15. Jeremiah

JEREMIAH

Once my mate left, I dozed for a little while longer. When the sunlight hit my eyes and no amount of tossing or turning would block it out, I threw the covers back and got out of bed. I went about my morning business–brushing my teeth, washing my face, and using the toilet. That"s when I saw the blood.

I sucked in a breath. I was not prepared to find blood between my legs this morning or any morning. No one ever was, especially someone who was pretty sure they were pregnant.

I showered quickly and got dressed in a pair of simple jeans and an old band t-shirt from my high school days. Trev was standing outside my door, acting as guard. I knew it would be several more hours before Felik returned from seeing his brother. He planned on taking the scenic route to his family home, in case he was being tailed by anyone. He also planned to make a few seemingly random stops to act like he didn't have a care in the world.

Meanwhile, I was stuck in this house with just my family, dealing with a crisis. One I didn't feel comfortable discussing with them.

I turned to Trev, hoping to pull off casual and not as panicked as I felt. "Where is everyone?"

"Orsino left to go to one of the casinos. Joey and Andro are still in their suite. On days like today, where there isn't much going on, the two of them tend to spend a lot of time in there. Same with Louie and Connor. Do you need something?" Trev's brow furrowed as he looked me over.

I appreciated his astuteness when I needed a guard, he was definitely good at his job, but right now, I needed to be examined, but not by one of my brother's guards.

"I don't know where to start. First, I need to get to the nearest urgent care or hospital."

Trev"s eyes narrowed. "There's an urgent care clinic attached to the hospital in town, not far from the casino actually. Are you ill?"

Trev was family, a cousin, but he answered to my brother, and I was not about to give him any more information than he needed.

"It"s an omega thing. Don"t worry about it." I wanted answers for myself before I could even begin to answer them for anyone else. I pushed to move past him, but he gripped my arm gently.

"Jer, you're not leaving this house on your own. We'll go and take care of whatever you need, but we'll go armed." There was no mistaking the determination in his voice. It was a compromise I could live with.

We wouldn't alert Andro, but I would have to go under guard. "Fine. Give me a gun."

He smiled. "Only because I know you know how to use one. Honestly, I'm surprised you're not packing already."

I shrugged. "Might be. You"ll never know." I wasn"t, obviously.

And when Felik pulled out a sidearm at dinner, I was surprised. Since I wasn"t involved in the family business, at least not directly, I didn"t feel the need to carry a gun all the time. I rarely did on campus, and I certainly hadn"t been about to try to get one past airport security. I didn't even know they made TSA-approved gun cases for traveling until he later explained it to me.

Felik had said he was going to visit the armory before leaving to meet with his brother. I hoped he had an entire arsenal with him to deal with Vince.

"Let"s go. We"ll get you a holster and whatever you need."

"Thanks, Trev. I appreciate it."

Within twenty-five minutes, we were on the road. Trev was in the driver's seat of one of the many SUVs Andro owned. Why we had so many cars, I would never understand.

Our trip was slightly delayed while I emptied the contents of my stomach into a toilet bowl. That had not been a pleasant experience, but Trev waited patiently outside the door and then offered me a bottle of water afterward.

The man deserved a raise. He was going above and beyond without asking any questions, even though he had to suspect why I needed a doctor so suddenly.

I appreciated his discretion regardless.

It felt like hours before we were taken to an exam room, though in reality, it hadn't taken long at all. There was some paperwork to fill out since I hadn't been to a doctor in this area in a long time, but at least the place wasn't busy.

Trev stayed in the waiting room, reluctantly. Meanwhile, I was alone in the exam room, my leg bouncing up and down. The paper that covered the exam table crinkled underneath me each time I moved.

The doctor came in and offered me a kind smile. He was an older man, his hair as white as his lab coat. "What seems to be the concern today?"

"It"s possible that I"m pregnant, and I noticed some spotting this morning."

He jotted something on his notepad. "Okay. Do you have a confirmed pregnancy test?"

I shook my head. "No."

"Let"s get one of those. Make sure we know what we"re working with. And then, if it"s positive, we can wheel you over to our ultrasound room and get you looked at. Is there an alpha that you"d like to have present?"

I bit my lip. "Yes, but he"s working today, and I know he wouldn't want to miss this." I wrung my hands in my lap, unsure what to do. Felik would hate not being here. I only hoped that he would forgive me for going without him.

