“Has anyone talked to Jacob lately?” It had been over a week since they all had last seen Madison and Jacob. Alex hadn’t had any more visions; even with concentrating and focusing like the elder had suggested, she just couldn’t get any sense of what was happening with either of the two.
“He’s still looking for Brindle, who has also gone AWOL since all of this went down.” Danny had picked up Jacob on a few of their tracking runs, but he still hadn’t come back home yet. “Have you talked to him?” He looked over at Zach, who seemed completely exhausted with all that had been going on.
“Um, I saw him once like two days ago, but he wouldn’t or couldn’t shift back to talk. It looks like this whole Madison being missing is making him go insane.” Zach had only had the chance to track both Madison and Jacob twice this week. Emily, who was now confined to bed rest, had him up day and night.
“Can I go and see Emily?” Alex knew Zach hated it when someone showed up and disturbed his mate when she was trying to get her rest. Plus, she wanted to see if there were any changes in her vision concerning when Emily could possibly give birth to the twins.
Zach glanced at the clock on the wall and saw that Emily should be awake by now. “Yeah, go ahead. Tell her I’ll be up in a few minutes.” Alex nodded her head that she would and hurried out of the room and up the stairway.
“Have any of you caught scent of Orfeo’s group anywhere?” Maureen, who’d now become Adam’s permanent sidekick, asked any of the fifteen tracking members who were seated in the family room. They all seemed to ignore her comment by not looking at her or replying back, but each one shook their head no in response when Adam looked at them.
“It’s like somehow they’ve all learned to cover their tracks of what’s been done or where they’ve been,” Adam spoke of both the vampires and the dark enchantresses. “We have to get back.” He stood and lightly kissed Maureen on the lips. “Stay here.” He pointed to the sofa that she was seated on. She nodded her head once that she understood the urgency of staying put where she was safe. “You coming?” Adam glanced at Zach, who looked to still be distracted. The other trackers were getting fired up for another bout of hunting.
“I’ll catch up in a little while.” Zach turned in the opposite direction that the rest were going. “I want to check on Emily before I head out.” He began the trek upstairs to see his mate.
“Stay.” Adam gave Maureen one last command before he took off after the rest of the pack.
“How’s it going?” Zach peeked his head into Emily’s room. She was still laid out on the bed being propped up by some pillows for comfort.
“I’m here.” Emily hated to sound bitter, but feeling this fat, achy, and miserable all the time sort of made it impossible to put on a happy face.
“I was going to go track for an hour. Are you going to be okay?” Zach leaned over the bed and gently kissed her lips.
Emily nodded her head yes. “Alex is here and I think Aunt Maureen is still somewhere in the house. So, yep, I should be all right.”
Zach touched Alex lightly on the back. “Get a hold of Danny if anything happens, all right?” Alex squeezed his hand letting him know she understood what he meant, and sat down in the rocking chair by the bed. “I’ll be right back.” Zach closed the door quietly as he stepped out.
“He worries way too much.” Emily tried to sit more upright, but gave up after numerous attempts to wiggle her way up the pillows.
“He loves you and the twins. He would do anything to protect you and the babies.” Alex knew that all shifters were like that, especially their three. They might be young, but Danny, Zach, and Jacob loved their mates beyond any doubt. “Is Dr. Scott still saying about two more weeks?” Alex knew that the doctor probably knew best, but she just had a feeling that Emily was going to have the babies sooner than that.
“I think he’s just guessing. Do you know something that might happen sooner?” Emily got a little anxious to hear Alex might have a vision to share.
“I really can’t pinpoint an exact date or time. All I can see is you and Zach looking at the babies.” Alex should have told her that her gut feeling was telling her it was going to be soon, but she didn’t want Emily to go into hysterics. “Have you noticed anything different in how you feel?”
“I felt a little crampier today.” Emily rubbed along the lower part of her abdomen right above her pelvis. “And my lower back has been killing me since early morning, but I guess that’s the wonders of being pregnant.” She tried once again to shift in the bed, but a sudden sharp pain caused her to suck in her breath with a squeal.
“What’s wrong?” Alex stood and rushed closer to the bed.
“The pain just got a lot worse and now it feels like I wet myself.” Emily grabbed the blanket that was lying across her legs and yanked it off.
Alex saw a huge wet spot that came from in between Emily’s legs. “Do you think your water broke?” Instead of Emily panicking, now Alex was. She grabbed a towel that had been tossed on the floor and tried to soak up some of the wetness.
“I didn’t pee myself, so I don’t…know.” Emily let out another loud squeal. The sound of footsteps pounding up the stairs meant that it was loud enough to be heard from downstairs.
“What happened?” Maureen rushed into her niece’s room. Emily seemed to be in some sort of extreme pain. “Em, is it the babies?” Emily nodded her head yes and squeezed her eyes shut tightly as another pain ripped through her.
“Oh no…oh no…oh no.” Maureen started pacing about the room in a frazzled way. “The guys aren’t here. The doctor’s not here. And now Emmy is going to have the babies with just me and Alex.” She stopped over by the window and glanced outside. The sun was just starting to fall behind the horizon. Maureen took a few deep breaths and regained control. “Okay, Alex, can you call Dr. Scott and does anyone have Zach’s cell phone number?” She reached in her own pants pocket and got out her cell phone so that she could call Adam.
