Chapter 21
Skylar
Anthony disappeared—and I was pissed. I’d had a feeling he would pull some shit like this, especially after what had happened. I’d figured work would be awkward, but we were adults. We could’ve worked together without being bitter.
But Anthony had called the hospital CEO and put in for an emergency leave of absence, and nobody had batted a single damn eyelash about it.
And fuck all if I was going to go ask his parents where he’d gone. I considered asking Jace, but I couldn’t bring myself to go anywhere near anyone in that cult.
Yeah, I said it.
I couldn’t help but wonder if Sammy had anything to do with him leaving.
I hadn’t met the witch, but there had been a woman coming out of the administrative office at the hospital last week who definitely had a different energy around her.
It was almost like I could sense people now.
The announcement of Anthony taking his leave came shortly after I saw her there at the hospital.
So, here we were, almost two weeks he’d been gone, and I’d settled my heart to believe it was eighteen years ago all over again.
I tried to pretend I wasn’t grieving. I knew he was probably off finding out what happened to those people in Washington, but he hadn’t checked in, hadn’t called or even texted.
What was I supposed to think except that he’d gotten bad news and any day now I was going to have my memory wiped?
I didn’t want to think that way. My mind just kept going to it, kept getting darker and darker. I left the hospital for lunch, as I had most days since Anthony had left. The last thing I needed right now was to run into Bret. That would’ve been the icing on the cake.
My new favorite place was this small café that I knew wouldn’t be crowded during lunch.
I’d be able to eat alone and in peace. I got my fancy sandwich and coffee and sat down in the corner, then pulled up a book on my phone.
I hadn’t been able to read any of those damn romance books, either.
I was on a murder mystery. At least there were no fucking dragons in it.
Halfway through my sandwich, a woman flopped down across from me. Holy shit. It was the same woman who left the administrative office that day. And she still felt off somehow. I didn’t have to guess. “Hello, Sammy.”
She smiled. “Skye. You’re as smart as you look.”
“Are you here to wipe my memories?” I asked.
Sammy sat back in her chair. “I was ordered to.”
My heart broke. Tears sprang to my eyes. I tried to keep them away but knowing that Anthony was going to make all the knowledge disappear, and all the feelings for each other, all the love I had in my heart for him, even though I was mad at him for disappearing again.
“Anthony didn’t give the order,” she said. “It came as a message from him.”
I tried not to let the tears spill over. Blinking hard, I stared at the witch. “What do you mean?”
“I received the order second-hand. The clan isn’t too keen on him disappearing with Jace.”
I hadn’t realized he’d taken Jace with him. Maybe he would be coming back eventually, then. I’d just assumed he’d gone alone.
And if he’d contacted me at all, I might’ve known differently.
“I’m feeling a little guilty,” she said. “I gave them the nudge they needed.”
“What are you talking about?” I asked.
“Anthony was looking for more couples like you, with no luck. Clans are very secretive and their witches are protective. If a secret as big as human pairings got out, it could send clans into a frenzy. Anthony seemed desperate, though. And he’s my friend before he’s my alpha, since I’m not a dragon.
And so I used my power and resources and sent him to what I think, and hope, are the answers he seeks.
Anthony’s dad isn’t happy with this news, but I was called by another member of the pack who claimed to be acting on Anthony’s behalf.
She wants your memories wiped before Anthony returns. ”
Why did this bitch hate me so much? “Tessa?” I asked.
Sammy cringed. “You’ve already had to deal with her?”
I nodded. “I don’t know if it’s jealousy or what.”
“Fear,” she said. “She’s scared that human women will start taking all the dragons. If I have my way, she won’t end up with anyone. She poisons anyone she comes near.” She sighed. “She’s also scared of change, but in that, she’s not the only one.”
“So, are you going to do as she’s said? Are you obligated to?” I asked. I still had half my lunch in front of me, but my mouth was full of sawdust. No way I could’ve taken another bite.
Sammy shook her head. “Anthony is my alpha, and I don’t see you as a threat. It’s a part of my witchy gifts.” She gave me a secret smile and stood. “I’m sure I’ll be seeing more of you soon.”
With that, she left the cafe.
Holy shit. My adrenaline crashed when Sammy was gone, and it was all I could do not to melt into a puddle there at the table. I gathered my trash and went back to work, ready to throw myself into my patients and to try not to think about fucking Tessa.
Hard as I tried, my emotions were mixed. I wasn’t sure what to make of Sammy’s visit. Should I wait for Anthony? Or was I wasting my time with all of this? Maybe it was time to cut my losses and move on. I just couldn’t be sure.
As I walked into the hospital, I spotted Bret sitting on a bench looking like his entire world had just fallen apart. Damn it. Keep walking! But the soft part of my heart told me to check on him.
I stopped in the doorway and sucked in a deep breath. Damn it again. Turning, I walked to the bench beside the doors. “You okay?”
“Yeah,” he said. His voice said otherwise, but who was I to argue with him?
“Okay.” I turned to go back in.
“The baby isn’t mine,” Bret said in a voice damn near breaking down.
Oh, karma. What a slick bitch.
I tried really hard not to smile as I faced him. “What?” I managed to keep the grin off my face, but only just.
“Mary went into labor, and when the baby was born, it was quite obvious that he didn’t belong to me.”
