Total pages in book: 83
Estimated words: 81504 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 81504 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 408(@200wpm)___ 326(@250wpm)___ 272(@300wpm)
“What is it?”
“Mother of God,” she whispers, her hand over her mouth. “Oh my God.”
“Bloody hell, what’s going on?”
I sit beside her and put my hand to her forehead. She’s a little clammy but not warm.
“Baby. You said baby, Tully.”
I look at her in consternation. “I called you baby, just like I always do.”
“I know!” She’s absolutely stricken. “But I… I just realized something.”
“What, love?”
“My period’s late.”
Oh.
Oh.
Oh, fuck.
I’m on my feet, pacing the room.
“We used protection.”
She’s wringing her hands. “Protection sometimes fails.”
We’ve used condoms and she’s on the pill, but bloody fucking hell… we’ve fucked like animals for weeks, never thinking…
But, no. She’s just got a nasty bug is all.
I shoot my brothers a text.
McKenna’s sick. Anyone else sick from dinner last night?
We all ate in the main dining room, so we’d know.
One by one, replies come in.
No, brother.
Not us.
Nope.
All fine.
She’s groaning, shaking her head from side to side. “No. God no, I can’t do this. No way.” She’s in a full blown panic.
“Everyone says they’re fine,” I tell her with a sigh. “It wasn’t the food, lass.”
She closes her eyes and clutches her stomach. “It feels different,” she says. “God, I feel so fucking awful.”
“I’m calling Maeve.”
I expect her to protest, but she doesn’t. She nods mutely, still white as a ghost when a knock comes at the door. I open the door to Sebastian as Maeve answers the phone. I briefly explain the situation to her.
“I’ll be right there.”
Sebastian’s in with McKenna. I pace the floor in front of the bed, watching him take her vitals.
“Give her a pregnancy test,” I manage to say, my tone gruff.
Sebastian smirks. “Tully, I’ve come fully prepared.”
McKenna groans.
A knock comes at the door a few minutes later, just as we’re supposed to get the result from the test. I answer it to see Maeve beaming on the other side, though her eyes are filled with concern. She can’t mask her excitement, though.
“How is she?”
I shrug. “She’s been better. Come in.”
I usher her in as a high-pitched scream comes from the bathroom. “Tully! Oh my God, Tully!”
I can’t get there fucking fast enough. I nearly tear the door off the hinges going to her, my mind racing with ways she could’ve injured herself or dangers that could’ve assaulted her, and her wide, shocked gaze meets mine.
My heartbeat thunders. I blink. “You okay?”
She sits on the toilet seat, buries her head on her arms, and holds up the test for me to see. I don’t need to read it, though. She’s sobbing, the poor lass.
She’s pregnant.
A strange sense of pride and a burning need to protect her and our future child consumes me.
“You’re pregnant, McKenna?” I ask, my voice strangely choked. “Are you?”
She nods into her arm.
“Bloody hell.” I can barely speak. I drop to one knee in front of her, and she looks up at me through tear-filled eyes. Her lower lip wobbles.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not like this. Not until…”
I frame her face in my hands, holding her gaze.
“I know, lass. But sometimes these things happen. And whatever comes, I promise you…”
She blinks, and a tear rolls down her cheek.
“…I will give my everything to you and our baby. I will devote my every waking moment to taking the very best care of you two that I can.”
Her eyes soften, and her hands come over mine. “I know you will,” she whispers. “I know it.”
Then she breaks into heartbreaking sobs. I hold her to me, until her shoulders stop shaking, and she finally stills. The poor lass, she didn’t want this, not at all.
“Come on,” I say, getting to my feet and taking her hand. “Let’s tell Sebastian and see what he can do for you.” We’ve many things to discuss, not the least of which is how we’ll go about making her a claimed woman of the Clan.
When we go back in the main room, Maeve and Sebastian are talking to each other. They quiet when we enter the room. Maeve grins and Sebastian looks sober.
“I’m assuming the results are a positive?” he says.
“Aye,” McKenna says, and that quickly she breaks into sobs again.
“Oh, sweet girl,” Maeve says, getting to her feet. She quickly goes to McKenna and gathers her up in her arms. “We’ll take care of you the best we can, I promise.”
“I know,” McKenna sobs. “That’s partly why I’m crying. I know you will. And I—” she breaks into fresh sobs. “I don’t deserve you all.”
Sebastian looks at me, and I look at him, both of us at a loss for words.
I will literally never understand women. Ever.
Sebastian gives McKenna some medicine to aid the nausea, and Maeve comes up from the kitchen with a tray and some salted crackers. “This will help, love.” She smiles to herself.
“Maeve’s been caretaker to many of the women of the Clan,” I tell her.