"Just take a deep breath." The doctor patted my shoulder reassuringly. "We"ll make sure everything"s okay, and then your alpha can be here for the next one."

"Okay." I did as I was told and tried to settle my nerves. "Thank you."

He handed me the things I needed to take a pee test. We didn"t even have to wait the full three minutes before it came back bright and positive.

"Oh wow. It's really real." Panic seized me, and I put my hands over my stomach as if I could protect the precious life there. "But I"m spotting. Could something be wrong?"

"Spotting can sometimes be normal. That"s what we"ll figure out with the ultrasound."

I was glad we came to a full-service clinic. I debated on whether or not to let Trev in the room with me, but I knew Felik wouldn't like another alpha present for this part. Not if he didn"t get to experience it himself.

I sent Trev a quick message so he wasn't worried. Having some tests run, should be done soon.

No problem. I'm getting a snack from the coffee cart now.I was glad he was keeping occupied. I felt bad leaving him alone for so long.

Inside the ultrasound room, the tech gave me a wide smile, as the doctor turned the screen so they could both see it. "It"s just faster this way." He nodded toward the tech to get started.

I wondered if he had recognized my family name. We donated quite a lot to this hospital. We donated a lot to a lot of places. Generous funding was one surefire way to get in good with a community. Or so my father always told me.

The tech got to work with the wand, but my focus was on the doctor's face. I wanted to see if there were any signs of concern in case he tried to shield me from bad news.

The doctor looked at the screen intently, clearly understanding what it all meant. Everything looked like staticy globs to me, and maybe a little bean or two.

The tech held the wand still and pointed to the screen. "Right there."

"What is it?" I asked. "Is something wrong?"

The doctor smiled and patted my shoulder. "Well, spotting is definitely normal in this situation, but there's not a lot to worry about. But I"m glad you came in, because this way we know what we"re dealing with."

"What are we dealing with?" I was getting more worried every time he told me not to worry.

"See there, that circle and the one next to it?" He pointed to the screen again.

"Yes. Is that my womb?"

"Well, the large thing around it is. Those two circles are your babies."

"Babies?" I looked between him and the monitor. "There are two?"

The doctor smiled. "Yes, two."

"Holy shit, there"s two?"

"Yes." The doctor chuckled. "You'll have some fantastic news for your alpha when he returns home."

Fantastic news indeed. I knew he wanted children. I knew I wanted children. But two at once was…. terrifying? Amazing? Mind-blowing. All of the above.

The tech printed some of the ultrasound pictures for me, and I stared at the image on the screen while I walked to where Trev was.

"Everything all right?"

I handed the images to him to decipher because words weren't coming to me.

"What am I looking at? You have some blob things? Is it a kidney stone? Those suck."

"Babies. Two of them." I shook my head, just staring into space. "Can you believe it?"

Trev whistled. "Holy shit."

"No kidding."

Trev put his arm around my shoulder to comfort me but also to guide me to where we were going. We were just a few steps from the car when I finally snapped back to reality.

We needed to get home before anyone noticed we were gone, but I could barely comprehend where I was and what was happening. Shock gripped me and would not relent.

The snap of a gunshot splitting the air pulled me from my own mind. I looked around to where it could be coming from as I reached for my weapon. We were in the parking lot of the hospital, and with the way sound echoed on all the concrete, it could have come from anywhere.

Then I realized that Trev was slumping over as his legs folded unnaturally beneath him.

I gripped his midsection to hold him upright, but he was too heavy.

He moaned in pain and a warm liquid covered my hand.

"Trev! Trev?" I dropped to the ground next to him and released the gun so I could hold my hands over his wound while blood began pooling between my fingers.

Strong arms gripped mine and pulled me away, leaving Trev to bleed out.

I fought against them, needing to stop the bleeding. If I could get Trev inside the hospital, he would be fine. We were so close to the doctors who could help him.

"No!" Trev reached for me with one hand as he grappled for his gun with the other.

One of the men let go of me long enough to deliver a kick to Trev's face.

His hand fell to the concrete, and he was completely still.

"No—" I tried to yell for help but a hand covered my mouth and muffled my scream, while an arm snaked around my middle and carried me away.