Page 21 of Love Bites Really Hard (Mated to the King #4)
epilogue one
BANE—A FEW MONTHS LATER
“I’m going to buy a pregnancy test, whether you like it or not,” I warned.
“Don’t even think about it.” Zora held out a finger, the threat in her eyes very clear. She was kneeling in front of the toilet bowl, her fingers digging into the seat and her chin resting against it. I’d scrubbed it clean a hundred times in the past two weeks for her, and she got tears in her eyes as she thanked me every time.
She was still surprised when I held her hair back for her while she was throwing up, or tied it up. It would take time for her to get used to me taking care of her, but I didn’t mind. I liked seeing how much it meant to her.
“You have been throwing up for two weeks , and your period is exactly two weeks late. There’s a clear answer here, Zora.”
“It’s just a stomach flu,” she insisted, pleading with her gaze.
“Sweetheart, we were trying to get you pregnant, remember? For months.”
Tears welled in her eyes. “But what if I really am?”
“Then you’re probably going to keep throwing up.”
She swatted me weakly with her hand. “I’m serious, Bane. I want a family, but I don’t know how to be a mom.”
She was crying again.
Shit.
Maybe we should’ve waited longer before trying for a baby, but there was no going back now. We just had to figure it out. And we would figure it out.
I kneeled next to her, taking her face in my hands and meeting her eyes. “Look at me, Sweetheart. Neither of us knows how to be parents, but you brought a stack of parenting books with us, right? We’ve been reading them.”
“Right,” she whispered.
“And at this point, it’s not a stomach flu, right?”
“Right.”
“We don’t know what we’re doing, but we have been planning this. And financially, we can handle it. We have the time. We have the energy, and the effort, and we have people we can turn to if we need help. We are going to be fine. Right?”
“Right.” More tears streamed down her face.
“It’s time to take a pregnancy test, okay?”
“Okay.”
“I love you. You know that, right?” I asked, still cradling her face.
She sputtered more tears. “I love you too.”
My chest burned.
She was my everything.
“As soon as you’re done throwing up, I’m going to the store to buy a test.”
“There’s one in one of my cabinets,” she admitted.
I chuckled, and she gave me a small, nauseous smile. “Of course there is. Wait here.”
I dug it out and brought the test to her. She didn’t bother asking me to leave the room while she took it. Not after I’d spent the last two weeks taking care of her while she was sick. There wasn’t much of a point to privacy anymore.
She set it on the counter when she was done, and I held her against my chest while we waited. Her arms were wrapped around her stomach, and the way her face was paling told me she was about to throw up again.
Sure enough, she was on her knees, bent over the toilet, and puking long before the test’s timer ran out. I turned off the alarm, my hands on her shoulders and waist as I held her up.
The test was for her sake. I’d smelled her scent change to tell me she was pregnant about a day before the first time she threw up.
But she needed to see that it was real. That there was no stomach flu. And that we could handle it.
A few minutes later, her forehead was pressed against the toilet seat as she pulled the test off the counter and lowered it into her line of sight. She stared at the two lines for a long, long moment.
And then she dropped the test, and puked again.
I held her close until she leaned against me.
“You know, we have herbs to help calm a pregnant woman’s stomach,” I murmured.
“We have what ?” she demanded, her voice weak.
“I’m not sure if they’ll work, because you’re not a monster, but it seems worth a try. If you’re ready to admit that it’s not a stomach flu.”
“It’s not a fucking stomach flu, Bane. I’m pregnant.”
“With my baby.”
She pushed my head weakly, laughing. “With our baby. And they could be a siren.”
“I don’t care what they are. They’re ours, and we’re going to love them so much, Sweetheart.”
She wiped away a few more tears. “Alright, let’s go home.”
Home.
With my pregnant mate.
It was so surreal—but so fucking good.