While Ezra’s and my sexual experience only ramped up during the next two weeks — both of us thoroughly enjoying each other so much we didn’t even spare a glance for another partner — still going strong for a total of three weeks straight, today Jack and Pearl finally seemed caged in, noticing their surroundings more, so Ezra and I decided they could both use some time sparring to exert their pent-up energy.

Strolling down to the lower levels, we merely had to follow the sounds of fighting to know the fighting/training arena was going to be packed. Moving quietly through the large, wooden gold doors, we studied the massive expanse for free space. How we hadn’t originally known it was here was a bit ridiculous, as if we’d had blinders on. The multi-leveled black floor was covered in enormous blue mats where different Mys factions practiced. To the left and right there were metal bleachers extending up to the point where the black ceiling began to curve. Golden sparks lit the entire place, floating far above in midair.

“Whoa,” Jack murmured, taking another step into the room. “This is amazing.”

Yeah, it was, especially the Elemental section where they commonly used their element during their sparring.

Pearl appeared nervous. “I’m not sure about this.” She was staring with wide eyes.

Jack glanced her way, nodding at an area where Mysticals of different factions were boxing. “Want to practice with me first? Work the kinks out?”

She nodded instantly, beginning to stretch her arms. “Yeah, I’m afraid I’m bloody rusty after a month of doing nothing.”

Jack jerked his head to the mats, actually gracing us with one of his, as of late, rare smiles. “Let’s do it then.”

Ezra and I watched them wander over to the intermingled Mystical mat, Pearl looking very timid and Jack acting almost as a protector the way he angled his body between her and the others. Ezra chuckled quietly, murmuring, “This could be good for both of them.” When I nodded in agreement, he asked, “Still not feeling well?”

I rubbed at the small of my back, groaning. “Yeah, I have…” I cleared my throat. “Well, it’s a girl issue.”

A slow grin began etching his features, his stance almost as if he were going to pounce.

I knew what he was thinking. Vampires didn’t have to wait while their women were on their period. In fact, they enjoyed it when they were. Rolling my eyes, I waved my hand toward the Vampire area. “Go beat someone up.”

His chuckle rumbled, sounding intimate and full of possibilities. “If I have to.”

“You do,” I whispered, seeing King Kincaid talking with Elder Merrick and waving me down. “The King’s beckoning me.”

“I’ll take kicking someone’s ass over that any day.” Ezra smiled, walking behind me, his fingers trailing softly against my skin between my sports bra and my shorts. “Plus, I’m sure Elder Merrick wants another crack at you.” He raised an eyebrow before strolling away in his black mesh pants, his bare upper half showing all his beautiful muscles under the golden lighting.

Quickly, I jerked my head away, not wanting to be caught ogling, and began making my way to King Kincaid and Elder Merrick. Ezra was probably right. Elder Merrick had been instructing me every other day while hitting on me. Figuratively and nonfiguratively. He had figured out I had the knack for swords and guns, so he had sidestepped those and focused mainly on hand-to-hand combat — my weakness — and the crossbow, which I was only decent with. All the while making subtle innuendos at the end of our sessions, mainly every day that Ezra would come to meet me, our sparring and babysitting ending right around the same time.

I hadn’t missed that key factor, which meant only one thing.

Elder Merrick had caught me in some kind of lie the first day we had met, and possibly knew something was amiss. In his twisted, genius mind — which he definitely had — he was definitely scheming. Whether he kept his assumptions private was beyond me, but Ezra and I never did anything to give him pause, neither of us rising to his bait. But I did believe that if I chose to hop into his bed, he wouldn’t be opposed to it, his invitation never a lie. But his attraction for me normally waned when Ezra wasn’t around, which I thought interesting in itself.

Rubbing my stomach, I burped quietly before reaching King Kincaid and Elder Merrick. I shouldn’t have eaten that fourth chili dog at lunch. “I’m not feeling so hot, so can you make it quick?”

