“My timeline is right, Doc,” he said, opening his eyes and looking straight at Slade. “She was pregnant before the implantation of her eggs.”
Becky couldn’t move. She couldn’t breathe. Her hand tightened around Sloan’s, but she didn’t look at him because she was afraidthat if she did, she would see something in his face she didn’t want to see.
Daniel’s gaze moved from Slade to Sloan, and something in his expression softened.
“Congratulations, Sloan,” Daniel said, his voice quieter now. “Looks like you’re the father.”
CHAPTER 17
Sloan had been hit, stabbed, shot, and blown through enough walls to last ten lifetimes, but none of that compared to the absolute pain and, yeah, horror of what Daniel had just said. He had no words. None. He was shocked to his core, and nothing shocked Sloan. He had seen it all, done it all, survived it all, and for the first time in a damn long time, he felt a little lightheaded.
What the fuck.
Ignoring the chaos that erupted around the room after Daniel’s announcement that he was the father, Sloan continued to stare at him. He waited for Daniel to take it back. To say he was just fucking with him. To say anything that would make sense, because this didn’t. Vampires didn’t have children. They didn’t get their mates pregnant. Their bodies didn’t work that way, and every Warrior in that room knew it.
“Daniel, what in the hell are you talking about?” Jared stood quickly, glaring at him. “Even I wouldn’t fuck with the bossman like that.”
“Yeah,” Sid growled, leaning forward in his chair, also glaring at Daniel. “And that’s saying something because the man’s survival instinct is questionable on a good day.”
Jared shot him a look. “Fuck you, Sid.”
“So my little swimmers are swimming again?” Steve, who had been unusually quiet up to that point, spoke up, his eyes round with shock.
“Mine don’t swim. They invade.” Sid snorted, his head tilting with pride.
“Mine conquer,” Jared responded just as proudly, then glared at Steve. “And they aren’t little. They’re Olympic athletes who brought home the gold.”
“Are you guys seriously talking about your sperm right now?” Jill gaped at them as if they’d lost their damn minds. “What the hell is wrong with you guys? Sloan is about to have a stroke, and you’re over here making sperm jokes.”
“No jokes here.” Jared smirked at her. “Raven is my gold medal in the flesh.”
“Um, gross.” Raven glared at Jared.
Sloan’s black eyes cut across the room. “One more word, and I will kill every last one of you.” His threat rolled through the room, finally shutting everyone up.
Jesus, could this be real? Had he fathered a child?
Sloan glanced down at Becky, who was staring wide-eyed up at him, her mouth slightly open in shock. But what he saw in her eyes almost floored him as much as Daniel’s reveal. Hope. Fragile, terrified hope. The kind that, if dashed, wouldbreak something inside her, and that pissed him off more than anything.
His angry eyes swung back to Daniel. “I respect the hell out of your father and mother, Daniel, as I respect you. But if this is some kind of joke, I will not hesitate to take you out. Do you understand me?”
“I would never be that cruel,” Daniel answered without hesitation.
“It’s impossible, Daniel.” Slade finally spoke, his sharp eyes narrowed in thought.
Daniel sighed as he glanced around the room. “Who has received infusions from Amara?”
“They all have had at least four,” Slade answered for everyone, who remained silent. “What does that—” He stopped as his eyes widened slightly.
“Have to do with anything?” Daniel finished for him, then looked at Becky before his gaze landed back on Sloan. “Everything.”
The room went silent as everyone digested what Daniel had just exposed. Sloan didn’t know what in the hell to think. He was stunned stupid, if he was being completely honest.
“Well, call me Fertile Myrtle and pass the birth control.” Steve’s voice broke the silence. “Are you saying Golden Blood jump-started our little swimmers?”
“I swear, if you don’t shut the fuck up and stop calling them little swimmers, I’m going to shut you up myself.” Sid growled, then glared at Steve. “Never call anything attached to me little again.”
“I’m actually more concerned that Steve just called himself Myrtle,” Jared said, snorting out a chuckle as if the whole damn world hadn’t just shifted under their feet.
