I wiped furiously at my cheeks and tried to steady myself. I really didn’t want to say it out loud. What if it was true? What if itwasn’t? “And Rafe s-said that I smelled preg-pregnant. He said the wolf could smell it. He thinks I’m pregnant.”
Her jaw went slack, and for the first time I could remember, the witch was speechless.
The silence just gave more time for the torrent of feelings and fears to spill out. “It has to be Dodge’s. If it’s true, it has to be Dodge’s. But he doesn’t want me. He doesn’t want anything to do with me. I don’t know... Will it be a wolf? If it’s his, I mean, does that mean I might give birth to a puppy? And I don’t have a job. I have no references and I can’t get a job and how the fuck am I going to afford ababywith all my student loans and I’m not even paying for this apartment. I never thought about being a single mom, I can’t – I can’t...”
She held her hands up. “Whoa. Take a breath. I’m serious. Deep breath. That’s it. Nice and easy. No use getting worked up. Have you taken a pregnancy test?”
“No.” I stared at her. “They literally just left ten minutes ago. I couldn’t... I didn’t know what to do.”
“So you called me?” She smiled, amused, but reached over to squeeze my hand. “I’m flattered. Seriously. But there’s no reason to get worked up until you’ve taken a test or gone to the doctor. Right? It could be nothing. I find it hard to believe that Rafe has been around enough pregnant women to know what they smell like, and everyone smells different, from what Miles says. So let’s just take a test. Okay?”
I nodded woodenly, still searching for equilibrium, and watched as she went to the bags she’d left by the door. When she pulled out a box of pregnancy tests, I stared at her even more. “What? Are you psychic? Seriously? How the fuck did you... How...”
Her cheeks flushed as she returned to the living room and opened the box a little self-consciously. “I’m not psychic, I promise. I was getting these for me. I’m late. We weren’ttrying, really, but he’s never been good about protection and I stopped taking my birth control a couple months ago, so... It could have just happened.”
My head spun. “Congratulations?”
She laughed, but I knew her well enough to see the nervousness in her eyes, the uncertainty in the way she studied the box and fiddled with one of the tests. “Nothing to congratulate yet, friend. I wasn’t looking forward to taking this by myself, so thanks for making it easier. We both take one and then we both get the results at the same time. Cool?”
“This is the weirdest thing ever,” I said, but I took the test and headed for a bathroom. It was definitely not the way I’d envisioned my day going, but at least I didn’t have to wait to find out the answer. I just hoped I was prepared for whatever the test said.
Chapter 49
Dodge
He didn’t bother going back to his room upstairs, and instead slept in the cellar. Silas lurked around, though they were both allowed upstairs and could go wherever they wanted. Dodge didn’t want to be in his room because it no longer smelled like Persephone. His pillows had carried her scent for a week or so after their night together, but after two months... Not a hint of her remained. It was too painful.
He was pleasantly buzzed, working his way to black-out drunk, when his phone rang. Dodge wanted to ignore it until whoever it was gave up, but after the first time it stopped, the ringing started again. Silas grumbled and shot him a dirty look from where the wolf lounged on a futon across the room. Evershaw finally upgraded the furniture down there when it was obvious neither Dodge nor Silas wanted to leave the dark underground.
Dodge fumbled on the floor until he picked up the damn phone, pressing it to his ear and squinting into the cellar as if he could see who called. “Yeah?”
“It’s O’Shea,” a rough voice said.
Dodge’s eyes narrowed and he sat up slowly. Why the fuck was Rafe O’Shea calling him? Had something happened to Persephone? “Is she okay?”
“She’s fine,” O’Shea said. He’d called once or twice over the previous few weeks, mostly to give status updates to Evershaw, but him calling Dodge was new. The wolf alpha’s voice held a strange, unknown tension. “Stopped by to see her today. She’s doing okay, though she looks thin and might have some kind of cold. Have Mercy check on her tomorrow.”
Dodge tensed. Something else was going on. “You were there? You saw her? Why were you at her apartment?”
He hated the idea of another male – even one happily mated to his own soul-mate – being near Persephone, particularly if she wasn’t feeling well.
O’Shea grumbled but answered, as if he sensed why it drove Dodge crazy. “Meadow wanted to invite her to dinner. So we did. Percy said she would think about it and might come over later this week. She said...”
The wolf alpha hesitated and Dodge’s hackles rose. The bastard wasn’t telling him something. He ground his teeth until agony ignited in his temples and Silas sat up in alarm. “What did she say?”
The silence stretched until Dodge had to swallow a howl of rage. Finally, O’Shea said, “She said she might want to join our pack. To join BloodMoon.”
Growling drowned out whatever else O’Shea might have tried to say, and Dodge felt the wolf clawing at his control.No. Persephone would not join a different pack. If she joined a pack, it would behispack. Athisside. Withhim.
“Shut up, asshole, and let me finish,” O’shea barked. “For fuck’s sake. She asked, I gave her my contact information and told her she was always welcome. I know – would you just stop fucking growling for a second – I know she’s your mate and I know you want her with you, but if she wants to join my pack, the door is fucking open. Doesn’t matter what you say or do, man. We’ll protect her. And if she doesn’t want to be around you, then it’s better she’s with BloodMoon than on her own.”
Dodge didn’t believe him. Persephone needed to be withhim. The wolf kept snarling, even after O’Shea called him an asshole again and hung up. Not even the rest of the bottle of whiskey helped calm the beast. Dodge paced and growled as his thoughts whirled. Cricket weaseled his way down the stairs and hopped onto the futon next to Silas, trying to snuggle up to the wolf – who sneezed on the cat and nosed him away over and over. Cricket kept circling back around until Silas gave up and let himself be used as a pillow, though he kept his attention on Dodge.
Dodge still couldn’t process what O’Shea had said when the cellar door opened and Todd stuck his head in. His expression darkened when he saw Dodge, and the second’s voice reached him as a bark. “It smells like shit down here. Go get cleaned up. We’re having guests for dinner and Deirdre said you’re going to sit there and be nice. She doesn’t want you hiding in the basement like a troll.”
He growled in response. The words wouldn’t form in his throat when the wolf was so close to the surface.
Todd’s eyes narrowed and he advanced a few steps to peer more closely at Dodge. “Don’t tell me you’re starting this again. Do I need to get Evershaw down here to straighten you out?”
