Jade
The waitoutside the bathroom lasted eons. I tapped my foot in time with the passing seconds, which had dragged into minutes. It didn’t escape my attention that I let out a restless sigh every few moments.
I was normally a bastion of patience, but since Alaric sequestered himself in the bathroom with a pregnancy test, evenIwas strained for it. In reality, only two minutes had passed, but waiting for the immediate test results felt longer than the month it took to conceive the egg.
“How is everything?” I asked through the door.
“The same as when you asked thirty seconds ago,” Alaric grouched. “Why don’t you go read a book or something?”
“For once, I’d rather not.”
Alaric huffed. “Just wait. It’ll be done soon.”
I pushed my glasses up just to dosomethinginstead of standing there uselessly. Only a few days had passed since Alaric and I could’ve possibly conceived, but I’d asked Gaius to bring us a special shifter pregnancy test that delivered results earlier in gestation than human versions. In five minutes, we’d knowif Alaric was pregnant or not. I never thought I’d be so heart-poundingly excited over a urine-soaked stick.
A rapid-fire knock came from the door to my room. I breathed out in exasperation. No doubt it was my nosy brothers here to scope the situation.
I threw open the door to reveal the twins and Mylo. They often orbited around each other like a triad of atoms. Before anyone could speak, I stated, “We don’t know the results yet.” Then I raised a brow. “Hang on, how did you all know about the pregnancy test?”
Aurum blinked. “Uh, we didn’t.”
“But now we do,” Saffron added with a grin.
Aurum sounded surprised. “A pregnancy test? Like when you piss on a stick? I don’t remember Mylo doing one of those.”
Mylo gave his mate a shy smile. “I didn’t. I just waited, since everyone said it wouldn’t take long to find out. But I remember Alaric suggesting a pregnancy test.”
“Were we supposed to do one?” Aurum asked.
“No, Alaric and I are just impatient,” I said wryly.
“More like they just wanted to pee on the stick,” Saffron mock-whispered, making Aurum snicker.
I ignored them. “We both wanted to know as soon as possible through the powers of science and chorionic gonadotropin.”
“The chronic what now?” Aurum asked.
“Never mind,” I said. “What are you all doing here?”
Aurum put his arm tighter around Saffron, who looked sheepish but excited. “I am so glad you asked. We know you’re gonna be a new dad and all, but we figured we’d plan ahead. See? We learned a lot about organizing while we did your job.”
“What Aurum is saying,” Mylo said, “is that Saffron wants to be the next bachelor.”
Saffron nodded vigorously.
I smiled at my younger brother. “Of course we can do that. I wanted you to go ahead of me, remember?”
“Yeah, I know, I know,” Saffron blurted. “I didn’t wanna go right after Aurum. But now that you’re all mated up, it can finally be my turn!”
The reason for their visit dawned on me. A satisfied smirk crossed my lips.
“Let me guess. You want me in charge of organization again,” I suggested.
The twins clasped their hands together and flashed two bright, matching smiles. “Pleaaase?”
Their unnecessary begging amused me. As if I’d let anyone else take control of the Games after the catastrophic mishaps during my season.
I released a mock sigh, like a great weight had been placed on my shoulders. “All right, fine. I suppose I can relieve you of all managerial duties.”
