Free Web NovelChapter 69: HEAT ACCELERANT
KEISHA’S POV
I sat there for a long moment and said nothing.
Dr. Fenn didn’t rush me. She sat across her desk with her hands folded and waited.
The room was very quiet except for the low hum of something electrical somewhere in the building and my own breathing which I was working to keep even.
The cabin.
My mind kept going back to the cabin.
The heat had come out of nowhere. One moment I was sitting in Nadia’s family cabin trying not to break down, and the next moment my body had stopped being mine. I remembered thinking it was wrong. I remembered Diane going frantic. I remembered the way it had escalated so fast there had been no thinking.
I had thought it was a natural heat. Just badly timed.
It wasn’t natural.
Someone had fed me something. Put something in my water or my food or something I had touched at that cabin and stood somewhere far away and watched it work.
Suddenly, everything that had happened in the last few months that led to me being here looked different.
I pressed both hands flat on my knees and took a deep breath.
Who had access to the cabin?
Nadia had offered it. Had insisted on it even. But Nadia hadn’t done this— I knew that the way I knew my own name. Nadia would never.
So who had known I would be there? Who had known enough about omega biology to source a synthetic heat accelerant? Who had the means, the motive and the patience to plan something this specific?
Osric?
Or whoever was pulling Osric’s strings.
"Keisha." Dr. Fenn’s voice was careful. "Take your time."
I looked up at her. "Someone put it in something I consumed." I said and my voice came out flat and even. "At the cabin where I stayed when I came. That’s when the heat started. Someone knew I would be there and they planned it."
Dr. Fenn looked at me steadily. "That’s what I suspected." She said. "The concentration in your bloodwork wasn’t residual. It was too much to be. Someone knew what they were doing."
"How would someone even get that?" I asked. "A synthetic heat accelerant. That’s not something you find at a market."
"No." She confirmed. "It would require either a medical background or very specific connections." She paused. "Or both."
My mind trailed back to Vanessa and Osric. Then back at the man who was hovering around my window.
"Can it be traced?" I asked. "The compound. Can you identify where it came from?"
"Potentially." She nodded. "If we had access to the source. The specific formulation can sometimes be linked to a manufacturer or a supply chain if you know where to look." She looked at me. "But that’s beyond what I can do from here. That would need someone with more resources."
I didn’t have that power. But I knew who did— Dane and Callum.
I needed to tell them.
I had been putting it off and building reasons why today wasn’t the right day and now I was sitting here with a confirmed pregnancy and evidence of deliberate drugging and suddenly, the conversation couldn’t wait any longer.
"What do I do now?" I asked. "About the pregnancy. Given the accelerant."
"The accelerant itself shouldn’t affect the pregnancy at this stage." Dr. Fenn said. "It’s a one time compound. It doesn’t persist in the system beyond a few weeks and you’re well past that now." She opened a drawer and pulled out a small folder. "What matters now is your health and the baby’s health." She slid the folder across the desk. "Prenatal vitamins. I want you taking these every day starting today." She pulled out a small card. "Come back next week for a scan. We need to confirm dates and check everything is developing properly."
I took the folder and the card.
"Keep stress low." She smiled. freёwebnovel.com
I looked at her without saying anything.
"I know." She said. "I know that’s not simple given what you’ve just told me. But physiologically it matters. Eat properly. Sleep properly. Don’t run around chasing intruders at midnight." She looked at me with an expression that said she somehow knew about that. "The pack talks." She added simply.
"Right." I nodded.
"Is there anything else you want to ask me?" She said.
I thought about the question that had been sitting in the back of my mind.
"The father." I said carefully. "If there were — more than one possibility. During the heat." I held her gaze. "Is there a way to determine—"
"Paternity?" She offered.
"Yes." I nodded.
She was quiet for a moment. "After the birth." She said carefully. "There are tests. It’s not something we can determine with certainty before then." She paused. "Is that something you need to know?"
It had to be one of them. It couldn’t be both. Could it?
"I don’t know yet." I said honestly.
She nodded. "Come back next week." She said. "And Keisha." She waited until I looked at her. "Everything you’ve told me today stays in this room. You have my word."
"Thank you." I gave her a small smile.
I stood, picked up the folder and the card and looked at them in my hands for a moment.
Prenatal vitamins and a scan appointment. The most normal objects in the world sitting in my hands in the middle of the most complicated situation I had ever been in.
I thanked Dr. Fenn again and walked out into the corridor.
The reception area was busy now, a few more people having arrived while I was inside. I moved through it and out into the cold afternoon where I stood outside the clinic entrance and took a breath.
Pregnant.
Synthetic heat accelerant.
Someone had done this deliberately and I still didn’t know who and I was standing outside a clinic with prenatal vitamins in my hand and a scan appointment card.
How long would I keep this a secret from the pack?
I tucked the folder inside my coat so it wasn’t visible.
And started walking back toward the estate.
