The condition Ash's room is in is no better than their living room, if not worse.
"What are we looking for here?" Ella growls through clenched teeth. Makes me wonder if I'm the one she's angry at or the shifters that hurt Ash, her new friend. I never would've believed that Ella who is rarely involved with her gender will be this emotionally involve in Ash that she just met.
"No, don't do that!..." I caution when she goes around straightening things and putting furniture back in their places.
"Why not? I was just putting everything back in place. No harm in that." She replies defensively
"Oh okay..." I reply to her. My voice drips sarcasm but she doesn't notice my anger toward her. As a fierce warrior of the team herself, I seriously need to openly address her annoying habit of questioning a direct order instead of obeying instantly. Not at the moment, but I'll surely get to it later after I've answered her 'why not' question
"Although we already have them on camera, I still think we should get the forensics down here, for more evidence to use against them. Evidence that you're probably now destroying by putting things back in place."
Her eyes widen in realization then
"Oh, okay. I'm sorry I didn't realize" She apologized
"It's okay... Do you remember to set a reminder for me to call Uncle Knox as I asked you to?"
"Yes, I did."
"Great. I also want you to note this down and schedule it for our next team meeting."
"Oh, hold on, let me quickly get the phone." She says and immediately reaches inside her jacket for her phone
"Okay, I'm ready," She says with her thumbs ready over the phone's keyboard to take down my instructions
"I need to address and set a punishment for Ella's annoying habit of always questioning direct orders instead of quickly obeying them." I finished speaking. Instead of typing, she looks at me with her mouth agape. I doubt if she's able to type two words down from the sentence I just dictated to her.
"Well?" I ask with a raised brow and she hurriedly finishes typing the schedule while I continue to look around Ash's room"
"Sir, can I ask a favor?" She asks, now acting timid
"Yeah, sure"
"I'm sorry sir, but could we maybe do this punishment thing whenever Ivar is not around? He will be so mad at me and..."
'Is she trying to make a deal with me, her boss and commanding officer for the terms and conditions of her punishment...' I thought in disbelief, wondering if Ella is already beyond reform.
"No, we couldn't. Word of advice, discuss with him ahead of the meeting so he wouldn't be taken by surprise" I say before turning away from her
"Okay, sir..." She sounds listless but I don't pay attention to her "And... I'm sorry sir, I didn't mean any disrespect to you. I didn't know..."
I look up at her when she suddenly stops talking. Her brow furrows as her eyes focus on something on the floor. She then walks closer to Ash's bed and squats down to pick the thing up.
"What is that?" I ask and she stands up to show me a small pink pack with emergency contraception written on it.
"So she took contraceptives after having sex with her man?... Or is there something I'm missing here? I ask somewhat impatiently.
"No, she didn't take it. The seal is still on, see..." She shows me the silver seal on the pack. She then breaks the seal, opens it, and brings out the small sachet with the two tiny drugs still inside.
"I don't understand. I mean she wanted this so bad the Alpha made me wake up the owner of a pharmacy just so he could get it to her on time, so why didn't she take it?"
"Well, it's a no-brainer. Maybe she planned to take it when she get back from work but totally forgot about it when she lost her mate or maybe she changed her mind and decided to get pregnant. It's none of our business either way"
"But if she currently happens to be pregnant, then it is our business, right? "
"Oh, yes! Of course, she might be pregnant." I suddenly realize. I wasn't thinking in that line before.
"If she's pregnant then it's certainly our business. We owe it to Thor to make sure no harm comes to both mother and pup."
"Yes! A baby in the family! Isn't that great?" She says with so much enthusiasm, I begin to wonder if it isn't the same Ella that's refused to have a baby simply because she isn't ready to have one.
"Maybe you should go have yours instead of getting excited over someone else's," I say and she grins.
"Maybe, but it's a critical time that we're now. I can't afford to get pregnant when we're not fully settled in our new pack.
I understand her now. A pregnant she-wolf must put her wolf to sleep otherwise she risks losing her unborn baby if she mistakenly shifts to her wolf form. And since we need every skill right now, I guess it's really a bad idea for her to get pregnant at the moment.
"So how soon can she have a pregnancy test?" I ask
"Two weeks... We'll be able to tell in two weeks."
"Okay, please put it on my schedule... I'll still need to visit her tomorrow so I can inform her about Martha's missing body... If we're done here then I guess we should start going." I say and immediately start heading for the door.
"Sir, you should call Uncle Knox now" she reminds me while in the car and I nod
"Okay..." I reply. I first bring out my phone and call Henrik's number to have him arrange for Forensics to come to check Martha's house. After which I called Uncle Knox.
The phone rings for a while but nobody answers. Then I called the house number and an Omega maid answered it.
"Why is the old Alpha not answering his call?" I ask the maid as soon as the call was answered
"Oh good evening sir... The old Alpha is with his doctor. I'll ask him to call you back when they're through"
"Alright..." I replied and disconnected the call.
Some minutes later, my phone starts ringing and I see from the caller ID that it's Thor's dad.