Page 53 of Evan and the Alpha

I’m honestly enjoying it. Well, at least now that I’m past the throwing up and feeling constantly nauseous stage. That was brutal. Sobek was so worried, even though Darwin tried to assure him that it was perfectly normal for humans to have morning sickness. Sobek thought I was gonna die or something.

I tamp down on a fond smile. My mate’s a big brute, a dangerous killer, but he’s so gentle and caring with me. I feel so safe and protected with him. It’s kind of insane, because you’d think watching a guy kill two other guys in cold blood on your behalf would make you run screaming for the hills, but …

It kinda turns me on. Like, that he would do that for me.

Anyway, so by now we’ve established that I’m pretty fucking weird, and I’m about to trot my weird-ass self out in front of my family who, in my experience, have always been a lot less understanding and protective.

I take Sobek’s hand and curl my other hand over my belly. I can’t feel our baby yet, but I’m completely in love with the idea of our baby in my belly. It’s fucking weird, but I’m done trying to explain it. I like it. It just is.

Sobek smiles tenderly at me, and I return the look. He adjusts the veil a little bit; I don’t usually wear it, unless I’m going out in the hot sun, so I’m not that great at putting it on. Sobek probably knows this is an attempt to hide.

He probably realizes why the second we step into the hall. Scott’s right there; his eyes, a mirror of mine, widen. “Holy—”

“What the hell happened to you?!” my father barks. A look of surprise crossed with rage leaps to life on the lines of his face, sparks in the depths of his brown eyes as his gaze rakes over me, critical.

Sobek tightens his grip on my hand. I squeeze back. “Hi Dad,” I say instead of answering his question. I glance at my brother. “Hey Scott.”

“Hey pipsqueak,” Scott manages, but his voice sounds choked, like he’s somewhere between shock and incredulity. Can’t even get around it to mock me properly.

“Let’s sit,” Sobek says, gesturing down the hall. “Evan is supposed to take things easy.”

My father makes a grumbling noise but doesn’t say anything. Sobek is not happy. Nonetheless, we make our way back down the hall to the communal room, where we do all our entertaining and take all our meals.

Vince and Mom are sitting at the table with Darwin, Ge-Ro, and Yafir. Vince’s mouth hangs open a bit. Mom gets to her feet, her green eyes wide with shock. She looks a lot like me. “Evan?” she asks, like she doesn’t believe it’s me.

“Hey Mom,” I reply, then stop a few paces short. I want to run into her arms and hug her, but I’m not sure that’s a good idea.

She comes to me instead, worry now crowding the surprise on her face. She holds out her hands. “Baby, what happened?”

“Um.” I turn rosy; I can’t hold her gaze as she grabs my hands, pulls me closer to her.

Sobek has absolutely zero compunction; he doesn’t get how delicate this situation is, I guess. It’s not exactly in kroakka nature to beat around the bush, except when they’re doing some kind of ritual-type stuff about battles and the gods. Then they just talk in riddles.

This isn’t a prayer or a battle, so Sobek says, “My mate is pregnant.”

Mom’s mouth twists, halfway into a frown. She looks both amused and confused at the same time.

“What,” my father barks from the hallways behind us.

I pull my hands back from Mom’s. “Haha, yeah. Surprise?” My gut twists horribly. I think this anxiety is worse than morning sickness.

Mom’s gaze rakes over me frantically, like she’s looking for a place to poke a hole in my story. Like I’m lying to her.

“Is this like, someAlienchestburster scenario?” Scott asks. He sounds so afraid, I can’t help but laugh. Darwin laughs too, which helps.

“Chestburster?” Sobek mutters. Ge-Ro and Yafir shake their heads at him, meaning they don’t get it either.

“I don’t think so,” the old professor says, pulling his glasses off to polish them. It’s a clever trick he has, so he can avoid eye contact. Makes me wish I had to wear glasses. “Although, we’re not quite sure at this point how Evan will—”

“Darwin,” I hiss.

He puts his glasses back on and folds his hands neatly. “Which is one reason we’d hoped to see theColumbia. We’d like to run some tests on Evan, first to make sure he’s healthy, and second to evaluate the, ahem, changes he’s undergone since his arrival on Veda-3.”

Everyone’s eyes land on me again. I resist the urge to put a hand on my belly and hide behind Sobek.

Sobek lands a hand on my shoulders and drags me in toward him anyway. Gratefully, I curl into his side. “It seems you sun spirits are quite different from us,” he says. “We would entreat you to help us ensure Evan’s health.”

Mom gives me another critical look. Her lips part, like she wants to say something, but Scott mutters, “Yeah, okay, sure. Guess we’ll … get you on the ship.”