Page 32 of Malek

His hands went to his belly instinctively and he looked up at his still frozen mate.

Even Malek’s emotions were shut down when Axel tried reading him. It was almost like his mate didn’t want Axel to read his emotions, so that Axel wouldn’t be influenced by them.

“Am I… do you think… could we?” Axel didn’t even know how to finish any of those sentences. “Wow,” he breathed, “Is it possible?”

His mate nodded slowly, but he still looked like he was ten seconds away from a freak-out, which was weird since Axel should be the one freaking out. And he kind of was, but the excitement that was building was more than the panic. Although it occurred to Axel that his mate should be excited about this, but instead Axel couldn’t read what Malek was feeling and that more than the thought of being pregnant freaked him out.

Axel swallowed, and in a tentative voice, asked his mate, “Aren’t you… you’re happy that we could be…” he couldn’t say the words, worried it would somehow push Malek over the edge.

For the first time since he’d met Malek, Axel had butterflies in his belly and not in the good kind. This was the ‘he was going to be sick again’ kind.

His tone must have got through to Malek, because Malek’s arms went around him, and he kissed Axel even though he hadn’t rinsed from brushing his teeth.

Malek looked Axel in the eye, sincerity shining through, “I am happy, but only if you are.” His eyes travelled down to Axel’s belly even though he couldn’t see it with them being so close together, “I know this is all new for you, and like something you never thought possible… so I just don’t want to pressure you with whatever I feel.”

Axel's heart soared, and he realised that it was possible for him to fall more in love with Malek.

It blew Axel’s mind that Malek’s first thought was always him and that he was lucky enough to be loved so much by his mate.

“If we are, and that’s a big if, because I know a teacher at my school that tried forever, and she still didn’t get pregnant, but if we are, even though it’s totally scary, and still a little unbelievable, I think I would be thrilled.”

“You would?”

Axel didn’t have to think about it, he nodded and a grin spread across his face.

He could have a baby, like for real, no joke, give birth. He didn’t even want to think about how that worked anatomically right now, which was probably something he should have asked.

As long as he was allowed all the drugs possible when it happened, everything would be fine.

“So how do we find out?” Axel asked, looking up at his mate.

With that question it was like Malek took the lid of his emotions, because joy like Axel had never felt before hit him like a monsoon.

Yes, he could love this man even more, it seemed.

Seventeen

Malek

Once they both decided that they wanted to find out immediately if it was, in fact, a case of having a bun in the oven and not just a bout of food poisoning, Malek let Axel get in the shower, while he went back to their room and shot his brother a quick text, asking if a normal pregnancy test would work.

He knew it worked for omegas, but he didn’t know if it would be different for his mate. He really needed to find out everything about how it worked when a human mate got pregnant. He would have already if he hadn’t been otherwise preoccupied with his mate.

The answer came back almost immediately in all caps from Malachi.

“YES.”

Malek knew his brother would be dying to call him, but he also knew Malachi would wait until later. His brother was patient like that.

Malek would have joined Axel in the shower, but if the past few days were any indication, that would delay them quite a bit.

Malek was going to be good, and let Axel shower alone, so they could get done quicker and out of the house, but then the image of his hot, naked, soapy mate in the shower flashed in his head... well, good was completely overrated.

By the time they had showered and other activities, had breakfast and left their house, it was almost noon.

They got into Malek’s Range Rover, and for the first time since he brought Axel to his home, they left the privacy of Whitfell.

He’d shown Axel around, venturing into the forest together. They’d visited the lake that separated their home from their resort, Malek’s favourite place to go and think, and just basically done couple stuff, they’d skipped because they were fated mates.