The door opens into a stairwell. I start to run down it based on the sheer fact that most people keep their prisoners in the basement. When we come to a door, I stop Seth and listen. I don't hear a thing, not even a heartbeat, so I move on. We do this for a couple floors, and now easily, at least 10 minutes have passed, and I'm growing angrier by the second. This was meant to be quick. They have probably already moved her by now.We come to another door, and it reeks of Amara. I instantly rip it open and jump in. Adonis and I both let out a snarl when we find it empty. I turn and see a huge pool of blood on the wall next to the door, a bunch of shattered ceramic under it. That would be why this room reeks of her, and now they would know she was pregnant. It would have been foul tasting if they tried to drink her blood. Pregnancy hormones turn blood rancid tasting to vampires. It's the fetus's way of protecting its mother against an attack.Her scent is so potent everywhere
*Trigger warning, discussion of child loss, threatened abortion, and suicide*3 days post capture"FUCK" I snarl as Adonis and I tear apart the bed we found with her scent on it. My warriors linked me over an hour ago, saying they found another warehouse connected to a tunnel. I immediately portaled here, despite knowing they would have moved her again. It only took us twenty minutes to rip apart the roughly two hundred vamps that were here. Given that this warehouse was significantly smaller than the first, between myself, my warriors, and Amara's family, we had it searched top to bottom in forty-five minutes.It only fueled my rage when I found this room. The bed and the bathroom were the only things with a hint of her scent on them. They couldn't have spent much time here, probably moving her after a couple hours, given that her scent and the four others I found here were so faint and stale.Outside of giving orders, I haven't spoken to anyone. I have nothing
Amara's POV-a few hours laterI must have fallen asleep at some point because I'm abruptly woken up by violent crashes and yelling. I shoot up in bed, my hopes soaring."Get up," Damon says, approaching me; I hesitate. I would be stupid to try and fight my way out of this; I'm way too weak. I jump when my door crashes open, and Samirah runs in."He's down; the back hall is our only way out. A female demon and a male wolf are guarding the door. We have to go now; Silas will be coming here any minute," she says to Damon as she runs over to me and jerks me out of bed.I stagger, my head getting light. No! I just need to stay here, bide time, it won't take them long to get here! She steadies me before she looks at Damon."Can you carry her?" she says. I step back just as she looks at me."Amara, we're going to get you out of here; if you want to go home, you must listen to us. You'll be too slow if you try to run; either let Damon carry you or get on my bac
There's a knock on the door before it opens, and the same person who took me to my MRI, Justin, I think, comes in with a wheelchair. After my MRI, they brought me to a different room with a bigger bed that looked a lot more annoying to move.Honestly, I could have walked. Now that my supernatural healing kicked in, I feel fine. Starving, but fine. The doctors said I have to eat very slowly to get my digestive system working properly again and that if I ate an entire jar of peanut butter like I wanted to, I would just throw it back up immediately and feel like shit. So, my new best friends were crackers with peanut butter and a side of chicken broth."Hello again, Alpha, Luna. Dr. Crowen is ready for you in the ultrasound room," he says as he locks the wheelchair.I sit up and swing my legs around to get out of bed. Immediately, Roman and Seth jump up, trying to help me. I roll my eyes."I told you both, I'm fine!" I say, getting up and sitting in the chair
I was finally discharged after my next ultrasound. My powers and Tamisra returned about two hours after my first ultrasound, so I insisted I was ready to go home. But considering it was already eight at night, Roman and the nurses convinced me to stay. I'm at least allowed to eat again, and goddess, I'm fucking ravenous. I feel like I can't eat enough. Roman and the nurse, Jess, tried to get me to slow down, but at my ultrasound, Dr. Crowen said as long as I can handle it, I should eat whenever I want to keep up with baby girl's growth rate.Speaking of, she gained another two ounces overnight. It didn't sound like a big deal to me, but I have no knowledge of anything in the medical field. Dr. Crowen said it was very significant, given that wolf pups are expected to gain two ounces weekly at this stage. Everything points to me going into labor at the end of the month, which I don't want to think about.But this isn't exactly something I can just block out. Thankfull
"Let's hear it then. Start with his kingdom's main territory.""His kingdom is not far from here. While he does have armies there, their numbers could be better, and they're his lowest-ranking soldiers, all of his best he took with him. Since he's been tracking Amara over the last couple of months, his favorite Duke has been in charge over there. Outside the wall of the castle and its main village, you'll find crowded poverty. He allowed his people to starve, telling them it would start wars if we hunted humans, wolves, or fae after they stopped donating blood to us. In reality, he cut off all contact and trade with them, allowing his people to believe they were trying to starve us out. That's how he got most of his willing soldiers initially. From there, he made life for anyone who was his soldier comfortable. If you fought for him, you and your family could move over the wall, where you were given the bare minimum food and housing."The room falls into a disgusted silenc
