King Cave (Forever Evermore, #2)(55)

“What the f*ck 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 f*ck 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?”