Page 27 of Briggs (Paranormal Council Enforcers #16)

Todd

I felt warm and safe. Both were somewhat new feelings, but I knew I had my mate to thank for both of them.

I also suddenly felt my stomach roll, and I frantically pushed at Briggs’s arm that was wrapped around my stomach so I could make a dash for the bathroom.

I made it, but just barely before I was bending over the toilet and emptying absolutely nothing except bile into it. Lovely.

I heard Briggs coming in behind me but was too busy heaving again to acknowledge him. He grabbed hold of my shoulders and helped me down to the floor, which was actually a better place to be.

“What can I do to help?” Briggs asked. “Water? Cool cloth?” His hands left my shoulders as another wave hit me. “I should call Maxwell.”

I wanted to argue, but I was too busy throwing up. The last thing I wanted at the moment was to see my boss. We were supposed to be strengthening our bond. We had two more weeks of time off. Why would I want to talk to my boss?

“Okay, Maxwell said he’d be here in just a few. He wasn’t at the clinic yet, and he needed to finish getting dressed.”

I flicked my hand at my mate, not really caring what was going on with my boss at the moment.

I just wanted to stop hurling because it was becoming increasingly painful.

I was no stranger to throwing up. I would often get sick because of what they would give me in the compound I was held at, but this was different. I’d not been given any sort of drugs.

“Is it all right to come in?” I heard a familiar voice call out from somewhere behind me.

“Yes. He’s throwing up,” Briggs said. “We were sleeping, and then he just bolted out of bed.”

I heard Dr. King coming closer. “Yes, that tends to happen when omegas get claimed by their alpha mates.”

I turned my head slightly to the side. “Make…stop.” I turned just in time for another bout to come up. For all of the effort it took, there was very little that came out, and it tasted absolutely vile.

“I can do that,” Dr. King said. His hand started glowing green, and I felt myself suddenly become drowsy again, and then it was lights-out.

I came to, once again lying in the comfortable bed that I shared with Briggs. Dr. King was there, and right beside him was a concerned-looking Briggs. “I’m all right. I think.” I turned my head and moaned at the sudden pressure. “Why do I feel like I’ve been thrown from a tree?”

“I’ll ask later how it is that you know what it feels like to get thrown from a tree. Right now, I want you to sit up and drink this. Do you need your mate to help?”

I growled. “Probably.”

Immediately, Briggs reached for me and slowly helped me into a sitting position. He moved the pillows so they were both behind me, and I leaned back and closed my eyes while the room started spinning. “Why do I feel so terrible?”

“Because you are pregnant and experiencing morning sickness. Actually, it’s most likely going to be pregnancy sickness and can happen anytime of the day, so we’re going to get ahead of it now with the special tea.”

“I’m pregnant?” I said a bit too loudly for so early in the morning. I looked up at Briggs. “I’m pregnant? We’re going to have a baby?”

“That’s what the doctor says. I haven’t picked up on that yet, but he has a bit more ability than I do.”

Briggs looked…happy but not quite as I would have expected him to be with the news we just received. “Are you upset about that?”

“No. I’m concerned about you being so sick so early in the pregnancy.” Briggs looked over at Dr. King. “His heat ended only nine days ago. How is it that he’s so ill already?”

“Just because the heat continued, that doesn’t necessarily mean that he didn’t become pregnant until the very end. He is a feline shifter. His gestation is going to be roughly three months. If we put date of conception in the middle of his heat, that puts his due date around November twenty-fifth.”

I looked up at Dr. King with wide eyes. “Seriously?”

“Yes. Now, drink your tea unless you wish to get sick again.”

I grumbled a bit but did as my boss told me. I knew it was the best thing for me. I’d seen too many omegas in the clinic with pregnancy sickness that only got worse when they didn’t listen to Dr. King’s instructions.

“At least it tastes better now,” I mumbled before taking another sip.

It truly didn’t taste terrible. It was sort of fruity with a sweet honey taste to it.

I knew the tea came from the fae realm and had fairly recently been offered here instead of what Master Edison had been suggesting for centuries.

We made the best of what we had, I guess.

Especially since human medicines didn’t work for shifters for the most part.

