37. Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Halley
It could be minutes or hours, but Everlyn returns to the room with her datapad in hand. I study her features, searching for any hint of what the test revealed, but she's an experienced doctor and gives me nothing.
I'm struck by the urge to kick her in the shins just to get her to show me some sort of reaction.
The Pack halts, going completely still.
Shade drops his datapad onto the table while Knox's head snaps up so fast it's a blur. Viper’s hand closes around Blaise’s wrist mid-stab, stopping the knife before it can drive into the table between his fingers.
There is a beat of silence, and then all four of them move, showing off their super-soldier speed. I blink and they're already next to me.
Knox is at my side with Viper crowding in next to him, reaching for my hand.
Shade appears at my right, pressing himself against my arm, and I can feel his heart hammering.
Blaise somehow wedges himself in too, even though there is very obviously not enough room for that much Alpha around one Omega.
"Oh, good," Everlyn says dryly. "Perfect. I was worried there wouldn't be a stampede of baby daddies."
Blaze points at her with the knife still in hand. "So? Tell us!"
"First put the knife down," Everlyn says.
Blaise blinks at the knife as if only just realizing he's brandishing it. He smiles apologetically and says, "Yeah, fair. That’s fair." He tucks it into the sheath clipped to his belt.
Viper’s palm rubs my back, ducking his head down to frown at me. "Breathe, pretty girl."
"I am breathing," I snap back. Now isn't the time for relaxation tips. Now is the time for answers!
"Barely," Knox mutters.
My head whips toward him. "Excuse me, whose side are you all on?"
Shade lifts our joined hands and presses two fingers to the inside of my wrist. "Your pulse is racing."
I wrench my hand out of his hold, shooting him a betrayed look. "Why is my Pack turning on me right now?"
Shade raises an accusing eyebrow. "Because you look like you’re about to launch yourself across the room and shake Everlyn until the answer falls out."
Blaise brightens. "I think that’s a great plan, actually. Shaking is an underrated torture technique."
Everlyn pins him with a stern glare. "If anyone shakes me, I’m leaving without saying a word."
Blaise gasps. "You wouldn't dare!"
"Try me, you little stab-happy-nightmare."
The corner of my mouth twitches despite myself, and I exhale.
It's probably weird that banter in the form of violent threats and insults is what calms my nerves, but all that matters is that it's working.
And they're right. I need to center myself before I hear this news, because either result is going to be like a sucker-punch to the gut.
The air in my lungs still feels hot and jumpy, but with each measured breath, I find myself feeling more grounded.
I reach through the bond, seeking out the feel of each of my mates, and they respond with love and support surrounding me without hesitation. Our bond hums pleasantly as the nervous tension of our little group lowers.
Everlyn glances over the four of them and then looks at me, studying us with curiosity. "Neat trick."
"Okay, I'm ready now," I tell her with a resolute nod.
My fingers curl harder in Viper’s hand, and he matches it, tightening his grip.
"The pregnancy result was clear, and I can tell you that you are—"
A sharp, grating siren cuts her off.
For one stunned heartbeat, nobody moves.
The rising wail from the ancient alert system slices through the silence. It's a horrible, eerie noise that sounds like the fortress itself is screaming.
Every part of me goes cold.
Shade snatches his datapad off the table. The air displaces as Knox moves to the window beside the door swiftly, peering out.
"That’s the outer alarm," Shade says, his voice gone thin and shrewd. "We had more time!"
"What?" I gasp, unsure what is happening.
Knox whirls to face me, his face paler than before. "The enemy is here."
The bond lurches, and all that warmth vanishes under the battle instinct, fear, and cold focus pouring off my Pack.
I shake my head, protesting despite the mounting evidence that the war has begun. "No. Shade said we still had two days—"
A deafening boom shakes the entire room, stifling my voice.
Another blast instantly follows, rolling through the stone under my boots, rattling objects off the shelves in the cabinets.
Viper's protective instincts ignite, and he drags me against him, his arms wrapping around me tightly.
"Fuck. Fuck, how did they get artillery close enough to strike without us knowing?" Shade gasps.
The sirens keep shrieking, warped by the stone walls until the whole room seems to echo with them.
Everlyn takes one step toward me, datapad held tight in her hand. "Halley, I can tell you the result right now."
My gaze drops to the screen. After two weeks of wondering, the answer is finally within reach.
Positive or negative. It's right there.
Then I look at my mates.
Knox is already half gone, mentally on the battlement walls, in the command room, and down on the road to the Pass.
Shade is buried in his datapad, searching for a reason the attack has started two days early without his drones or the patrols realizing.
Viper looks split open down the middle, torn between staying wrapped around me and running toward the fight.
Blaze has replaced Blaise and is vibrating with the need to move and launch into battle.
