Page 74 of Omega's Formula

I don’t have an answer. I don’t have words at all.

“You have fulfilled your requirements, at least legally, but you are failing to do so as his alpha. I suggest you take some time to think about your duties.”

God, Sun is a smug little asshole. I resist the urge to tell him to fuck off and instead treat him like he is some rival CEO with a stick up his ass. “I will do so,” I say, meaning I will do nothing of the sort. Nolan West is no longer my problem.

19. Nolan

The bus shelter outside the hospital smells like exhaust fumes. I sit on the metal bench with my phone in my hands, staring at the screen without really seeing it.

I need to tell Ellie about the baby.

The thought has been circling my brain for three days now, ever since I saw Erik at the Bureau and nearly threw up in front of both him and Sun.

He looked gorgeous. More than gorgeous. I don’t know how I can desperately want someone and hate them at the exact same time. It’s killing me.

I haven’t heard from either of them, but Erik clearly knows I am unwell. It won’t be too long before he puts two and two together and realizes that I am pregnant.

This is all going to come out into the open soon and this time, Ellie isn’t going to hear it from someone else.

I’ve been avoiding the conversation. My sister is the only family I have left. She’s the only person in the world who knows all my secrets, all my failures, all the ways I’ve bent and nearly broken over the years. If she looks at me differently after this—if she’s disappointed, or worse, pitying—I don’t know how I’ll survive it.

But I can’t keep hiding. The pregnancy is going to become obvious eventually, and Ellie deserves to hear it from me.

I take a breath and walk back into the hospital.

Ellie’s room is bright with afternoon sun when I arrive. She’s sitting up in bed, laptop balanced on her knees, and she looks so much better than she did three months ago that it makes my chest ache. The treatment is working. Her color is good, her energy levels are up, and Dr. Burke has started talking about discharge timelines.

I have everything I wanted and everything I sold myself for.

“Hey.” She looks up when I enter, and her smile fades almost immediately. “You look like someone died. What’s wrong?”

I close the door behind me. My hands are shaking, so I shove them in my pockets.

“I need to tell you something.”

Her laptop closes with a soft click. She sets it aside, giving me her full attention, and I can see her bracing herself. “Okay. What is it?”

I’ve rehearsed this a dozen times in my head. I had a whole speech prepared, careful and measured, designed to present the information in the least alarming way possible. But standing here now, looking at my sister’s worried face, all of it evaporates.

“I’m pregnant.”

The words hang in the air between us. Ellie blinks once, twice, processing.

“Pregnant,” she repeats slowly. “As in—Erik’s baby?”

“Yes.”

“And he knows?”

“No.” My voice comes out rough. “And he’s not going to. I’m not—I’m keeping this secret, Ellie. He can’t find out. The terms of our agreement said that he would have custody of any offspring. I know I was stupid to sign that but I never thought there would be any.”

She’s quiet for a long moment. I watch her work through it, see the questions forming and reforming behind her eyes.

“Okay,” she says finally. “Come sit down. Tell me everything.”

So I do.

I tell her about the cohabitation, about the heat, about the way things shifted between us before everything fell apart. I tell her about the eviction notice and Mrs. Kay’s room and the pregnancy test in the hospital bathroom. I tell her about the Bureau meeting, about almost throwing up in front of Erik and the way he looked at me like I was a stranger.