She breathed deeply, trying to calm her racing heart, tasting the acid in the back of her throat even though nothing had come out. She didn't understand what was happening to her. It could be her hormones but they'd never made her so sick before. She'd come back from the hospital—she mentally calculated—almost eight weeks ago, and everything had been physically alright with her. She had some medication she had taken for a month, butshe'd been off those for a while now. And these bouts of sickness or dizziness came out of nowhere, all of a sudden.
"Oh my goodness," she heard Leah, their housekeeper, exclaim as she came out on the terrace, led by Bandit. Zephyr hadn't even noticed the dog slipping away to bring help, and she gave him a head rub in thanks for his thoughtfulness, and he returned the gesture by licking her hand with a soft whine.
Leah waded through the canines and helped her stand up. Zephyr held her hand and gripped the railing with the other, waiting for the world to stop spinning.
"I'm calling Dr. Nei," Leah told her, speaking of their on-call medical professional. Yes, Alpha had a doctor on speed dial for his men and the women under his security. Zephyr learned that after she came back home and found that her husband had asked Dr. Nei to check on her every other day, to make sure she was fine. She was physically okay. She always had been. Aside from some superficial injuries and a concussion, they hadn't had to fix anything at all, not like Morana who had to be admitted into intensive care and had to undergo surgery to come out alive. Out of the three women that day, she was the one who got away scot-free. Maybe that was why she couldn't shake this sense of guilt that dodged her. She knew logically, it was stupid to think like that. But illogically, a part of her wondered if she wouldn't feel so guilty if she'd sustained more injuries.
Shit, what waswrongwith her? She shouldn't even be thinking that.
Zephyr let Leah guide her inside the house, straight to the living area with the view, and sank into the couch. The older woman rushed to the kitchen, dialing on her phone and pouring a glass of water, mixing a sachet of electrolytes into them. Zephyr wasn't dehydrated but she accepted the drink gratefully and took small sips, scared of triggering her gag reflex again.
"Please come to the house, Dr. Nei." She heard Leah talk on the phone. "Yes. Okay."
The older woman turned to her, her face creased with concern. "She will be here in ten minutes. I need to inform Alpha."
Zephyr shook her head. "No, he has an important meeting." That was all she knew. He was meeting some kind of a source who had some big information about something. "Just leave him a text."
Leah hesitated, but then she nodded, typing on her device. The dogs settled around her once again, this time both Bear and Bandit putting their heads on her stomach and Baron curling up at her feet, and the sight made her lips curl up in a smile, reminding her of this video she'd seen once while scrolling through puppy videos. It had been a video of a woman with a baby and her two dogs sitting next to her, because she had been expecting another.
Zephyr brushed their fur with her fingers when, suddenly, she stilled.
Memories flashed through her mind from a little before the funeral—of Bear, suddenly putting his head on her stomach and sticking to her side, of Bandit, always being two steps behind her, and of Baron, aloof and detached, suddenly being close to her. Zephyr had chalked all their behaviors to them missing her or being close to her during her grief. But what if it wasn't just that? What if…
She looked down at her stomach in disbelief.
Her curvy, soft stomach with love handles, that had become a bit curvier, and she hadn't even noticed.
More memories flashed—Alpha pushing her into the bed, his cock deep inside her, coming inside her body. They had never used protection, and she hadn't wanted to.
But now that the possibility was staring her in the face, she could feel vestiges of panic begin to bloom within her.
Could she be…?
"Hello, Zephyr," Dr. Nei's voice brought her head up, her mind in a daze, muddled by the fact that she'd been in a hospital and getting checked by doctors, but no one had noticed. Maybe no one had specifically looked for it, given her superficial injuries and her stress and hormonal history.
Dr. Nei, a gorgeous dark-skinned woman in her fifties, came into the living room. She was dressed in a sharp suit and carried a small suitcase Zephyr had never seen her without. She took a seat on the couch adjacent to her. "What's going on?" she asked.
Zephyr stared at her, processing, wondering how this would change everything, and spoke, hearing the tremor in her voice. "I need you to test me."
"For what?" the doctor asked, setting her suitcase to the side.
"Pregnancy."