Chapter 67 The Test
LISA'S POV
I stared at Adrian's test and the note for about twenty minutes. His handwriting was strong and clear like everything about him. "Unlike some people, I do not run when things get complicated."
Was that what I had been doing? Running from choices I was too afraid to make? The pregnancy test sat in its unopened package on my dresser and I could not bring myself to touch it. What if it was positive? What if it was negative? Both answers terrified me in different ways.
A knock at the door made me jump. I almost told whoever it was to leave but something stopped me. Maybe exhaustion. Maybe the fact that I had pushed everyone away and look where it got me. Alone with a pregnancy test and a viral scandal destroying everything I had built. I opened the door to find Emma standing there with red eyes and trembling hands. Her face was blotchy from crying and she looked like she had not slept in days.
"I know you do not want to see me," Emma said quickly. Her voice was broken. "But please let me explain. Please give me five minutes and then I will leave and never bother you again if that is what you want."
I stepped aside and let her in because Nathan was right. Emma was still my best friend even if she had made a terrible mistake. She sat on the edge of my bed and looked like she might cry again. Her hands twisted together in her lap and she could not meet my eyes.
"Why did you tell Sophia about the research?" I asked. My voice was flat and tired. I did not have energy for anger anymore. I just wanted the truth.
Emma's face crumpled. "Because I am an idiot. The biggest idiot in the world. Sophia was nice to me and made me feel included in pack business when usually I am just the human friend on the sidelines. She asked about you like she actually cared. Like she wanted to help. I believed her. Did it for months before I realized what she was doing. By the time I figured it out, confessing meant losing your trust forever. So I stayed quiet and hated myself every single day."
"You were right," I said softly. "I do not trust you now. I do not know if I ever will again."
Emma nodded and stood to leave. She paused at the door and turned back with tears streaming down her face. "For what it is worth? Take the test. You need to know. Whatever the result is you need to know so you can make real decisions instead of just reacting to fear."
After she left I sat with the pregnancy test in my hands for another ten minutes. The bathroom felt a thousand miles away but I made myself walk there. I made myself open the package with shaking fingers and followed the instructions printed in tiny letters on the box. Three minutes felt like three hours while I waited. I sat on the cold bathroom floor and counted my heartbeats. Counted the seconds ticking by on my phone. Counting anything to keep from thinking about what those two lines or one line would mean for my future.
Two pink lines appeared. Clear and unmistakable. I was pregnant.
I sat on the bathroom floor with the test in shaking hands and felt my whole world tilt sideways. This was real. Not Sophia's manipulation or some elaborate lie designed to destroy me. Real. A baby was growing inside me right now and I had no idea what to do about it. No idea how to process this information when everything else in my life was falling apart.
The question that terrified me most was simple but impossible to answer. Who was the father? It had to be Ryan because of the mate bond. Even with suppressants the bond might have allowed conception where nothing else could. The biological pull between mates was stronger than any medication. But when else had I been intimate with anyone? Never. Not in years. Not since Ryan and I were together before the rejection. Unless the memories of that night were wrong.
The pain medication made everything dreamlike and hazy. Colors too bright, sounds too loud and time moving in strange jumps and stutters. What if there were other nights I had forgotten? What if the drugs made me do things I could not remember? What if someone took advantage while I was vulnerable and drugged and unable to consent or even form memories?
The thought made me sick. I grabbed my phone with trembling fingers and texted Daniel. "I need you. My quarters. Now."
He arrived in five minutes and took one look at my face and the test in my hand. "Fuck."
"I do not remember clearly," I said and my voice shook. "The night with Ryan I was on heavy pain medication. What if there were other nights I have forgotten? What if the drugs made me do things I cannot remember? What if someone did things to me that I cannot remember?"
Daniel cut me off. "Stop. You would remember. Pain medication does not cause that level of memory loss unless you were drugged deliberately. Unless someone gave you something stronger than what the doctor prescribed."
The implication hung in the air between us was terrifying. I whispered, "You think someone drugged me on purpose? You think someone planned this?"
Daniel knelt beside me on the bathroom floor. His face was serious and angry. "I think Sophia has been playing a long game. And I think we need to figure out exactly what happened three weeks ago. Every detail you can remember no matter how small or insignificant it seems."
We spent an hour reconstructing that night piece by piece. Ryan helped me to my room after the challenge with Marcus Krane's son. My ribs were bruised and my shoulder was dislocated and everything hurt. He gave me the prescribed pain medication the pack doctor left on my nightstand. Sat with me while I fell asleep. His hand holding mine. His presence was comforting after everything that happened. Then he left because staying felt wrong. Like taking advantage of my vulnerability.
"He left," I remembered suddenly. The memory was clear now. "I woke up alone and thought I had dreamed the whole thing. Maybe the video was edited. Fabricated to make it look like something happened when it did not. Technology can do anything now. Deep fakes look real."
Daniel's expression was grim. "Or maybe Ryan came back after you fell asleep. The mate bond might have pulled him back even when he tried to do the right thing and leave. The bond does not care about logic or what is right. It just wants its mate."
I needed answers. Real ones. Not speculation or fear or worst case scenarios running through my head on repeat. I grabbed my phone and texted Ryan. "My quarters. Now. We need to talk about that night."