Page 121 of Demon Boss' Baby Load

Nat clutched Duke’s arm against his chest, amazed that this was all his now.

* * *

“We’renothavinga gingerbread man birth,” Nat said firmly to Duke, who was in his Hell-skin.

Duke scrunched his eyebrows together. “What makes you think I want that?”

“You brought gingerbread men here!” Nat said indignantly.

“That’s because I got a hankering toeatgingerbread men, after you kept talking about it,” Duke said dryly.

“What’s a gingerbread man birth?” Mallie asked, bouncing into the room. “I wanna see!”

Nat cringed. Why was Mallie here, when there were so many adults milling around in Duke’s family’s mansion? Duke’s parents and siblings had all wanted time with Mallie, Teddy, and Wanda, and Nat had assumed that she would be preoccupied through his labor.

Instead, she bounded over to where he was sitting on the edge of the guestroom bed, her face aglow with excitement.

Hubrie stepped in and cleared his throat. “Gingerbread children happen when a man falls in love with a special baker who puts buns in people’s ovens—”

“What’s wrong with putting buns in someone’s oven?” Mallie asked, confused.

Hubrie opened his mouth to speak.

Ever so calmly, Duke rose to his feet, crossed the room, and dragged Hubrie out.

“Wait! What was Hubrie gonna say?” Mallie raced after them, narrowly missing Duke shaking his butler just out of sight.

Hubrie shifted into a sparrow and flew away; Duke shook his fist at him.

“You’ll understand when you get older,” Duke said.

Mallie folded her arms and pouted. “I’m older than I was a second ago!”

Duke laughed. “Nice try. But I meant when you’re eighteen years old.”

Mallie scowled.

As Nat tried to think of something to distract her with, Duke’s brother Onyx walked by, with his omega Liem perched on his shoulders.

Onyx was an ink-black demon, Liem was a wolf shifter, and there were two small pups in Liem’s arms.

When Onyx saw them, he smiled. “Need some help?”

Before Nat could answer, a contraction rippled through him. It hurt.

Duke exchanged a look with his brother. The next thing Nat knew, Onyx was stepping into the room, grinning at Mallie.

“Looks like Nat and your Papa need a little time to themselves. Why don’t you come play with Liem and our pups?”

Mallie rolled her eyes. “My dads are always needing time to themselves.”

Nat froze, glancing at Duke.My dads?

Duke seemed just as surprised; they hadn’t planned on making him Mallie and Teddy’s official dad so soon.

“I’m—your dad, Mal?” Nat asked.

Mallie rolled her eyes. “Duh! You’ve already bonded; that means we’re all family, right?

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