by Dannika Dark
“You shouldn’t be driving in your condition,” Justus chided in a deep voice.
Page tapped her finger on the table. “I’m not sure how you think I’m going to earn money to pay for a baby unless I work. Hopefully I won’t lose any clients.”
“Do you at least have diapers and clothes?”
Page rose from her chair, arching her back and struggling to stand. She walked out of the room and Justus held an enigmatic expression on his face I couldn’t read, but it looked like uncertainty, judging by the vertical crease in his forehead and the slight downturn of his brows. His strong features were amplified by his neatly groomed hair shaved close to his head and his warrior’s jaw. He had the presence of a man who had battled with heavy swords and armor and yet possessed the honor and nobility of a decent man.
“I’ve been busy,” Page said with a proud smile. She set a small cardboard box on the table and I peered in.
“Oh my God, did you make these? They’re adorable!”
I pulled out different sizes of knitted booties, a hat, and mittens. I placed them on the table and she picked up a tiny hat and said, “This one is my absolute favorite. I used a multicolored yarn of green, purple, and pink because it’s pretty gender neutral.”
“Well, the rest sure isn’t,” I observed, sifting through all the different shades of blue and green.
She tossed the hat back in the pile. “It’s kept me busy at night when the baby is kicking and I can’t sleep. I’m getting better at it—my grandmother would be proud.”
Justus touched the knitted hat she’d declared as her favorite. He turned it in his hands and Page sat back down. Simple tasks like getting up and down required effort and she always looked uncomfortable.
“I’m glad you’re turning this into a positive thing, Page. Especially after what Slater did to you.”
“He’s dead now and I refuse to let him control my future and happiness.” She put a few of the booties back in the box. “I can’t regret having had sex with him. After all, it brought me this miracle I never thought possible.”
Justus blanched and slowly turned his head toward her. “Say again?”
She scooped up the baby clothes and I helped her put them back into the box. “I don’t even know what came over me to have slept with Slater, but I guess we all make mistakes.”
My brows knitted. “I thought he inseminated you during the kidnapping?”
Justus pulled his collar away from his neck so abruptly that a button popped off and rolled across the floor.
She blew a strand of hair away from her eyes and slid the box to the side. “No, that couldn’t be possible. If this were an insemination, I’d be terrified to know what he put in me—some kind of Breed concoction. We had sex before the kidnapping and that’s why we had a big falling out. I became pregnant and he wanted to use me as his lab rat.”
“Impossible,” Justus interrupted.
She smiled softly. “Sex is quite possible.”
“You didn’t have sex with Slater.”
“I think I can assess who I have and haven’t had sex with; it’s a pretty unforgettable experience. Don’t be ridiculous.”
“You didn’t have sex with Slater,” he repeated, “because…”
“Because?”
I felt an eruption coming on and leaned back in my chair. The ambiguous look on his face made me uneasy.
He leaned toward her, his voice falling to a whisper. “You couldn’t have had sex with Slater because you were a virgin.”
“Yes, I was. Not that it’s any business of yours who I lost my virginity to.”
He stood up and raised his voice. “It’s absolutely my business because I am the one who took your virginity! You insult me with a lie such as that. A man knows the feel of a virgin and the loss of innocence, and do not ask me to physically describe an act so intimate as it would dishonor you.”
A confused look crossed her expression. “I’m sorry, but you’re wrong, Justus. I should know when I lost my virginity.”
A knock sounded at the door and that was my cue to get the hell out of Dodge. This conversation was derailing and quickly approaching a steep cliff.
I looked through the peephole and swung open the front door. “It’s about time you came.”
Christian breezed by me. “I get that a lot,” he said darkly.
The voices in the kitchen quieted and Christian pursed his lips. “I heard you were in a bit of a scuffle.”
“Yeah, no big deal,” I said, slamming the door. “Just some Mage trying to kill me. The usual. How’s life with you?”
“Grand.”
He removed his trench coat and hung it on a hook by the door. Christian had on dark jeans and a chocolate-brown shirt with a V-neck. He actually looked nice with a belt on, but he still wore his black lace-up boots.
Arguing ensued from the kitchen and Christian backed up. “I should wait outside.”
“No, you need to stay here and tell me what’s going on with Novis.”
“Personal business, lass,” he said, reaching for his coat.
I yanked it off the rack and flung it into the kitchen.
“What the feck? That’s my favorite jacket.”
“Go get it,” I hissed through my teeth. “You’re not taking off; Mount Justus is about to erupt.”
Christian lowered his dark brows over his black eyes. “And you think I want to be around to watch a domestic quarrel? I have better things to do than hear someone rabbit on about popping a cherry.”
“Why do you look guilty?” I asked, suddenly noticing how peculiar Christian was acting.
“Men with big cocks always look guilty.”
I narrowed my eyes and gripped his sleeve. “Get in there.” I dragged him into the kitchen and gave him an accusatory glance. “Do you know anything about this?”
Justus turned his head so slowly it was felt more than noticed. His blue eyes burned into Christian’s conscience.
