Micah sat at his desk at AKM, reviewing the Skeletor footage again, searching for anything he might have missed.
Sev had spent two hours combing the pedway today, only to turn up a lot of nothing. Stryker and his team had continued the hunt when the night shift went on duty, and Io was still trying to backtrace the hack into AKM’s system. But with each minute that ticked by without news they’d found something, it became glaringly apparent they were back at square one, with nothing to go on. Which meant they were probably going to have to wait until Skeletor made his next move. Then they could get another shot.
But that didn’t mean Micah was tucking his tail. He would continue to scour the evidence in hopes something would turn up.
A knock at the door pulled his attention from the video footage looping on his screen.
“Malek. What are you doing here?” He rounded the desk and pulled Malek into a heart-felt bear hug. Gina was with him and stood to the side, all smiles and gratitude. “I thought you were living the good life during your calling, buddy.”
Malek clapped him on the back once then tightly embraced him. “I have been, believe me.”
They separated, and Malek closed his hand over Gina’s, pulling her against his side.
“You look good.” Micah nodded, glancing from one to the other. “Both of you.”
“Thanks to you,” Malek said.
“And Brak,” Gina added.
Malek nodded. “Yes, and Brak. Without him, neither of us would be here right now.”
Gina had almost died less than two weeks ago. In fact, she had died. Her heart had stopped beating and everything. And Malek had lost his shit. But Brak had used his magic mojo and somehow revived Gina, bringing her back from the dead. Which saved Malek, who’d been seconds away from ending his own life.
Once more, they’d cheated death, beating the odds the way they always seemed to do. One day their luck was bound to run out, but Micah was happy to ride the wave as long as it lasted.
“So, what are you two doing here?” He leaned his hip against the side of his desk and crossed his arms. “You ready to come back to work?”
Malek and Gina exchanged secretive glances and Gina’s cheeks colored as her smile widened.
“No, not quite yet.” Malek cleared his throat. “Uh, we just came from seeing the doctor.”
“Oh?” the bottom fell out of Micah’s stomach. He knew what was coming. Taking a quick peek inside Malek’s thoughts confirmed it a half-second before Malek said . . .
“Gina’s pregnant.”
He forced himself to smile. “Congratulations. I’m happy for you, my brother. I can’t think of anyone who deserves a child more than you do.”
The words felt like hollow-tipped bullets to his own heart, but he meant them. Malek had been through the worst kind of hell known to the universe. He truly deserved to find happiness. But being happy for someone else didn’t mean he wasn’t feeling a bit like a flat tire for himself.
Compassion filled Malek’s eyes. He knew how long Micah had wanted a child and that hearing his own good news had to hurt. “Micah, I’m sorry. I—”
Micah held up his hand, cutting Malek off. He didn’t need Malek’s sympathy right now. This was his friend’s moment, not his.
“Save that shit, Malek. I’m fine. I’ll be okay. You just focus on making your female happy and seeing your child arrive safely into the world. Revel in this, Malek. And you . . .” He turned toward Gina and ruffled her short hair. “You let my brother from another mother dote on you all he wants.” He faked an evil eye when Gina appeared ready to protest. “He’s waited a long time for this, and I can already see how eager he is to take care of you, so you just sit back and enjoy being treated like the queen you are in his heart, you hear?” He lowered his chin and looked at her from the tops of his eyes for emphasis.
Gina sighed. “Males. You’re all such hormone divas.”
“Damn straight.” Micah said, chucking Malek on the shoulder before turning and heading back behind the desk.
Malek stepped forward. “I heard someone broke into your apartment and you’re having trouble tracking the guy down. Do you need me to stick around and lend a hand? I could—”
“Nope.” Micah shook his head. “Get out of here. Take your female home and celebrate. We’ll talk later.”
“Well, if you need me, you know where I am.”
Once he was alone again, Micah clasped his hands in front of him, elbows resting on the desk, and tilted his forehead against his thumbs.
Everyone was taking mates and getting pregnant.
Everyone except him and Sam. They’d mated, he’d experienced his first calling with her, but her body hadn’t accepted his offering. Despite making love to her at least fifty times in less than two weeks, she hadn’t gotten pregnant.
He rubbed his palms over his face and eyed the open door for less than a second before he got up and closed it. He didn’t want to see anyone right now, and he didn’t want anyone seeing him. Not like this. Not when he felt like a shark trapped in a net, on the verge of drowning.
Returning to his chair, he bowed his head into his hands as he spun around and faced the back of the office.
Josie was pregnant. Miriam was pregnant. Now, Gina was pregnant. If Sev and Ari had mated females instead of each other, they would likely be pregnant, too.
And yet, Sam remained barren.
Micah was happy for his friends. He knew how important having a young was for a male vampire.
God, did he ever know!
He lived it every day. Every time he made love to Sam, he hoped against hope he would be the exception to the rule. That he would be like Tristan or that sperm factory, Lakota, and somehow impregnate Sam without being in his calling.
But every day, every week, and every month passed without seeing Sam’s belly swell.
It got so he no longer even checked for a baby’s life signature inside her, a habit he had fought to get out of for weeks after coming out of his calling. One that had begun to cause him physical pain each time he placed his hand over her stomach as she slept, only to feel nothing but her presence. No stirring of a second life inside her. No cellular mitosis as new, microscopic life stirred into existence.
His fingers pushed into his hair and curled against his scalp as he slowly shook his head. He wanted to believe that Sam’s body had just been too weak to get pregnant so soon after he’d changed her into his davala. But what if the truth was something else? What if, for all his efforts, he couldn’t produce children? What if he was infertile?
It was possible. Centuries ago, when he’d been mated to Kat, they hadn’t been able to have children, either. They’d assumed she was barren, but what if it had been him? Other male vampires had proven infertile. A rarity to be sure, but not an impossibility.
Micah sank his face into his hands again. What if he could never give Sam a child, no matter how hard he tried, how many callings he endured, or how badly he wanted kids? What if he was shooting blanks. Maybe a future with children of his own simply wasn’t in his cards, and if it wasn’t, would Sam be disappointed? Would she resent him?
“Please don’t do that to me,” he whispered into his hands, to God or whatever universal entity ruled over life on Earth. “Please don’t be that cruel.”
And there, in the silence of his office, with his face in his hands, Mighty Micah broke.
Not much got to a warrior like him. But when it came to his mate and having children, he could shed tears.
And shed them he did.