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Zeke slammed his hand on the desk, making both of us jump. “You will not do that to my mate or my pup.”

“Pup?” Jess raised an eyebrow. “Zeke, chill your knot. You’re alpha-ing out on me here.”

“Mate?” I reached instinctively for that spot on my neck that hadn’t faded then let my hand slowly reach down to my belly. Surely I would have known, felt something…

Maybe it was too early.

“Isa!” Jess’s call resulted in Isa’s journal flopping open as the older woman came into view.

“What?” She glared at us one by one, pinning Zeke with a glare.

“Zeke got Lexi pregnant.” She jabbed a thumb in my direction.

Isa frowned. “That’s the best part about being gay—that not happening. What the fuck?”

“I didn’t think… I was—” I stammered as Jess bounced and Isa glared at Zeke.

“Sorry. I just… Whatever you choose. Your body, your choice. I’ll be right here, dear heart.” Zeke spoke those words as softly as he could, but he’d already gotten protective. For all the world, it sounded as if he wanted a baby.

Mrs. Goldstein had always told Syl and me not to get anyone pregnant.

She never said not to get pregnant.

As they argued back and forth trying to give me a choice, I stood, got my coat, and left.

I needed to go home and take a nap.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Zeke

I sat in Lex’s abandoned seat as he left the library, eyes glazed. I called out after him, hand raised. “I’ll give you a few hours, and we’ll talk alone. It’s your decision.”

“Go after him, dumbass!” Jess prodded at my shoulder and I shot her a glare.

“And risk influencing his decision? Guilt trip him? Crowd him?” The filthiest glare I had wasn’t enough of a gesture to put her in her place.

She sneered at me and frowned. “Get off your high horse. Makes your asshole at everyone’s eye level. Go. To. Your. Mate.”

The word mate made my skin prickle. And I wanted to. I so dearly wanted to chase him, hold him, and tell him for all the world, we’d be okay. He’d be okay. But it wasn’t my body that would bear a child. It was not my life that would be altered per—no. Mine would be. I would refuse to not be a part of any child I fathered.

“Don’t you think I want to?” I tugged at my hair and hissed under my breath as I fought my instinct. “I really do! And I will, but not right now.”

“I’m still confused as to how this happened? Did he dip into a book and bring back some special anatomy or something? Is he transgendered?” Isa’s face twisted in confusion.

“They went into one of those kinds of books where the men can get pregnant.” Jess said it with too much joy.

“We went into a book like that, yes. Lex did, and I went in after to aid in his training.” I avoided Jess’s far-too-interested gaze. “And we…you know.”

“Oh, good Gatsby… You didn’t put that in the form, Zeke. That’s pertinent information. We should have—”

“I didn’t realize the changes we kept for a while. And we were too busy—enjoying…” I cleared my throat.

“Enjoying supernatural fantasy sex like a bunch of degenerates…” Isa shook her head, upper lip curling.

“You’re the one who told me about your escapades into that siren book.” Jess snorted and Isa had the good sense to glance away. Had she been flesh and blood, she’d have blushed.

Isa, herself, couldn’t dive, but she could pair with an archivist when alive. And for her prickly personality, she had no shortage of female archivists who held interest, I recalled.