Chapter 36

**Elena**

As usual, I'm the first one up and when I come down the stairs, I find Finn asleep on the sofa. He still decided to come home last night or this morning. He looks so peaceful in his sleep, unlike his state last night. Poor guy, he had a lot to digest last night.

As I look at him, I am suddenly nauseated, as I am every morning these days. I decided to take a pregnancy test yesterday because I was getting seriously worried. They were positive... all three of them. I walk quietly into the kitchen to dip into my supply of chocolate bars, which seems to be the only thing that calms my nausea. I hadn't managed to tell them the good news, I'd had to digest it myself and the more I thought about it the less I thought the timing was right. At the same time, they need to know. There's too much... too much going on at the moment and I wish I'd had more time for just the four of us before having a baby. Whatever happens, this baby will be loved and protected.

"Early morning chocolate bar?" Finn asks from behind me, hugging me.

"I felt like it," I tell him, trying to sound detached.

"Well, you're right. Sometimes I breakfast on pizza."

I turn slowly to face him.

"How do you feel?" I ask him the last bite of the chocolate bar swallowed, placing my hands on his biceps.

"I... I don't fucking know." He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I suspected, but knowing for sure is different." He bends his head slightly. "I'm sorry I tried to make you choose not to go to Caleb's dad's house. I don't trust him. I don't trust him at all."

"I know you don't. I don't trust him either." I pause, putting my hands on each of his cheeks. "Do you trust Caleb and me?" I ask him softly and he nods. "You know he won't do anything to put me in danger?" He nods again. "We need to try to get close to him, try to get him to let his guard down, let him think we trust him and maybe we'll get some answers."

"You're right." He says to me after a few seconds. "It's a fucking shitshow."

"I know."

I tiptoe up to kiss him and he immediately deepens the kiss. He lifts me under my ass and sets me down on the kitchen counter. He wraps his arms around my waist and rests his head on my stomach, which makes me stiffen instantly. I relax, hoping he hasn't noticed, and he lifts his head. "I love you, Elena. You're the best thing that's ever happened to me in my life."

The way he looks at me makes me forget everything else, his sincerity read in his eyes and I feel it through the bond.

"I love you, Finn. More than anything."

***

After my mates had left to go to the pack's house, I used a visio meeting as an excuse to go to a clinic outside the pack. As money can buy anything, I managed to get an appointment for an ultrasound scan later that day. I want to make sure I'm pregnant and that everything's okay before I tell the boys. If that's the case, I'll have to think of a way to tell them.

As I'm driving along, I notice that there's been the same car behind me since I left the pack's border - it may be a coincidence, but I'm keeping an eye out. By the time I get to town, I'm a little early, so I stop off at a cafe along the way. The car I thought was following me passes me by, but I can't make out the driver behind the windows. But a sticker on the back of the brown vehicle catches my eye - it's the emblem of the Lunar High School football team.

I'm getting paranoid; it's a member of the pack, with an errand to run in town. I sit down in the café and order a tea to wait for my appointment.

**CALEB**

Finn hasn't spoken to me all day, we had to have a meeting with the team to discuss the roadworks and he hasn't said a word. That's usually his domain, green spaces, roads and buildings. At lunchtime, I knock on his door and enter. He's concentrating on his laptop and doesn't look up. The bastard knows it's me, which is why he pays me no attention.

I clear my throat but he ignores me. "Theo and I were going to get something to eat, do you want anything?"

"No." He answers dryly without looking at me.

"How long are you going to be fucking with me?"

He raises his head, throwing daggers at me. "We're supposed to be a fucking team. You decided on our mate without talking to me. When you mentioned this dinner, you knew you'd be taking her and you'd already told Theo." I open my mouth to answer him but he abruptly stands up. "Your fucking father was parked outside Elena's house last night when I got home."

My father? I shake my head in disbelief. "Seriously? You saw him."

"I didn't see his face but I recognized his car, the maroon Taurus."

I shake my head. "He sold that car two or three months ago. He hardly ever drove it anymore."

He frowns. "It was that one, I'm sure. Who did he sell it to?"

"I don't fucking know. I didn't ask him, but if that car was outside Elena's, I'll ask him."