“Zach’s on his way.” Emily finally had a chance to speak as the pain had subsided once again. “He keeps trying to calm me down, but it’s not working!” Another pain that felt like she was being torn apart made her whole body tense up. She could feel the sweat running down her forehead and into her eyes. A soft cloth wiped it away. Emily squinted her eyes open and saw that her aunt was now standing beside her. “I don’t ever want to do this again.” Emily started to cry.
“Shush, it’s going to be okay.” Maureen softly wiped the sweaty hair back off of Emily’s forehead and held her hand when she saw that another pain was making a comeback.
“I’m here.” Zach burst through the door, still pulling her shirt over his head. Danny, Adam, Derek, Dr. Scott, and Jacob followed close behind. He rushed over to Emily’s bedside and picked up her other hand. “It’s going to be okay.” He could see the pain that she was in as her face scrunched up with another wave of pain taking over. “Just breathe and try to calm down.” He stroked her hand with his.
“Fuck you,” Emily hissed out as the pain kept getting stronger. She let out a loud piercing scream that made everyone hold their ears.
“I don’t think we have enough time to make it to the clinic.” Dr. Scott was observing the scene and then motioned for both Zach and Maureen to step away from the bed. “Can you all give us a minute or two? I need to check how Emily is progressing.” Derek motioned for the group to follow him out into the hallway. Once they were alone, Dr. Scott addressed Emily. “I’m going to check below, okay?” He motioned to her private section. Emily nodded her head yes and tried to scoot down further on the bed. “You’re all right.” Dr. Scott placed a hand on her so that she would quit moving and then performed his exam.
“I can feel another coming.” Emily felt like these damn contractions were now coming every ten seconds. She was getting tired and her whole body was aching.
“Okay, I’m done.” Dr. Scott pulled on the blanket and let it drape back over her legs. “It seems you are almost fully dilated. These babies are ready to be born.” He grabbed the carry-along bag he’d brought and pulled out all the medical supplies he thought he would need.
A knock came on the door and Zach stuck his head in. “Is everything good?” Dr. Scott gave him a thumbs-up and motioned that he could come in. He went instantly to Emily and held her hand once again. “I’m sorry.” Zach felt guilty that she was the one who had to go through all this pain.
“I know.” Emily began to pant and push as it felt that one of the babies was going to rip its way out of her. “It hurts so bad.” She squeezed Zach’s hand as hard as she could, so that some of the pain would maybe go to him. Emily felt another person at her side and saw that her aunt had made her way back in again and Dr. Scott was at the foot of the bed, telling her to push. Emily took a deep breath, let out a long loud scream and pushed as hard as she could.
Alex, Danny, Adam, Derek, and Jacob were all seated in one of the extra bedrooms, waiting for some type of news. It had been almost thirty minutes since Maureen and Zach had gone in with Emily and Dr. Scott.
“Both babies are here.” Derek had picked up on the mental message from both Zach and Dr. Scott.
“Really?” Alex jumped up off of Danny’s lap and rushed out the door and down the hall; the men were right behind her. She knocked softly on the door of Emily’s room and waited until she heard someone say to come in. “Congrats, new daddy.” She gave Zach a big hug. He looked tired, but not even close to the exhausted look that Emily had. “Emmy.” Alex went to her friend’s bedside and gently touched her face. “You look beautiful.” She knew that Emily needed to hear some words of praise and not be worried about her appearance. “Where’s the babies?” Alex looked around the room.
“In the sitting room.” Emily forced her hand to point in the direction that Dr. Scott and Maureen had taken the babies to get cleaned up. She got to see the twins briefly before they were taken away for vitals and cleaning.
“Boys, girls?” Alex questioned Emily and Zach as to what sex the twins were.
“Boy and girl,” Zach answered so that Emily could continue drinking the water he’d given her.
“I’m going to go check on the situation.” Derek patted his son’s back and walked away to see what was going on in the other area.
“Hey, congrats to both of you.” Jacob stood at the foot of the bed and gave Emily a small wave. “I’m going to be heading back out. I’ll catch up with you all later on tonight or tomorrow.” He turned to leave, but was stopped when he heard Emily call his name.
“Bring Madison home, okay?” Emily missed her friend more than ever right now. Jacob nodded his head once and then walked out of the room.
“So, what’s wrong?” Derek found Maureen and Dr. Scott hovering over the babies. The twins had been washed and were swaddled in white blankets.
“I just can’t explain it. In all my years of delivering and all of the history that I’ve studied about our kind, I have never seen anything like this.” Dr. Scott motioned for Derek to take a closer look at what he was referencing.
Derek walked closer and looked at what the doctor was taken aback by. He saw one of the babies had the birthmark on its neck that was only present in those that would be shifters. Derek felt like the air had been sucked out of him. “How can this be?” he asked Dr. Scott as he noticed the other baby had a birthmark that belonged to that of a vampire.