If I know the test result, then they will know.
We were supposed to have time to process the answer before the battle began. A few days to get our heads in the game wasn't much, but it was what we were prepared for.
Now, if I am pregnant, they will go into this battle carrying a new sort of fear with them.
One that they don't know how to handle or turn off.
Every instinct they have will turn toward protecting me, their pregnant mate, at the exact moment they need to be thinking about the fortress, the enemy, and the Pass.
If the answer is no, they will carry that as a wound, too.
We cannot afford either distraction.
"Don't."
Everlyn blinks. "Halley?"
"Don’t tell me."
The words catch on the way out, and I clear my throat before I make myself say the rest with more control. "Please, not now."
The infirmary falls quiet beneath the wailing of the sirens.
Viper eases back just far enough to look down at my face, though his hands stay on me. "Pretty girl..."
I lift my chin and meet his eyes first, then Knox’s, Shade’s, and Blaze’s. Each one of them looks ready to argue.
"You said you’d support me no matter what the answer was," I say pointedly. "So support me in letting the result wait."
Knox’s eyes stay on mine, steady and intent, searching for any sign that I might change my mind.
"At least until we come back," I add.
He flinches.
We all know that once we leave this room, there may not be another chance to hear that result.
Still, Knox doesn’t protest. He made me a promise earlier. The Pack would follow my command in this, and now I am asking him to do the one thing he hates most. Let me choose a risk he can’t control.
His jaw tightens once before he nods.
"You heard the Omega," he says, his gaze lingering on me, so painfully full of love. Then his expression locks down, and the Prime Alpha takes over. "The result waits."
Knox turns to Everlyn. "What do you need, doctor?"
The question jolts us into our roles. We are done being merely ourselves. Now we have to be Pack Scorch, a symbol of leadership and hope to this rebel army.
Everlyn draws in a breath, squares her shoulders, and tucks the datapad against her chest. "I need to convert the mess hall for mass casualties."
Cold prickles across my arms.
Minutes ago, she was holding the answer to whether I’m pregnant. Now she needs dining tables cleared so she has somewhere to put dying or dead soldiers.
Shade’s thumb flies over his datapad. "I have the triage layout here. Clear the center tables, move benches against the walls, and bring the cots up from storage."
"I know how to set up a triage ward, sweetie," Everlyn says, though there’s no bite in it. "Send the medic team to me, and I’ll get them briefed."
Then she's gone, swallowed by the screaming corridor outside.
Another explosion shakes through the room, and dust sifts from the ceiling. Boots thunder past the infirmary door at a sprint, voices shouting beneath the sirens before another artillery hit rolls through the fortress.
Knox is moving.
"Viper and Blaze," Knox says, his voice sharp enough to cut through the sirens, "Go get our gear from the den and meet us on the battlement. Then you'll be with Prime Alpha Zero on the first deployment."
My heart pangs, but I purse my lips and don't say a word. I can't react every time my mates are deployed into danger, because it's only going to get much worse from here.
Viper straightens, his hands sliding from me with visible reluctance. "Got it."
Blaze bares his teeth in a bloodthirsty smile made for battle. "Finally."
"Shade," Knox says. "We need confirmation of their numbers and why we didn't see them coming." Shade nods once, not looking up from his datapad.
Then Knox turns to me and stops.
He didn’t hesitate with the others, but his gaze drops to my stomach before he catches himself and looks back at my face. His hand flexes at his side, and through the bond, I feel the raw Alpha instinct in him fighting to send me to safety.
Finally, he says, "Halley, with me."
Blaze reaches the door first, already turning toward the den and the armor and weapons stashed there. Viper follows close behind him, and Shade cuts the other way for the Comms Office.
Panic slams into me.
No.
Not like this.
"Wait."
My voice is not loud, but each one of them halts.
In the wail of the alarms and the pounding rush of troops outside, the five of us stand suspended in one strange, stolen pocket of stillness.
I swallow.
I take them in. My whole world, the keepers of my heart, standing right before me in combat boots and borrowed time.
"This might be it," I say.
Nobody argues.
No one tells me not to think like that, or calls me dramatic. No one swears we will all be back in an hour and laughing about this by sunset.
They know.
The enemy attacked two days early. The fortress is crumbling around us, and we have no idea what forces are coming at this mountain, only that they're here, and already fighting to kill us.
Shade steps in close and cups the back of my neck. "Say what you need to say, baby girl."
My fingers knot in the front of Shade's shirt, and I drag in a shaky breath.
"I love you."
Viper's eyelashes flutter, and I'm struck by the horrifying thought that if he still reacts so strongly to those three words from my lips, then I haven't said them enough. But it's too late because we've run out of time. The clock has run out and this is all the time we've been given.
"You are so very loved."