Fuck!!!! I'm Having The Alpha Princess's Baby.

The final bell of the school day usually felt like a relief, but today it just felt like a heavy weight. I tried to stick to the plan we’d made, moving through the halls with a purpose I didn’t actually feel. Inside, I was still fuming. Being upset didn’t even cover it; I was livid. There is a specific kind of heat that rises in my chest when someone decides to insult my brother.

He isn’t just my big brother to me. Since our parents haven’t been in the picture, he’s been the one stepping up. He is like a father to me in every way that matters. I know he’s been giving Princess a hard time lately, and I know it looks like he’s being difficult for no reason, but I get it. He’s just being protective. He doesn’t trust anyone when it comes to me, and honestly, after everything, I can’t blame him for that.

I stood outside by the parking area, waiting for Sasha and Malo to finish up whatever they were doing. To kill time, my eyes scanned the rows of vehicles. It was weird, I started noticing the varieties of motorcycles parked everywhere. They weren’t just the standard cruisers you see in old movies; they looked more like high-end sports bikes, sleek and aggressive. Lately, it felt like I was seeing more of these bikes than the usual cars or bicycles. It was like a shift had happened overnight. Everyone was riding bikes now. I shook my head, leaning against a pillar. Wow, that’s actually new.

Finally, the two of them emerged from the building. Sasha didn’t waste any time, waving us over to her car. She drove us straight to the Petrova Library. It was a massive, imposing building that always felt a bit cold, but it was known for having more books and information about ancient history and lore than any school library could dream of.

We walked through the doors, the smell of old paper and wax hitting us immediately. We were there for one reason: to find anything related to our connection. The string, the pull, the whole mess. I picked up a thick lore history book and slumped into a chair at a back table. Malo wandered the aisles for a second before grabbing one titled Beast Morpher. He muttered something about looking for something specific and disappeared into the pages. Sasha was the least helpful of the bunch. I had no idea what she was actually doing; she was just hovering around the shelves, busy taking pictures of random things with her phone.

Time started to slip away. Minutes turned into 30, and we found absolutely nothing about what we were actually looking for. My book was filled with the usual tired stories about ancient legendary Weres. It was the exact same stuff they’ve been cramming down our throats since grade school history class.

It felt like a total waste of time. Worse than that, it felt like a waste of my 50 dollars. That’s what I was losing by choosing to be late for work today. I closed the book with a heavy thud, the sound echoing a bit too loud in the quiet room. I rested my head on the table, the cool wood pressing against my forehead, and let out a long groan. The stress of the day was finally catching up to me. Between the fight, the library, and the silence from my phone, I was exhausted. I couldn’t help but wonder why Princess hadn’t called me yet. Not a text, not a missed call, nothing since what happened in the classroom.

"I found it!"

Malo’s voice was a sharp blade that jolted me upright. My heart hammered against my ribs as I blinked at him.

"You found something? About the string connection?" I asked, hope flared up in my chest for a second.

"No, I wasn’t searching for that," Malo said, not even looking up. "I was browsing for something else."

He slid the book across the table toward me. I looked down at the page he had open. It wasn’t a map or a spell; it was a picture of a fish. Well, it was more like a fish-man. The image was a grainy black and white illustration, and the book itself looked like it was about to fall apart at the seams. It was old, worn, and smelled like dust.

"So what does a were-looking fish have to do with what we came here for?" I asked, feeling my annoyance return.

"This right here is a Beast Morpher," Malo explained. He gestured for me to get closer, and I leaned in to read the cramped text. "To become one, you have to merge with a special beast. According to this, it morphs with a fish called the Blue Spark Shark."

My eyes tracked across the lines of text. Eat to merge. You gain the ability of the spark.

The drawing was detailed enough that a chill went down my spine. It looked exactly like the fish Patrick had almost swallowed back at the hotel. The memory of that weird, innocent fish came rushing back.

"Fuck," I muttered, the realization hitting me like a physical punch. "That dude would have fried us to death if he had actually eaten it."

"Yes," Malo said, his voice grave. "That’s exactly what he was trying to do."

I just sat there staring at the book, my mouth hanging open slightly. This wasn’t just some boring legend; this was real, and we had been standing right next to it. Suddenly, the ancient history felt way more interesting than the lore book I had been suffering through. My original reason for coming to the library vanished into thin air. Malo and I got completely absorbed in the pages, flipping through to see what other kinds of beasts were out there in the world.

I looked around and noticed Sasha was nowhere to be found. She’d drifted off somewhere else in the stacks.

I checked my phone and realized I had already spent more than minutes on this. I really needed to get to work or I was going to be in deep trouble. I couldn’t take the book with me, so I started taking pictures of every single page I could. It was a thick tome, and I was trying to be fast, angling the phone to get the text clear.

As I was snapping a photo of a particularly weird-looking creature, someone suddenly snatched the phone right out of my hand.

"Hey!" I barked, spinning around in my seat.

I looked up and the words died in my throat. Standing there was a young lady. She was tall and, honestly, very busty. She was wearing a pair of reading glasses perched on her nose, which somehow made her look even more attractive than she already was. I swallowed hard and quickly shut my mouth, feeling the heat rise to my face.

"You are violating policy," she said. Her voice was firm but calm. "I have to delete these."

She was already tapping away at the screen, going through my gallery with professional speed. I looked over and saw Sasha, who had apparently been taking pictures too. She quickly hid her phone behind her back and flashed a perfectly innocent smile that wouldn’t have fooled anyone. Malo stood up slowly.

"Mrs. Petro, we were just trying to do our assignments," Malo said, trying to sound like a struggling student.

"Assignments?" She looked at him over the rim of her glasses. "I don’t think the school teaches about Beast Morphers. And this place is meant for tourists, not unauthorized copying."

Even her voice sounded smooth, like silk. She did a final swipe on my phone. "All deleted."

She handed the phone back to me and walked away without another word, her heels clicking against the floor.

"Who the fuck does she think she is?" I muttered under my breath, staring at my empty photo gallery in disbelief.

"The owner," Sasha said, finally stepping closer now that the coast was clear.

"Was that...?" I trailed off, the realization finally clicking in my brain.

"Yes. That’s Kiara’s mum. Mrs. Karina Petro," Sasha said. She was still watching the woman as she patrolled the far end of the library like a hawk.

Wow. Kiara’s mum is hot.

There was no denying it. Everything about her, from the way she carried herself to the way she looked in those glasses, said so. I stood there for a second, totally stunned.

How in the world does someone like Kiara have a mum like her?