Dark (Beautiful Ashes #1), page 20
“It’s a false test.”
“Really?” he raised an eyebrow at her and then put the two halves of the test together. “How do you know that?”
“Because I took another one,” she said more assuredly as she patted her back pocket.
Stephen narrowed his gaze at her before putting the broken test back in the bag. He crushed it in his strong hands, the muscles and veins in his arms standing out in stark relief as he did so, belying the exterior he was presenting. He stalked towards Gemma, leaving her no choice but to back up or get trampled on. He didn’t stop until he had walked her all the way back to her room. He kicked the door closed behind him—the rooms weren’t totally secure from sound, but they were reinforced enough. “Give me the other test.”
She backed up, almost tumbling backwards when her legs hit the bed. “It doesn’t matter. It’s fine. It’s negative.”
“If I have to physically take the test from you, I will.”
“Stephen …”
He stared at her, unrelenting, waiting. There was no way she was getting out of this and she knew it. He could take it from her and there was not a damn thing she would be able to do about it.
“Give me the other test.”
Gemma couldn’t make her hand move to pull it out. She told herself to do it, even visualised the movements in her mind, but the message wasn’t getting through.
“Now.”
She swallowed hard. There was nothing she could do now. With a shaky hand, she reached behind her and gingerly fingered the test to pull it out. Suddenly, she didn’t want to look at the test at all. “Stephen, please,” she wailed, panic flooding her and burning like cold fire in her veins.
But he simply held out his hand to her, ignoring her pleas. She felt like a naughty child as she choked back a sob. Chest tight, she covered the results window with her fingers and then placed it face down in Stephen’s hand. She slid down onto the floor and leaned back against the side of the bed. “It’s negative,” she breathed, hoping that saying the words out loud would make them true.
She watched him as he studied the white stick in his hand and waited for his shoulders to lose their tension and for a smile to cross his face. But it didn’t happen. Instead, he lifted his eyes from the tester and met hers. “It’s positive, Gemma.”
She stopped breathing and stared at him. “No.” She shook her head. “It’s wrong. They're both wrong.” Stephen held the stick out to her, and there they were, bold as anything. Two lines waving like greeting flags at her. “Oh god,” was all she managed as she buried her face in her hands. She felt the bed move behind her as Stephen lowered himself to the floor next to her, his back against the bed, knees up. He put the bagged test on the floor beside him and then put his arm around his sister’s shoulders and pulled her close. He held her for what felt like hours, when it was really just minutes.
“Does he know?”
He … Cade. Cade MacDonald. Stephen’s best friend. Gemma’s … she didn’t even know what he was—forbidden desire? Secret? He was everything, that’s what he was. He was her world—her secret world that she wasn’t allowed to have, but that she couldn’t live without. He was wolf and she was tiger, and this was all wrong. She shook her head. “I didn’t think it would be positive. I thought that it was just one of these things.”
“You need to tell him.”
She knew that—she did—but she also knew what would happen. He’d want to keep the baby and he’d try to convince her to leave with him. He had already begun to ask, even without any pregnancy to spur them on. Like her, he had grown tired of the lies and the secrecy. He wanted Gemma living with him, waking in his bed, and there was nothing Gemma wanted more herself. But things weren’t that simple. “I can't.”
Stephen relaxed his hold on her so that he could look at her. She stared up at him, eyes glistening with tears. He was her big brother, the one who protected her from everything. She desperately wished he could protect her from this.
“You have to tell him. You have to give him the chance to get away. You realise this?”
Oh god, she did. She knew that he would have to run, but he wouldn’t. That was the problem. He’d fucking stay here and die, and they both knew it.
“Dad will want him executed?” She could hardly get the words out. She was not just anyone. She was Gemma Davies, daughter of the Alpha, the head of the Society and the Leader of the Council.
She was screwed.
They had broken the law and both fathers would want their heads on sticks. The only thing was, which father would get the execution order faster? Because she was sure as shit that Trevor MacDonald would want her head. Not that he had any love for his son. No, what he cared about was his pride and his position. He would use this to get to the top—to get Malcolm from his seat.
“Please tell me you won’t say anything to him.”
“You have to tell Cade. You know you do.”
“I have to get rid of it,” she whispered miserably.
“It’s his baby, Gemma.”
She stared at her brother. “It’s his life.”
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Lora Ann, Dark (Beautiful Ashes #1)