Both appeared puzzled, staring where I had started rubbing my back.

I chuckled and whispered quietly, “Cramps, gentlemen.”

Their faces blanked.

God, men were so easy sometimes.

King Kincaid cleared his throat first. “Well, I wanted you to try these out.” He turned, bending to open a case, and lifted two swords from inside. “See how they fit your hand. You’re so small, I know it’s hard to find swords that fit well in your hands.”

“Oh.” I nodded, lifting them from him. I weighed them inside my palm, giving him my input on the balance and size. They were still too big for me, but better than the ones here we had to use. Just a little smaller and they would be pretty perfect for my petite stature.

“Want to swing them around for a bit?” Elder Merrick asked, picking up two swords from a nearby selection. “Tell him where they could be corrected?”

I agreed, but jerked my head toward the bleachers, asking him quietly, “What’s Antonio doing?” Antonio sat between Cahal and Elder Jacobs, but his head was in his hands, and he was staring at the floor, both Elders continuing to eye him between resting from their own workout and watching others spar. He and I hadn’t talked since he had threatened Ezra and me, but that didn’t mean I didn’t notice him when he was around. In fact, I noticed him more now, my emotions vying between want to yell at him and wanting to cry on his shoulder, hoping he would hug me back.

Elder Merrick shook his head. “He came in an hour ago. Beat the living shit out of a few Mages before sitting down like that.” His forehead crinkled. “He hasn’t moved since.”

My own forehead scrunched. That wasn’t like him. “Well, let’s do this.” I swung my swords a few times and glanced one more time at Antonio before settling on a section between the mats for better footing. Cracking my back, I rotated my shoulders while holding the swords as Elder Merrick moved people back so we would have room to move without risking injuring others.

“Are you sure you’re fine for this?” Elder Merrick asked quietly, standing in front of me.

“Just because I’m a woman, that doesn’t mean I’m a wimp,” I muttered, then rotated, coming at him hard, arching one sword down, but blocking with the other, knowing he was as good as me. He grinned, the clanging of our swords joining the rest of the battle sounds of the room. The match was on. He had taught me in the past few weeks to use my strength to avoid being hit, and that was exactly what we both did.

Our jumping and flipping high into the air sometimes felt like flying, but we had to make sure we landed right, or risk breaking bones. That was what I was focused on when I went light-headed during one of our parries in midair. Elder Merrick didn’t realize this, and took my distraction as an opportunity as we fell. I managed to arch, evading the zinging blade by a mere inch, but missed avoiding the brutal blow to my shoulder, which he pulled back at the last second, making it the heel of his shaft that hit instead of the slicing edge.

I landed hard on my side, my swords clattering loudly on the ground as they tumbled a few feet from me. Vision still blurry, I shook my head hard. I could tell it was Elder Merrick who stood in front of me, recognizing his shoes, which I saw way too often while lying on the mats during hand-to-hand against him.

He cursed, squatting in front of me. “You’re off your game.”

I shook my head again, rubbing my forehead. “I don’t feel right.”

He quickly set his swords down, gently placing his hands under my arms and lifting me slowly to my feet. I wobbled, utterly dizzy, and fell against his chest. Cursing again, he wrapped his arms around me, holding me steady, and shouted, “We need a medic!”

My stomach chose that moment to cramp, ten times worse than before, and I groaned, “Trash can!” I swallowed hard. “I’m gonna puke.”

“Shit,” he growled, lifting me off my feet and rushing me to the nearest one.

He lowered me, and my face, to it right on time. As I gripped the edges, my stomach clenched, and I heaved what felt like my guts into the thing. The smell didn’t help matters, while Elder Merrick grabbed my hair, holding it back as I continued regurgitating every goddamn thing I had eaten today. Which was a shitload, I realized as I saw it make an undignified reappearance.

Elder Merrick and King Kincaid were arguing directly over me.

