The heat of the waiting room in the posh New York doctor’s surgery Lewis had me booked into was almost sickening, and I shifted uncomfortably in my seat trying to move myself into the path of the lukewarm air conditioning as people coughed and spluttered around me.

The sickness had slowly disappeared over the month that we’d been living together in New York, but the swelling over my whole body was hard to ignore, and I was adamant to get to the bottom of it before things got worse.

My cell buzzed in my pocket, and I took it out quickly, reading the name on the screen.

“Lewis? Hi, I’m still waiting.”

“You should have let me come with you,” he said on the other end of the phone.

“No, it’s fine. Honestly. I just want to get the results and then I’ll head home. Did you pick up the tickets to the show?”

“Yes, and I spoke with Jack who also wants to tag along. I’m hoping they can give you some meds or something to make the pain subside enough for you to enjoy yourself.”

“Me too…”

The doctor came out and motioned to me.

“Max Parker?”

“I have to go, Lewis,” I hissed into the phone. “See you in about an hour.”

I ended the call and followed the doctor to his room. He looked concerned as he closed the door behind me and ushered me to take a seat.

“Don’t say its cancer,” I worried as I noticed a nurse in the corner of the room.

Since the days after the fire, I’d been ill, and each doctor I’d been to had prescribed different types of constipation medication, but now as I sat in the expensive doctor’s room, I realized it was something far more serious.

“I read that bowel and stomach cancer were more likely in your older years,” I said, resting a hand on my hard stomach. I could almost feel the tumor under my disappearing abs, and I was suddenly glad that Lewis wasn’t around to hear this. Maybe it was for the best. At least he’d be able to go back to Grayson where he belonged with his family. If I was going to die, I wanted him to be happy.

“Mr. Parker,” the doctor said scrolling through my notes on the computer, “I’m pleased to tell you, it’s not cancer.”

I let out a large sigh of relief.

“It’s not?”

“However,” he pursed his lips and raised an eyebrow at me. “As you came to me from another clinic, I don’t have your entire history here. Please could you just clarify for me if you’ve been taking the hormone injections?”

“What?” I laughed awkwardly, but the looks on his face remained stern.

“It’s a necessary question,” the nurse said, stepping forwards. “Whatever you say here is completely confidential.”

I realized they weren’t joking, and the sick feeling I’d been trying to suppress all day threatened to erupt.

“Yes,” I replied eventually. “Yes, I’ve been taking it since College. Why?”

I saw them exchange glances as though they didn’t believe me, and the doctor handed me a piece of paper with lots and numbers on it which meant absolutely nothing to me.

“If there’s something wrong, just tell me.”

I felt the room spinning and I stood up, trying to get to the window for air, but halfway across the room with the piece of paper in my hand, I fell to the floor and everything went black.

When I woke up again, I was lying on the bed in the same consultation room with a few more doctors stood nearby and the same nurse feeling my pulse.

She saw my eyes open and gestured to the others.

“Hello, Max, can you hear me?”

I nodded.

“You fainted, that’s all. The heating in this place has been stuck on for a long time and…”

I pulled myself up, remembering everything before I’d passed out.

Doctor Curtis came over to my side and put a hand on my shoulders.

“Steady now,” he said in a soothing voice, and I felt the panic in the pit of my stomach. “You just need to rest okay? Then we can talk.”

I lay back propped up on my elbows, looking at the faces around me.

“Now, Max, I understand for a couple of months now you’ve been quite sick and constipated? You’ve had frequent headaches, urination, and a hard, distended abdomen, am I correct?”

“Yes, correct.”

“I know you struggled to get a diagnosis, and we did a set of tests last week. The results that I showed you earlier came in, and I think my team and I have finally been able to find out what’s been wrong with you.”

“Thank God.” I lay back on the bed and looked at him, “Thank you, Doctor, you have no idea what a relief that is to hear…”

“There’s more,” he said, his face still stern and serious. “What we’ve found is unusual. Never in my thirty years of medicine have I ever come across this…”

“Come across what?”

Another doctor stepped forward and showed me the result paper.

“Did any of the other clinics do a pregnancy test on you, Max?”

I shook my head.

“Well, no. I just presented with constipation, and the…”

“According to your blood results, you’re pregnant Max. You’re expecting a baby.”

I burst out laughing, pulling myself into a sitting position, but nobody had a smile on their face apart from me.

“Did Lewis set you up to this?” I asked, still laughing nervously. “You’re good. You’re all so good. Those injections are supposed to be iron clad.”

I got down from the bed, and the nurse held onto my arm.

“Mr. Parker, can you just stop for a moment?” I looked at her, and the expression she had on her face told me everything I needed to know. She wasn’t joking, in fact, she was deadly serious. I looked around at the other doctors as they glanced amongst themselves.

