Chapter 43

Celine cursed mentally, of course, her scent would be the one to betray her. “I…”

“Did something happen at the hospital?” Asher asked patiently, his ringed fingers gentle against her face.

She wasn’t even surprised that he had known that even though she had yet to tell him that she had gone to the hospital. Her eyes started to sting, her hands holding onto his thick coat. “N-No?” She answered but her voice sounded unsure.

His lifted brow prompted her to say more, and she quickly did, reminded that if things went south, he might just go back to locking her up.

“The doctor recommended a pregnancy test,” She took a deep breath before speaking, too lost in her confession to notice how Asher had stiffened and gone pale when she said that. “The urine test came back negative but he insisted on taking a blood test, and I’m a little nervous.”

“Do you want a baby?” Asher asked quietly, pulling her in for a kiss.

Celine laughed softly when they pulled apart again, “Not right now, I don’t think,” She said cautiously.

The conversation ended there, and three days later when she went to get her results, it came out negative and she called Asher right away to let him know. She couldn’t really tell if he was happy about it or not; that had been the same way she felt when he asked her if she wanted a child.

For some reason, she had expected him to treat her like she was trying to trap him with a child which was ridiculous considering that she was literally a captive but maybe it was trauma from her past because she had been taunted by the Omegas in her former pack for trying to do that with Noah and getting turned down, because of course, he shared everything that happened between them to his sex partners.

With the baby scare out of the way, she decided to get herself some contraceptives as well, much to Doctor Rogers’ dismay. There were several reasons why a baby wasn’t a smart choice at the moment, but the two she could pick off the top of her head was that she had a very unconventional relationship with Asher, and her captor was very possessive, if she got pregnant, he would probably lock her up and have her put under surveillance every hour of the day.

She left the Comfort Haven Clinic with Scott and Roy in tow, staring at Asher’s contact in her phone briefly as she headed for the car. Her plans to craftily get Asher’s phone number were useless because he had handed her a brand new phone with only his contact in it before she could even bring it up.

Celine got in the car so she could be driven back to the mansion, she wasn’t going to be paying a visit to Asher that day because she needed to pack up for his business trip which had happened sooner than she hoped. He hadn’t told her the location yet but Asher only wore a particular theme of outfits regardless of the weather, and she could pick versatile outfits that could work anywhere. *She could also just ask him…*

She got to the mansion without making up her mind on whether she should ask him over the phone or not, stepping out of the car to find Jael coming out of the mansion. She beamed at this, happy to have bumped into him because if anyone knew where Asher’s business trip location was, it would be him.

“Jael, hi,” She smiled with relief, ignoring the suspicious look he shot her. He had stopped treating her like she was an assassin sent to kill Asher or a spy sent to steal secrets and they actually got along better than before now. She had also found out that he was Asher’s second-in-command so his previous behavior was fairly understandable.

“Is something the matter, Miss Celine?”

Jael had also taken to referring to her like she held authority like everyone else did and she couldn’t understand it but she didn’t bother correcting it.

“Yes, I need to ask you something,” She started, “Can I ask where the business trip is happening?” She asked hesitantly.

Jael blanched at her question, his respect for the Omega had climbed high when he saw her shoot someone else without hesitation for Asher but he had been respectfully keeping his distance from her to observe things from afar. Now he regretted not stoically keeping that distance, because how was he supposed to tell her that the business trip would be to Moonstone?

“The boss didn’t tell you?” He asked with a calm he wasn’t feeling.

Celine frowned, she couldn’t exactly blame Asher, the pregnancy scare had taken up their attention for the past couple days. She hadn’t even known when the business trip was, she had just found out that morning. “No, Asher didn’t.”

Jael made a sour expression, “Then I think it’s best you find out from him,” He said quickly, hot-footing it away from the conversation.

“Wait, what?” Celine mumbled in confusion but Jael was already long gone, exacerbating her confusion further.

She had no choice but to go inside, deciding to bite the bullet and call Asher to ask him directly like she should have done in the first place. She paced for a few minutes after getting into comfortable clothes, trying to decipher why Jael would insist that she find out from Asher. It was just a simple location, *wasn’t it?*

Curiosity eventually got the best of her and she rang Asher’s phone, getting an answer almost immediately…

“Celine.” Asher didn’t say her name often but she would never get tired of hearing it from him.

“Hi,” She replied shyly, melting into a puddle of sappy smiles.

“Did you call to tell me that you’ve gotten home?”

Celine was long used to Asher knowing exactly where she was at all times, “But you already knew that,” She said lightly, reminding herself to get back on track and not get distracted. “I was about to pack up for the business trip and realized I didn’t know where we’d be going.”

There was a short silence on the other end, “We’re going to Moonstone.”