Dragon's Fire [PUP Squad Alpha 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) by Abby Blake

Nathan said in a voice filled with emotion. He knelt on the floor beside the bed, his hand lifting to tuck the soft curtain of her hair behind her ear. “Are you okay, baby?”
    “More than okay,” she said with a reassuring smile. She held her hand out to Brody, and he quickly joined her on the bed. She shuffled over to make room for Nathan. Brody very carefully placed his hand over her belly. Ava smiled and nodded, but a tear slipped from her eyes before she could hide it.
    “Ava?” Brody asked, feeling his heart squeeze tightly. Was she unhappy to be having their baby?
    “That’s a happy tear,” she said with a watery smile, “but there is something I need to tell you both.”
    “What is it, Ava?” Nathan asked with a worried smile. “You know you can tell us anything.”
    She nodded. “I…um…you know the way Kali and I sort of know stuff but don’t know how we know stuff? Well, we both know something about the baby that you need to know.”

Chapter Six
     
    Now that the time had come to say the words out loud, Ava found her throat closing over. Nathan was obviously excited to be having a baby together, and with humans not being compatible with dragon-shifters he would expect the baby to be his. Would he turn away from them when he learned the baby was Brody’s?
    And what about Brody? He’d never expected to have a baby with her. Would he try to push Nathan aside when he learned she carried a dragon-shifter child?
    “What is it, sweetheart?”
    “I…” She glanced at Nathan and then back at Brody, her uncertainty annoying the crap out of her. She loved these men. They loved her. Having a family was a natural progression. Whatever problems they encountered they would work through together. “The baby is a dragon-shifter. He’s Brody’s son.”
    She wanted to say something more, but anything else felt like an apology. She wasn’t going to apologize for having a baby, no matter who the father was.
    “That’s not possible,” Brody said with a sad smile. “We discussed this, sweetheart. On a genetic level we’re not compatible. The baby must be Nathan’s.” He leaned over, cupping the side of her face with his large palm. “It’s okay, Ava. I’m thrilled that you’re having Nathan’s baby. It doesn’t make me feel left out. It makes me happy to be part of something so beautiful.”
    But Nathan looked worried, very, very worried.
    “Are you sure, Ava?” he asked quietly.
    Ava nodded, fear coursing through her as Nathan glanced at Brody and shook his head.
    “Your mother…” he said to Brody, his voice sounding urgent. “She’ll know. She’ll sense the child, and she’ll come here.”
    “She’ll what?” Ava asked in shock. She hadn’t even met the woman. Come to think of it, Brody had said very little about his family.
    “It’s not possible,” Brody said, shaking his head. “Ava and Kali are mistaken.”
    But his words no longer held the conviction they had earlier. Despite what his lips were saying, it was obvious that Brody was really trying to deny everything that she’d told him but was failing miserably.
    “They’re not mistaken,” Nathan said in a voice that brooked no argument. “Call in your team. Tell them to meet us at safe house fourteen. Do it. Do it now!” He was already on his phone texting someone.
    Fear was coursing through Ava, her heart beating so rapidly that she thought she might pass out again. How had this gone from slightly awkward, but happy, conversation to full-on red alert?
    Brody opened a jump vortex, grabbed Ava, and dragged her through. Nathan was right behind them. Whether it was the adrenaline, fear, or the pregnancy Ava noticed a lot less nausea this time around. But she barely had a moment to consider it before Ronan, Alex, and Kali stepped through an invisible door, just like the pixie had done in her living room.
    “Dyson, Benjamin, Samuel, and Skye are setting up a perimeter,” Alex said in a voice that sounded pure soldier.