The prospect did not seem to please him, but given his upbringing, she didn’t really expect an uncomplicated relationship between him and his father and brother.

Selma leaned forward to rest her cheek against his chest, her eyes fluttering closed at the contact with his strong, warm form. If she could help him heal, she would, not because of Bealith’s plan to break the darkness within the demon world, but because he deserved the care and tenderness his mother had denied him.

Kain stroked her hair in a gentle caress. “Come, little one. Let’s get you home.”

21

Selma

This time, the silence emphasized by the soft hum of the car’s engine was pleasant.

On the way here, Selma had been weighed down by the prospect of never seeing Kain again, of never getting the chance to explore what it was about him that called to her on more than just the most primal of levels.

She glanced to her left something fluttered low in her belly. His dark eyes trained on the road ahead of them were illuminated by the dashboard, his strong hands resting on the steering wheel. Eyes that could make her blood burn with just one look and hands that could melt her with a simple caress.

Okay, so maybe she was eager to explore the primal levels with him, too.

His low growl made her sex clench and her panties suddenly dampen. How did a growl do this to her?

“I can smell you,” he said without taking his eyes off the road, but when she glanced at his hands, his knuckles were white around the wheel. “Your need.”

“Handy.” She couldn’t keep the breathy note from her voice. “When we get to a motel, will I have to forcibly seduce you again? Or are you over the belief that you’re molesting me?”

“My morals are irrelevant. You carry my son and will need my seed to survive the pregnancy.”

Her eyebrows arched. “Uh… what?”

He let out a low sigh. “My semen will strengthen your body when we mate so that you may endure the full nine months with a demon growing inside of you. Without it, you would soon weaken and die.”

She blinked. Repeatedly. Some of the warm, fuzzy feelings that had been spreading inside her since she’d accepted her pregnancy faded.

“My child will kill me?”

“No, I would never let that happen. But he needs a lot of power, and he will drain your life essence to grow if not supplied with another source. He may look human to you once you hold him in your arms, but he will not be a human baby. Which brings me to something else you should know.”

His eyes darted to her for a brief moment, a certain measure of worry evident in them despite the lack of light in the car. “We normally know our Breeders are pregnant when they, ah, see through our disguise.”