Page 58 of Thrown into the Mob

“With Madd being a wolf shifter, you might not lay eggs.”

That’s weird. My dragon was convinced I had eggs inside me.

I couldn’t think about eggs or no eggs. My mate was going to be a dad and he needed to hear it from me.

“Let me examine you.”

It was too early for Treyton to feel anything in my belly, but when he said examine, he meant sniff. That was odd, but he bent his head over my belly and nodded.

“Almost certain you have a baby in there and no eggs.”

TWENTY-EIGHT

MADD

I knew something was wrong when Conrad met me outside Flint's office.

There was no reason for him to wait for me. The meeting with Flint wasn’t about the current dragon threat, though it had pointed out blind spots in my investigation.

Conrad had his hands in his pockets, and he took a deep breath before looking in my direction. He wasn’t staring at his feet, but his hands were twitching which was probably why he’d hidden them. But it was his expression that gave him away. His eyes had the look of someone who was delivering bad news. I couldn’t say how I knew that but my heart thudded so loudly, my ears were ringing.

He smells different. My wolf had picked that up, and when I sniffed the air, I discovered a warmer version of my mate’s scent.

“How was the debrief?” he asked.

Now I understood how serious whatever he was going to tell me was. He was avoiding it, and maybe he was going to give me good news before breaking the bad, the horrible, or the terrifying information.

“It was pointless, as we suspected. It’s ancient history.” I flapped my hand, wanting to be rid of that conversation and on to whatever Conrad had to say. “But what’s going on with you?”

I exhaled, hoping when I took in another breath, my world hadn’t been shattered.

“Can we go to the room?”

I gulped and clutched my belly as if we were zooming up in an elevator. People suggested going somewhere private with a door between them and the rest of the world when they had to deliver really bad news.

Conrad took my hand. It was clammy, and we walked to the second floor in silence. When we entered the room, my mate closed the door and didn't move far from it. His expression reminded me of when we’d met in the garden with his twin. He was hurting and fighting a desire for something I couldn’t fathom.

“Sit down, please,” he told me.

No. My mate said his father delivered news when Conrad was standing up and only told him to sit on that day, when he spoke of Evander’s and my upcoming mating ceremony.

“No. Just say it. Whatever it is, we can get past it.”

He winced as though he was experiencing physical pain, and I wanted to hug him and make it go away.

“I’m pregnant.”

The compound was never silent. There were always wolves murmuring and doors closing. And kids somewhere making noise. But inside my head, there was no sound, not from my wolf or my brain processing information.

“Pregnant.” I couldn’t do more than repeat what he’d said.

“Treyton confirmed it an hour ago.”

There were so many things wrong with what he’d told me and one thing that was right.

Treyton, my brother, knew before I did.

This happened an hour ago.