Page 82 of The Bodyguard and the Alpha
Shit. The implant. I’d forgotten that I’d taken it out, and Bastien hadn’t used any protection. I didn’t look up, but I was positive that every other occupant in the room was holding their breath as they waited for my answer.
“If we could have a bit of privacy please.” The doctor turned and made a shooing motion. He shooed away the former President and a Professor of the Witch College as if they were naughty teenagers. “Go. And Marguerite, that means far enough away that your enhanced hearing won’t catch our discussion.”
Marguerite actually pouted. “Fine. I’m going to the kitchen to organise some food. We’ll all feel better if I eat and my sons will want their mates fed.”
Unfamiliar warmth filled my chest. Was this what it was like to have a parent who cared? Calypso bent and dropped a kiss on my forehead. “We’ll be back soon sweetie.”
Only once they had left the room, closing it carefully behind them, did I open my mouth to speak.
The doctor held up a hand. “Bit longer,” he said. “We Shifters can hear a pin drop in another room.” Finally he nodded, apparently satisfied. “Do you think you might be pregnant?”
“If I was, it would be very early,” I whispered.
“How early?”
“Just today. I burned out my implant with a spell and today was the first day we had unprotected sex.”
I didn’t like telling anyone before Bastien knew, but if there was any possibility that I could be pregnant and the medication could harm my baby, there was no way I’d do anything to put my baby at risk.
PINGPINGPINGPINGPING
I winced. I’d never hated my unusual magic as much as I hated it right now. Helpless, unable to take action to avert the danger, the power was debilitating. What good was power if it made me unable to function?
“It’s too early to tell. But the good news is that even if you are pregnant, there’s no chance that it could be hurt by the medication this early.”
That was good. Very good.
“If you get your period as normal, then you aren’t pregnant. If it’s late, come and see me and I’ll do a blood test foryou.” He paused. “Unless you’ve changed your mind and want another option now. It’s in the window for a Plan B.”
I’d be more than okay with a positive test. Whether my mate would be, I didn’t know. But if he was found guilty of mating me without my consent, a positive pregnancy test would mean that a sentence would be suspended until the baby was born. And if I wasn’t pregnant, he’d be sentenced to a quick execution. Panic started to close my throat. Nope, nope, nope. I wouldn’t let that happen. No matter how I had to arrange it, I would not let him die. When I could speak, I just said, “No, I haven’t changed my mind,” not knowing how else to explain the complicated mess that was Bastien and me.
He smiled and jabbed a syringe into the bottle, pulling it back, watching as the liquid filled the tube. “So the priority now is to get you to feel better. Calmer.”
Calm. That was a good goal. I could barely remember when I’d last felt calm. I put out my arm and he rubbed my skin, finding a vein. “This should work quickly. If it doesn’t, I need to know.”
My eyes shut, I nodded.
“Do you want me to wait with you until someone comes back?”
“My sister will be in the corridor.” I knew she would be waiting close by. “I want her.”
“You got it.” I heard the sounds of the doctor packing up his bag. “You need me, I’ll be back.”
Chapter 71
Bastien
I sat quietly, letting the Mage put a magical truth serum into my veins. Fortyish, balding, he stank of fear, like the guards earlier. Another human who believed that I was dangerous. Sure, I was dangerous. But I wasn’t a mindless killing beast. Humans First tended to conveniently forget that my dad was human and a Mage. Furthermore, I was a career politician, who’d spent all my career trying to resolve differences between humans and supes through negotiation and alliances. I’d never racially vilified anyone. Never said humans were lesser than Shifters, or should be feared because they were different. Although I had my own personal views about how some human men treated their partners and children. Shifters treated their mates far better than many of the humans, man or woman. I’d seen humans married to spouses who neglected them, cheated on them. Who drank and hit them. A Shifter would never… could never, do that to their mate, human or not.
Raised by one parent who was a Shifter, and another who was human, I knew that both species were worthy of respect. As a species, humans were physically weaker, but only humans could wield powerful magic. My mate’s body was muchmore fragile than mine, but her tiny Pixie-like appearance was misleading. From Luc’s report of the fight he and Caly had after she had been kidnapped, her power was also strong.
Humans could be strong. Humans could be weak. This one was weak.
I dismissed him from my mind. Instead, I turned my concentration inwards. The truth serum would lower my body’s natural defences, making me want to please the person asking questions. The interrogator only had to wait for the drug to hit my system and I would become my own worst enemy.
Resisting the compulsion would take immense willpower. And the pressure would increase the longer I resisted. I’d never been given one of these serums before, but I’d been told that the longer a person resisted, the bigger tricks the mind would begin to play.
But help was on the way. My little Pixie had promised. All I had to do was wait.
