing.”

His smile tickles my skin as he wraps himself around me. “I can’t believe you got me pregnant.”

Laughter bellows out of me, and he joins in with chuckles of his own.

“I can’t believe it took this long,” I tease, catching a glimpse of his smile growing wider before he kisses me more, and once again, claims my heart as his.

Chapter 71

Julian

I fold my waistband over itself as I turn to eye my reflection in the mirror.

I look the same as I always do after a big meal, but it’s been hours since I had breakfast, and nothing’s going down. I blow out a breath as my heart rate hikes, leaving the soft pulse behind as it thrums along steadily.

Pregnant. Of all the madness that had thrown itself at Aiden and me over the last year, a pregnancy had to be the craziest of them all. Like the prospect of eventually having a child didn’t scare me enough, now I’m actually having one.

Are you taking a super large dump or are freaking yourself out again, Jewels?

I drop my shirt the moment Aiden’s voice seeps into my mind and fix the rest of my clothes. When I look at my reflection again, it’s just me.

But it’s not,Alex muses excitedly.It’s you, me, and our baby.

Yes, Alex,I reply as I slip out of the bathroom and walk through the empty halls of the packhouse.I know you’re excited, but can we keep this contained?

No!Alex squeals as he makes mental laps around my mind.

While I remained concerned about the logistics of how this would all work, Alex refused to entertain anything other than his happiness. The freakish child-lover is over the moon to have kids, and that didn’t change just because we’re the ones carrying it.