“You okay in there?” The voice called from the other side of the door. “Do you need anything?”

“Leave me alone,” I wailed while hunched over the toilet. “I’m fine. If you wanna make yourself useful, get me some herbal tea. Peppermint.”

“On it!” 

I let out a sigh of relief. He was gone. 

Couldn’t a guy puke in peace?

I wiped my mouth and stood on shaky legs. I grabbed the bottle of mouthwash and used it to rinse, then wet a towel and hung it around my neck. I was exhausted.

What had gotten into me?

When I stepped out of the bathroom and saw Sebastian rushing about down the hall, a thought struck me. It should have been obvious. I should have known when the mistletoe triggered my heat.

I’d had sex. With an alpha. During my heat. Unprotected.

Oh, shit.

The thought nearly made me run back to the bathroom, but I kept it down. And this time, I wasn’t sure if it was fear or excitement. 

You might be pregnant, a little voice whined. Another ghost. Great.

You should get tested, whined another.

All of you, shut up, I mumbled, staggering toward the bedroom. I flopped onto the bed face first, burying myself in the comforter. Maybe if I just stayed here and didn’t move, everything would go back to normal.

Yeah, right.

“Special delivery,” Sebastian called, sidestepping me to place the tea on a tray next to the bed. Even with my head in the pillows I could smell the herbal blend. 

“You’re a lifesaver,” I said without lifting my head. “Thank you.”

The mattress sunk under me as Sebastian sat down. He placed a hand on my back, tentatively rubbing the area between my shoulder blades. “Anything else I can do?”

I rolled over and looked up at him. “I’m fine, really. And thank you for the tea.”

“My pleasure. I actually just got a call from Rosemary, she wants to see me down at Town Hall. I told her it might have to wait, but if you’re sure you’ll be okay...”

I waved my hand toward the door. “I’m not dying, Seb. Just need to take a little breather, that’s all. Go see Rosemary. Give her my greetings.” I tried to give him a smile. He didn’t need to know what I was worrying about right now. At least, not until it was a real problem. Right now, it was just anxiety. Nothing more.

Sebastian squeezed my hand once more and turned for the door. “I won’t be long.”

“Have fun,” I called after him. 

It wasn’t until I heard the door close and the deadbolt lock that I let out a shaky breath. 

What if I was pregnant?

I placed a hand over my stomach and maneuvered into a sitting position. The mug of hot tea steamed on the bedside table. I picked it up, warming my hands and breathing in the minty steam. 

I’d never given a lot of thought to having children. After my own difficult childhood, I had enough trouble keeping myself going, much less another human being. 

But I had to admit, now that I actually sat down and thought about it, there was something appealing about the whole idea. What if I had the power to create life in my very hands? What if I could raise a little one, start a family, watch them grow and learn and evolve? 

My heart squeezed at the thought. 

But I was getting ahead of myself. All I really knew right now was that I was feeling a little sick. And that could be from anything. 

Easy enough to say. With each sip of my tea, the growing feelings of protectiveness and love washed over me. That wasn’t the only thing, though. There was another: cold blooded fear and disappointment.

No matter how much I might want this, the fact remained: Sebastian wasn’t staying. He was only in town to deal with the Dozing Dragon and Nellie’s funeral, and that would be it.

Would the fact that we’d mated change anything? I wasn’t even sure of that.

Vale Valley could never hold a big city dragon like him. And I certainly couldn’t tear him away from all his accomplishments and accolades just to build a life with me.

No matter how nice that seemed.

If I was going to have a child, I’d need to take full responsibility. 

I stopped, mid sip of tea, to realize how quickly I’d jumped to a conclusion. 

It was too early to tell on any sort of test, even if I was pregnant. There was nothing to do now, but wait. 

And see how things progressed with our still-new relationship.

I nearly dropped my tea when an elderly woman came gliding out of the walls, stopping short when she saw me in bed. She wore a long gauzy gown and several multicolored bangles on each wrist. A jingle-bell necklace hung around her neck and sparkled with sound as she moved. 

Great, what now?

“Hey,” I said, not lifting my gaze.

“Oh hey,” she said, turning to me. Her bangles clinked. “Haven’t I seen you somewhere before?”

“Yup.” A shadow passed over my face when I remembered those dark days. “You were there when Brad betrayed me and took my plans for the nursery. Remember?”

“Right. I remember that now. Wonder how he’s doing these days?”

“Kicked out of town. Serves him right.”

Agatha floated over to the bed and “sat” next to me. She’d been one of my only friends after my ‘best friend’ Brad had betrayed me, and even though she was a ghost, I treasured her company. 

