Chapter 3

Kyra-

Looking over Rex’s shoulder, my eyes widened when they landed on Hunter. A massive grin broke across my face as I couldn’t believe Hunter was back. Just in time, too. He couldn’t have come at a better time.

“Hunter!” I screamed as I hit Rex repeatedly on the shoulder until he let me down.

When my feet touched the floor, I shoved Rex out of the way and walked toward Hunter. I wanted to throw my arms around him, but I didn’t have that much courage. Even if I loved him and he said he loved me, it wasn’t the same. His love was likely his subconscious.

He said he felt the urge to protect me, but he didn’t know why. If I had to guess, I would say that the lingering remnants of who he used to be gravitated him toward me. I wanted to think it was more than that, but he didn’t know me other than what he observed and what he was told.

“Sorry, I am late. Ace told me I needed to return but didn’t tell me why. Now I understand.” Hunter’s gaze fell on my stomach, with a look in his eyes that seemed more awkward than anything.

I didn’t blame him since he didn’t remember creating a child. Hunter only knew I was pregnant with his child. If I were in his shoes, I would feel weird about the situation.

“I wasn’t expecting to see you before I gave birth.” I shifted awkwardly from one foot to the other.

“I didn’t know you wanted me to be back. If it weren’t for Ace's persistence that I needed to return, I wasn’t planning to return until next week.”

“Have you remembered anything?” I asked as I bit my lower lip.

“No.” A dark shadow fell over his face, and I wished I could know what he was thinking.

When he returned from the dead, I expected things would be different and even more challenging. What I didn’t expect was there to be an awkwardness between us. It was almost like we were strangers. In a sense, I guess we were. For Hunter, he has only seen me a handful of times. As for me, he was nothing like I remembered.

The moment he lost his memories, his life became a blank slate. Everything he went through that shaped him into the person I knew was no longer a part of him. Now, he seemed like someone who was lost and walking on eggshells.

“I…” I didn’t get a chance to continue as another contraction hit me.

Gripping my stomach, I doubled over as I reached for the nearest object to keep me steady on my feet. Hunter was by my side in an instant, as was Caleb. Without arguing about who would take me to the Pack Doctor, Hunter and Caleb assisted me together.

They had grabbed one arm and hooked it over their shoulder, walking alongside me while lifting me off the ground. I dug my nails into their shoulders as they carried me while doing my best not to scream. It felt as if something was tearing through my stomach, trying to come out through my flesh.

“What is wrong with her?” Hunter asked. “Is this normal?”

“It definitely isn’t.” Samantha answered as she and Rex followed behind us. “For someone like Kyra, she should be able to handle the contractions.”

The pain subsided as we arrived at the medical exam room, but there was lingering discomfort. Thankfully, Lucus was inside the room. He instructed Hunter and Caleb to place me on the bed, and then he moved to stand by the foot of the bed.

After lying on the bed, Lucus had me lift my legs and put my feet into straps so he could examine me. “When did your contractions start?”

“I don’t know exactly when. One minute Caleb and I were talking, the next minute I was in extreme pain and my water broke. Then we came here.” I said breathlessly as I pressed on the side of my stomach, which helped relieve some pressure.

“On a scale of one to ten, how bad is the pain?”

“It's off the charts.” I said, and barely a second later, I couldn’t hold back as another contraction hit me.

The pain had been too sudden that I couldn’t stop myself from screaming. Caleb stayed by my side and held my hand, but our mate bond didn’t ease the pain. It was almost as if we were no longer connected. Even Hunter moved to my other side and held my hand, but his grip was loose compared to Caleb’s. His touch didn’t help either.

“Interesting.” Lucus said after he quickly connected me to some sort of machine while I was in the middle of my contraction.

“What is it?” I asked after the pain subsided.

“Other than the pain, how are you feeling compared to your usual self? Any changes?” Lucus asked.

I thought about it for a moment and I didn’t feel much different other than I felt drained. “I guess I feel like my energy is being zapped.”

“That would make sense.” He nodded as he kept his focus on the machine. “I will need to wait until your next contraction to know for sure, but I do have an idea what is going on. I think that one of the two babies is drawing on your energy during your contraction, which is making it intense. I don’t know which or if maybe both are doing it, but I did notice a drop in your readings. After the contraction stopped, the reading returned to just shy of normal.”

I remember when I couldn’t use my abilities until Darius helped me. Darius had told me that my babies had unintentionally affected my abilities. If what Lucus was saying was true, I wished my brother Darius was here so he could help me now. He was the only one I knew who had been able to sense the issue and had the ability to help me.

“Does that mean that the birth might be difficult?” I quickly sat up.

“Not exactly. It just means that this will be similar to a human birth in terms of the pain level. If there isn’t anything else wrong, the zap in energy may be preventing you from being able to block some of the pain.”

I relaxed at his words but didn’t look forward to the level of pain I would endure. “Is there anything I can do? I feel as if my stomach is being torn.”

“I can give you a strong epidural, but I can’t guarantee that it won’t wear off when you do start giving birth. From what I can see, it will likely be a few more hours before you are ready to give birth.”

“Do it. I don’t care if it doesn’t last long. If anything, you can give me another one later. I just don’t want to keep feeling like this.”

Less than a few minutes later, Lucus inserted a needle in my spine. When I experienced another contraction a bit later, I barely noticed. No one had said anything as we waited for another contraction to hit.

“As I thought.” Lucus muttered after the contraction was over. “You might not feel the pain anymore, but when you had another contraction, your energy levels took a massive dive. I injected you with a strong dose, so let me know when your contractions start feeling uncomfortable again.”

After telling me he would check in with me later, Lucus left the room. Once he was gone, Caleb and Hunter released my hand. Caleb sat on the edge of the bed beside me while Hunter pulled a chair near the bed to sit on.

“Now that you are here, I wanted to discuss something with you.” I said as I turned to look at Hunter.

“What is it?”

“I told you I was pregnant when you left, but I didn’t know if you thought about it these last six months.” I tread lightly toward the subject of naming our child since I wasn’t sure how Hunter even felt about being a father.

“To be honest, no, I haven’t. I understand you were pregnant before I died, but I don’t have any thoughts about it. I am still trying to process everything. When you told me you were pregnant with both mind and Caleb’s child, it was a bit of a shock.”

“Well, I was wondering if you wanted to be involved with choosing a name.” I chewed on my lower lip a little before adding, “I have picked out a name since I didn’t know if you would return in time. If you aren’t interested in naming the baby, I won’t force you.”