Head Hunter (City Shifters the Pack #3) - Layla Nash Page 0,106
stop by?”
The guarded tone made me wonder who she’d expected to upset me. Maybe Rafe or Meadow reached out to her to explain what happened. I flopped onto the couch and waited as she dropped several bags near the door before joining me. “Well, Rafe and Meadow were here. They came by to invite me to dinner.”
“Okay.” She eyed me, waiting for the other shoe.
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 it wasn’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 a baby with 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’t trying, 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