Page 41

“I slept with the vampire,” I said. “It could be a vampire baby.”

“You never told me you slept with that vampire,” admonished Grandma. “So we don’t know for sure whether the baby is one of us or half-vampire?”

“Yes,” I said, staring at my laundry basket across the room.

“It’s not your fault, my dear,” she said in a kinder voice. “But for now, we need to keep this a secret until the day you give birth. If the baby is half-vampire, you and our entire family could be executed.”

“What?!”

“Even though it’s not spoken about now, no one on the island will be happy about this.”

“Wouldn’t I need to go to the hospital to give birth? How about all the checkups?”

“You need to stay hidden. Once in a while, we can ask Dr. Keera to take a look at you. You cannot go to a hospital under any circumstances,” ordered Grandma.

Shit. My head was spinning with all of this. The panic was settling over me.

“Where the hell would I give birth?”

“We will figure that out when we get to it,” said Grandma, standing up. “I need to make a few phone calls. But for now, we must pretend nothing happened. Just work at your shop and come home. No hanging out with friends or anything for nine months. Got it?”

“Got it,” I said in a low voice as she left the room.

My life as I knew it was completely over.

Five Months Later

For a while, I had been able to hide my pregnancy. Well…until today.

I was at my shop - high up on the ladder organizing the yarn supply on the top shelf. It had been a busier day at the shop, and opening boxes in the backroom was tiring me out.

I got more anxious as each day passed.

I still hadn’t seen a doctor, and I had no idea how the baby was doing. I wasn’t taking any chances despite Grandma wanting to get Dr. Keera involved, but I reminded her that Keera would just tell her son Lio. And that stopped her right away.

Grandma was busy ringing up items at the front for a few customers. I made a mental note to check if she needed help after I arranged the yarn by color.

“Lana?” said a familiar voice from below the ladder, and my heart jumped.

A voice that I hadn’t heard in a while.

I looked down, seeing the familiar swoop of his black hair over his eye and the tilt of his head. I wasn’t expecting to see Lio here, and I nearly fell down the ladder. I quickly straightened my large shirt so he couldn’t see the outline of my small but growing belly. I didn’t know how I felt about seeing him, so I stepped down a couple of steps instead of getting off the ladder entirely so he knew I was busy.

I still hadn’t forgiven him for the way he stormed out on me when I was at the heat clinic.

“What’s up, Lio?” I asked in a stern voice, keeping one hand on the ladder and one on my hips. Conveying my annoyance quite clearly.

“Hey Lana, I just wanted to apologize,” he said, leaning his hand against the shelf, caging me between his arms. His head came up to my belly, and I realized I had stopped on the steps at the worst spot. I tried to regulate my breathing. Then he pulled out a bouquet of roses. “I wasn’t sure what color you liked, so I got red roses because you liked red fireworks. But here you go.”

“Why? Why are you apologizing now?” I asked him, confused. I didn’t know how I felt about him being here, and at the same time, I wanted him here too. For some reason, I felt a bit of comfort in his presence.Was it because he was the first alpha to ever knot me?I wasn’t sure.

“I kept calling you Lana,” he insisted. “On my days off, I’d come over here, but it would only be your grandma around. Or you’d be hiding in the back.”

It was true.

Ihadbeen ignoring his calls like there was no tomorrow and avoiding him. I needed to protect myself, my family, and my future baby.

“Sorry,” I said. “I was busy.”