I could hear general murmurs beginning farther away. I waved a hand as I started dry heaving, choking, “He didn’t hit…my stomach.”

“I fucking told you,” Elder Merrick explained to King Kincaid, growling under his breath, his wolf taking voice. “I only hit her shoulder, and she fell on her side.”

“What the fuck is going on?” Ezra’s voice boomed through the growing crowd.

“Ezra!” Cahal barked harshly, a warning, from somewhere close to my right.

I wiped my mouth with a damn handkerchief — seriously? — someone handed me, and pushed up…only to fall flat on my ass against the trash can. My vision was spinning, so I placed a bracing hand on the ground, even as Elder Merrick and King Kincaid both grabbed my shoulders to keep me from falling over completely. I blinked hard, trying to focus on King Kincaid’s face, finally finding his dark eyes. I repeated myself. “I don’t feel right.”

“Shh,” he hushed me, brushing my hair out of my face in soothing motions. His eyes left mine, darting around the growing crowd before snarling, “Where the fuck is the medic?”

Letting my head fall back on the trash can, I blinked out into the crowd as a Mage pushed through them, yelling for them to move. I saw Jack and Pearl standing a few feet away, their expressions frantic, and Ezra was a few feet from them, his eyes glowing dimly while glaring at Elder Merrick, but his dad had a white-knuckled grip on each of his shoulders, standing behind him. When Cahal had moved from my right, I didn’t know.

The Mage medic dropped to her knees in front of me. I had seen her before. She was normally in here for any injuries that could, and usually did, occur. I was pretty sure her name was… “Hey, Lindy.”

“Bindi,” she murmured, her voice spiced with the South. “Now, what happened?”

“We were sparring. I hit her shoulder in the air, and she went down hard on her left side, then she started throwing up,” Elder Merrick stated in a clipped tone. “She said she wasn’t feeling well before.”

Bindi’s hands started glowing, and she placed one on my head. Oddly, it didn’t feel like anything. Staring into my eyes, she murmured, “What were you feeling before the match?”

I groaned as my stomach cramped. “I’ve got cramps.” Blinking a few times to keep her in focus, I mumbled for Elder Merrick’s benefit, “It wasn’t his fault. I got dizzy in the air.”

Her lips pinched. “You have a slight fever.”

And…the crowd went silent.

Swallowing hard, I mumbled, “I can’t have a germ.” Germs were the Mystical term for something sexually transmitted by a Com to a Mystical. We didn’t catch their diseases, but we did catch a ‘germ’ of sorts, which gave us Com flu-like symptoms.

“No chance of it?” she asked with a completely blank expression.

“No chance.”

“Truth,” Elder Merrick mumbled absently.

She kept that same expression. “When was the first day of your last menstrual cycle?”

I snorted. “I’m not pregnant.”

“Answer the question, please.” One of her glowing hands was roving over my head.

I thought about it, my eyebrows puckering as I counted the weeks silently.

Stalled. Recounted.

Then recounted once more.

My breath caught, my eyes focusing hard on her golden gaze, and I whispered, “Five weeks ago.” My heart took off in a wild gallop, complications hitting me hard. I shook my head, denial in every part of my being, because I’d had my tubes tied. “I can’t be pregnant.”

She nodded, though it appeared only functionary, as Elder Merrick and King Kincaid went stiff on either side of me. Her mouth opened to say something else, but King Kincaid bellowed, “Finn!”

It was so loud my ears rang, and I almost missed Finn saying, “I’m here.”

King Kincaid ordered, “Get over here.” His growl would have scared most people off, but Finn still moved into our line of sight, kneeling between the Mage medic and King Kincaid. Glowing, dark eyes slammed to him. “Test her for pregnancy.”

Finn blinked. “We haven’t had sex in three weeks.” He was alpha enough to meet King Kincaid’s glowing gaze and hold it. “We used condoms.” He shook his head, dark hair flying about his head. “Lots of them.”

