Selling Myself To The Alpha
Chapter 60

Liana POV

I sigh heavily as I look at my pale reflection in the mirror. My timing to get sick is terrible. Axel and I are supposed to talk things through.

I rinse my mouth after I brushed my teeth - again - and walk into the room just as Michelle and Axel enter.

"I'll leave you to it and wait outside," Axel smiles after Michelle and I greet each other.

"This really wasn't necessary," I smile awkwardly as I take a seat on my bed. "It's only stress and it will go away."

"When stress starts affecting your health, it is necessary," she takes out my file and starts paging through it.

I do not say a word as I obediently follow her instructions when she examines me.

"And no fever?" She starts writing in the file.

"No," I shake my head as I dress. "No cramps, no aches or pains."

"Just vomiting and weight loss," she takes out a cup.

"The weight loss isn't relevant," I protest and avoid eye contact. No way am I admitting I lost weight because I was lovesick. "I didn't eat because I wasn't hungry."

"Lack of appetite is also a sign of stress," she holds out the cup to me. "I need a urine sample, please."

"But why?" I frown as I take the cup.

"I need to be thorough," she smiles patiently. "Nausea is a common symptom for many things. And since you can't keep anything down, I need to check your vitamin and mineral levels."

"Fine," I huff as I walk to the bathroom. This really is a fuss about nothing but arguing about it is only a waste of time.

It is quiet as I sit on the bed and play with my fingers while she tests my urine.

"Good news," she smiles after a while and turns to me. "You don't have an infection; you are stressed and ..."

"Told you this was a waste of time," I grin victoriously.

"And are you aware that you're pregnant?" She asks softly.

"Yeah, right," I snort and start laughing. But my laughing quiets down when her facial expression does not change.

"Oh, shit, you're serious," I mumble, and she nods.

"No," I shake my head as I stare dumbstruck at her. "It can't be. I ... we ... no."

"Which protection do you use?" She looks sympathetically at me.

"The pill," I jump up and start pacing in the room. "I took it religiously until ..."

"Until what?" she asks as I sit down on the bed when my legs turn to jelly.

"Until I ended up nearly frozen in the hospital," my voice is hoarse. "And then we broke up and ... and I didn't see the need to start again."

"I see," she nods as she continues writing in my file.

"No, you don't," I am on the verge of panic. "That test must be wrong. I've only been with one man my entire life and we haven't had s*x in three weeks."

"Liana, when you were hospitalized, your system was flushed with fluids to heat you as well as antibiotics," Michelle explains patiently. "The pill was cancelled out by that. Were you and your partner intimate after your hospitalization?" "Yes," I groan as I bury my face in my hands.

"But only like... five times or so," I blurt out as I sit up again.

"Once is enough," she says patiently. "Haven't you noticed that you missed your period?"

"I don't know... I... uhm, I didn't track it," I stutter with a blush as I take out my phone and open the calendar.

"Oh, goddess," I mumble when I notice I am two weeks late. "I was preoccupied, and I didn't notice."

Truth is, I was zombified because I missed Axel and simply did not pay attention to anything.

"Are you sure you're not mistaken?" I look at her hopefully.

"It's very unlikely, but it could be a false positive," she nods. "According to your timeline, this is an early pregnancy, a blood test will confirm it."

"Fuck me," I mumble and hold out my arm. "Take my blood."

"You'll have to come to my office for that," she smiles, and I drop my arm. "In the meantime, I'm going to give you an injection to help with the nausea and a vitamin shot."

I simply nod as she takes out a syringe. I was not prepared for this news and am still processing it.

"Do you want a sedative for the anxiety?" she asks as she administers the medicine.

"No," I shake my head adamantly. "I need a clear mind to get through this."

"Okay. Are you going to tell the father?" She asks sympathetically.

"No!" My head jerks towards her. "And you can't tell him either."

"Relax," she laughs. "There's such a thing as patient-doctor confidentially and I don't know who the father is."

"So, you won't tell Axel?" I look at her hopefully. "Even though he's paying the bill?"

"I'm not allowed to," she confirms.

"Good," I sigh relieved.

"Do you know if you're keeping the baby?" She takes out her prescription pad.

"Let's first confirm the pregnancy," I laugh awkwardly.