The Vampire immediately threw his hands up and took a wide step back. “I’ve been knowing you many years, Justus. I don’t appreciate that look you’re giving me.”
“You scrubbed her, didn’t you?”
“What?” I gasped, looking up at Christian in shock. “Is that true?”
His shoulders lifted in a shrug and his mouth turned down. “Seemed for the best.”
Page’s mouth dropped open. “Did I ask you to scrub me?”
“With a loofah?”
Justus lunged and grabbed him by the throat, shoving him against the wall.
Christian was strong enough that he could have easily knocked him away, but a mutual respect existed between them. Years ago, Christian had worked closely with Justus as his guard.
“Talk,” Justus demanded, squeezing his throat tighter.
Christian flashed a white smile beneath all those whiskers on his face and held up his hands. “Seemed for the best, given the circumstances of her traumatic kidnapping. I was just helping her out.”
“By making her think she had sex with a man she despised?”
“Justus, let him go,” Page said, still sitting in her chair. “Vampire, come over here and return my memory. I want every scrap of it. If you were trying to protect me from thinking my baby is a monster created in a lab, then you’re not doing me any service. I’m a Relic, and part of my job is to pass knowledge down to my children. I will love this child no matter where it came from, but you could have erased other facts that I need to know that could answer questions.”
Justus slipped his hand behind Christian’s neck and shoved him forward. At some point, Christian decided he’d had enough and stood straight and immobile.
“Hands off me, Mage. I’ll give the Relic what she wants.”
Christian angrily spun a chair around and folded his arms over the back of it, staring intensely into her eyes. It didn’t take long before Page fell under his charm and he leaned in so close I didn’t hear what he whispered to her.
Page blinked a few times a
nd went into a fog. It seemed like minutes passed, but when she finally snapped out of it, her face turned to stone.
“Get. Out.”
“Pleasure is all mine,” Christian spat out, kicking the chair aside and stalking out the door.
She studied the table as if she were reading something.
“Page,” I said. “It doesn’t matter what Slater did to you. All that’s in the past.”
“All of you. Out. I want to be alone. I’m sure you don’t want to upset me right now in my condition. When Logan wakes up, I’ll tell him you two went home. His car is outside, so it shouldn’t be a problem for him to drive. Don’t make me say it again. Please, get out.”
I silently turned around and glanced up at Justus. His jaw clenched as she covered her face.
“Come on, Ghuardian. She needs time to think and we need to get home and check on Finn.” I glanced at Page with sympathetic eyes. “Please have Logan call me when he’s on his way home, and thank you for everything. I’m so sorry about all this.”
She nodded at the box of baby apparel and sadness washed over her face. Now her worst fear was realized about the insemination, and I hoped it didn’t influence her decision to keep the baby. Maybe she would see me as an example of how something positive could come out of all this genetic experimentation. Maybe Christian’s intentions were in the right place when he’d made Page think the baby was nothing but a Relic, but what good can come from living a lie? I was a child of genetic testing myself, and while I struggled with feeling disconnected after learning my origins, knowing who I was made it easier to become the best version of myself.
***
When the door closed and the room quieted, Page pressed her palms against her forehead and wept. The pain of knowing the truth gutted her. Christian had not only made her believe she’d slept with Slater, but he’d erased the significant detail of Justus having been her first lover. The Vampire had inserted an alternate version of the facts. One where she would have raised that baby thinking he was nothing but a Relic. In truth, the drugs Slater had given her might have already done their damage.
Injections she would never know the contents of since the secret would remain buried with Slater.
She pushed the box tenderly away and wiped the tears from her face. The baby was kicking against her belly, so she placed her hand over it and whispered an apology. None of this was his fault, and yet he would be the one to suffer. She worried for his future, wondering if he would ever find acceptance among the Breed and what his place would be.
After Christian had returned her memories, everything became vividly clear. And yet now she was torn in a way that she couldn’t have imagined.
Her life had changed on the night she’d fallen ill and Justus had called a Relic to the house. That Relic had revealed an unexpected surprise—Page was pregnant. Shock overwhelmed her as a man she had worked next to for years had betrayed her, impregnating her with God knows what as part of his science experiment.
With her memory restored, Page now remembered the night she’d gone to the park to confront Slater. Christian had accompanied her so that he could release the false memories implanted in Slater’s mind and allow her to question him one last time. Page had found out the facts—more than she could have imagined. The following day, Christian had shown up at her doorstep and offered to erase the truth from her mind. When she resisted, he’d gripped her arms firmly and said, “Sorry, I can’t watch a man be destroyed by all this foolishness.” Then he’d scrubbed her, taking it all away.
Page closed her eyes and allowed the memories to come flooding back. She could almost feel the cold snap of winter air against her skin that had made her wish she’d worn a hat. She remembered with clarity when Slater impaled Christian, leaving him incapacitated beside the park bench.
They had argued, and suddenly her small kitchen vanished as her mind traveled back in time to that fateful night. There she was—standing before Slater as he seized her arms and she struggled against him.
