The Windhaven Witches Omnibus Edition : Complete Paranormal Suspense Series, Books 1-4 by Carissa Andrews (graded readers txt) 📕

My mom’s question from earlier comes flooding back and a fresh wave of nausea makes me return to the toilet bowl and heave.

This can’t be happening… Not now, not with everything going on.

I can’t be…pregnant. Can I?

Chapter 9

Out in the Open

I don’t even know why I tried to sleep.

It’s almost laughable, if I wasn’t on the verge of breaking down completely. My entire world is splitting apart and even if I found solid ground, there’s no guarantee it would hold.

No matter what I do, I can’t stop thinking about the possibility of being pregnant. And even when I do manage to drift for a split second, or lapse on this new obsession, my thoughts snap right back to my mom.

How in the hell could she be a supernatural? And not just any supernatural, either—one that’s been around so long she was considered a goddess before we understood that some people were…different.

What does that mean? What powers does she truly have? We barely had time to get into it, but I don’t think I could have taken on any more right now. My whole life—everything I thought I knew about my family, my mom—it was all a lie.

I’m not sure I know how to deal with that.

In fact, I don’t get any of it. If she’s been around as long as she implied, why would she give everything up to pretend she was human? The things she’s seen—the places she’s been. If that were me, I don’t know that I could give it up so easily. Even if I wanted to protect my child.

The concept is just too foreign.

I roll over, trying not to wake up Wade. I haven’t found a way to voice my suspicions about my sickness, and I don’t want to worry him if it’s really just anxiety. Yet, even as I think that, I know better. There’s a strange, horrifying realization settling into the back of my mind—maybe my gut—that tells me I need to be sure.

But if it’s true, it couldn’t be worse timing. The last thing either of us needs is to bring a child into the mix of a family curse brought on by the Fates.

My heartbeat quickens and I have to take slow deliberate breaths to settle my shallow, rapid inhalations.

If I am pregnant, what will happen to the child? Wade might be expelled from the Angel of Death legacy, but would his child? Would it skip his generation and simply fall onto our offspring? And if so—what would that mean to the Moirai? Would that connection protect him or her? Or would they still claim that child as a Blackwood? If they did end our child’s life, would that mean the human life has been forfeit but the baby still gets to ascend as an angel? Or would both of our bloodlines die out?

The possibilities make my stomach roll and I fight the urge to sit up in bed or race to the bathroom. I spend the next few hours, drifting in and out of an uncomfortable, restless sleep.

By the time morning comes, I barely feel as though I’ve fallen asleep at all. My mind is instantly on the possible pregnancy and the need to know for sure. For whatever reason, it feels like the one thing in this whole crazy, mixed-up life I can control. Even if that control is only an illusion.

“I think I’m going to take a walk, if that’s okay,” I announce as I bring my breakfast plate to the sink. If I can get out, I can walk down to the drugstore and get a pregnancy test.

Both Wade and my mom look up at me as if I’ve managed to grow horns on the top of my head.

“What?” I ask defensively.

“Well, it’s just—you haven’t said two words this morning,” Wade says, trying to smooth out his face. “It was just an abrupt shift.”

I run my fingertips across my forehead, nodding to myself. “Yeah, sorry. Just in my head a bit. Lots to mull over, you know? That’s why I thought a walk might do me some good.”

“Do you want me to go with you?” Wade asks, getting up from his seat.

I shake my head, reaching out for him. “No, stay. Sit. It’s okay. I need a few minutes.”

His expression turns doubtful. “Do you really think you should be out on the streets alone? I mean, after what happened last night with the woman…”

Shit, I hadn’t thought of that. Of all the things circling my brain at this particular moment, the woman and her connection to the Moirai were pushed further to the recesses of my mind. Which is bizarre in its own way, since the Moirai have been the only thing on my mind for weeks.

“I’ll go with her. I think we need a little time to talk,” Mom says, shifting back her chair and standing up. “Wade, would you mind taking a look at the television? It hasn’t connected to the Blu-ray player in ages and I’d love to bust out our stash of Christmas films tonight. It’s a Christmas Eve tradition in this house.”

Wade shifts his gaze from my mom back to me, a silent question lingering in his eyes.

Nodding my head, I say, “It’s okay. She’s right, we have a lot to talk about. Besides, I’d be useless with the Blu-ray thing.” I shoot him a smile, but I’m not certain it was very convincing.

His eyes narrow as he stands up and rests his hands on my arms. Looking deep into my eyes, he finally says, “Take your phone and if anything strange happens—”

I step forward, placing a kiss on his lips. “You’ll be the first I call.”

He watches me for a moment, but finally nods and turns to my mom. “All right, Andrea. Would you mind showing me this Blu-ray player you speak of?”

The two of them wander into the living room as she shows him the outdated