41. Taking Precaution

I wake up feeling queasy in the stomach and a thudding heartbeat. When I stir under the blankets, I almost think with a sinking heart that last night’s rendezvous was perhaps just a dream, a delusion of my bereft mind. But then, I feel the telltale twinge between my legs, the sore ache in my lower back and the tingling of my mating mark. It wasn’t. The thudding in my chest calms slowly, and a relieved smile etches on my lips but it doesn’t remain for long as the nauseous feeling overtakes. I am forced to sit up, my world tilting for a moment from a sudden dizzy spell before I manage to get off the bed on somewhat shaky legs. Astrid and I both want our mate to be by our side, but for some reason, he is neither in the bedroom nor outside. I can’t feel his presence.

Pushing back the sinking feeling, I stumble my way to the ensuite bathroom. As I am heaving on the toilet bowl, feeling bile and water force their way up my throat, a soothing arm wraps around my shoulder while another twist