‘I’mhere for you. You’re not alone and I’m getting us out,’I told her firmly.
Shenodded slightly and lay down on the small examination table. She stared at theceiling, teeth gritting as the doctor pulled up her white scrub top andsquirted jelly on her stomach. Now that her shirt was up, I saw that her bellywas quite large for only being a month or so pregnant. How long ago had shebeen captured?
“Howfar along is she?” Sarah asked eyeing the baby bump with longing.
“Shewas inseminated about four weeks ago but the fetus is four months along. Thebaby seems to grow faster than human babies do. We think it’s because they arehoused inside of the werewolves. They really are perfect hosts. The humans weoriginally tried all died. Too weak.”
JesusChrist. I pulled against my bindings. If this thing was sucking our blood,would it be some kind of werewolf-vampire hybrid? It took everything in me notto vomit. Hosts? Like a parasite. Humans had died over this. My head wasreeling.
Thedoctor pressed the wand to Chelsea’s large belly and I held my breath. I didn’tknow what to think, what to prepare for. The profile of a baby came into viewbut I could immediately see something was wrong. The head was misshapen, moreconed at the top and the nose was nearly missing. My eyes widened in horror asthe doctor scanned the chest and I saw that no heart flickered. It was dead.Then, suddenly, it moved, jerky and animalistic.
“Likeus, they do not breathe or have heart beats. But the fetus is growing in size, andwe think the head and nose will normalize during the final month. It’s asuccess!” Layla clasped her hands and the couple seemed delighted.
Thehead and nose will normalize? Bullshit. Seriously? You were excited about anon-breathing, no-heart-beating thing with no nose and a cone head?
Icould feel Chelsea’s depression settle over the pack. She was desperate to getout of this situation. She didn’t know Tara and although she cared for anotherfemale werewolf, she wanted the hell out of here no matter the cost. She wantedthis thing out of her. She was a loose cannon and I understood why. She feltlike a piece of meat. Carrying this unnatural thing inside of her was makingher crazy. Being Alpha, I was privy to all of her thoughts.
‘It’sgoing to be okay, I will get you out of here. I will fix this, I have a damngood plan.’I sent waves ofcalm through my Alpha bond to her. Okay, damn good plan may have been overselling it a bit, but it was the only plan I had.
Hereyes met mine and I saw a fierceness in them that told me that if I didn’t getus out of here soon, she was going to lose it and put all of us in jeopardy.She was even strongly considering suicide. Anything to get her out of thissituation.
“Willthe baby grow old or stay a baby forever?” Sarah asked, her high-pitched, eagervampire voice made me want to dropkick her in the teeth.
Ihad a god-awful feeling that the baby hadn’t been able to grow in Layla’s bellybefore because vampires don’t age. My theory was that by using werewolves toincubate and carry them, they were some type of vampire-werewolf hybrid. Ifthat was even possible.
Thedoctor met my eyes and seemed to consider if she should comment.
Laylasmiled as the doctor put an arm around Sarah. “We aren’t sure, but we suspectthat if the baby can grow inside of the werewolf carrier then it may continueto need werewolf blood for feedings to continue to grow.”
Mystomach dropped. Oh God no. No. This was beyond evil. There was no way theywere feeding off of us! Tears rolled down my cheeks.
‘Kai,I need you. I can’t do this.’This would never stop; we would be hunted forever. I felt Kai’s pull on myenergy trying to find me, to communicate with me but I couldn’t hear him.
Thedoctor wiped Chelsea’s belly clean and then grabbed her by the arm pits andhauled her up, dragging her out of the room.
Laylastrode over to the table and grabbed the blood pouch that she had taken from myarm and enclosed it in a nice silver case, handing it to Sarah.
“Wewill wire the money.” The woman kissed each side of Layla’s cheek.
Laylawaved her hand like she didn’t care about the money. “Follow me to theprocedure room. You will need to stay overnight. In the morning, we willimplant the werewolf of your choosing.”
OhGod. Not another one. I had to get us out of here now! Layla winked at mebefore slamming the door and taking her entourage with her. Oh my God, I was sotired. It must be two in the morning and I was having trouble keeping my eyesopen.
Sadiespoke to me frantically.
‘Theyare here to take the next girl and switch out for Tara.’
‘Makesure they take Kylee!’I told her.
Isearched for Kylee within the pack bonds. She wasn’t afraid. Not feeling painhad given her a courageous edge. I closed my eyes and grabbed the link thatbound us. I could feel her fighting. She had punched one of the vampires. Theyslammed her against the wall and she cried out in fake pain.
‘They’retaking me,’she told me.
‘Good.’This plan had to work. It had to.
‘Youdo realize that just because she can’t feel pain, doesn’t mean she won’t die ofsilver poisoning, right?’Sadie toldme.
Isighed.‘I know. I won’t let that happen.’
