"Okay, little wolf. I've got you," he said, pulling me into his arms once again and walking towards the toilet. He sat me down in front of it and then began to pull up my skirt.
"Um, what are you doing?" I asked in horror.
"Just helping you get ready to take the test?" He looked confused, like he couldn’t possibly understand why I would think it was weird that he was trying to help me pee.
I shook my head. "Absolutely not. Go over there and wait,” I all but shrieked.
“But…”
Just then, River and Caspian appeared in the doorway, anxiously looking from the pregnancy test now in my hand, to me, to the toilet. It was almost comical watching their eyes bounce around like they'd gone crazy.
I stared at the ceiling. “Moon Goddess,” I cursed before staring back at the Three Stooges in front of me. "That's it. Out!"
They all began talking at once, and it felt a little bit like I'd entered an alternate reality where my cool, suave, warlord alpha lovers had suddenly become bumbling idiots.
I leveled them with another look and pointed out the door, and they reluctantly left. Well—River and Caspian left, Hendrix just leaned against the wall and folded his arms, glaring at me in challenge.
I shook my head and sighed, but didn't bother pushing him. Glaring at him defiantly, I pulled down my underwear, shaking my head at the rush of heat in his gaze as he saw my panties slide down my legs.
Seriously, he was such a horn dog.
I ripped open the packaging, staring at the stick like it held my life in its hands. I didn't know what I was feeling at the moment. Unprepared. Terrified. Hopeful…
I pulled off the lid to the stick and awkwardly stuck it between my legs before beginning to pee on the white fiber tip. Hendrix was watching me closely, an inscrutable look in his eyes.
When I thought I’d done it long enough, I shook it off a little bit and then pulled it out before snapping the lid quickly back on.
"What do we do now?" asked Hendrix, taking a step towards me.
"Look away," I complained.
Waiting for him to turn his head before I wiped, I took care of things and then hopped off the toilet and washed my hands. Once my clothes were back in place, and I’d brushed my teeth, I finally felt like I’d delayed long enough and I examined the stick I'd set on the counter.
A second later, Hendrix was beside me, staring down at it. “Two lines, what does that mean?" he asked, a thread of panic laced in his voice. He grabbed the instructions and started to read them. His shoulders suddenly sunk. “Two lines. That means you're not preg—"
"Look," I gasped, pointing down where another line was appearing to create a plus sign. I grabbed the sheet of instructions from Hendrix, even though I was pretty sure I knew what that meant. I picked up the stick and examined it next to the instructions…just to make sure.
A second later, the stick and the instructions both clattered to the floor as I dropped them in shock, and I sunk down to the tile with them.
I was pregnant.
There was a…baby in there.
A rush of overwhelming love and protectiveness flushed over my skin, and I braced my hands on top of my stomach, realizing for the first time that the slight swell there was actually a baby.
"I can't believe it," I gasped.
Tears were streaming down my face as I got the courage to look up at Hendrix. I didn't care if they didn't want a baby or not. Now that this had happened, I suddenly couldn’t imagine it any other way.
"I know this wasn’t what you all had planned," I began. "But I can raise the baby alone, if you could just help me get on my feet first—"
"Shut your pretty mouth, little wolf," Hendrix ordered in a choked voice, tipping my chin up to meet his beautiful eyes.
He was…crying. Hendrix was crying.
"I've never been so happy in my entire life," he murmured through his tears, right before both his hands went to my cheeks and his lips were crashing against mine, our tears combining together as they streamed down our faces.
A rush of nausea flashed through me and I gently pushed him away, taking a deep breath to try and combat it.
Caspian and River both burst through the door, coming to a halt when they saw us both lounging on the bathroom floor…in tears.
"Syn? Are those good tears…" River blurted out.
"The best," I sobbed as a fresh wave of them crashed over me.
"You're pregnant?" River’s voice was thick with disbelief.
I nodded, and he crashed down on his knees in front of me, his hands both going to my stomach reverently. He looked up at me. “Thank you,” he murmured, his eyes now becoming glassy as well.
"Well, one of you played a hand in this as well," I joked.
He chuckled and shook his head. "I don't even care whose it is. It will still be mine in every way." He took a deep, shuddering breath. "You gave me a family." I didn’t point out that he’d still had his brothers before this. Because he was right in a way, we had become a family. The three of them had been a sadistic bunch of merry assholes before I’d come in the picture, with wounds that weren’t healing.
And now, here we were.