A person could wait the weeks until their period started, but the nice tests, like these, could check a bit earlier. At the very least, they could get a positive while still in the ‘late period or pregnant?’ stage.
Which made her stomach roll again.
Alison did the math in her head, quick and frantic. Five weeks had passed since her heat.
Five weeks and no period. She was still in the range of it being possible, since an omega could get her period between four and six weeks after a heat, but her exhaustion and headaches and all of it turned sinister.
She grabbed a test with shaking hands, reading over the directions three times when she couldn’t seem to absorb the information on the first two goes.
She took the test, then set it on the counter and paced.
Please, be negative.She repeated the words like one of those stupid self-help affirmation tapes, as if she could will that into the universe by sheer belief alone.
Her stomach was worse, her breath quick. She hadn’t really considered becoming pregnant to be a possibility. She wasn’t the mothering type. What the fuck was she going to do if it was positive? She couldn’t have a child. She had no idea what to do with a kid. She hadn’t really had parents, so who the hell was she going to emulate?
And all those issues ignored that she’d be walking away from the alphas the second the case was over. The last thing she wanted was a reason for them to argue about it.
She glanced at the clock, dread settling deep inside her as the seconds ticked away until she could check.
Finally, it was time. The test sat on the edge of the counter like a trap, as though if she didn’t look, it couldn’t hurt her, couldn’t be true.
She crept forward as though trying to avoid being noticed, like she could see it without it seeing her and that would somehow make things okay.
Her stomach rolled as she looked at it, as she read the tiny window for the answer. As quickly as she did, she bolted for the toilet and up came everything she thought she’d kept down.
Two lines. I’m pregnant…
Kyle’s gaze had shifted up toward the house every minute since Alison had left.
He’d seen the look on her face, the paleness of her cheeks.
She’d needed to get away. She didn’t handle get-togethers like this well, it seemed. Which he couldn’t say he fully understood.
She’d known these people better and for longer than he had. Sure, she might have kept her distance from the alphas, but she knew the omegas. She’d been friends with them, even if she didn’t talk much about it.
So why she couldn’t just relax and have fun, he didn’t understand.
“I don’t think you should see her anymore,” Dylan said.
Kyle jerked his gaze back, ready to bare his teeth until he realized the alpha was talking to Tracy and not him.
“She isn’t that bad.”
“You just told me she broke some man’s arm,” he deadpanned.
“To be fair,” Kara said, “the man grabbed a waitress’s ass. I feel like that’s almost wearing a ‘please break my arm’ shirt.”
“I broke a man’s hand when he grabbed Ashley’s ass,” Erik added, no repentance in his voice. “Hand is better. You put an arm in a sling and it’s fine. Hand? All those little bones? It’s a far longer lesson.”
Ashley’s mouth gaped open before she shoved Erik’s arm, as if scolding him.
He caught her and pulled her into his lap despite her weak protest. “People who touch what is mine don’t deserve to have unbroken limbs.”
Kyle chuckled at the exchange. The more time he spent with these people, the more he found himself missing this sense of family. He’d moved around with Daniel so much, been away from what little family they had for so long, he’d forgotten how much he enjoyed the feeling of belonging.
Maybe we should think about setting down some roots.
Trent had done it, creating himself a life there. Why couldn’t they? Hell, maybe all of them could move forward.
