Shadow Watcher (Darkness #6)(15)

I fell into my car. “I didn’t miss one,” I yelled at my car. “I had an empty pack except for the sugar pills. I can’t be pregnant.”

I filled my lungs and stilled again.

Remember what is going on in the world around me. This is no time to lose my shit.

Taking another deep breath, I checked the back seat; kind of hoping a crazy shifter was in it, because he would meet his maker really quickly. Unfortunately, it was empty, leaving me to my problems. Great.

Then I stared straight ahead for a second. I wasn’t pregnant. There was no way. Stefan’s people had a hard time procreating. Even if the pill didn’t hold up, which was 99.9 per cent unlikely, his sperm should’ve failed. That was the whole deal with his race.

Right?!

Willing calm, I drove to the store like an old lady in rush hour. I didn’t want to freak out and run someone over. That would not help the situation. I made it to the closest grocery store and got out on wooden legs. Feeling imaginary things in my stomach, I walked with a zombie lurch toward the feminine aisle. I passed the female hygiene products I really should’ve had to use last week and came upon the pregnancy tests. Then hesitated.

There was a plethora of options with different prices. Some boasted of super sensitivity and some boasted baby pictures. There were ones with lines, pinks and blues…

“I just want a normal test,” I muttered with dismay.

I chose one in the middle price bracket and studied it. The wrapping crinkled as I handled the package. Two lines for yes. One for no. Two tests in the packet.

My heart beating rapidly, I walked toward the checkout with an embarrassment I hadn’t felt in a long time. It was like buying condoms for the first time. Or handing a box of tampons to a male clerk. I almost wanted to hold my ring up signifying that I did, in fact, have someone regular that helped me make this potential baby.

I slid the package over the counter with a red face. The fuzzy haired woman in her fifties lazily scanned the barcode of the test, hit a button on her cash register, and glanced at me. “$18.63.”

I drew a crumpled twenty out of my wallet and handed it over, brushing a stray piece of hair out of my face. Once I had the change, I waited with forced nonchalance as she slipped my immediate future into a crisp, brown paper bag. Muttering a “thank you,” I gingerly picked up the bag like I might a poisonous snake and walked on eggshells out to my car. I paused beside my door and took a deep breath, watching as the sun floated toward the horizon.

Stefan would still be in bed. If I went home right now, he’d wonder what I was doing home so quickly and he’d get up to check on me. If he found me in the bathroom peeing on a plastic wand, there’d be questions.

I did not want questions until I had answers.

So then what? Hit the park, squat in some bushes and have a pee? Yeah, that’d go over really well. I’d probably get found out by some little kid who would then have very unladylike behavior burned into his head. He’d probably live the rest of his life peering in bushes, terrified of what he might find. Either that, or I’d run into that shifter again while in a very awkward situation.

Excuse me scary stalker man, let me just pull up my pants and put away this pregnancy test and then I will gladly rock your world with magic.

No. Terrible idea.

Like a shotgun blast, the solution came to me—the secret house! I would go to the small bungalow where I’d first lived out my days at the Mansion. The only person who would think to look for me there was Stefan, and only then if there was something the matter. Since I had already muffled the link, and he was asleep, he’d be clueless unless Charles or Jonas told on me. Since Charles and Jonas would both get beat up if that was the case. They wouldn’t say a word.

I didn’t drive like an old lady this time. I drove like a teenage boy. I took corners like my car was a year old and my tires were newer still. I pulled into the lot at the Mansion, gave a glance around, saw someone standing near the lot’s entrance notice me, and put him in a magical cage. He saw me come in, but he wouldn’t know where I went after I turned the corner.

As it was still daylight though the sun was starting to sink in the sky, no one else was outside. I slipped beyond the concealment charm of the little bungalow and unraveled the cage to free the guy I dropped my stuff in the middle of the floor and took the test into the bathroom. Then, remembering there were two tests, I figured I’d better be safe and take them both. I gulped down two glasses of water. It was always better to have a second opinion.

“Okay.” I took a deep breath, closed the bathroom door with a soft click, and stared at the package. Slowly, as if defusing a bomb, I took the first test out of the box, tore the wrapping, and stared at it. One white little strip of plastic stared back at me.

I couldn’t help but wonder what Stefan would say if I was pregnant. He’d probably be happy. But there were the warnings from Cato, and that crazy Mata stalker. Stefan would go way overprotective…

This isn’t helping.

I walked with cement feet to the toilet and did my business. I didn’t bother getting up when I’d finished. I sat there, hunched, test held out, watching as the liquid crawled up the test area and ducked inside the plastic. A moment later the liquid was dampening the material within the viewing screen. Slowly, a red line started to form. The picture on the test said two lines meant I was pregnant.

The liquid continued to crawl. Like a turtle in a storm walking up hill, the material slowly, ever so slowly, dampened. A shadow of another pink line started to form.