It's been four days, and Roman's shadows still haven't found any evidence of Silas moving toward his home; it looks like he will be coming to us. He's been rallying all his people into one spot; even people from his kingdom were seen moving out, so everyone is on edge, including me. I suggested moving in once he had them all together, but Roman said it's better to let him think he has the element of surprise, and it will give us the "home-field advantage." I wanted to just get it over with; the stakes are so much higher now. Given that we're unsure if he will lead with those half-Kudde beasts he made, Roman had the security system expanded so my family and I would have time to take off and neutralize that threat.Thayer, Dahlia, and all the troops he planned to send are here. Roman called and updated him on the situation, and he said he'd rather come now if an attack is imminent, so they could get familiar with the land. It was no question whether or not we would be atta
I watch in horror as Silas grabs Adonis' face, Silas' red eyes glowing into the night, and Adonis...Adonis goes limp. I waste no time before concentrating on Silas' body and start burning him. He screams, and Adonis goes absolutely feral and proceeds to rip his own body apart. I pull my powers back immediately, and they both stop thrashing. Adonis' eyes are glowing red now, and terror, like no other, seizes me when Silas grabs him by both ears, twisting his neck, and Adonis does nothing to fight back.I look to my father, who is holding his own against the group of vampires attacking him, but can't help me or be distracted without risking his own life. Then, I look around for Aylin, Az, Seth, or anyone to jump in and help, but no one is around."No one is coming to rescue you this time, my sweet Amara," Silas hissesI only stare at him and then at my mate. Maybe...maybe...I slam my mental talons into Roman's mind, but he only whimpers and starts to thrash again.
Surrounded by Violet, Serena, Cici, and Sophie, I look at myself in the mirror as Aylin finishes my makeup and Gemma does my hair. Aylin must hold more magic than I thought because she managed to cover up these bags under my eyes. I almost look like I did pre-motherhood, minus the breast pump milking me like a cow. Remind me why I insisted on having my Luna ceremony, the equivalent of my wedding, after I had Delaney? Because I wanted to drink at my own ceremony? It seemed so logical at the time. Now, I wanted to go back in time and slap me upside the head, Aylin style. Delaney screams in Sophie's arms in protest at how long it's taking me to pump. In the hospital, the nurses and pediatrician on the postpartum unit said she lost too much weight by the time she was 24 hours old. It was before my milk supply came in, so they put it down to lack of production, but when I filled up a syringe with colostrum, they had a lactation consultant come see me. She had said Delaney's latch wasn't ef
Three weeks laterI breathe through another contraction. They're coming every five minutes now, but I didn't exactly feel like going to the hospital just to be sent home for another false alarm like I did last week.'Uh, you going to explain why I feel like I'm being ripped apart from the inside every five minutes for the last two hours?' I hear Roman's voice come through my head as I feel the contraction start to come down'It's still early labor, probably. No sense in going to the hospital yet, if it even is actual labor.' I tell him'Alright, well, I'm coming back in and getting the hospital bag, so we're ready. The books said once they're every five minutes, we should think about heading in,' he reminds me.I don't respond just as I'm hit with another contraction and suddenly feel like I peed myself. Oh, good Goddess, here we go. I put my walls up so he doesn't have to feel anything.'Scratch that, my water just broke,' I say, and not even twenty se
One week laterThat's precisely what we did. We had funerals for those that wanted their loved ones buried and ceremonies for those who opted for them to be burned on pyres. Aston, being a ranked member, was burned on a pyre with the entire pack present. We put some of his ashes in an urn necklace for CiCi and then released him into the river.While I've seen Roman tear up, or get choked up, that night, he cried with his head in my lap. He fell asleep after hours, and I didn't dare move a muscle all night. My heart was already broken for him; Aston was Roman's Sophie, but something about seeing my brooding Alpha mate break down like that killed a piece of me.CiCi wasn't doing any better; one of us was still with her almost all the time. I spent a couple nights with her, but mostly Serena was staying with her since they were always connected at the hip anyways. It was an effort to get her to eat or even go outside, but I wouldn't give up on her; both she and Aston des
