Page 65 of Mating of Convenience
“Hey there, sleeping beauty,” I said as he lifted his head to look at me out of bleary eyes that widened when he noticed that I was awake.
“You’re up!” he stated the obvious, but I decided not to mock him because he was adorable--and also because I had questions.
“What happened?”
Nathan straightened, either trying to get comfortable in his chair or buying time. Maybe both. “You uh…” He licked his lips and started again. “You scared the crap out of me. Where the hell did you get heat inducers?”
Oh. Right. I’d taken those, hadn’t I? Laurence had said they would be fun. Blacking out and waking up in a hospital bed was not my definition of fun. “A friend gave them to me,” I said. “I wanted to surprise you.”
Nathan huffed. “Yousurprisedme all right.”
Ow. My mate was not amused. I couldn’t really blame him--he must have been worried. I would have been, had our roles been reversed. “I’m sorry. I didn’t think this was going to happen. For that matter, what actually happened? Also, is there water anywhere?” I felt parched, though I knew the IV drip connected to my left arm was probably providing me with all the fluid I needed.
“Hang on.” Nathan rose from his chair and picked up a glass of water that stood on a low table to my other side. When I sat up, he held it to my lips. The cool liquid felt wonderful going down my throat.
“Thanks.”
“You’re welcome. Let me know if you need more.”
“What I really need are some answers.”
“Maybe you should sleep a little more before we talk about it.” Nathan glanced at the window and I followed his gaze. It was dark outside. “Sorry I never turned out the light,” he mumbled. “I can go do that now. I just… didn’t want to miss any signs that you might be waking up.”
That was so genuinely sweet that I didn’t know how to respond. Even though I’d known Nathan forever, he still managed to catch me off guard with statements like that.
“I don’t mind about the light,” I said finally. “Is there anyone else in this room?” I nodded at the two beds on the other side and Nathan shook his head.
“I haven’t seen or heard anyone.” He rubbed his eyes. My silly alpha. He toldmeto sleep more but he was just as tired, if not more so.
“I don’t think I can go back to sleep before I know what happened.”
Nathan’s gaze flickered from me to the floor and back. “You had a bad reaction to the pills you took. It’s one of the reasons they were banned, you know? Lots of omegas reacted badly. Nothing at all abnormal about it. Never take them again, okay? I can’t go through another night like this, and I can’t--“ he stopped abruptly and shook his head at himself as if something had almost slipped his mouth.
I knew Nathan. There was something he wasn’t telling me.
But what?
“I’m so sorry, turtle. This wasn’t the plan.” I reached out to him and ran my fingers into his hair. “I promise I won’t do it again.” It wasn’t all that much either. Now that my throat wasn’t feeling so badly anymore, I was starting to notice other little aches in my body. Mostly in mylowerbody. I was sore, and not the kind of sore I was after a night of good sex. It was more like I’d gone through some severe cramps. Not fun at all.
But the worst of it was that I’d hurt my mate. He looked at me with so much emotion that I knew he was about two seconds away from tears and I didn’t know how to make it better, not when I didn’t even have all the facts. I traced my fingers down to his jaw. “There’s something else, isn’t there?”
Something that would explain why I was wearing a diaper, or something that felt like it. Thatcouldn’tbe standard, and now that I’d noticed it, I couldn’t un-notice it and pretend that everything was all right.
Nathan took a shuddering breath and I tried to push back against that feeling of dread that was trying to take over me.
“There’s a… a reason you reacted the way you did. Or that’s what the doctors tell me anyway.”
I narrowed my eyes at my mate. What was he trying to tell me? “Does it have anything to do with my infertility?”
Nathan shook his head and then he made a sound that almost sounded like a laugh, only not amused at all. “You’re not.”
“I’m not what?”
“You’re not infertile.”
Now he had really lost me. “What are you talking about? Did they run a fertility test on me while I was out?” That couldn’t be the case, could it?
“Not exactly.” Nathan’s gaze drifted to the floor before he made himself meet my eyes again. There was so much sorrow in his that I didn’t know what to expect at all. How long had I been out and what could have happened in that time frame to make my silly alpha look like that?
