Page 67 of The Omega's Fake Mate

“Happy New Year!”

Zander raised his glass of champagne to his lips. I did the same, but I didn't drink. I couldn't get myself to.

There was something I needed to know before I could enjoy alcohol again.

24

Nick

While the restof the city was being hung over on the morning of New Year's Day, I slunk out of my apartment to visit the drug store and get myself one or two or three pregnancy tests. Couldn't trust just one, could I?

The lady behind the register shot me a funny look as she scanned my items—three pregnancy test sticks and a bag of gummy bears—but I decided to remain silent. We'd just celebrated New Year's Eve, she'd probably get a lot of customers like me over the following weeks.

Once back home, I took my purchases to the bathroom with me. Well, aside from the gummy bears, didn't really need those yet. Those were comfort food for later.

I unpacked one of the sticks, gave the instructions a cursory glance—I had to pee on a stick, how hard could it be?—, and got down to business.

When I was done, I waved the stick in the air and counted the seconds, trying not to think about anything. If I did, I knew I would only panic. In a moment, I would know whether or not I was pregnant, andthenI could decide to freak. Or not. I wasn't sure yet how I was going to react.

I'd never seen myself as a parent, not really. But who knew? Maybe with the right alpha by my side it wouldn'ttotallysuck.

Thirty seconds passed.

Taking a deep breath, I made myself look at the stick.

A blue line.

Wait, what did that mean? I sprinted over to the trash can and pulled the box the stick had come in out of it. Maybe I should have studied the instructionsa little bitmore closely after all.

A blue line means you're pregnant. Congratulations!

I read the small text three times before I could believe it.

Holy shit.

I was pregnant.

What was I supposed to do now? I stared at the stick in my hand. And then I did the first thing I could think off: I took another test. I'd bought three after all. Maybe one of them would turn out to be negative.

After the second test was positive too, I didn't bother with the third one. I'd just keep that for next time.

Next time.

Dear lord, was I already thinking about next time?

Chiding myself, I left the bathroom to slump on the couch in the living room. There, I grabbed my phone. I was going to explode if I didn't get to tell someone about this. Preferably someone who'd gone through this before. I remembered having to buy a pregnancy test for Kade roughly two years ago when he was pregnant with Hope. Yes, Kade was the perfect person to talk to. He'd know what to do, or at the very least, he wouldn't mind if I rambled at him trying to sort out my thoughts.

And he wouldn't tell anyone before I was ready to break the news.

I thumbed through the contact list on my phone and hit dial on Kade's name.

He picked up after only a few rings. “Nick?”

“I didn't wake you, did I?” Considering it was a Sunday, it was still pretty early.

“No, Hope did that well before you could. Actually, I'm more surprised that you're up already.”

“I had something I needed to do.” I sucked air in through my teeth. “Remember when you woke me to buy you a pregnancy test? I had to take one too, only I didn't have anyone to buy one for me, so I actually had to get my ass out the door myself!”