"Euan?" Kit asked, catching my eye. He saw the calculation running on my face. "What's the math?"
My throat went dry. The probability was not an asymptote anymore. It was a collision course.
"Zia," I said, my voice sounding strangely hollow in the tiled room. "When was your last cycle? Prior to the Claiming heat?"
She blinked at me from the floor. "I... I don't track it that closely when I'm on blockers. Why?"
"Alfie," I said. "Go to the pharmacy bag in the hallway closet. The one Cal stocked."
"Why?" Alfie asked, panic rising. "Does she need Pepto?"
"Get the white box," I said. "With the blue stripe."
Zia went very still.
Kit's hand stopped rubbing her back.
"Euan," Zia whispered. "You calculated... safety."
"I calculated airflow," I corrected gently. "I calculated security. I did not calculate for the biological potency of threeprime Alphas knotting an Omega during a synchronized estrus cycle because the statistical probability of conception usually requires..."
I trailed off.
"Requires what?" Alfie demanded, looking between us.
"Requires a miracle," Kit finished for me. His voice was a rumble of awe.
Zia stared at me. Her hand moved, unconsciously, to her stomach. It was flat. Unchanged. But inside...
"Go get the box, Alfie," Zia said. Her voice was stark.
Alfie ran.
He was back in thirty seconds. He handed the box to Zia like it was a bomb.
Proclaimed in all caps on the box was, DIGITAL PREDICTOR. 99% ACCURACY.
"I can't," Zia said, staring at it. "I can't do this alone."
"You're not alone," Kit said, tightening his grip. "We're right here. Furniture. Wall. Pack."
"We will wait outside the door," I offered, sensing the need for a moment of privacy. "Or we will stay. Your call. Parameters are yours."
She looked at us. The fear was there, yes. But underneath it, the colors were shifting. The slate grey of shock was warming into something gold.
"Stay," she said. "Turn around. But stay."
We turned around. We faced the wall of the bathroom.
We listened to the rustle of clothes. The silence. The waiting.
Three minutes. 180 seconds.
I counted them.
One.
Two.
