"Even if that’s true. First heats are never fertile…"
"Well, but there’s a certain special category of heats that don’t follow those rules. Heats triggered by a certain… factor."
I kept staring at him. My face probably looked clueless, but my mind wasn’t. Maybe the real question was: why didn’t I have the courage to believe it? To believe in miracles. Was it thebetamindset, never feeling deserving of the good things others had?
"Winter, I know you’ve been careful, maybe even scared, to hope. I’ve tried not to dwell on it, too. But maybe… maybe it’s time we faced the facts."
Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a small vial.
"This is my blood, Winter."
I froze. The tube was narrow, filled with dark red liquid.
"For God’s sake! Why are you carrying a vial of your own blood around? That’s kind of creepy."
"There’s a reason. I know you’re the type who won’t believe anything without hard evidence. I drew this about half an hour ago. Well, technically, Blue helped. He’s got medical training. I wouldn’t have dared to do it alone." He gave a sheepish chuckle.
"What are you getting at?"
"You know how to test if we’re True Mates, right?"
That question sent a chill down my spine.
Sothose wordshad been said. Finally.
I lowered my head, pulled on my pants, and stood up.
Only then did I answer, voice carefully neutral, "Measuring the level of veradiol hormone in the bloodstream… during separation."
"Exactly. During separation. That’s why I had my blood drawn before coming here. Now… after sex, the drop in levels should be noticeable. I’ll head to the lab, get another sample taken, and compare the results."
It was slowly sinking in. My eyes stayed locked on his face while my mind was racing. Racing like crazy.
"You really think it’ll show something?" My voice was quiet, but even I heard the hopeful tone in it.
"Yes, Winter. It will."
Wow, he was so sure. There was a strange tension in the air, not a bad one, though. More like anticipation.
"So, are we going?"
I blinked. "Now? Right this second?"
Oh, I was so ready to put this never-ending torture of doubt to rest.
"Yes. I see you’re already dressed. Let’s get it over with. The nearest lab is literally one building over."
He stood up too, and now we were just looking at each other across the bed.
"Okay," I exhaled. "I’ll be honest. I really want to see proof of this. I was so close to believing it on the island… but the doubts kept creeping back."
"Then we end them now."
My body was tense, stirred, excited. Was this the moment I was about to learn something that would change my entire life?
"I should just take a pregnancy test on the fly," I muttered, feeling weird. The fact that those words even came out of my mouth seemed absurd.
Had something truly impossible happened? Were we both pregnant at the same time? And were we both… the parents of each other’s children?
