Avenger(55)

I nodded my head. I knew the baby was coming and there was nothing I could do to stop it.

I’d always been told that it took a while to deliver your first child, but no more than ten minutes could have passed since my water broke. I wondered if this was a shifter thing, or there was something really, really wrong. Despite the fact that death might be a better option for my child, I didn’t want to lose him. It was selfish of me, but he was my baby.

Travis stuck an IV in my arm and I jumped, not expecting it.

He already had gloves on, one of those funny looking hats, and a mask covering his nose and mouth. He’d really thought of everything. I glanced at the corner of the room and saw one of those clear beds they put babies in when they’re born as well as blankets and other things I couldn’t see very well.

I was breathing deeply, trying to block out the pain and everything going on around me.

Right now I didn’t need distractions. I needed to focus my strength on delivering Beau.

Travis adjusted my legs and muttered something I didn’t hear. My vision was going spotty and I couldn’t concentrate. The world around me was going in slow motion.

Oh no. The IV! He was drugging me! He had to be!

Travis’ face appeared in front of mine. He said something else but it sounded like he was speaking to me from the end of a tunnel.

“Whhhaaat?” I tried to speak, but I wasn’t sure the word actually left my mouth. My lips were numb. Why the hell were my lips numb? I thought he said there was no time for pain medicine? He had to have drugged me for an entirely different reason.

Everything felt out of my control. I was here, but I wasn’t here. My vision was blurry and I couldn’t focus on anything. Time was slowed down, but at the same time it was like it was sped up. Nothing made sense.

I felt pressure and a clenching in my gut. I wanted to cry from the strange feeling, but my body showed no reaction. My brain was active, but my body wasn’t. It was like I was paralyzed.

I felt so out of control…like I was spinning through the air with no idea which way was up or down.

My breath stopped when a cry filled the room.

Beau.

My son, he was here, and he was crying. He needed me, his mother. I was a mom. Gosh, that was a strange concept. I really had a baby.

I tried to lift my arms, but they didn’t move. I was broken, useless.

“B-b-beau.” I tried to say his name, but the word left my lips sounding nothing like Beau. Give me my son! I want my baby! I screamed the words in my head, but they did no good. Travis couldn’t hear me, and even if he could, he didn’t care.

The cries grew quieter, disappearing farther away.

“W-wait,” I muttered weakly. Please, wait.

My eyes closed and everything else ceased to exist.





Twenty.

Caeden

I sat up straight, an awareness rocking me to my core—so much so that I fell out of the chair I was sitting in.

“Caeden?” Nolan questioned hesitantly, looking at me like I was crazy.

I put a hand to my chest, my cheeks stretching into a smile. “I feel her.”

“Uh…”

“I feel her, Nolan!” I jumped up, excitement and adrenaline coursing through my veins. “This means I can find her!”

“Are you serious?!” He jumped up as well.

“I’m positive.” I was grinning like a fool, but all of a sudden I frowned, because if I felt her then that meant… “No,” I shook my head, dropping to my knees. “Beau.”

“Oh, shit.” Nolan muttered.

“We have to hurry,” I exclaimed. I managed to get myself to my feet and I looked around frantically, wondering if I needed to take anything. I decided there wasn’t time. “Come on, we have to go.”

I ran out the back door of the house, transforming in mid air. Pieces of my clothes exploded, decorating the yard in a strange looking confetti. I vaulted over the fence, running through the woods so fast you would’ve thought the hounds of hell were chasing me. I forced myself to come to a stop so I could howl and call my pack. I didn’t know what I was heading into and I needed everybody.

My legs were burning because I was running so fast. If someone had been hiding in the trees, watching me run by, all they would’ve seen was a gray blur.

What’s going on? Bentley voiced. I could tell he was near his home and was racing to meet up with me.

I feel Sophie. I answered simply. She’s fading in and out, but I know she’s close. We have to get there soon.

He understood what I couldn’t say. Sophie ‘fading’ was a bad thing. It meant she was barely hanging on and I had to hope and pray we reached her in time.

I didn’t want to admit to myself that I was coming very close to losing her—and I might have already lost my son. It was unfair that one person—Travis—could destroy my whole world. If he was there—wherever there was—when I reached Sophie, I’d rip him into pieces and not even blink an eye. I had suffered too much because of him and I’d long ago reached my breaking point.