Page 53 of Labor of Love

“I’m not.” Despite his words, Tanner’s lips curled into a small smirk. “Just…fond memories.”

“They won’t be so fond in a moment,” Bracken warned.

Tanner’s smirk gave way to a confused sort of look. He cocked his head.

Bracken picked up his teacup. Set it down again. “Did you know fae omegas are capable of carrying children?”

Tanner straightened from his lean immediately. “I might have heard that somewhere.”

“And do you recall whether we used any sort of protection?”

The blank look on Tanner’s face might have been amusing, if Bracken wasn’t so nervous. “You told me you had an amulet.”

“It was for protection againstillness.” Bracken couldn’t help sounding snippy as he asked, “And do you always take the word of your erstwhile paramours?”

Tanner rubbed at the back of his neck. “I mean, I trusted you.”

More fool him, then.

“Well, you shouldn’t have.”

Bracken straightened in his seat for full dramatic effect. Although, it was a shame his belly had barely begun to show in any perceptible way. If he was going to be anxious about silly things like revealing surprise pregnancies to the unwitting father, he’d like to at least make a spectacle of it. Bracken would have waddled in at nine months if he’d been able to spare the time.Thatwould have been a showstopper.

Still. The drama was there. Tanner’s deep-brown eyes were certainly wide enough.

“I’m pregnant,” Bracken announced. And it must have been the horrible hormones that made the admission such a relief. It wasdefinitelythe hormones that had him tempted to break into tears. There was no other reason. None at all. “And it’s yours.”

3

It wasn’t until this moment that Tanner realized how few real shocks he’d had in his life.

He supposed it made sense. For all that he owned a bar, his life had been steady and predictable. He’d lived in this town all his days. He got along with his family. He’d had only a few lasting relationships, and those had been even-keeled, the decision to end things mutual and amicable.

But Bracken had just turned Tanner’s whole world upside down, and it had only taken five little words.

I’m pregnant. And it’s yours.

Tanner had long gotten accustomed to the idea that biological children were out of the picture for him. Human men didn’t have omega designations, and the fertility of other species’ omegas tended to be limited to others of their kind.

Bracken seemed to be giving Tanner a moment to come to terms with it. Tanner ran a hand over his beard thoughtfully. “I didn’t know fae omegas could get pregnant from sex with human men.”

“It’s very rare,” Bracken said breezily, waving a hand. “It speaks to some freakish compatibility.”

And Tanner’s face must have been doing the smug thing again, because Bracken immediately scowled at him. “I saidfreakish.”

Tanner laughed.

Holy shit. He was going to be a father. He was going to be afather.

He should buy everyone in here a round. On the house.

Except the two other patrons had already left, and it was just Tanner and Bracken.

Bracken, who was looking increasingly irritated, his lovely face pinched with annoyance. “You’re not even going to ask if I’m sure?”

“I trust you,” Tanner told him. And why wouldn’t he? The sex had definitely happened, and they hadn’t used a condom. Tanner wasn’t going to try to twist out of the facts.

Bracken narrowed his eyes in suspicion. Gods, he was cute. “You know, faecanlie. It’s a myth that we can’t. It’s just a little…uncomfortable.”

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