Page 31 of Ours

“Zack, I’m fine. She came here to see you and got a shock, that’s all.”

The front door of the shop burst open and Jake came pounding in. “What happened? Why is she bleeding?”

Sandy noticed her shoulder bleeding from Zack’s mother’s claws. And the woman gave a sardonic laugh.

“Oh, this is brilliant. What the hell is going on with the universe at the moment? Jake, have you told your family yet? Your sisters are going to love this. They’ve had friends ready for you for years. Is the baby yours or my son’s?”

Okay, this woman is starting to piss me off.Sandy still winced when Jake turned to Zack’s mother. “You are not my mother, thank God, so if you come near my mate again, Adelea, I will rip out your throat.”

The woman must have some good sense because she looked between her son and Jake, nodded, and backed out of the shop.

Sandy closed her eyes and took several deep breaths before opening them. “How did you get here so quickly?”

Jake looked sheepishly at her. “Since you started working here, I have had an alert out on the shop. If anything happens, I’m radioed straight away.”

She looked up at Zack as he walked with her in his arm to his office. “You’re okay with that?”

Zack nodded. “Yep, anything to keep you safe.”

She sighed as he sat in his office chair. “So is your mother right?”

Both their eyes narrowed and they said, “About what?”

“Am I pregnant?”

They both nodded.

“Why haven’t you told me?”

Zack groaned. “Because you’re our mate we didn’t know until now. Remember I told you we can’t tell stuff like that with our mates.”

“But other shifters can?” she asked.

“Yep,” Jake said.

Sandy sat up and held her clothes on. She needed to think. She needed her friends. “I’m going home now. I need a shower then I’m going to go visit Susie and Sammy.”

She didn’t give either of them a chance to respond. She reached in the drawer, grabbed Zack’s keys and her bag, and walked out the door.

****

Zack sat in the obstetrician’s waiting room with Sandy. Jake sat on her other side. Sandy didn’t touch either of them. Her arms were crossed over her chest, and she shot glares at Jake and him.

Sandy had tried to book an appointment and not tell them about it. After she’d come home from Susie’s, she’d been quiet. Sandy told them on the weekend she would be going out and having a girl’s night, and if she saw either of them once, she would cut off their balls.

Zack reached for her hand again only for her to snarl at him. “Come on, Firebird. We want to be here to hear the good news and know if there is anything you need.”

“I could have told you when I got home. I wanted to come alone and not with two men.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want everyone looking at me like they are now.” Sandy’s voice lowered. “You need to both stop touching me. If I’m pregnant, I have no idea who the father is. I was just going to tell my doctor unknown because it’s the truth. I’m scared already that in nine months’ time, one of you is going to leave me because the baby isn’t yours. I love you both too much to lose either of you. So at the moment, I need time to think about everything this baby will change.”

Jake muttered, “How long you been holding all that in?”

Sandy shrugged and wiped at the tears falling down her cheeks.

Zack looked around him, noticing that many of the women were staring at them. Not caring where they were, he lifted her off her seat and sat her on his lap. She let out a quick backhand, hitting his chest. Turning her face to his, he stroked her cheek and leaned down to kiss her tears away.

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