I gave him a blank look. “Newborns can be quite deceiving. Their skin color can be skewed, and their little facial features distorted.”
He snorted. “I asked and she confessed everything. She’d been seeing another man. She still has contact with him, and she’s leaving me for him, since the baby is his.”
I tried to pick my jaw up off the floor, but it didn't work. “Geez, Bret. That’s pretty bad.” About as bad as getting another woman pregnant a couple of months before our wedding, but I kept that part to myself.
I tried to feel sorry for him, but the best I could muster was a pat on the shoulder.
“You’ll get over it, in time.” I didn’t make it a point to revel in the pain of others but damn if I wasn’t lighting a candle when I got home.
He looked up at me with a broken gaze. “I’m so sorry,” he whispered. “I shouldn’t have taken you for granted. You were the best, brightest thing in my life and I ruined it. I should’ve waited for you to be ready to have a baby.”
All the talk of babies made me pause. My cycle was pretty irregular, thanks to the PCOS, but I’d gotten good at timing them.
If I stayed on a specific birth control, my periods were pretty regular.
But if I went off that birth control, things went wonky, though I’d never gotten pregnant while off of it.
Now that I counted it up, I’d been due for a period over the past month. I stood in front of the hospital, in front of Bret, and tried to breathe. “I forgive you,” I said absently. “All the best, gotta run.”
Turning back toward the hospital, I didn’t head for my floor.
My patients would have to wait. I tucked myself into the bathroom and pulled my birth control out of my purse.
Using my phone calendar, where I logged every time I started a new container of pills, I counted up how many should’ve been left.
Son of a bitch. I’d missed one. One pill too many.
With my stomach rolling, I exited the bathroom and went straight for the OB/GYN floor and grabbed the arm of a nurse I knew there, Charity. “Hey, can you squeeze me in for an appointment?” I asked.
She gave me a strange look. “Sure, what’s wrong?”
I pulled her to the side. “I just need a pregnancy test.”
“Well, shit, hang on. Those are a dime a dozen.” She turned around and opened a drawer, then pulled out a white package. “Here, go do it now.”
I snatched the package from her hand and ran for the bathroom. There was a little plastic cup by the sink. I grabbed one and followed all the instructions, dipping the little stick into my urine a few minutes later.
I set it on a napkin and read the instructions. Okay. Three lines was pregnant. Two was not. One was an error.
By the time I read that and looked back at the tiny stick… it had three lines.
Shit. Oh, shit. It had just been one pill!
How was this possible?
“Skye?” Charity called and tapped on the door. “You okay?”
I unlocked the door and peered out at her. “No, can you come in here?”
She bustled in, her hips filling up half the bathroom as I clutched her arm. She stared at the pregnancy test. “Yep,” she said. “That’s pregnant.”
“How?” I asked weakly.
“Well, sugar, when a man loves a woman…”
“Stop it, Charity, you know I have PCOS.”
She waved me off and patted my hand. “You know that not every case is the same.”
That wasn’t really what I’d meant, though she couldn’t have known that. I was wondering how in the hell I was pregnant with a dragon’s baby.
Charity went out to get a second test. I sat in a spare room and chugged a bottle of water.
The thirty minutes that I played a game on my phone and waited until I thought I could pee again were the longest of my entire life.
When I thought I could get enough urine out, I took it again and sure enough, three lines popped up within seconds.
I didn’t even need the full three minutes.
I cleaned up and washed my hands and shuffled out to the reception desk to make a real appointment. But shit, could I even use a regular doctor? Or was there some clan doctor I could go to?
The rest of my day passed in a fog. All my nurses asked what was wrong, but I kept blaming my behavior on not feeling well. Finally, it was time to go home where at least I could be alone and try to wrap my mind around the fact that I was pregnant…with a dragon baby.
When I parked, I didn’t notice anyone on my porch. I was all the way on my front stoop before I saw Tessa sitting in the rocking chair beside my front door.
“What do you want?” I asked flatly.
She held up her hands. “I come in peace.”
Yeah, right. My protective instincts ricocheted up to a hundred. This bitch was a danger and now I had more than myself to protect.
“You’ve got to come with me,” she said. “Anthony’s been hurt, and he needs your blood.”
Fear pounded through me instantly. “What? How? Why didn’t his parents come for me?”
She rolled her eyes. “Because they’re going to him, idiot. God, you’re stupid.”
Well, that settled my suspicions a little. She wasn’t trying to fool me by sweet-talking me. “My blood?” I asked.
“Mate blood has healing properties. If you’re ever hurt, you need to get a transfusion of Anthony’s blood and vice versa.”
“Even though I’m human?” I asked.
Tessa stopped and looked confused. “Actually, I’m not sure. I assume so. We have to try, and we need to hurry.”
“Fine,” I said. “Where’s your car?” I asked.
She rolled her eyes again. “I flew here, genius. We’ll take your car. To Anthony’s house.”
I nodded and turned to go back to my car, but out of the blue, a cloud of dust surrounded my face. I turned back to Tessa in time to see her blowing the last of it off of her palm. “Sorry, not sorry,” she said in a sing-song voice. “But I can’t let you have him.”
Damn it. “Baby,” I managed to whisper before my body turned to jelly and the darkness overtook me.