Page 5 of Bonded Ever After

Pregnant.

Pregnant.

Pregnant?The word echoes through my mind. I hadn’t even thought of it. Didn’t even consider it. Gold Keepers have great difficulty getting pregnant. It usually takes years to accomplish, with the help of tracking ovulation, adjusting sperm temperatures, etc. There’s no way I could have just accidentally gotten pregnant.Right?

I sit up. “Gold Keepers need a lot of help to get pregnant.”

“Okay,” she says.

“It took my parents at least five years. Callum’s parents were the same.”

“Uh huh.”

“I-I just can’t be,” I stutter.

Her eyes lock onto mine. “So, you haven’t been having sex?”

My stomach drops, and I think I might be sick again. “I, well, I have been.”

“Ferone,” she says softly.

I look away. “It can’t be though, right?”

Beva smacks her hands on her thighs. “Probably not, but let’s get a pregnancy test, just in case.”

She gets up to go, but I grab her hand. “No one can know about this.”

If anyone finds out, my world will fall apart. A Gold Keeper being pregnant wouldn’t just be hot news, it’d be theonlynews.

Her gaze gentles. “The store clerk will think it’s mine. I’ll be sure to hide it on the way home. I won’t let anyone even suspect it. I know how huge it would be if you were pregnant, to everyone. No one needs to know until you’re ready.”

“Thank you,” slips past my lips.

She hurries out of her room, and I fall back onto the mattress, every muscle in my body tight. I can’t be pregnant, especially not with Callum’s baby. The Council would never allow such a thing to happen. I would have to…

I stop myself, clenching my hands. I’m not going to think about any of that. In all likelihood, I’m not pregnant. Maybe I did just eat something bad. Freaking out about nothing would be a complete waste of time.

I get up and start cleaning and organizing Beva’s room. It’s a total disaster from the packing, so I stay busy with it until Beva returns with the pregnancy test. Actually, three pregnancy tests. She hands them to me, and I wordlessly go to the bathroom, read the directions over and over again until I feel like I’ve memorized them, then pee on all three tests. When I’m done, I cap the tests and head out to Beva’s room.

Where… we wait.

THREE

Elora

We sit on the floor, the tests between us, sitting in silence. Time ticks by and neither of us looks at the tests. She just stares at her watch, waiting for the five minutes to pass.

“It’s time,” she finally says.

I pick up one test. There are two lines. My stomach flips. “Two lines. That means…”

“Yes,” she says softly, “but check the others.”

I grab the next one, and dread fills me as I read the results. “Two lines.”

“Okay.” Her voice shakes.

Then I lift the third test. “Two. Fucking. Lines.”

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