Chapter 4: PINK LINES

SAGE

[ST. RUFUS GENERAL HOSPITAL]

I stared at the two lines on the test.

Two, pink, lines.

Crystal looked at the test, then back at me, then at the test again.

"This is impossible." She shook her head. "Sage has never...she has never had a boyfriend, or slept with...."

The nurse adjusted her glasses, her expression sympathetic but matter-of-fact.

"These things happen."

The main doctor who had been reviewing my chart spun around in his chair.

"Well, it's not like you are some kind of otherworldly entity that could make a baby on its own," he said dryly. "So somebody definitely had to have gotten you pregnant. You don't remember when?"

I shook my head, still staring at those two lines. My mouth felt dry, like I had swallowed sand.

Pregnant...

Pregnant.

I hadn't even wanted children.

"I was a virgin," I blurted out. "Until two weeks ago. But I only did it once."

The doctor raised an eyebrow. "And how many times do you think it takes? Once it happens, it happens."

Crystal's face went through several emotions at once, confusion, realization, and then horror. Her pink beanie stuck out and her eyes were so bugged they looked like they would pop out at any moment.

"Wait. You slept with a client?"

"I didn't—we didn't—" I pressed my hands to my face. "I don't know what happened. It's all blurry in my head."

The doctor frowned. "Blurry how?"

"I remember..." I struggled to find the words. "Some parts, I...I don't know."

The doctor exchanged a look with the nurse.

"Have you been using any substances? Drugs? Alcohol?"

"Just the whiskey I gave him during the dance. But I only had a sip."

"You could've been drugged," Crystal said immediately, her protective instincts kicking in. "That bastard could've slipped something in the bottle because I know you. You would never sleep with any of Marcus's clients."

I would've agreed, if it was some other stranger.

But with this guy...

It wasn't drugs.

It was him.

Something about him that made my body react in ways that defied logic.

"There's something else you might want to know about the scan results." The nurse leaned over and handed me her clipboard with some paperwork stapled to it.

"The fetus is barely a month old and it's already growing so fast, and strong."

I arched my brow.

"Huh? No...the guy...the guy I slept with. He's not...even a werewolf"

The doctor and nurse exchanged a look before stifling a laugh.

What was even funny?

He didn't smell like a—

Wait. It can't be...

Wait. It shouldn't be...

Fuck no.

FUCK NO!

My knees gave out beneath me.

I hadn't been around wolves for so long that my sense of smell had been underdeveloped. Now I think about it, there was something....un-human about him. Marcus had lied to me. And I had daftly, stupidly, believed that lie.

The nurse hugged her belly and smoothened her pursed lips, ignoring my plight. Crystal was still dumb struck.

"Anyway....you don't look like you're in the right condition to read so I'll summarize the rest of the file's content for you." She cleared her throat and looked at my pale face. "The scans show that the fetus possesses Alpha genes, rare Alpha genes."

Great. Just...great.

At this point, I should have just banged my head on the wall till my skull cracked open. Granny would kill me.

"And that's not all..."

The nurse grabbed another blue-tipped file.

"I happen to be great at scent placement. Studied it back home in my pack."

I lifted my head.

If the fetus was strong enough to have its own scent then....

"It would carry a portion of its paternal scent and we would know who the father is..."

Crystal completed my thought range. There was relief in her eyes, but all I felt was dread. I was not getting mixed up with an Alpha, ever.

"There'll be no need for that." I stood up and scrubbed the dark circles under my eyes.

"Huh?" The doctor narrowed his eyes at me. "You'll raise the child alone?"

"Hmm."

I turned toward the door with Crystal hot on my heels.

No Doc. I didn't plan on raising anything at all.

×××××

Crystal grabbed my arm the second we stepped outside the hospital.

"Sage. What the hell was that?"

I pulled free, wrapping my arms around myself.

"What was what?"

"Don't play dumb with me." She stepped in front of me, blocking my path to her car. "You are not seriously thinking about...."

"About what, Crystal?" I coughed, my throat felt a little froggy. "Terminating it? Yes. I am."

"Are you insane?" She looked at me like I had grown a second head. "Do you have any idea what you are carrying? An Alpha's baby. A rare Alpha's baby. Do you know what he would pay? I mean, what Alpha wouldn't want a baby as rare as that."

"I don't care about him, or the kid." I pushed past her. "I'm not a broodmare for werewolf politics. I want nothing to do with that world."

"That world is your world, Sage! You are a wolf too, whether you like it or not."

I spun around. "A wolf without a pack. A wolf that has been living as a human for twenty-three years because clearly, nobody wanted me in their precious werewolf society."

Crystal's expression softened. "Sage..."

"No." I held up a hand. "I've survived this long on my own. I don't need some Alpha coming into my life, claiming ownership over me because of some drunk mistake. I don't need a pack. I don't need a baby, and I don't need him."

"But the baby—"

"The baby deserves better than me for a mother."

"You know this decision is irreversible, right? Once you do this, there is no going back."

"I know."

"Do you? Because I don't think you've thought this through. You are making a life-altering decision while you are scared and overwhelmed and—"

"My mind is made up, Crystal."

She opened her mouth to argue, then closed it. Shaking her head, she turned toward her car and climbed into the driver's seat.

I followed, getting into the passenger side.

Crystal turned the key.

The engine came to life, and then died.

"Oh, come on." She tried again. But the engine still gave the same result. "Arghh."

She kept turning the key, but the engine kept whining in protest, while I stared out the window at nothing.

"Sage," she murmured, still trying to coax the car to life.

"I just... I need you to think about this properly."

"I have thought about it."

"Your options are risky, you know. Even in the modern era, things can go wrong."

"It's safer than it used to be."

"Have you not heard the recent stories?" Crystal's voice rose slightly. "Women have complications all the time. Infections, hemorrhaging, you could lose more than just the pregnancy. You could lose your ability to ever have children. You could lose your life."

I turned to look at her, my face was completely blank.

"I'll take my chances."

She looked like she wanted to keep arguing but we were interrupted by something.

A black van pulled up behind us, nearly slamming into the car. The van door opened and four masked men came out of the car. They were in front of us before we could even move.

I reached for my purse, my fingers closing around the small canister of pepper spray I always kept there.

"What do you want?" Crystal shouted through her window. "We don't have any money!"

Something acrid was pressed against my nose as I thrashed against one of their grips, my whole body went limp, and that was the last thing I remembered.