Roman's POVI hated battle, but I hated the aftermath even more. I made a list of all the fallen I could identify, so I could visit their families later. The ones I couldn't, their family or packmates who saw them fall would have to report to me, and I'd go from there. Max and Seth took Aston's body to the morgue before we were even back.Fuck that hurt. My best friend since we were in diapers, the one who evened out mine and Max's broody demeanors with his stupid ass jokes. Gone. Fucking gone. What was the point? The point of all this death and destruction?I stopped in my tracks, shutting my eyes as they became glossy. His death will gut me until the day I die. The day I die? I'm immortal. Fuck. I could live another thousand years, and I wouldn't have seen him for over nine hundred and fifty of them. How is that fair? And CiCi. I have yet to find anyone who wasn't of Alpha blood, or royalty in Armaros' case, that lived past the first year of their mate dying. But we
I watch in horror as Silas grabs Adonis' face, Silas' red eyes glowing into the night, and Adonis...Adonis goes limp. I waste no time before concentrating on Silas' body and start burning him. He screams, and Adonis goes absolutely feral and proceeds to rip his own body apart. I pull my powers back immediately, and they both stop thrashing. Adonis' eyes are glowing red now, and terror, like no other, seizes me when Silas grabs him by both ears, twisting his neck, and Adonis does nothing to fight back.I look to my father, who is holding his own against the group of vampires attacking him, but can't help me or be distracted without risking his own life. Then, I look around for Aylin, Az, Seth, or anyone to jump in and help, but no one is around."No one is coming to rescue you this time, my sweet Amara," Silas hissesI only stare at him and then at my mate. Maybe...maybe...I slam my mental talons into Roman's mind, but he only whimpers and starts to thrash again.
It's been four days, and Roman's shadows still haven't found any evidence of Silas moving toward his home; it looks like he will be coming to us. He's been rallying all his people into one spot; even people from his kingdom were seen moving out, so everyone is on edge, including me. I suggested moving in once he had them all together, but Roman said it's better to let him think he has the element of surprise, and it will give us the "home-field advantage." I wanted to just get it over with; the stakes are so much higher now. Given that we're unsure if he will lead with those half-Kudde beasts he made, Roman had the security system expanded so my family and I would have time to take off and neutralize that threat.Thayer, Dahlia, and all the troops he planned to send are here. Roman called and updated him on the situation, and he said he'd rather come now if an attack is imminent, so they could get familiar with the land. It was no question whether or not we would be atta
"Let's hear it then. Start with his kingdom's main territory.""His kingdom is not far from here. While he does have armies there, their numbers could be better, and they're his lowest-ranking soldiers, all of his best he took with him. Since he's been tracking Amara over the last couple of months, his favorite Duke has been in charge over there. Outside the wall of the castle and its main village, you'll find crowded poverty. He allowed his people to starve, telling them it would start wars if we hunted humans, wolves, or fae after they stopped donating blood to us. In reality, he cut off all contact and trade with them, allowing his people to believe they were trying to starve us out. That's how he got most of his willing soldiers initially. From there, he made life for anyone who was his soldier comfortable. If you fought for him, you and your family could move over the wall, where you were given the bare minimum food and housing."The room falls into a disgusted silenc
I was finally discharged after my next ultrasound. My powers and Tamisra returned about two hours after my first ultrasound, so I insisted I was ready to go home. But considering it was already eight at night, Roman and the nurses convinced me to stay. I'm at least allowed to eat again, and goddess, I'm fucking ravenous. I feel like I can't eat enough. Roman and the nurse, Jess, tried to get me to slow down, but at my ultrasound, Dr. Crowen said as long as I can handle it, I should eat whenever I want to keep up with baby girl's growth rate.Speaking of, she gained another two ounces overnight. It didn't sound like a big deal to me, but I have no knowledge of anything in the medical field. Dr. Crowen said it was very significant, given that wolf pups are expected to gain two ounces weekly at this stage. Everything points to me going into labor at the end of the month, which I don't want to think about.But this isn't exactly something I can just block out. Thankfull
There's a knock on the door before it opens, and the same person who took me to my MRI, Justin, I think, comes in with a wheelchair. After my MRI, they brought me to a different room with a bigger bed that looked a lot more annoying to move.Honestly, I could have walked. Now that my supernatural healing kicked in, I feel fine. Starving, but fine. The doctors said I have to eat very slowly to get my digestive system working properly again and that if I ate an entire jar of peanut butter like I wanted to, I would just throw it back up immediately and feel like shit. So, my new best friends were crackers with peanut butter and a side of chicken broth."Hello again, Alpha, Luna. Dr. Crowen is ready for you in the ultrasound room," he says as he locks the wheelchair.I sit up and swing my legs around to get out of bed. Immediately, Roman and Seth jump up, trying to help me. I roll my eyes."I told you both, I'm fine!" I say, getting up and sitting in the chair