“Just keep talking. Don’t stop and go off track.”
“You’re going to think I’m nuts. But I’m not.”
“Dylan,” I said impatiently. “Tell me what you need to tell me. I don’t understand what’s happening. Everything was fine, and now you’re talking in riddles.”
He clenched his jaw. “Solar eclipse omegas can have babies.”
“Okay.” I frowned. “Lots of omegas have babies.”
He sighed. “Solar eclipse omegas are only male.”
A thick silence followed his statement while I struggled to understand his meaning. At first I thought I must have heard him wrong. I frowned at him, and he looked away. The only thing I could get from his face was that he was scared. “You said that you’re a solar eclipse omega.”
“Yes.”
I squinted. “And you’re saying that these male omegas can have… can have babies?”
He nodded, looking even paler than before.
I swallowed. “Are you…” I laughed gruffly. “Are you saying thatyoucan have babies?”
He looked like he was about to be ill, but he nodded slowly.
My mouth dropped open. I wanted to laugh, but he didn’t look like this was a joke. He looked like he was at a funeral. “I… I don’t know what to say.”
“It gets worse.”
I stared in confusion. “It does?”
“I’m pregnant.” He gulped. “With your baby.”
This had to be a joke. It had to be. But he most certainly was not laughing. “Men don’t have babies.”
“Usually that’s true.”
“But you don’t have the equipment to have a baby. You don’t have a uterus or a vagina.” Blood was draining from my head, as I began to face the realization that the man I loved must be mentally ill. “Dylan, have you talked to anyone about these feelings of yours?”
He did laugh then, although it wasn’t a pleasant sound. “The entire compound is filled with these solar eclipse omegas, Lex. I’m not crazy. I can show you two pregnant male omegas in the clinic right now.”
Was he delusional? Psychotic? Just damaged from losing a child? So damaged he’d made up this story, so that he could have another child?
“I can see the wheels turning in your head.” His voice was bitter. “I knew you’d think I was crazy.”
“What you’re saying sounds crazy. It defies science.”
“Yes. I know. I’m a fucking freak of nature,” he snapped. “But I didn’t ask for this. I was simply born this way.”
I shook my head in silent rejection of his words.
“We’re fated mates. You were only able to get me pregnant because of that.”
“Fated mates?” I scowled. “Dylan, that is just a wives’ tale.”
“No. You’re wrong. It’s true, and you and me are fated to be together. We were paired by the Ancients.”
My laugh was hard. “I refuse to believe I had no say in being with you.”
“You could have rejected me. Some fated pairs don’t work out.”
