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Zeke pursed his and glanced away nervously.
“To be fair, Zeke never really grew up past his twenties. Peter pan style and all that.” Isa waved her hand dismissively.
“Why does everyone around me like fucking old dudes?” Syl sighed heavily.
“I like fucking old women.” Isa raised her hand.
“I don’t like fucking old men,” Bitty stared up innocently. Syl had a flash of relief in his eyes before she added, “I like watching.”
Syl blinked. “Yeah. That checks out.”
“So, I get there’s a whole thing here, but someone needs to call Mesmer and get the interloper out of the library before the wards get triggered.” Isa crossed her arms and waved us on. “Shoo.”
We glanced at one another and packed up our things for the day. I grabbed Syl’s arm as we filed out to the parking lot. “Come on. You can see the new house and get some sleep.”
Syl flinched as I tugged, and Zeke came up with a gentle hand that rested atop Syl’s head. “We’re well warded.”
Part of me wanted to smack Zeke’s hand away from Syl. A territorial urge rose within me. My mate.
Zeke gave me a half grin. “Easy there.”
As Syl sagged and leaned against me, his footsteps faltering, Zeke took over and scooped him up, concern for my best friend on his face. “Don’t get any weird ideas.”
Syl, a breath away from passing out, patted Zeke’s cheek. “Too late.”
“Shlyukhe,” I snipped at Syl as I pushed forward, earning a playful snicker. Whore.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Zeke
“So, you’re sure he’s okay?” I paced the room as Mesmer sat at my kitchen table, staring down at his little notebook.
“As far as we know. Blood sugar is fine. Blood pressure is great. He’s just pregnant, Zeke. Chill.” Mesmer twisted his lips and flipped back a few pages, then a few more. “I’m more worried about his pictus friend.”
I nodded anxiously as Mesmer frowned. “He can dive as long as the book has pictures, so he’s technically an archivist. But convincing the rest of the council is going to be hard.”
I nodded sagely. “But Lex…”
“Lex is fine!” Mesmer sighed, his exasperation plain on his face. “I check him daily. Things look good. It doesn’t look like the skip did anything. And genetically, he’d have to pass on a Y chromosome for your child to inherit anything on his side, so the child is clear. Truly a small miracle.”
“But what if—” I flinched as Mesmer gave me a fierce glare.
“Go to work.” He pointed me toward the door. “The last ancestor you two shared was in the garden of eden, so no, you’re not passing down any genetic weirdness from an insular ethnoreligious community.”
I grumbled and shuffled off to find Lex. He needed to be at home and in bed, resting, but his anxiety wouldn’t ease unless I was near. And I had to be at the library. Archivists had been flooding our location to check out books just to get a glimpse at Lex, to feed into the rumor mill. Lex, for his part, didn’t seem to mind anything but the horrible position he had to get himself into to tie his shoes, legs spread as he sat on the steps, heels tilted, wheezing with effort.
“Let me do that for you, dearheart.” I knelt before him and finished tying his shoes as he grumbled. “Are you sure you can’t stay home?”
“All Syl does is sleep and stay holed up in his room on his computer. Bitty is busy catching up on her writing before the baby comes. Jess is MIA on something for the council and I don’t want to sit at home alone doing nothing.” Lex groaned and leaned his head back. “Sitting in the library with you nearby is kinda calming.”
“Oh, how far you’ve come.” I leaned forward to give him a soft kiss and then down to kiss the top of his belly through the loose shirt he wore.
“Or it just says way too much about my life.” Lex flashed me a smile.
I helped him to stand, and we made our way out to the car, smiling as Lex admired our new little door thingy. Mezuzah. He touched it with a half-smile. “It’s kinda important to me.”
“And if it’s important to you, I don’t mind if we give our children that culture.” I stroked the back of his neck and reveled in his soft smile. “Lord knows I don’t have much culture to pass on.”
