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Mara thought of Vince Cordova. He had sired twins, but he had been a new vampire at the time. If she was still a fledgling, it would be easier to understand how she could be pregnant, but she had been a vampire for centuries . . . Getting pregnant should have been impossible. She must have been gradually losing her powers without being aware of it while she and Kyle were together. It was the only answer that made sense.
“We’ll have to monitor your progress very carefully,” Ramsden was saying. “It might be necessary to hospitalize you during your last trimester.”
“My what?”
“During the last three months of your pregnancy.”
“Why?”
“Simply as a precaution.”
Mara stared at him, a thousand questions running through her mind. A child! She didn’t want a child. Rane and Rafe had grown and aged like normal mortal children until they turned thirteen and their vampire natures had taken over. Would her child react the same way? If not, if it was born a vampire, it would never grow up. It might age mentally, but physically it would always be an infant, dependent on her for its every need. What kind of life would that be for either of them?
“I know you must have a number of questions,” Ramsden said, chuckling. “I have quite a few myself, but at the moment, I don’t have any answers. I’ll need to see your bloodwork, and then examine you again. Come back in six weeks. You can make an appointment at the desk on your way out. And don’t hesitate to call me if you need to talk, or if you experience any contractions or bleeding.”
She stared after him as he left the room, her mind whirling. Pregnant! How on earth could she be pregnant? What would Kyle say? Should she tell him? And what about Logan? Pregnant! It just wasn’t possible, and yet the doctor seemed convinced that she was expecting.
Feeling numb, she wadded up the paper gown and tossed it into the trash. She stood there a moment, her fingers splayed across her belly, and then shook her head. She couldn’t be pregnant. Ramsden had made a mistake—that’s all there was to it.
After dressing, she went out into the reception area.
Logan was pacing the floor. He came to an abrupt halt when he saw her, then hurried toward her. “What did the doctor say?”
“I’ll tell you later. I have to go downstairs so they can draw some blood.”
Logan lifted one brow. “Are you kidding me?”
“That’s what I said.” Turning back to the receptionist, Mara made an appointment for her next visit.
“A blood test,” Logan muttered as they took the elevator down to the lab. “What’s the cup for?”
“You don’t need to know.”
The elevator doors opened into a large room that reminded Logan of a bank vault. “Do you suppose he has vampires working down here?”
“How should I know?” Mara replied irritably. There could be a hundred vampires in the building and she would never know it. When they passed a wastebasket, she tossed the cup inside.
“You know, this might not be a bad place to work,” Logan remarked as they walked down a long gray corridor. “You could draw blood for lab tests, and take a little extra for yourself.”
“Very funny.”
A heavy-set woman with orange hair smiled at them when they reached the lab. “May I help you?”
Mara handed the woman the piece of paper the doctor had given her.
The woman glanced at it and wrote something down on a clipboard. “Just follow me. This will only take a minute.”
After sending a worried look at Logan, Mara followed the woman into a small room. The walls were pale green, lined with glass-fronted cupboards. Mara sat in the chair the woman indicated and rolled up her sleeve.
“Here,” the woman said, giving her a square of foam rubber. “Squeeze that for me.”
“Why?”
“It’ll bring your veins up. That’s right.” The technician wrapped a strip of rubber around Mara’s arm, then inserted a needle.
Mara stared at the blood that began to fill the syringe. In the past, her blood had always been dark red; now it was a much brighter hue. Mortal blood. Feeling suddenly queasy at the sight, she turned her head away.
“You’re not going to faint on me, are you?” the woman asked, worry evident in her tone.
“No.”
“We’re just about done,” the woman said. “You’re not allergic to paper tape, are you?”
“I don’t know.”
“Well, I guess we’ll find out, won’t we?” the woman said cheerfully. After removing the needle, she placed a cotton ball over the tiny wound, then covered it with a strip of tape. “Doctor will call you with the results in a few days.”
With a nod, Mara left the room.
“How was it?” Logan asked curiously.
“Horrible, like everything else.”
He slipped his arm around her waist and gave her a sympathetic hug as they headed for the exit. “Sorry, love.”
“It’s not your fault. Was she a vampire?”
“Yeah, a fairly old one.”
“And the receptionist upstairs?”
“No, she’s human. The nurse was a fledgling, not more than a few months old.” He glanced at her, frowning. “Couldn’t you tell?”
“No.” She stared into the distance a moment before asking, “Have you ever wanted to be human again?”
He considered the question a moment, then shook his head. “No. So, what did the doctor say? What’s making you sick?”
“I’ll tell you in the car. You’ll never believe it.” She couldn’t believe it, either.
Neither did Logan when she told him.
“Pregnant?” He pulled out of the parking lot and onto the street. “How in the hell can you be pregnant?”
“I don’t know. Neither does the doctor.” She gazed out the window. “Logan, I’ve lost most of my powers. When I was with the doctor, I couldn’t tell if he was human or one of us. Even with you . . . I can’t feel the bond between us anymore.”
His hand tightened on the steering wheel. “I know.” The bond no longer went both ways, but because of the blood they had shared, he could still read her mind if he chose to do so, could sense her proximity even when they were apart.
“I don’t want to be mortal again!” she exclaimed. “I don’t want a baby. A baby! What do I know about taking care of a baby?”
“You don’t have to have it if you don’t want it.”