Yes, we had used condoms. I hadn’t been able to tell him my tubes were tied because that would have brought up too many questions. I shook my head, mumbling again, “I can’t be pregnant.” My head was beginning to spin again, but it wasn’t from dizziness.

“Truth,” Elder Merrick whispered on a breath, eyes darting to mine and away, but no one else seemed to hear him.

The medic shook her head. “Test her. Condoms aren’t one hundred percent.”

Finn sucked in a rough breath, but nodded when King Kincaid’s growl grew louder. He leaned forward, placing his face at my neck. My wide gaze landed for the briefest moment on Ezra. I had to quickly glance away. He had to appear worse than I did right now. His face was pale and drawn, his jaw clenched tight and his arms crossed, a hand over his mouth as he stared at Finn, his eyes still glowing a bit.

Finn exhaled heavily against my throat, not at all as calm as he was pretending to be…then inhaled heavily, pressing his nose against my neck.

Nothing.

He inhaled once more, then leaned back, shaking his head. “If she’s pregnant, it’s not mine.” He would have reacted differently, yanking me away from them while being in full animalistic protection mode.

“Who else?” King Kincaid ignored Finn as he silently moved back, staring hard. “Lily, who else have you slept with?”

“I’m not pregnant,” I stated barely above a whisper, my hands starting to tremble.

“Who else?” he ordered, his power starting to rise.

“Don’t do this to me,” I pled on a breath, and watched his jaw harden. Taking advantage of his moment of silence, my eyes frantically darted to the medic. “Can’t you give me a stick to pee on or a blood test to prove I’m not pregnant?”

She blinked. “Standard urine pregnancy tests only work for Commoners.” Go figure I wouldn’t know that. She cocked her head. “A blood test might prove it, if you’re far enough along.” Her lips pinched, and she paused for a long moment. “Another, faster way is if a Vampire has tasted your blood and remembers it well enough. If so, the Vampire would be able to distinguish the subtle change.”

My vision blurred, even as I stilled.

“Goddamn it, Lily, you will tell me who the father is if you’re pregnant.” King Kincaid growled low, then his head shot up as he hissed, “Ezra, do you remember her blood well enough to tell if there’s a change?”

Sweat beaded on my brow, but I was thankful King Kincaid didn’t pull his power on me right here and now. I wasn’t sure I would be able to hold him off, feeling as I was. Having people around us know that Ezra had drunk off me, hopefully in their mind only once, was nothing compared to what they would think if they knew I’d had sex with him.

Ignoring the stunned crowd’s gasps, Ezra gradually nodded, hand still over his mouth. In all honesty, I wasn’t sure anymore if his dad’s hands were holding him back or just plain holding him up. King Kincaid motioned for him to get down here, apparently oblivious to the way Ezra looked ready to toss his own cookies.

Ezra’s chest rose, but he dropped his hands to his sides and moved forward, his dad hovering behind him as he knelt between Elder Merrick and the medic. Ezra’s eyes were directed downward, lids hooding his gaze heavily, and in a guttural tone he murmured, “Your hand, Lily.”

Unclenching my fisted hands, I quickly lifted one, hoping no one noticed how it trembled the barest bit. Blinking heavily, I shook my head past another wave of actual dizziness, my stomach churning again as it cramped. His warm — and sweaty — palm lifted mine higher. His grip was firm, and he used his other hand to extend one of my fingers. Lowering his head, I saw his fangs descend right before his lips closed over the tip of my index finger.

He hesitated. I felt it in his heavy breathing. So I moved my finger the tiniest bit and pressed it up against his fang. I didn’t flinch as it pierced through my skin. Nor did I flinch when he took one hard pull before gently grazing my finger with the tip of his tongue, pulling my finger from his mouth. He hadn’t swallowed, and I watched him as I took my hand back to my lap, fisting them again as he swished my blood inside his mouth, his head still bowed.

