Shadow Watcher (Darkness #6)(17)

Both of the guys stared at me.

I felt my eyes sting in fear and uncertainty. “Is Stefan going to be mad? The timing is bad, I know, but it’s an accident. I promise.” My voice sounded so tiny.

Jonas took two quick steps toward me and yanked me toward him. He squeezed me to his chest. “Good work, human. Good job.”

“Oh my god, I’m going to be an uncle! Jonas, bro, she’s going to have a baby!” Charles screeched. “Put her down. My turn. But be careful!”

Jonas gently lowered me to the ground and stared down at me. The first genuine smile I could remember gracing his lips. His eyes twinkled and all the malice he usually had drifted away. “It’s the Boss’?”

I blinked a few times, staring at his smile in confusion. “Y-yeah.”

Jonas slid his thumb down my cheek and then kissed my forehead. He passed me off to Charles as if I was the most precious thing he’d ever come across.

I blinked in confusion for the second time. Charles’ eyes were glassy. He pulled me into a tight hug, surrounding me in his strength and protection.

“Loosen up, fool, you’ll hurt her.” Jonas pried Charles’ arms away until the hug was lighter. I felt Jonas’ hand on my head.

My pants were still around my ankles. Two guys were fawning all over me like grandmothers, in a bathroom, with plastic wands for testing urine in their hands, not worried that my butt was bare. And I was letting all this happen without freaking out.

This had just become the strangest day of my life. And that was saying something.

Jonas said, “Human, pull up your pants. We need to talk about this. This is going to change everything.”

Chapter Five

I sat on the couch, opposite of a focused Jonas and a beaming Charles.

I was pregnant.

It wasn’t real yet. I hadn’t been trying, and hadn’t been expecting it, and now I couldn’t quite take it all in. I had a hitchhiker in my stomach. It wasn’t just me in this body, anymore. Something else was in there with me.

That was the craziest thought.

“I can’t take care of a baby!” I blurted out of nowhere before Jonas had even started his lecture. “I can’t even take care of myself! I’ve never even held a baby! I don’t know how to change a diaper.”

“You don’t need to take care of you—that’s what we’re for,” Charles said with soft eyes. “We got this.”

“This race covets children,” Jonas said in calm tones. “Children are the continuation of our line. Two in seven women in our clan carry to term without miscarriage. One in three of those go on to have more than one, but usually never make it to more than three. That isn’t many. Now, with the presence of more humans, that number may rise. But as of right now, there is a thin line connecting our race to the future. And that line is solely tied to women being able to reproduce. We take this very seriously.”

My emotions were racing around me, as I worried over what Stefan would say. I was full of fear that I’d ruin someone else’s life with the craziness of something growing inside of me right at that very minute…

I needed to drive very fast. Things were so out of control and I needed something that would make me concentrate.

I stood up with that in mind and Jonas and Charles stood up with me. Charles walked to the entrance of the room and crossed his arms over his chest like a guard.

“Human, listen to me,” Jonas said with more iron in his voice. “Males have fought each other to the death to be tied to a female and her young. Those males didn’t even know whom the child came from, and they didn’t care. None of us care. A male will lose his mind to the protective instinct when his mate is pregnant. Given that this is the Boss’—that this is his blood—you will have to put aside your independence for nine months and let him protect you. Let us protect you. Let every member of this clan, male or female, protect you however they can.”

“Stefan already protects me,” I said in confusion. “You—everyone—already do that.”

“Sasha,” Charles said from the doorway, “I’ve seen males cut their female’s meat for fear they might not do it right and choke.”

Jonas glanced back at Charles with a look promising pain. “Go play with yourself or something. The adults are talking.”

“Yeah, real funny, bro. I’m just as much a part of this as you are. I get to help.”

Jonas turned back. As soon as his gaze hit mine it softened. The effect unnerved me more than anything else that had happened so far. “A male will cut his female’s food, because he wants to start providing. He wants to show the others you are his, and he is taking care of you. The Boss is an alpha—an alpha of alphas—he will exhibit this trait more than others.”

“Exhibit, huh? You been reading your dictionary?” Charles muttered.

A flash of irritation stole Jonas’ features. He cocked his head before visibly curbing his expression to one of patience for me. “You need to give him more slack, do you get me? He will be irrational at times. You need to pick your battles. A female in this clan would let most things go. She would be expecting this. You are not—this is a great divide between humans and us. You will need to let him…”

“Act like a chick,” Charles finished.