Page 182 of As The Shifter World Turns

Was I going to need them? I’d been feeling shitty for a couple of days and if I was pregnant, it was my own damn fault. I knew where babies came from and it wasn’t the stork.

Martin was going to be mad. And right he should. He had a son, one whom he loved more than anything. A son given to him by his mate—the man he devoted his life to. If there was any justice in the world, he’d still be with him. But he wasn’t and now he was with me… and possibly our baby.

I hurried home and straight to the bathroom. Each and every one of the tests told me to wait until the first pee of the morning.

That wasn’t going to happen.

Waiting might just kill me. I needed to know and know before I saw Martin again. I couldn’t be in the same room with him and not blurt it out. It just wasn’t in me.

I set the sticks on the back of the toilet and got the specimen ready, so many things flowing through my mind. Could I afford a baby? Would it ruin Martin’s life for me to have our child? What about Toby?

Once the tests were ready, I started to count.

“One Mississippi, Two Mississippi, Three Mississippi.” I could set my timer, but this was something to distract me as I waited for the three minutes to lapse.

When it was finally time to look, it took all my strength to reach for the first test.

“Negative.”

I grabbed the second, the third, the fourth—all of them said the same thing.

I wasn’t pregnant. I should’ve been jumping up and down for joy. I was not ready to be pregnant.

Except, the negatives and the one “not pregnant” didn’t make me feel happy or relieved. If anything it made me sad.

I threw them in the trash and grabbed my keys. I was going to drown my sorrows in chocolate peanut butter ice cream.

Not that there was any reason to be sad in the first place. This was a good thing. I wasn’t ready to be a father, I didn’t have a mate, and the man I was in love with already had his family.

I raced out my apartment door and to the main entrance and nearly ran straight into a baby stroller. Dyani.

“Sorry, Ivor,” I mumbled, not looking up.

“Archer, but no worries.”

I looked up to see Archer standing there with his sweet Elune.

“Sorry. I didn’t look. I can tell you two apart.” I slipped my keys in my pocket.

“Because I’m the handsome one?” Ivor came down the hallway with his buggy, Dyani in a wrap, making the stroller redundant.

“Yeah, that.” I looked between the two of them, both so happy with their darling babies. “I’ll see you later, I have an appointment at the creamery.”

“Ice cream?” Ivor asked and I nodded. “That’s where we are going. Want some company?”

“I’d love some.”

The five of us walked down to the shop and I treated them to their favorite icy confections.

Elune was old enough to have a small bit. Dyani wasn’t quite there, but Ivor snuck her a smidge nonetheless.

“It just wouldn’t be kind not to,” Ivor explained.

“No, I supposed it wouldn’t.” I shoved a spoonful into my mouth before I said something stupid.

I want to have a sweet babe to sneak ice cream to.

How did you know you were ready for a baby?

---