Page 262 of The Omega Exchange: Omnibus

He has a temper.

I think all pro-athletes are a little spoiled and used to getting their own way, but he’s going to have to learn to shut his fucking mouth.

“Okay,” Mel agrees. “I really don’t want you to go.”

My chest puffs up as my shoulders pull back. Her words stroke some part of me that really needed that confidence boost.

“The test isn’t able to give us specifics. Well, it is and it isn’t. If you’re carrying one fetus then you’re likely around ten or eleven weeks. I did some rough calculations. Pregnancy isn’t calculated by fertilization date, but instead the first date of last menstruation. It’s the first date of the last heat for a female omega. I think I’m getting more specific than the need calls for. I’d put your conception date just before Christmas, but you have to understand this could change once you have an ultrasound.”

“No, you’re right. It had to be the Christmas trip. I haven’t been with anyone since. I mean except here. But wait, they gave me a pregnancy test in North Carolina...” Melody whispers, shaking her head. “I don’t understand.”

“I checked the date on that. It was administered on the twenty-eighth of December, and it was negative,” Farrah says, looking at me like she wants me to hear that.

“This is a nightmare,” Melody says, her voice breaking.

“This is a surprise, but not an unwelcome one,” I murmur, kissing the side of her head. “Not to me. You don’t have to do this alone.”

“Miller,” she sobs, burying her face in my armpit.

“I’m going to get you in with a colleague on the mainland,” Farrah says, closing the paper file she’s been holding before standing up. “They’ll be able to give you more information and go over options.”

“I’m having the baby,” Melody says firmly. The fact she’s buried between my arm and my chest significantly muffles her words, but a slow smile crosses my face. “Ohmigod, I have to tell Ben.”

My heart sinks. I bite my cheek to keep from blurting out something that I can’t take back. Personally, I don’t think that fucker needs to know anything. He was a shit boyfriend. He’ll probably be a shit parent, and he’snevertouching my omega again.

I carefully remind myself that this is dangerous territory. I don’t get a say in that. All I can do is be the rock Mel desperately needs and pray that asshole magically drops dead. Unfortunately, my luck has never been that great.

Chapter Twenty

Melody

Icame to The Exchange to move on from Ben. Somehow I managed to find a pack of men that I really like and who made me believe that it’s possible to move on from the ten years I spent in limbo waiting for Ben to get his shit together.

I ruined everything, and I don’t even understand how.

“My birth control shot was supposed to be effective then,” I sob against Miller’s shoulder. “Omegas don’t get pregnant outside of a heat, that never happens.”

“Six out of every hundred women become pregnant while taking the shot as directed,” Farrah says softly as she heads for the door. “That includes omegas.”

“Tell them to give us a minute,” Miller says firmly. “Don’t ask. Tell them.”

“I will,” she says, heading out.

“I can’t do this,” I whisper. “They’re going to hate me. I didn’t know. I swear to God I didn’t.”

And I really didn’t. What Carver said this morning was almost too much to handle. We came to the clinic within hours, and I was still mulling over the implications of what he said.

Farrah suggested the test and it seemed irresponsible to ignore the possibility, but I really didn’t expect it to be positive.

“Ohmigod, what a nightmare,” I sob.

“Shh, you’ll make yourself sick,” Miller says, rocking me against his chest like I’m a toddler having a tantrum. “I’ll make sure they hear everything I heard.”

He lets me cry against his chest as he continues to murmur comforting assurances that I’m not alone. It’s when he starts to purr that I finally manage to breathe normally again.

“I don’t know what to do,” I choke out. “I live in a garage apartment at my mom’s house. I’m twenty-six years old. I think my impulses took over and convinced me that I could have a baby on my own. I have to write, like, five hours every single day just to make enough to pay for my cell phone and car. I couldn’t even get my own apartment because of how expensive my mom is. She isn’t great at taking care of herself, so I’ve always helped out with her bills, but after that there’s hardly any left for mine. I have some in savings, but I’ll have to go right back to?—”

“Okay,” Miller says, nuzzling his beard to my cheek. “You’re going to focus on one thing at a time. The only thing you need to do right now is trust me. Can you do that?”