“He’ll be fine, I believe. But I recommend the tea three times a day here at the beginning.

Smaller meals if they seem to upset his stomach, and although all activities are welcome, if he’s tired…

” Dr. King looked directly at me now. “He should rest. The world will continue on and won’t be upset if he takes a nap because he’s tired and his body is growing an entire new person. ”

I sighed. “Yeah, okay. I get it. Listen to my body and make sure I rest and eat when it tells me to.”

“Is that an issue?” Briggs asked.

Dr. King sighed. “He skips meals sometimes.”

“You’re guilty of that too,” I said. When Dr. King side-eyed me, I took another sip of my tea.

“Can you go give my mate all of your instructions downstairs? I’m tired and want a nap.

” Would that work? I just didn’t want my boss glaring at me any longer.

If I thought I might have a chance to go back to work before, I was most likely wrong now.

There was no way Dr. King would let me come back to the clinic.

“You are obviously irritated. I’ll be right back after I talk to the doctor. Please be nice. He’s only here to help because I called him because I’m worried.”

I looked over at Briggs, and for whatever reason, I started bawling.

I was no stranger to crying, but this felt so much different.

I didn’t feel like myself. Dr. King was immediately beside me and took the tea and set it on the nightstand.

His hand started glowing again, and although it didn’t seem to have any sort of negative impact on me, I did suddenly feel a wave of calm fill me.

I took a deep breath and took the tissue that was held out in front of me.

“I’ll do as the doctor says,” I told him after I wiped my eyes and nose.

“I will be downstairs in the kitchen,” Dr. King said. “Please come down after he calms down a bit more.”

“I will,” Briggs said as he sat down on the bed beside me. I stared at my mate as I heard Dr. King’s footsteps leaving the room.

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Why would I cry about something stupid?”

Briggs reached up and ran his fingers through my hair.

That was something that I absolutely loved, and I was certain my mate had picked up on that already.

Why else would he do it so often? “It’s not stupid.

And I would imagine that your body is going through a great deal right now.

You’ve been through a whole lot in the past few years, and now all of a sudden, you found your mate, your heat returned with a vengeance, and you caught and are pregnant. That’s a whole lot to take in.”

“You don’t seem too happy about it.”

“I’m actually ecstatic. But I’m more worried about you right now.

” Briggs leaned in and kissed me on the forehead.

“I’m going to go talk to the doctor and see what all we need to do to make you as comfortable as possible.

If you truly are tired and want a nap, lie down if you’re feeling up for it.

If you still feel a bit poorly, maybe it’s better to lounge back on the pillows and be a bit upright. ”

I sighed. “I’m not tired, and you and Dr. King both know it.

I just didn’t like all of the attention focused on me.

” I took a deep breath. “I’m already struggling with my tasks at work, as you know, and now add in this.

There’s no way I’m going to be able to keep my job. Why would Dr. King want me there?”

Briggs shook his head. “Why wouldn’t he? Where better to be for a pregnant omega than with the doctor that cares for the pregnant omegas?”

I blinked at Briggs. I’d not thought about that. “But if I’m too sick to work? Then what?”

Briggs shook his head. “This is the first time you’ve been sick.

We know now that you caught during your heat.

We can start treating the pregnancy sickness and get ahead of it.

It’ll all be fine,” Briggs told me. Briggs kissed me on the forehead again.

“I’ll be right back. Is there anything in particular that you’d like for breakfast? ”

The first thing that came to mind was a donut, but I knew that wasn’t a good idea. “How about something simple like cereal? We have that, right?”

Briggs looked at me a bit funny before nodding. “We do. I’ll bring up some cereal and fruit after I talk to Dr. King. Give me just a bit, and I’ll be right back.” Briggs handed me my tea. “Finish that before you eat.”

I nodded. It was actually really good. I could see why the fae enjoyed it so much.

Briggs was gone, leaving me to drink my tea and try to come to terms with the news I’d just been given.

I was pregnant. I reached down and touched my flat stomach with my free hand.

When I touched the waistband of my shorts, I was immensely thankful that Briggs and I happened to fall asleep last night while watching TV in bed.

It would have been so embarrassing for Dr. King to see me naked.