Page 142 of The Other Omega

“Don’t make it too easy for them.”

“I have no intention of doing so.”

Her little smile made me laugh, although my stomach tightened the second the door panel chimed. I put my pad down while she went to let him in.

Thaddeus wore a light grey robe and carried a dark medical case. He looked somewhere in his sixties, with neatly combed silver hair and a calm, unhurried manner that I immediately hoped might rub off on me.

“A new light to you, Lady Stormforge. I’m Thaddeus Vale.”

“And to you, Thaddeus.”

Eira closed the door behind him as he came towards the nest.

“Lord Alaric tells me you’ve requested a medical review. What has been concerning you?”

“I want to know if I’m pregnant.” Saying it aloud made me sit a little straighter. “I’m tired all the time, food scents keep making me feel sick, and I can’t seem to stop crying. If I’m not pregnant, I’d like to know what’s wrong. Whether there’s something I can take, or anything that might help me feel a bit more like myself.”

“I understand. I suggest we begin with a blood test and a scan. We can establish whether you’re pregnant, then discuss what might help with the symptoms.”

“All right.”

He set his case on the low table and opened it, laying out everything he needed with the sort of calm efficiency that made me feel slightly better about letting him poke around inside me.

“Would you be comfortable lying near the edge of your nest?”

I moved closer and lay back as he brought over a chair. Eira stayed beside me, close enough that I could reach her if I wanted to, which I was very glad about now that this was actually happening.

“Given the circumstances of your presentation, I would prefer to use both tests,” he explained. “Your hormone levels may differ from those we would usually expect, so I don’t want to rely on the blood results alone.”

That made sense, though I’d hoped he could give me a quick answer and save me the wait. I held out my arm for the blood sample and tried to be patient while he took the other measurements.

The first results appeared in a pale display above us. They meant nothing to me, so after a few seconds of trying to make sense of them, I gave up and watched Thaddeus instead. The second his brows drew together, I stopped caring what any of the numbers meant.

“I’d like to repeat the scan.”

“Why? Have you found something?”

“I’d like a clearer image before I explain the results.”

I would’ve preferred him to just tell me, but I nodded and let him take another device from his case. He set it beside me on the mattress and pressed a control, making a smaller part lift away and hover over my stomach while another image appeared above us.

This one looked more obviously like the inside of my body, although I still had no idea what I was supposed to be seeing. Thaddeus enlarged one blue shape, then another, and I glanced at Eira to see if she understood any more than I did. From the way she stared at him, she didn’t.

Eventually, he looked away from the display.

“You’re pregnant.”

I turned straight towards Eira. Both hands went to her mouth, and the sight of her made me laugh before I could stop myself. Tears came with it, because of course they did, and by the time I managed to look back at Thaddeus, I was doing both.

“I’m pregnant?”

“You are.”

“Oh, my God.”

Eira was laughing too, blinking hard as she moved closer to the mattress.

I hadn’t even been sure I wanted to be pregnant. Before Thaddeus arrived, I’d been leaning quite heavily towards absolutely not, but now my hand went over my stomach, and I couldn’t stop smiling. There was a baby in there. An actual baby made from me and one of my mates.