2. Four

I cringed as the sound of my phone hitting the floor echoed in the room. I just hope that it wasn't broken. I don't think I could handle more stress at the moment.

I gingerly looked up to find Eva smiling down at me. I nervously gulped while I was freaking out on the inside.

Why the hell do these kinds of things always happen to me?!

"I'm, Hi, Mrs. Cain." I quickly picked up my phone and stood up from my seat to greet her.

She crossed her arms and sighed mockingly. "Oh Zara, how many times have I told you to call me Eva?" 

I chuckled nervously and fiddled with the ends of my shirt.

What are you even doing here?

"Well, I'm here for my sonogram." She laughed while roaming her hand over her belly affectionately.

Of course! Eva was pregnant so she was bound to go to a doctor's office. Pregnant women go for regular checkups. Stupid Zara!

It was just my luck that she had a check-up on this very day. 

I mentally face-palmed myself and gave a nervous laugh. I was sure I sounded like a dying hyena.

She smiled at me and then sat on the seat next to me. This can't be good!

Instead of running away from my ex-boyfriend’s mother, I sat beside her, waiting for her to say something and end the awkward silence.

"So, how is everything between you and Harper?", Eva asked me and my eyes whipped to meet hers.

I think I liked the awkward silence better.

What was I supposed to say? That her son, who I was in love with, was now my ex-boyfriend and had had sex with my best friend, had possibly impregnated her and now I was accompanying them both for their paternity test. Sounds like a really good story, but not one you tell a pregnant woman who already had a history of miscarriages.

I smiled weakly at her, not knowing what to say. "Yeah, things are......good."

She beamed back at me and I immediately felt guilty of lying to her. She had been nothing but good to me, had accepted me from the start and here I was, lying to her face.

"Oh, wait till he marks you and completes the mating process." She sighed dreamily and I subtly took her features in.

Pregnancy had done Eva wonders. Her skin was practically glowing and she had this graceful aura around her that all pregnant women seemed to have. 

Out of nowhere, an image of Natalie in her second trimester flashed in my mind. How she would look with that ethereal glow and a motherly grace. A bolt of jealousy ran through me. If the paternity test ran positive, which I had a feeling that it would, she would be having a baby with the guy I was in love with. I should be doing that, he was my mate, not hers.

My thoughts were interrupted when I realized Eva was still speaking. She had stopped talking about the mate bond and was instead talking about how Sebastian and she acted in the early years of their mating. Something Harper would not like to listen to. As she kept talking about her husband and mate, I realized that Harper was wrong about one thing. He had said that his father had started loving his mother again but his mother never did. By the way, she was talking about Sebastian, there was absolutely no doubt that she loved him. She must have stopped showing it because she didn't want to get hurt anymore, mate or not. She just wanted to protect herself from both her mate and herself and I respected her decision.

Because that was exactly what I was doing, protecting myself!

"Where's Sebastian anyway?" 

"He had to park the car and fill out some form downstairs at the reception." I nodded at her response and we started talking about other topics which helped me forget why I was sitting in the waiting room in the first place.

"We are done with the test". Harper's voice broke our conversation and both of our eyes snapped up to see a flustered Natalie and a nervous Harper standing side by side.

The both of them looked genuinely shocked and I wanted to bang Harper's head against a wall. Didn't he see his mother sitting beside me?!

"What test?" Eva asked eyeing the three of us, awaiting an explanation. Well, I don't have one!

"It's nothing. I had some stomach cramps and Harper helped me to the doctor's office." Natalie rushed through her words which I knew she only did when was nervous.

Eva nodded and accepted the bullshit explanation we gave her.

I stood up from my seat, ready to get away with this awkward situation as long as possible. "Well, I will see you soon, Eva".

Eva smiled at me. "Girl. I hope my boy brings his mate to the pack house soon."

I laughed nervously and I felt guilt creep up my pores at the way I was lying to this lovely woman.

"I have to be at home soon. Bye." I said and both Harper and Natalie enthusiastically nodded at Eva. Not at all suspicious!

"I didn't know you guys would be here." I turned my head to see Sebastian walk into the middle room with the authority of a full-fledged alpha.

Could this situation be any weirder?!

He covered the distance between the door and us in a few short strides and came to stand beside his wife. He put a gentle hand around her shoulders while she subconsciously leaned into his warmth. 

I looked away from their embrace as I felt jealousy course through me. That could have been me and Harper right now. He could have marked me by now and we could have been full-fledged mates.

I must have zoned out because when I caught onto their conversation, Sebastian was patting Harper on the back with a huge grin on his face. 

"Well, Zara's the best thing that has happened to you, son. Take care of your mate".

My eyes subconsciously met Harper's green ones and an involuntary blush coated my cheeks at the words of the father of my mate.

He's taking care of me, I thought sarcastically.

"You will have to come and collect your test results the day after tomorrow, Alpha." All of our heads turned to see a doctor speaking to us while looking down at a clipboard.

Oh shit!

Sebastian's eyes furrowed in confusion. "What test?"

Eva opened her mouth to speak but the doctor beat her to it. "The alpha", the doctor pointed to Harper, “and Natalie took a paternity test together. They will get their results the day after tomorrow."

The doctor respectfully bowed to his Alpha and Luna, oblivious to the tension in the room, and walked out.

Sweat formed in various places of my body and I couldn't muster enough courage to look in anyone's eyes. Eva now knows that I blatantly lied to her face ten minutes ago.

A deathly silence ensued before Sebastian spoke again. "Explain. Right. Now." 

This was his alpha voice because I felt compelled to answer him myself. But the command wasn't meant for me, it was meant for his son.

Harper nervously met my eyes and I could see his Adam's apple bob up and down in his throat. He opened his mouth and told his parents what had transpired in the last few days.

I sneakily peeked a look at both of their faces and I could feel them getting angry, disappointed, surprised, and in the end, helpless.

My eyes met Eva's and I knew she was hurt by the fact that I had lied to her a few minutes ago.

"We were waiting for the results of the test before disclosing it to anyone." I nervously shifted my weight from one foot to another.

"What do you guys plan to do?" Sebastian's voice was tight and tired. How happy he would have been if he hadn't met us here.

"If the child turns out to be mine, me and Natalie have decided to abort it. I don't think either of us can go through with it. It was a unanimous decision."

Wait, what?!

When were they going to tell me that?

My gaze moved to Natalie's and she nodded in response to Harper's words. I would need a lot of time to process this.

Sebastian tightly nodded and a tear slipped out of Eva's eyes. I felt like crying myself. What was happening in my life? Since when did it become so packed with drama?!

The farewells didn't take long after that. They wanted to get away from us as much as we wanted to get away from them.

Before anyone could propose giving me a lift, I slipped out of the hospital and ordered a taxi home for myself.

I wasn't certain how I was supposed to feel. I felt happy that my friends were being thoughtful about the whole situation and not being entirely selfish and careless. 

I lay in my bed as I imagined various scenarios that night, wondering what would the test results say.

I didn't know when I closed my eyes but I felt a wave of calmness wash over me.

Because...

I was falling and floating at the same time.