He swallowed, lifting his hand and dragging it over his lowered face. “She’s pregnant.”

All of the air left me at his rasping words.

There was silence for the barest moment — no one moved or even breathed around me — before King Kincaid growled, “Now, Lily. Tell me who the fuck he is.”

My body jolted brutally as his command unleashed on me. Groaning, I trembled, my teeth clenching hard. I saw Ezra’s head snap up, his eyes flashing furious green. I knew in that moment that it wasn’t only Shifters who reacted to pregnancy with an animalistic manner.

“Stop!” the medic shouted, placing a steely grip on King Kincaid’s shoulder. I also knew in that instant she was the one who saved King Kincaid’s life. He didn’t even see Ezra’s face because of the way the medic had positioned her body in an attempt to stop him from using his power on me. But…Elder Merrick did. He stayed very still, not making any sudden movements as he watched Ezra. The medic shook King Kincaid’s shoulder. “With all due respect, Your Highness, you cannot do this to her right now. She could be miscarrying and you’re not helping.”

King Kincaid’s power cut off abruptly. “Miscarrying?”

Golden hair bobbed. “It’s a possibility. I need to get her to an examining room.”

Ezra blinked real slow-like, his eyes flying to my stomach, before his dad placed a hand on his shoulder, trying to pull him back, saying, “Son, get back. They’ll need to move her.”

My head swam again, but I shook my head. “Pregnant?” My head thumped back on the trash can, listing to the side drunkenly.

King Kincaid gripped me like a child, lifting me as he stood. “How much of a possibility?”

“Let’s just get her to an examining room,” she stated in a clipped tone, turning and shouting at everyone to move out of our way.

My stomach cramped heavily, and I grunted, grabbing at it and turning my head into King Kincaid’s neck as we started moving. As soon as they made it through the horde of onlookers, King Kincaid started running, as did the Mage. My watering gaze opened as he raced with me in his arms, and I blinked into spring green. Ezra was right behind us, keeping pace. I could see Elder Merrick next to him, watching him, but he didn’t try to stop him, or Cahal, who was behind him, along with Pearl and Jack, whose faces were whiter than ghosts.

Ezra’s eyes held mine the entire way, never once glancing away. His gaze held fear and worry and shock, but no condemnation. It was the same as mine. I wasn’t supposed to be able to get pregnant.

Yet apparently, I was.

My breath shuddered. A few wayward tears slipped down my cheeks. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Pregnancy was supposed to be taken care of.

“Lay her on that bed,” the medic stated, sounding winded. We had been on the bottom floor, and were now somewhere near the middle. I wasn’t sure how fast we had gotten here, but it seemed as if time had flown by quickly, staring at Ezra. “I’ll be back in just a minute.”

King Kincaid lowered me onto the medical bed inside the clinic, then turned to everyone who had followed us into the small room, opening his mouth.

Ezra slashed a hand through the air, stopping whatever King Kincaid was to say. “Do. Not. Tell. Us. To. Leave.” His Vampire growled, and he started pacing the small area of the room, his muscles bulging under the too-bright golden sparks.

“Elder Zeller, get your son out of here,” King Kincaid muttered.

Elder Merrick waved a hand. “Let them all stay.” He blinked at King Kincaid’s shocked expression. “They’ll be ruling together. Possibly during a war. They have a lot riding on this outcome. Not just her.”

King Kincaid’s eyes were still wide, but he peered down at me. “Lily? It’s up to you.”

“They’re staying,” I moaned, rolling on my side as another cramp took hold. “Where the hell did Cindy go?” I didn’t like brats, nor did I really want one of my own, by any stretch of the imagination, but if I was pregnant and lost it…I wasn’t sure how I would feel.

“Bindi,” King Kincaid said absently, glancing left and right for her.

