Page 63 of Manny's Surprise Baby

He wiped his forehead, looking paler than earlier. “Do you think we could sit? I’m feeling light-headed.”

“Of course.” I moved forward and took his arm, and he seemed to almost wince at my touch. I guided him to the kitchen table, and he sat with a grunt. I settled next to him, resisting the urge to touch him some more. I clasped my hands in my lap instead.

“So what exactly is a solar eclipse omega?” I asked.

“We’re unique.” He grimaced. “We’re a sort of genetic mutation that came about a hundred years ago or so.”

“Okay.”

“I don’t know how much you know about our alpha and omega history.”

“I don’t know a lot. My mom used to talk about the Ancients a little. But I’m embarrassed to say, I didn’t pay much attention.”

“I didn’t either when I was young. But then I found out some stuff about myself after I met Baxter.”

“What kind of stuff?”

His expression hardened, and he looked away. “I found out that I’m physically different from regular omegas. In… in a very profound way.”

“And Baxter helped you discover this?” I scrunched my face up.

“He didn’t know either until… until the first time it happened to me.” He rubbed his face roughly. “God, I’m not explaining this well.”

“Take a deep breath and just tell me.”

He flicked his gaze to mine. “Did you know there was a sickness that affected the females of our species about a hundred years ago?”

“No.” I frowned. “Affected them how?”

“They couldn’t have babies. The females became sterile.”

“All of them?”

He sighed. “Almost. Only one out of every hundred or so births produced a live cub.” He grimaced. “Our kind were in danger of extinction.”

“What caused it?”

“We don’t know. But that’s when the solar eclipse omegas appeared. They were able to solve the problem of infertility of the females.”

“How? Were solar eclipse omegas able to impregnate the females or something?”

He pinched the skin between his eyes. “Not exactly.” He sighed. “We were resistant to the sickness, and… and we were able to… have babies instead of the females. Whatever the sickness was, it didn’t affect us.”

Shock radiated through me as his words sank in. “I’m sorry… what did you say?”

He lifted his chin. “We can get pregnant.”

The blood slowly drained from my face. Was he mentally unstable? Had all those years with Baxter driven him insane? “You mean like pregnant, pregnant?”

“Yes.” He watched me intently. “I know I sound batty.”

I gave a jagged laugh. “You’re saying that… you’re actually saying that you and Colin can have babies?” It was obvious from his confident expression he believed everything he said. But what he was saying was nuts.

He grimaced. “I can see you think I’m crazy.”

I dropped my gaze, feeling numb. “I’m not sure what you expect me to say?”

“I wasn’t even going to tell you any of this, but Colin and Riley seemed to think you needed to know.” He sighed. “I hate the way you’re looking at me.”