“What the hell is going on here?” I asked, sitting back on the bed. “If I am pregnant, why would it be a miracle?”

“I was hoping you’d be able to explain to us actually,” he said opening my file. “You’ve confirmed already that you’re in a relationship, but according to your bloods, well, they’re through the roof. Nearly five times what it should be at the end of a pregnancy. Going by your notes, your symptoms started about two months ago. Is there anything unusual going on in your life right now?”

Apart from almost being killed by my current partner’s friends and family?

I shook my head, still stunned.

“No, I mean… Are you sure? I used protection.” I responded slowly.

“We have a few suspicions, but I’d like to do a scan on you now if you’d allow me to? It won’t hurt and will only take about ten minutes.”

I laid down in silence still trying to process the information as he wheeled the scan unit over to me and the room waited with baited breath as he turned off the light and started.

We all looked at the screen, and the nurse took my hand, squeezing it.

“Bingo! There it is!”

I closed my eyes, scared to see it, scared to make it real. A baby? Fuck. I knew at some point I wanted to be a father, but the news had undoubtedly taken me by surprise.

“You have a baby, there’s no doubt about that. Have a look, go on,” the doctor urged.

I did as he told me and opened my eyes, focusing on the screen, and there, in black and white, was a curled up outline of what I supposed was a baby. My baby. Only, it looked a little different.

“Going by the measurements, you’d already be eight and a half months pregnant.”

“Eight months?” I cried.

“It’s okay,” the nurse soothed, giving me another squeeze.

“Everything seems okay, a healthy heartbeat, organs present, only… interesting…” he mumbled, looking at the others briefly.

“What is it?” I asked as he finished the scan and switched the machine off quickly. “Something wrong? If I’m eight months pregnant, how come I’m not huge? I’ve seen women and Omegas fit to bursting before, and…”

He pushed himself back to his desk and clicked around on his computer. The others stood in the corner making notes excitedly.

“I’m not sure, Max. I assume it’s due to your exercise and fitness regime. As you can see, you still have somewhat defined abdominal muscles. For most people, usually a tighter stomach means the muscles aren’t so easily stretched, but with your permission I need to run a series of tests on you. Nothing too strenuous for you or the baby of course, just a few things to rule out. Would you kindly bring along your current partner? I’d like to do a few tests on him too.”

“Oh, we weren’t together eight months ago,” I answered, getting off the bed. I felt sick. How the hell was I going to tell Lewis that I’d been pregnant with another Alphas baby all this time?

The doctor’s eyes lit up as I said it.

“You weren’t? Well, all the better for my theory, Max. Make sure you bring him with you,” he said, writing a prescription and handing it to me. “Go and get some iron tablets in the meantime as your blood’s low, and I want you to come back tomorrow at nine to check over the fetus. I’ll have some of my medical students in and a few colleagues from a nearby clinic, if you don’t mind?”

“No, yes. I mean it’s fine. As long as the baby’s okay.”

He got up and followed me to the door.

“Thank you, Doctor.” I said, turning to him. “Thank you for understanding.”

“It’s my job,” he smiled. “Just remember to make sure your partner comes with you tomorrow?”

“Got it.”

I left the room and wandered out to the waiting area, still shocked by the revelation, and instinctively my hand went up to my stomach, but I snatched it away again when I realized that this could be the end of mine and Lewis’ relationship. I was going to be a father, and the one person I’d wanted to share it with wasn’t involved.

The New York streets were full of people as I shunned the cab Lewis had insisted I take and walked back, using the time to clear my head.

Eight months ago? Eight months? I hadn’t even had sex back then. I’d just been fooling around with Alphas, nothing remotely capable of knocking me up.

Eight and a half months pregnant meant I was close to giving birth, but none of my symptoms had occurred until I’d visited Grayson. I’d been a completely healthy Omega until… Lewis.

All of a sudden, things started falling into place. I remembered Lewis saying to me that he had things he couldn’t disclose. That he wasn’t who I thought he was. ‘If you knew better, you’d have never come back’. The words he’d said came back into my head. I’d been too drugged up on lust to contemplate it back then, but what the hell did that mean? I thought back to the old man outside my hotel room and how both he and Lewis had said the same thing to me. Their kind. What did it mean? I’d assumed he meant Alphas, but now…?

“Mr. Parker?” It was the nurse behind me, and I realized I’d been standing in the waiting room daydreaming out at the public.

“Ugh, sorry,” I said, zipping my coat up over my swollen stomach. “I zoned out.”

“I’m on my break, but I can take you back to the clinic. Is there someone I can call for you?” she asked, but I shook my head as the only person I wanted to be around had a lot of explaining to do, and the first question he was going to answer was, who the hell are you?