Ezra bumped him out of the way, leaning over the bed to pull a blanket over me. He pulled a chair over with his foot to sit directly next to the bed, his face aligned with mine. King Kincaid stared as if Ezra had lost his mind, but Ezra only thumped his thumbs on the bed in an urgent rhythm, eyes darting to where Bindi had rushed off to. He cleared his throat, his eyes going far over my head, then back to the door she had left through. “King Venclaire, can you check on the medic and hurry her ass up?”

I blinked, rubbing my forehead, not even realizing King Venclaire had come here. I hadn’t even known he was in the fighting arena. Maybe he hadn’t been, and had only seen everyone running up the walkway. I was too out of it to notice much right now except for Ezra’s chest rising and falling way too quickly.

“I can hear her,” King Venclaire said softly, his voice strained. “She’s coming.”

King Kincaid finally sputtered, “Ezra, get the hell away from her.”

“Fuck off,” Ezra muttered absently, straightening in his chair to peer out the door better.

King Kincaid’s eyes flashed, but I could tell that Bindi must have come through the door behind me by the way everyone became silent inside the room. I heard her clear her throat, followed by Elder Merrick saying calmly, “Everyone’s staying.”

“Alright,” she mumbled quietly. “Then everyone can get the hell out of my way so I can work properly.” I heard shoes scuffing on the ground, then she said politely, “Thank you.” She came into view at the end of the bed, lifting the blanket off me and patting my feet. “You need to undress, so I can examine you.”

My blink was gradual. “Okay, King Kincaid’s right. Everyone get the fuck out.” I actually heard said King hum in approval, and I shot him a glance. “Even you.”

Ezra stiffened, not liking it at all, but left the room with everyone — the last one to leave, finagling that somehow — and I did as told, undressing with the medic’s assistance once she closed the door. After performing her internal exam, I pulled the blanket up over me, having her let everyone back in. Somehow finagling it again, Ezra was the first to enter the room this time, swiftly returning to his vacated chair, his face as drawn as it had been when he left.

I, on the other hand, just curled up in a ball under the blanket.

The medic took her seat, facing away from us, and lifted glowing hands as everyone crammed back into the room. She stated in a factual voice, “Ms Ruckler is indeed pregnant, and I’m going to show you a few pictures.” My breath caught at her confirmation, my heart rate pounding chaotically as she waved her hands and four golden squares lined the wall she was facing. “I was able to snap these while doing the exam,” she glanced over her shoulder, her eyes on mine, “like a Com sonogram.”

My lips thinned, but I nodded.

She stood and started gesturing at what looked like a large gray blob on the first ‘sonogram’. “This is Ms Ruckler’s uterus.” She pointed a finger at what appeared to be a dot. “That’s baby one.” Again, my heart rate shot off, and I was cognizant enough to hear Ezra’s start pounding, too. She stepped to another ‘sonogram’, pointing again. “That’s baby two.”

I was pretty sure everyone in the room froze.

Breath wheezing out of me, I gasped, “One and two?”

Bindi nodded. “Twins.” She moved to the other two pictures, pointing at each one. “These are better shots of their position.” As she sat down, I felt like I was going to faint and was happy I was lying down. “Now,” her golden gaze met mine, “as for your cervix.” Her jaw clenched. “You’re dilated to five. The probability of you miscarrying is around ninety percent.” After holding my gaze for what felt like forever, she gradually stood. “I’m sorry, Ms Ruckler. None of our medicines will work at this stage. There’s nothing we can do for you medically. Only time will tell.”

My gaze darted back and forth between the ‘sonograms’, staring at the tiny dots she had pointed to. “There’s nothing at all?” God, my voice cracked.

Her lips thinned, her gaze lowering before meeting mine again. “There’s no medicine to help a Mys, or even a spell I could do for a natural occurrence. Your body needs to heal on its own.” She waved a hand and the images I had been staring at went away. “Rest. Try to relax. Your body may recover. The gestational sacs are still in place and you haven’t begun to bleed yet. Like I said, the probability is ninety percent for loss, but there’s still a ten percent chance for hope.” She left the room as silence reigned, everyone still staring where the ‘sonograms’ had been.

