Submitting to the Shadow (Kindred Tales #27) - Evangeline Anderson Page 0,51

idea had taken hold in her mind, she found it impossible to ignore.

A host of other signs and symptoms began occurring to her. Her breasts and nipples had been increasingly tender lately and her peaks had gotten larger and darkened from a pale pink to a much deeper shade. Sammi had assumed it was because of how long and how often she wore the nipple caps, which teased and stimulated her constantly, but what if that wasn’t the reason?

What if her nipples had gotten larger and more tender and turned a darker shade of pink because she was pregnant?

And then there was the fact that certain foods she used to enjoy made her nauseous now. She couldn’t stand the smell of eggs or beef or jarred spaghetti sauce. She’d tried to eat a steak just last night and had nearly gagged on the first bite. What was that all about?

Also, why was she suddenly craving pickles? Not the dill kind—the sweet, bread and butter kind her mom used to make from scratch? Sammi had made herself a big batch just for something to do when she had first moved into the Mother Ship, assuming they would last her all year. But for the past week, she’d been eating a jar a day—sometimes more. Why would she crave something so badly that she usually only ate a few times a month?

Also, she had been wanting sauerkraut lately which she normally hated. She—

“Come on.” Meg was tugging on her arm.

Sammi looked up at her in confusion.

“What? Where are we going?”

“To see Liv—that nice girl I introduced you to when you first came on board,” Meg told her. “She’s a doctor and she can get you a test.”

“What—like a pregnancy test?” Sammi asked. “I don’t know, Meg—maybe I’m just being crazy and there’s nothing wrong with me.”

“Then the test will be negative and you’ll have put your mind to rest. Come on,” Meg said firmly. “You have to know, Sammi. Because if you are pregnant, somebody has a lot of explaining to do!”

Well, that was certainly true, Sammi thought faintly. She allowed Meg to lead her away from her uneaten breakfast and march her down the hall to the Med Center where Liv worked. Outwardly she was calm but inside, her stomach was a mass of butterflies.

It seemed that Roark’s insemination machine might be working better than he thought—better than either of them had ever thought possible.

Thirty-Six

“Well, you’re pregnant all right.” Liv handed Sammi two little flowers—both of them pink. “Twin girls—do you have any idea how rare that is when the father is a Kindred? It’s like a million to one shot. Who is the father, anyway—if you don’t mind me asking,” she added.

“I…I don’t know,” Sammi said numbly. Now that her hunch had been confirmed, she didn’t know how to act. She looked up to see Liv staring at her blankly.

“You don’t know?” she repeated, frowning. “Are you dating a human, then?”

“I’m not dating anyone,” Sammi said and burst into tears.

“Oh, Sammi!” Meg exclaimed and put a comforting arm around her shaking shoulders. “It’s okay, honey,” she told Sammi. “Just let it out—let it all out.” She looked up at Liv. “I’m sorry—but could we have a little time alone?”

“Of course.” Liv patted Sammi’s shoulder. “If you need anything at all, I’ll be right outside,” she promised.

“Th-thank you,” Sammi stuttered. But the minute Liv left the room, she really let it out. ”I don’t know wh-what to d-do,” she moaned through her sobs. “I don’t understand what’s happening. How can this be?”

“I’ll tell you what you do.” Meg was scowling. “You march straight to that lab and demand that Commander Roark tell you what exactly was in that ‘fake seed’ he was giving you! Because it obviously wasn’t fake! And how was he giving it to you, anyway?” she added, frowning.

Sammi couldn’t answer. She was too busy trying to get hold of herself and think how to deal with this crazy problem.

A plan—I need a plan, she told herself desperately. Any time she had an issue she had to solve, she always felt better once she had a plan.

Well first of all, Meg was right—she had to talk to Roark. She could tell him her theory about the babies she was carrying being a product of a stray Beast Kindred sperm. It occurred to her that maybe this wasn’t such bad news. They had talked, in a round about way, about couples who couldn’t conceive, adopting children. Would it really be