I questioned her about the other midwife, desperate to know if she was party to my uncle’s plot, but as far as Mai knows, Jacky was told that I was a danger to myself and my unborn child due to ‘mental instability,’ hence the need for sedation and monitoring. Mai knows this because she was told the same, my uncle not realising that she was connected to The Shadows and put into place by my Knights.
Mai also told me that the drug I’d been given is a type of strong antihistamine, and it's basically an antihistamine that, if given in high enough doses, can cause nightmares, dizzy spells, plus feeling tired all the time and unsteady on your feet. It’s used for insomnia, hence my tendency to knock out after I've eaten the drugged food. Luckily, it’s perfectly fine for pregnancy. The overwhelming relief I felt that my baby hadn't been harmed was staggering, my whole body sagging with the weight that was lifted from my shoulders.
The damned wheelchair waits by the door, parked up against the wall like a silent spectator, waiting for my downfall. With a cursory glance, I stride past it, deciding that today I will remain on my feet. After all, I no longer need to keep up any kind of pretence that I’m weak. I want to be ready for when my guys come, to show them how strong I am.
Especially as when I suggested that I could try and escape sooner without them, they wouldn’t hear of it, Ash ordering me to remain where I was or face dire consequences.Arsegobbler.
I was tempted to disobey, but when Loki mentioned the pregnancy and the possible harm the baby could come under were I to be caught, not to mention the stress involved, I relented. I can’t jeopardise the life and health of our unborn child, not for my own pride.
“Are we…” Mai starts, indicating the wheelchair behind us with her hand as I head towards the stairs.
“We don’t need it today,” I calmly inform her, pausing at the top step and gazing into her kind eyes. “I won’t need it ever again after today.”
Her eyes widen a fraction, realising what I’m saying, then she pulls me into a tight hug.
“I’ll stay with you the whole time, and afterwards. Make sure you and baby are okay and well,” she whispers into my ear.
I cling back just as tight, tears pricking my eyes, soaking in her support and letting it shore me up for the trial ahead. It means so much to have her with me, beside me. I know that she can handle it, she’s told me a little of growing up in The Shadows before Hunter paid for her to go to med school and train to be a midwife several years ago. She said that she owes him a debt, and not just in terms of money, but he refuses to let her pay a penny back, stating that knowing that she’s ‘out of the life’ is more than enough. And this is the only time he’s ever asked anything of her in return, and even then he gave her a choice.
Even though we spend a good portion of the day outside, having a picnic lunch on the lawn that Mai prepares, the day drags unbearably slowly, time mocking me with each tick of the clock in the main hall. Taunting me from afar. Eventually, after I’ve bitten my nails down to the quick, Mai suggests that we head inside and that I try to rest.
It’s so frustrating not knowing exactly what’s going to happen. Or even when they’re going to get here, and I feel like a child waiting for their parents to return home after a trip spent apart, desperate to see them again, full of barely contained excitement. The guys refused to tell me the whole plan just in case something had to change, and I think because they didn’t want me to worry about anything. But what they don’t realise is that not knowing worries me more, and fills me with edgy anxiety until I’m ready to burst.
Once we’re in my room, I find it almost impossible to settle, sitting at the chair then getting up almost immediately to pace over to the bed and back again.
“Lilly…” Mai scolds from her seat in one of the chairs by the window, and I pause, wringing my hands and drawing my bottom lip under my teeth. “This won’t make them come any faster, you know.”
I hear Loki’s snort in my head at her word—bloody, filthy-minded bastard!—and I know that she’s right, but the tension coiled up inside me refuses to be quietened.
Standing there, I look out of the window at the beautiful landscape that surrounds us; the trees swaying gently in a soft summer breeze, the sound of birds chirping as we move closer towards evening even though the sun is still pretty high in the sky. Taking deep, even breaths, I allow myself to soak in the beauty, the majesty of nature. The world keeps turning, regardless of what happens today, and we must accept that nothing will stop that. Life will go on.
My baby gives a small movement, my warm palm coming to my stomach over the floral maxi dress that I’m wearing today. Perhaps not the most practical attire for escape, but it makes me feel good and is really comfy, so I refuse to change out of it and my flip-flops.
Just as the sun sets below the horizon, I hear the opening strains of‘Ride of the Valkyries’by Wagner fill the room, the entire mansion seeming to vibrate with the sounds of the violin strings.
“What the fuck…” I trail off as the wardrobe starts to rock violently, my heart beating faster with each tilt. Mai rushes to my side, pushing me slightly behind her as the piece of furniture comes crashing down with an almighty boom, the floor trembling and a couple of pictures falling off the wall, landing with a smash of glass.
Two black-clad figures emerge from the darkness as the music builds to a crescendo, and my heart stills in my chest as they look straight at me. A fallen angel with hair of fire and a Viking with piercing, blue eyes.
“Hey, Pretty Girl,” Loki whispers, and I’m not even sure if I hear him over the music or if his voice sounds in my head, but the low sensual sound of it races across my skin, setting me alight and leaving me breathless.
“Baby,” Jax rumbles, his deep timbre stroking my soul and wrapping me up in smoky notes, cutting through the music.
“You could have just used the door, fucking heathens,” a familiar drawl sounds from across the room, and my head snaps in that direction as two more black-clad figures enter the room.
Grey eyes lock on mine, and before I can say a word, think a single thought, Ash leaps onto and over the bed in a feline move, gently pushes Mai to one side, grabs my face in both his palms and slams his lips onto mine.
His kiss is devastating, full of pent-up longing and desperate sorrow. Each stroke of his skilled tongue is begging for my forgiveness, every caress of his lips a declaration to never let me out of his sight again. I return his embrace, trying to breathe him in, absorb every part of him into my own being.
My fingers clench into his T-shirt, my cuticles ripping with a sharp sting against the webbing that seems to cover parts of him, no doubt holding weapons. But I don’t care. It’s been so long, too fucking long since I’ve been in my husband’s arms.
He pulls back, albeit reluctantly, his grip on my face still firm as his eyes trace over my features, drinking me in like a dying man.
“Hello, wife,” he murmurs, his voice thick with emotion. He swallows hard, his Adam's apple bobbing. “Fuck, I missed you, Princess,” he confesses reverently, dipping his head once more to rub my nose with his in a gesture so heartbreakingly sweet that tears fall down my cheeks.
“Hello, husband,” I choke out, holding him to me for another moment, knowing that it won’t be enough. It’ll never be enough.
But my soul needs to feel the others with my own hands and lips to know that they’re real. As if sensing the direction of my thoughts, Ash lets me go, his hands slipping down my face when he steps aside to reveal Kai.