• Choose a category
• All
• Classic-Fiction

Maybe she was pregnant.

Oh, damn. Bile bubbled up in his throat. He’d just married Thanatos’s sister, and he was sitting on a fucking huge-ass pile of information about him. He got why The Aegis felt they needed to do this, and he might have agreed with their save-the-world thinking not long ago. But what used to be black and white for him was now blended in sickly shades of gray, and his sense of fair play was screaming.

Thanatos deserved more than to be used as a breeding stud. He should have a choice about bringing a child into the world.

He lowered his voice. “Are you pregnant?”

She snorted. “That would require sex.”

Thank God. “Don’t do this, Regan. Go home, and forget The Aegis’s plan for you.”

“What’s it matter to you?”

“I just married into this family. I can’t keep something like this from my wife.”

Regan pegged him with a hard stare. “See, this is why I’m never getting married. It takes away your independence and your ability to think for your own damned self.”

He wasn’t going to argue this, but he was going to make it very clear where he stood. “Leave here tonight, or I go to the Horsemen.” Tomorrow he’d pay a visit to The Aegis and convince them that Thanatos needed to be included in this decision.

Regan’s eyes blazed. “Fine. But you can explain to the Elders why I failed. And then you can explain to the entire world that the Apocalypse could have been prevented.” She glanced at his glass and gave him an evil smile. “Enjoy your champagne.” She stalked off, leaving him eyeing his drink and wondering why he felt like the jokt lmpagne was on him.

Whatever. The prickly Guardian wasn’t going to fuck up his wedding day. He found Limos, who drained her champagne, tossed the glass into the fire, shattering it, and then let out a loud whoop. All around, the room erupted in cheers and dancing. Limos grabbed his hand and dragged him into a semiprivate alcove.

“You little minx,” he said, when he realized what she’d done. “You distracted all of them.”

“Yup.” She cupped the back of his head and drew him down for a kiss. Her tongue was hot, her mouth wet, and in two heartbeats he was so into it that he had her pushed up against the wall. She purred her approval and wound her arms around his neck. He let his hands drift down her sides to her hips as he licked and nibbled at her lips.

God, she felt good, and when she arched, pressing her breasts into his chest, he was lost to sensation.

Lost to her.

“I love you,” he whispered, and his heart nearly stopped when she froze.

“What did you say?”

Shit. He’d just ruined everything, hadn’t he? Well, there was no backtracking now. “I love you. I’m not sure when it happened, but it did, and I’m not sorry.”

She closed her eyes, and when she opened them, they glowed with a liquid purple light. “I never thought I’d hear anyone say that.” Her fingers threaded through his hair, clutching tightly. “I love you too, Arik. Also,” she said, “I want kids.”

“Now?”

“Yes.” She shook her head. “I mean… my biological clock has been ticking for five thousand years. Human women think they have it bad. But it wouldn’t be smart. Not until the threat from Pestilence is over. The worst thing I can imagine is to be pregnant and have my Seal break. But yes, I do want them, so we should practice. Lots.”

He swallowed over and over, until he felt like he could speak without sounding like a big sissy. “I think,” he breathed, “it’s time to go home.”

With a wicked grin, she dropped her hand to his crotch to stroke his straining erection through his pants. “Do you think you can make it?”

“Not if you keep that up.”

Her hands came back up his shoulders. “I can’t wait to make love to you,” she murmured. “I’ve waited so long, and now I’m glad I did. I’m so glad it’ll be you, Arik.”

She couldn’t have said anything better. Taking her hand, he led her out of the cove. They slipped through the crowd and out the front door unseen, but as they exited through the tent, Ares’s voice rang out.

“You thought you could