“And how are you doing these days?” She asked. “You’re not looking so well.” 

I pinched the bridge of my nose. Was everyone going to make a comment about my well being today?

“I’m...” I started, then I chewed my lip, thinking. “Can I ask you something?” 

“You know you can ask me anything. Us spirits see a lot of things that humans like you can’t. What’s bothering you?”

I rubbed the back of my neck, not sure how to start. “There’s this guy...”

Agatha nodded with a knowing grin. “There always is, sweetheart. He do you wrong again like that other boy?”

“No,” I said, a little too hastily. Then, “not yet, anyway.” 

“And you think he will?” 

I sighed and flopped backward on to the pile of pillows. “I don’t know. It’s all so sudden. So soon. Reminds me of what Brad did. Come in like lightning, get under my skin. Then take it all away.”

“Hmm,” Agatha mused. “Sounds like you’re still hurting over that.”

“He used me!” I cried, my voice cracking. “And when I’m with Sebastian, I get all these feelings that I’m not sure how to control and...”

“Slow down, sweetheart.” Agatha placed a ghostly hand on my shoulder. It didn’t feel like much, just a cold wind. I still shivered away. Ghost touches were so not my favorite, but Agatha had always been touchy feely.

“Right, sorry.” She whispered, drawing away. “Now tell me, this boy of yours, he done anything to make you think he might betray your heart?”

I thought on that one. Not directly, anyway. But there was that whole matter of him moving back to New York when he was done here...

“Ah, so he’s not staying,” Agatha said, nodding sagely. 

“I told you to stay out of my head!” I screeched, lunging toward her. She shifted out of the way just in time, and besides, it’s not like I could have caught her. She was as airy as fog, impossible to hold. 

Agatha simply cackled, appearing on the other side of the bed. “Sorry, sorry.” She held her hands up in an ‘I surrender’ position. “But you’re practically screaming it in your mind, I couldn’t help myself...”

I sighed and grabbed a pillow, pressing it over my face. 

“Why did I have to go and get mated to someone that is just going to leave me?” I said through the pillow. I didn’t care that it was muffled and sounded like gibberish. Agatha would understand. 

“Oh,” she breathed. “Oh, honey.” I didn’t have to peek out from behind the pillow to know that she was looking at the mating bite on my neck.

How stupid could you get, falling prey to mistletoe and stupid Mr. Sexy Alpha? I’d totally fucked up.

“A mating is very intimate, you know. More than just quick sex.” 

I moved the pillow down a little. She was stretched out across the bed now, staring at the ceiling. “I remember my mate. Remember the bite like it was yesterday, too. Hurts like a bugger, doesn’t it?” 

I chuckled. “Yeah.” 

“And you want to know if you can trust this boy to stick around?” 

“Yeah. I guess so. I feel like I’ve made the biggest mistake of my life.”

Things were silent then for a few moments, the two of us sitting and watching smoke curl up from the chimneys of the neighboring houses. Snow had started to fall again, not nearly as heavily as last time, but there would definitely be a new layer on the ground by nightfall.

“You know what I do, in times like these?” Agatha said at last. 

“What?”

“Listen to your heart. What does it say?”

I considered that. As cheesy and lame as it sounded, she had a point. The fear and anxiety came from that scared little boy who was bullied and betrayed. But the story of my heart said something different altogether. When I was around him, or even when I thought of him, I felt buoyed, lifted up to be more than just myself. Our bond could be something beautiful, if we let it. 

If I let it.

“Thanks,” I said finally. “That helps.”

“Always happy to help, dear,” Agatha said. She raked her eyes down my small frame one more time. “Though I still say you need some rest. Your aura is all wonky today, and I can’t figure out why.”

I swallowed the words on my tongue. I had an idea why, but I wasn’t about to tell her. In fact, I actively tried not to think of it just because I knew she could detect my thoughts sometimes. 

“Well, I’ll leave you to your beauty rest. I’ve got places to be, people to haunt, all that.” She grinned. “Spook ya later.” 

With a swirl of mist like a tiny tornado, she was gone.

After chatting with Agatha, I felt a little better. A weight still hung over my heart, though. A weight I knew wouldn’t go away until I took that damned test. How long was I supposed to wait again? I flipped through pages of info on my phone, my stomach twisting. 

Was there like, a WebMD for supernaturals? 

No matter what happened, I resolved as I grew tired once more, I had to protect myself first. And if there was a little one on the way? I didn’t mind second place.