Rejected By The Alpha For An Omega novel · Chapter 20 of 32

Chapter 20: Empty Screen

Posy's hand stopped moving on her belly.

"What for?" she said.

"A hormone test. It's how every doctor in the world confirms a pregnancy." I kept my voice easy. "And I need your blood type. A human mother carrying a wolf's pup can need a shot to keep her body from fighting the baby."

"I'm not human."

"Then you'll have nothing to worry about."

The wolves behind her had gone quiet.

The senior Elder looked at Posy.

Just for a second.

Then he smiled.

"The scan first," he said. "The rest we'll see about. Noon, Doctor."

The pack hall smelled of woodsmoke, floor polish and forty pies.

They'd hung paper wolves from the rafters.

There was a cake on a table by the door, shaped like a wolf, with a blue frosting ribbon around its neck.

The hall was full by eleven thirty.

I'd grown up in this room.

My father used to take my temperature in the coat closet during pack meetings, because I was always sick on meeting nights.

Now four hundred wolves watched me carry in a portable ultrasound older than June's oldest son.

Abel carried the power cord.

He wasn't allowed past the door.

The grandson made sure of that.

So he stood in the doorway in his canvas jacket with his arms folded, and every wolf who walked in had to turn sideways to get past him.

Jarek sat at the front, in the Alpha's chair.

He looked at me when I came in.

He held it for a second.

Then he looked at Posy.

Posy lay back on a padded bench the omegas had dragged in from the kitchen.

She pulled up her cream sweater herself, slowly, so everyone could see her flat white stomach.

"Be gentle with me," she said, and the hall laughed.

I didn't.

I warmed the gel in my hands first, because I always do.

I put the probe on her belly.

The old screen flickered and warmed up.

Gray static.

Then the shape of her.

I moved the probe slowly, left to right, and back.

The hall was so quiet I could hear the cake's frosting settle.

There was nothing there.

No sac.

No flicker.

No little bean with a heartbeat.

Just the dark, empty shape of a womb that had never held anything.

I turned the screen so the Elders could see it.

Then so the room could.

"There's no pregnancy," I said. "Not seven weeks. Not seven days."

The sound went through the hall.

Posy sat up so fast the probe fell off the bench.

"That machine is broken," she said. "Look at it. It's a hundred years old. It's broken."

"It works fine."

"Prove it."

"All right." I looked out at the crowd. "Is anyone here pregnant? Showing?"

Silence.

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