I knew in that instant what it would be like if I lost them.

I felt utter fear. A sense of complete hopelessness. My heart squeezed painfully. My panting breaths came in great hiccups. “I don’t even like babies.” My whole body trembled. “I shouldn’t care, right?” My eyes darted back and forth between Ezra’s…and I saw the same emotions filling his gaze before his lids hooded. “Oh, God.” A sob racked my body as a torrent of pain-filled tears tore down my cheeks, I never realizing I may have wanted children until I had two inside me, only for them to be snuffed out after such a brief time.

I saw Ezra’s eyes flash before he rested his head facedown on the bed — hiding his expression on crooked arm — and placed his free hand on my head, running his fingers through my hair. Suddenly, I felt peace flow through me. It didn’t dull all of the ache in my lower abdomen, since it was a natural process, but it subdued the chaos in my mind. “She said you have to relax.” His voice came deep and gruff and muffled by the bed. “Do as she says.” It felt wrong somehow to feel tranquillity when I might be in the process…of losing twins.

My twins.

Ezra’s and my babies, our own little monsters.

But I lay perfectly still, doing as ordered, trying to clear my mind, only to have King Kincaid intrude, asking harshly, “Do you have to touch her, Ezra?”

Ezra didn’t move or respond.

Cahal stated calmly, “He’s relaxing her with his power. She needs him to, with the way her heartbeat was fluctuating so rapidly.”

I heard King Kincaid curse quietly, his voice tight with concern, before he flopped onto the chair the medic had vacated. “Lily, honey…the father…He deserves to be here.” I saw him viciously rub his face, even though I felt nothing but calmness now. “I know you don’t want to say who he is, but he should be here for this.” His eyes met mine. It wasn’t a command, only pure reasoning.

I agreed with him wholeheartedly. “The people I want here are already in this room.”

He didn’t blink. “I never thought you to be selfish.”

“Some would think it a kindness.”

He thumped his fist on the arm of the chair. “The father has a right to know.” I peered away, unable any further to come up with an evasive explanation. My gaze landed on Ezra’s shoulder, which was rock-solid, and I saw that his muscles were clenched, strung so tight he appeared he might break. I felt another small cramp, but it didn’t hurt as badly as before, thanks to Ezra’s power. King Kincaid sighed at my silence, muttering, “You’ll regret this, Lily.”

“So be it,” I whispered — the only thing I could say before closing my eyes, attempting to block out everyone.

Chairs were brought in for the others to sit on, even though their edges rested so closely together that everyone had to sit shoulder-to-shoulder. As time passed, Elder Merrick left and brought back coffee for everyone. Ezra’s was left untouched; the only movement he made was to tilt his head to the side and stare me in the eyes, his gaze hidden from everyone’s view but mine. His eyes were bloodshot and expressing everything I wasn’t feeling right now, thanks to his power. He was unable to keep it contained, even though I could tell he tried by the way his lips were permanently pinched.

I lay on the medical bed, holding his stare, and moved my hand under the blanket until the tips of my fingers were against his arm, the only touch I could give him right now. Pearl and Jack had maneuvered earlier to sit directly behind Ezra, and they sat with their heads resting against the wall, their faces carefully blank.

Five hours and many cramps later, Ezra’s body trembled, his head shooting up. Waking a few people, he shouted out the open door, “Bindi!” He paused, exhaling heavily on a deep pant, before bellowing, “She’s bleeding! Get in here!”

My breath caught. I reached between my legs, and then pulled my hand out from under the cover. My fingers were slick with vivid red blood. “Hope.” I shook my head inside Ezra’s hold and my eyes met his, both of our expressions damned, even as Bindi rushed into the room, demanding everyone leave and literally shoving people out. “Hope’s a fucking bitch.”