Now I was just confused. Earl had never been overprotective of Julie before. She had started participating in MHI missions when she was still a teenager. Julie had actually cut her prom date short in order to tag along with Earl to take out an ogre. “She’s one of the most talented Hunters we’ve got. Why waste her up there?”

Earl’s manner made it obvious that he didn’t want to be having this conversation. “Because if everything goes to complete shit, or that bastard Stricken makes his move early, she can make a break for it in the chopper with Skippy. No matter what, she needs to survive.”

“Yeah, no kidding. We don’t do this kind of thing and try not to survive. You yelled at her for going into 1613 too. I’m not leaving until I have an answer. What’s the deal?”

“Listen to me, Owen…” Earl tossed the butt of his cigarette into a potted plant. “Here’s the deal. I don’t want her in harm’s way because Julie’s pregnant.”

“Wait…” My stomach lurched. “What? How?”

Earl folded his arms and smirked at me. “How? Really, kid?”

“No, I mean…” My brain was having a really difficult time sending messages to my mouth. Suddenly flushed and dizzy, I was really glad I was already sitting down. “Pregnant? How do you know?”

“You forget how sensitive my nose is. Humans are walking hormonal cocktails. Werewolves can spot a pregnant woman a mile away, you know, pick the slow ones out of the herd. Don’t you dare tell her I said that. I could tell as soon as y’all flew in. So yeah, that’s my first great-great-grandkid in there. You’re gonna be a father. Congratulations. Now, no matter what, we make sure Julie lives through this. Not counting the Boss back in Alabama, who ain’t no spring chicken, the last of the Shacklefords are all here, and I will not tolerate my family dying out. Period.”

I wasn’t mentally ready for this. We’d talked about it, but because of the Guardian’s curse we’d been too scared of the repercussions to risk it. What if the baby inherited the marks? We’d taken precautions. Julie was on the pill. Ninety-nine percent effective, my ass. Thoughts and emotions were colliding in my head. I was too confused to know how I felt. “I…Wow…Oh, man. Does she know? Did you tell her?”

“Thought about it. I couldn’t decide if that would make the situation better or worse. Quarantined with a nightmare creature? I figured she had enough to worry about without complicating matters. What was I supposed to do? Maybe I haven’t been thinking too clearly myself.”

“I’m sorry about Heather.”