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Baron
I stumble through the darkened streets, my mind reeling.
This can’t be happening.
It can’t.
It’s impossible.
There must be some mistake. The test was defective, or Annie’s confused.
Or, most likely, the baby was sired by another man.
But even as the thought sears through my brain, throwing sparks, I dismiss it before it can catch fire. Annie loves me. I’m not sure what else to believe right now, but I don’t doubt that for a moment. She loves me, and she’s not the type of woman to have casual sex with another man when her heart is otherwise engaged.
If she really is pregnant, then I’m the father.
Fuck…I’m the father.
What have I done? How could I have been so careless?
“But it’s impossible,” I mutter aloud, bracing my shaking hand against the massive oak tree at the end of the block as I grind the heel of my hand into my eye sockets.
“What’s happening? Are you hurt? I came as soon as I heard.” Edmond’s voice draws closer as he speaks, but I don’t straighten or look up.
If I look at him, he’ll see how broken I am and want to fucking talk about it, and there’s no time for that. Casey and Amy’s safety comes first. “I’m fine. I just need something from the estate,” I mutter in a thick voice. I wave an impatient hand toward the house. “Go. Darcy’s at the Wonderfully home with Blaire and the others. He’ll let you know how to help.”
Edmond steps closer, until his shadow blocks the light from the streetlamp across the street. “All right. I’ll head there as soon as you tell me why you’re crying.”
“I’m not…” I pull my hand from my aching face to see red smearing my palm. Blood tears. It’s what vampire’s cry when we’re in deep mourning, when our grief is too big for water kissed with salt.
My shoulders sag away from my ears and my hands fall to my sides as I turn to face him, the last of my denial evaporating like dew on a summer morning. “Annie… She’s pregnant.”
Edmond’s brows shoot up. “Really? Wow.” He clears his throat and smooths a hand over his face. “I’m assuming this happened before the two of you were a thing—and don’t deny that you’re a thing. Laura told me all about the sex in the library.”
“We didn’t have sex in the library,” I mutter.
“Oral sex counts as sex,” Edmond counters. “If she came on your fingers, mouth, or cock, it was sex. And knowing you and your devotion to excellence in all things, I’m sure she enjoyed herself immensely.”
“Don’t,” I growl. “Don’t try to turn this into a joke.”
He sighs. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to offend, I just…” He lifts his hands, palms up. “I guess I just don’t see what the problem is. So, she’s pregnant by another man? So what? She loves you. Any fool with eyes can see that. And it might be a blessing in disguise. This one-night stand or whatever he was gave her the one thing you can’t. Now, you can give her a life filled with love, devotion, and long nights being nerdy together by the fire while the little one eats paste or hacks into the baby food company to modify their recipes or whatever it is kids do these days. It could be wonderful. If you’ll allow it to be.”
Crossing my arms over my chest, I shake my head. “No.”
He arches a brow. “No? That’s all you have to say about it? No, I don’t want to spend the rest of my life with a woman who’s perfect for me and her adorable kid? No, I refuse to allow myself to be happy? No, I don’t care if I break a sweet lady’s heart into tiny little pieces because I’ve stubbornly decided to waste my eternal life in suffering and despair?”
My jaw cracks with the force of the tension locking my jaw, but I force the muscles to relax enough to grit out, “No, the baby isn’t another man’s. It’s mine. Somehow, it’s mine.”
Edmond takes a step back and then another and another, until he’s so close to the street he’ll fall off the curb if he goes much farther. He scrubs his hand over his face again, drags his fingers through his hair, and shakes his head, but when his lips move, no words come out.
“I know,” I say, cursing beneath my breath. “It’s impossible. But it happened. I don’t doubt her. If she says it’s mine, then…it’s mine.”
“But…” Edmond shakes his head again. “I mean, I’ve heard of this happening once before, but—”
“You have?” I cut in, my heart squeezing hard in my chest. “How? When? Why didn’t you say something? Even if it’s rare, the clan should—”
“It’s not just rare, Baron, it’s an almost unheard-of anomaly. Like…I don’t know. Like an albino goat who happens to be born with a horn in the center of its forehead instead of one on each side. Sure, such a creature has likely existed at some point in time, but goat farmers don’t take breeding precautions based on the possibility of creating an albino goat-i-corn. It’s a case of one in a hundred billion.”
