The Mage medic dropped to her knees in front of me. I had seen her before. She was normally in here for any injuries that could, and usually did, occur. I was pretty sure her name was… “Hey, Lindy.”
“Bindi,” she murmured, her voice spiced with the South. “Now, what happened?”
“We were sparring. I hit her shoulder in the air, and she went down hard on her left side, then she started throwing up,” Elder Merrick stated in a clipped tone. “She said she wasn’t feeling well before.”
Bindi’s hands started glowing, and she placed one on my head. Oddly, it didn’t feel like anything. Staring into my eyes, she murmured, “What were you feeling before the match?”
I groaned as my stomach cramped. “I’ve got cramps.” Blinking a few times to keep her in focus, I mumbled for Elder Merrick’s benefit, “It wasn’t his fault. I got dizzy in the air.”
Her lips pinched. “You have a slight fever.”
And…the crowd went silent.
Swallowing hard, I mumbled, “I can’t have a germ.” Germs were the Mystical term for something sexually transmitted by a Com to a Mystical. We didn’t catch their diseases, but we did catch a ‘germ’ of sorts, which gave us Com flu-like symptoms.
“No chance of it?” she asked with a completely blank expression.
“No chance.”
“Truth,” Elder Merrick mumbled absently.
She kept that same expression. “When was the first day of your last menstrual cycle?”
I snorted. “I’m not pregnant.”
“Answer the question, please.” One of her glowing hands was roving over my head.
I thought about it, my eyebrows puckering as I counted the weeks silently.
Stalled. Recounted.
Then recounted once more.
My breath caught, my eyes focusing hard on her golden gaze, and I whispered, “Five weeks ago.” My heart took off in a wild gallop, complications hitting me hard. I shook my head, denial in every part of my being, because I’d had my tubes tied. “I can’t be pregnant.”
She nodded, though it appeared only functionary, as Elder Merrick and King Kincaid went stiff on either side of me. Her mouth opened to say something else, but King Kincaid bellowed, “Finn!”
It was so loud my ears rang, and I almost missed Finn saying, “I’m here.”
King Kincaid ordered, “Get over here.” His growl would have scared most people off, but Finn still moved into our line of sight, kneeling between the Mage medic and King Kincaid. Glowing, dark eyes slammed to him. “Test her for pregnancy.”
Finn blinked. “We haven’t had sex in three weeks.” He was alpha enough to meet King Kincaid’s glowing gaze and hold it. “We used condoms.” He shook his head, dark hair flying about his head. “Lots of them.”
Yes, we had used condoms. I hadn’t been able to tell him my tubes were tied because that would have brought up too many questions. I shook my head, mumbling again, “I can’t be pregnant.” My head was beginning to spin again, but it wasn’t from dizziness.
“Truth,” Elder Merrick whispered on a breath, eyes darting to mine and away, but no one else seemed to hear him.
The medic shook her head. “Test her. Condoms aren’t one hundred percent.”
Finn sucked in a rough breath, but nodded when King Kincaid’s growl grew louder. He leaned forward, placing his face at my neck. My wide gaze landed for the briefest moment on Ezra. I had to quickly glance away. He had to appear worse than I did right now. His face was pale and drawn, his jaw clenched tight and his arms crossed, a hand over his mouth as he stared at Finn, his eyes still glowing a bit.
Finn exhaled heavily against my throat, not at all as calm as he was pretending to be…then inhaled heavily, pressing his nose against my neck.
Nothing.
He inhaled once more, then leaned back, shaking his head. “If she’s pregnant, it’s not mine.” He would have reacted differently, yanking me away from them while being in full animalistic protection mode.
“Who else?” King Kincaid ignored Finn as he silently moved back, staring hard. “Lily, who else have you slept with?”
“I’m not pregnant,” I stated barely above a whisper, my hands starting to tremble.
“Who else?” he ordered, his power starting to rise.
“Don’t do this to me,” I pled on a breath, and watched his jaw harden. Taking advantage of his moment of silence, my eyes frantically darted to the medic. “Can’t you give me a stick to pee on or a blood test to prove I’m not pregnant?”
She blinked. “Standard urine pregnancy tests only work for Commoners.” Go figure I wouldn’t know that. She cocked her head. “A blood test might prove it, if you’re far enough along.” Her lips pinched, and she paused for a long moment. “Another, faster way is if a Vampire has tasted your blood and remembers it well enough. If so, the Vampire would be able to distinguish the subtle change.”
My vision blurred, even as I stilled.
“Goddamn it, Lily, you will tell me who the father is if you’re pregnant.” King Kincaid growled low, then his head shot up as he hissed, “Ezra, do you remember her blood well enough to tell if there’s a change?”
Sweat beaded on my brow, but I was thankful King Kincaid didn’t pull his power on me right here and now. I wasn’t sure I would be able to hold him off, feeling as I was. Having people around us know that Ezra had drunk off me, hopefully in their mind only once, was nothing compared to what they would think if they knew I’d had sex with him.
Ignoring the stunned crowd’s gasps, Ezra gradually nodded, hand still over his mouth. In all honesty, I wasn’t sure anymore if his dad’s hands were holding him back or just plain holding him up. King Kincaid motioned for him to get down here, apparently oblivious to the way Ezra looked ready to toss his own cookies.
Ezra’s chest rose, but he dropped his hands to his sides and moved forward, his dad hovering behind him as he knelt between Elder Merrick and the medic. Ezra’s eyes were directed downward, lids hooding his gaze heavily, and in a guttural tone he murmured, “Your hand, Lily.”
Unclenching my fisted hands, I quickly lifted one, hoping no one noticed how it trembled the barest bit. Blinking heavily, I shook my head past another wave of actual dizziness, my stomach churning again as it cramped. His warm — and sweaty — palm lifted mine higher. His grip was firm, and he used his other hand to extend one of my fingers. Lowering his head, I saw his fangs descend right before his lips closed over the tip of my index finger.