“Stupid Vampire—taking someone to a park with trees,” Slater said, snatching her coat when she tried to turn away. “No, no, honey. You’re not going anywhere. It’s too late for that.”
He yanked her against him and puckered his lips for a mocking kiss.
Page screamed.
“Shut up, I’m not going to kill you. As much as you disgust me, I have other plans.”
“Let me go!” she yelled.
“Are you kidding me? We’re going to make a baby together, Page. That’ll make us practically married. You’ll have an obligation to that child by allowing me to be his father. I’ve been chasing you since we were teens and I think it’s time that you grow the fuck up and take the offer.”
She squirmed, struggling to break free from his grasp. “You disgust me. You’re a disgrace to all Relics, Slater. Nothing you could say or do will justify your selfish need to pass your genes on. By God, if I can help it, this baby will never know anything about you,” she growled, clawing at his face.
Slater grabbed a fistful of her short hair and yanked her head back. “What the fuck do you mean by that?”
“Let go of me—get your hands off me, you sick maniac!” She thrashed as he continued to pull her hair and shake her.
“What did you just say, Page? What do you mean by this baby?” he shouted, spitting in her face by the near proximity.
She looked at him defiantly, unable to admit his baby-making experiments on her had worked in his favor. Page felt a fierce instinct to protect her unborn child. He must have read the look on her face and figured out the truth.
“You little fucking whore,” he breathed through his bared teeth. “That’s not my baby in there, you stupid slut. I didn’t inseminate you—I only primed you for conception. Who the fuck’s baby is in there?”
Violence erupted in a flash. She heard a crack of bone and lost her breath when someone pulled her out of Slater’s grasp in a protective move. Justus moved in like a Titan and she shuddered as he squared off with Slater.
Page recoiled when Slater swung at her and Justus snatched his neck with lightning speed, gripping tightly.
Slater reached down and pulled a dagger from beneath Justus’s shirt. Her heart raced when he swiped his arm and sliced Justus across the chest. Crimson soaked through the fabric of his shirt, but Justus maintained his stony expression.
When the fight ended, it ended in bloodshed. They fell to the ground and the knife found a home in Slater’s heart.
If Slater had only primed her for conception, that left one unbelievable answer.
Justus was the father of her child.
By some miracle, her body had accepted his Mage sperm. The Relic who uncovered her pregnancy had given her inaccurate facts on how far along she was. But that had to do with how her pregnancy had sped up and it explained why her morning sickness occurred immediately. It seemed impossible that Justus could have fathered this child. He was a Mage, and they were infertile! Upon creation, a shift takes place within their bodies that no longer allows them to reproduce. Perhaps the energy coursing through them causes a woman’s body to reject their sperm. Maybe an egg wouldn’t survive the highly charged sperm of a Mage, even in the body of another Mage. She didn’t specialize in Mage genetics like some Relics did.
Their sterility was a well-known fact without exceptions.
Until now.
Page thought about the necklace he had put on and wondered if that could have aided in his ability to impregnate her. She doubted the metal could have been solely responsible. No one creates that kind of technology without exploring all the possibilities.
It must have had to do with the injections, because Page was barren. Slater had found a way to strengthen and heal her ovaries so a Mage could fertilize her egg. Maybe his formula neutralized the energy within Justus’s sperm to allow it to survive.
All kinds of questions arose in her mind. Would this child continue growing at an increased rate? Would it be deformed? Would the oth
er injections she’d been given affect its DNA?
Would it look like Justus?
Then there was that—the glaring truth amid all the drama. Humans who chose the life of a Mage forfeited their desire for children. Justus had been alive for centuries, and a man who’s lived that long without family was used to doing things his own way. It explained his abrasive behavior and sanctimonious attitude.
Page couldn’t bear the thought of Justus rejecting this baby, nor did she want to put her child through the kind of pain that abandonment brings. It was a silly notion to think Justus could ever love a Relic—a mortal.
Then her mind really began to absorb the gravity of the situation. If by some small chance he did take her in, he would be subjected to watching his woman and child grow old and die. Most immortals never had a human family. They severed ties with the past and gave up on loving mortals they couldn’t hold on to.
And he couldn’t hold on to this child. As a Mage, Justus could kill the baby inadvertently.
“Oh my God,” she whispered. “Slater, what did you do?” Tears spilled down her cheeks.
And yet, a tender thought filled her heart.
The secret of knowing that this baby belonged to Justus, that she’d always have a small piece of something meaningful—a reality that could never be between an immortal and a Relic. This wasn’t a novel where love conquers all; this was complicated and messy. The romantic in her wanted Justus to sweep her off her feet and say that he would love her for the rest of her life, but the cynic reminded her it would never last.
Then she thought about how he’d feel when she reached menopause and had to start taking calcium supplements. How would he react if she got into an accident and became paralyzed, or suffered from dementia as a senior? The thought of Justus changing her diapers made her cry all over again.
“Female,” a voice rumbled.
Logan gently moved her arms away from her face and she turned to the right where he was kneeling beside her. Concern brimmed in his warm, golden eyes.
“Why is there so much sorrow? It woke me from my sleep.”