“I was asking the pregnant woman,” the doctor says, and Bram huffs, crossing his arms.
“I think about ten or eleven weeks.”
“How have you been feeling?”
“Some morning sickness and some fatigue, but other than that, not so bad. I think some of my stress has been self-induced.”
“You think?” Bram asks, and Sloane sighs.
“You’re allowed to request confidentiality with your medical professional if you would like to be seen alone,” Dr. Mann says. Bram looks completely affronted.
Sloane sighs and shakes her head. “No, I want them here.”
The doctor gives Bram a pointed look, and the large Alpha seems to shut his mouth and listen.
“We’re going to do a blood panel to check your levels, and I’ll send the tech in to do your ultrasound. As far as bonding during pregnancy, there have been no studies done that say it’s harmful in any way. If anything, it can help bring the Omega mother comfort during her pregnancy. Being unbonded can cause a lot of unwanted stress, and it helps the expectant father, or fathers, help with the mother’s emotions. But since you’re here, we can check in and make sure everything is alright. Have you been taking a prenatal vitamin?”
“Yes,” she responds, and Bram and Max both look at her, wondering where she’s hiding them.
That would be in my nightstand. But they don’t need to know that I’m her prenatal gummy dealer. We can keep that secret ours.
“Thank you,” Sloane says.
“I’ll be back, Nurse Sardea will get your blood sample, and I’ll be back later to discuss the results.”
She nods and leaves the room. The nurse takes Sloane’s blood while Bram hovers over the poor woman like he’s going tobreak her neck if she leaves a bruise. As soon as she leaves, Bram starts his inquisition.
“Why? Why did you keep this a secret for so long? Max and I have been worried sick wondering what we could do to make things better since that day. Don’t you think we deserved to know?”
I stand up, and Sloane waves a hand at me.
“I can explain myself, Ethan. It’s okay.”
I sit back in my seat as Bram gives me a stern glare.
“I found out at the hospital when I didn’t know if you were going to be okay or not. Ethan and I didn’t know what was going on, and we were both so scared. Fuck, I’m still scared,” Sloane says, wrapping her arms around herself. “Then you were recovering. You and Max were getting along, becoming friends. I didn’t want to bring this up and have you two at each other’s throats again.”
“Why would we be at each other’s throats?” Bram asks.
“Over who the biological father is,” Sloane says plainly. Bram shakes his head, and she glares at him. “Don’t give me that. You used to hate him, Bram. You two got in a physical fight during my heat. We were going to pack therapy to figure out how to make this all work when our life got flipped upside down. I’ve never been more scared in my life than I was that day. I thought I lost you. I thought I’d never get to bond with you. I wanted to make sure that you recovered and that the moment I told you we wouldn’t be back to square one.”
“You think I’m that petty?” Bram says.
We all give him a look, and he sighs and places his hand on the back of her bed.
“I thought about telling you when we were watchingScent Your Match,” she whispers.
Bram furrows his brows like he’s deep in thought as it dawns on him.
“Fuck, Sloane,” he says, grabbing the seat and grabbing her hand. “In an ideal world, we would have had time to be a pack before having kids. But I’m happy. I mean, I’m fucking terrified, but I’m happy.”
“You are?”
“We all are,” I add in because I’m the helpful Beta of the pack.
“Oh, don’t think you’re off the hook, you sneaky fucking secret keeper.” Bram points at me.
“Omega trumps Alpha. I don’t know what you want from me,” I say, and Sloane points at me like I have a point.