"Regardless of your decision or the results, I'm prescribing prenatal vitamins," her voice is calming as she scribbles. "You should start taking it immediately. Your vitamin levels aren't where it's supposed to be."

"Liana," Michelle gives me a stern look as she hands over the prescription. "I cannot stress this enough. If you don't start eating and taking care of yourself, I'm going to hospitalize you. If you keep this up, you're not only risking losing the baby, but you're also going to dehydrate. Especially if the father is a wolf. The strain on a human's body carrying a wolf's baby is much more than for a she-wolf. That's also a reason why you've lost so much weight so fast."

I do not know why her words instil fear in me, and I nod in understanding.

"Make an appointment with my office for the blood test," she starts gathering her things. "And please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any doubts or questions. Especially if you want to terminate the pregnancy."

"Thank you," I clear my throat before I look at her. "For everything."

"It's my pleasure," she smiles before she walks out the door.

Axel POV

"Is she going to be okay?" I ask eagerly when Michelle walks out of the room. The waiting has been driving me nearly insane.

"Yes," she smiles reassuringly. "But she's under a tremendous amount of pressure. Do you know why?"

"I do," I close my eyes as I push my fingers through my hair. "We're working on it."

"Okay then," she smiles. "Call if you need me."

"Thanks," I escort her to her car and see her off.

"Alpha," Mike mind-links me. "We have intruders at the South perimeter."

"Did you catch them?" I link as concern starts brewing. All the cottages are South.

"We're still tracking," Mike replies. "But they're organized and slippery bastards."

"It's broad daylight," I bellow. "Catch them, dammit."

"Alpha, you better get here," Mike replies.

"Fuck!" I grunt. The last thing I want to do, is leave Liana but I cannot ignore this threat.

"Drew," I mind-link him as I start undressing. "Get to Liana immediately."

"On my way," he replies.

I do not waste a moment, I shift and run as fast as I can. Dark tendrils curl around my heart as I smell smoke. But what is more ominous is the smell of burned meat.

With horror and disgust, I look at the raging fire along the perimeter. Next to it, Mike has a wolf pinned to the ground while another guard is doing his best to extinguish the flames on a wailing wolf.

Quickly I assist and cover the burning wolf with sand until all the flames are extinguished but we are too late. He has no heartbeat.

"Are there more?" I mind-link hastily.

"No, Alpha," Mike replies. "It's just the two of them. None of our people are hurt."

"You," I glare at the wolf that's pinned down underneath Mike's paw. "Shift and start talking or you're joining toasty over there."

He immediately shifts back and does not even attempt to resist Mike's hold.

"Please, no," he whimpers. "My name is Ivan. I ... we had no choice. Wilson, it's Wilson. He gave the orders. I'm just a cashier at a convenience store, Alpha."

"And you owe him money," I state as I shift.

"Y ... yes," he stutters. "Either I did this, or he will take my mate and keep her until I can repay him."

"And exactly what does this entail?" I frown as I cross my arms in front of my chest.

"To locate the human's coordinates and boobytrap the perimeter," he quickly explains. "We poured gasoline along the border of your property. We weren't supposed to light it now but when the guards came for us, we panicked, and this happened. The firewall was supposed to trap you inside while they escape. Nobody was supposed to get hurt."

"Tell that to crispy over there," I motion to the body. "Who was he?"

"His name was lan," he replies. "And he was pretty much in the same position as me. We haven't met before today."

"Have you reported any of this back to Wilson?" I ask brusquely and he shakes his head feverishly.

"Give him the coordinates," I smile slyly. "Report to him that everything went smoothly except the part where lan accidentally set himself on fire when you were leaving." "But..."

"Let him go, Mike," I interrupt Ivan. "Clean this mess up and go by your day as usual."

"But Alpha," Ivan looks flabbergasted as he stands up. "You don't understand. Wilson is planning to kidnap Nina if Liana doesn't pay tomorrow."

"If Wilson wants a trap, I'll give him one," there is no humour in my laugh. "And Ivan, if you double cross me, Wilson will be the least of your concerns. Do you understand?" "Yes, Alpha," he nods.

"Now, report back to Wilson that everything went as planned and get lan's corpse out of here," I order him firmly.

I watch a b**t-naked Ivan scurrying to lan as I mind-link my men to meet me.