I walked along the path in the woods, a path worn into the ground by frequent paws. My hands rubbed my belly absentmindedly.
I didn’t know why I was so anxious. I knew the claiming marks had worked—I felt way different in terms of energy spikes—but I just felt off. Unsteady. Restless.
More than anything, I wished the next two months would hurry and get here. I wanted so badly to hold my baby in my arms. To actually see, with my own two eyes, that she was real and alive and mine.
But deep down, I was terrified. Of losing her. Of failing her.
Of hurting her…
I wiped a tear away with the back of my hand, just as I heard a crack of underbrush behind me. I turned, but there was nothing there. I sniffed.
Nothing…
“You’re imagining things,” I muttered to myself, then stuffed my hands back into my coat pockets and continued to walk. My sneakers scuffed over damp pine needles and leaves.
CRACK!Birds startled from the trees, making me jump. I spun around.
“Who’s there?” I barked. My hackles were up, my heart taking off at a gallop. Shit, this was a bad idea. I was so fucking stupid. I couldn’t shift to save myself this far into my pregnancy, not without hurting the baby. I was a sitting duck.
“River? If that’s you, this isn’t funny!” I shouted.
My nostrils flared, and I smelled it then—the faint scent of latex and a hint of formaldehyde.
My blood ran cold.
No.Had I been right to worry all along? I grabbed my phone, already dialing Fletcher’s number.
“Pick up, pick up…” It went to voicemail. “Fuck!” I gripped it in my hand like a lifeline as footsteps approached, cracking and crunching over underbrush, and branches swayed.
My breath came quicker and quicker.No, no, no. Please…
Dr. Thompson stepped out, his white lab coat somehow pristine. He smiled at me with those thin, cruel lips, and panic shot through me like an arrow.
“Go away! Leave me alone!” I shouted.
“Oh, foolish boy. That I cannot do,” he said in the same tone of voice he always used when I was being insolent.
“I don’t want anything to do with you or your fucked-up experiments,” I growled, but it petered into a whine, betraying my true emotions. “Please, just leave me alone…”
I backed away. Thompson approached. I saw the weapon at his belt and my heart wedged itself in my throat, hammering there. Fuck. He came prepared, because of course he did.
“What do you want from me?” I cried.
“Did you really think I’d let you get away so easily, Sky? My prized specimen?” He sneered. “Not when your offspring gave me the most viable tissues for my research. No, your escape was simply a setback. I’ve been watching you.”
“Wh-What?” My blood chilled in my veins.
Thompson laughed, harsh and cold. “I knew where you were all along. You both have tracking chips implanted in the backs of your necks, and they told me exactly where your location is. Running was futile…and now you’ve gone and made another baby. Shame. Is it your brother’s?”
He had the gall to look hopeful. My stomach churned. “No, you sick fuck!”
He sighed. “Guess I’ll have to cut it out and start over, then.”
“P-Please, no… Leave me alone,please.Haven’t you done enough damage? Haven’t you tortured me enough?”
“TORTURED YOU?” Dr. Thompson snarled, his face twisting into a mask I’d never seen before—or perhaps this was the true Dr. Thompson and his mask had finally fallen off. “I’ve treated you no different from any of the other twins in my study. How is that torture? I fed you! Kept you clothed!”
Unable to stop myself, I lurched forward, panic in my throat. “You kidnapped me! You bred me to my brother! You stole my babies! YOU KILLED MY BABIES!” I screamed, shrieking at the top of my lungs.
