“Clementine!” a voice gasped.
She looked up through the haze of pain to see Evan standing in the doorway. Sweat stuck her hair to her face. How long had she been laying here? Sobbing, she cradled her belly and pleaded without words. He dashed in and pulled her into his arms.
“What do you need?” he asked, his voice pitched with stress, as he picked her up.
“Examination room,” Clementine panted, trying to force aside her panic to focus. “Erica. I need Erica. I’m in early labor and it’s not—” Another pain, this one longer, accompanied by a peculiar pressing sensation on her pelvis. “It’s not normal!”
She clung to Evan as he carried her, shouting for someone to help. A nurse appeared and Evan shouted at him to get Erica. He carried her into one of the rooms and laid her down on the bed. She still writhed and he held her down, apologizing again and again as he kept her from pitching off onto the floor.
“Eugene,” Clementine whimpered. “I need Eugene.”
Evan pulled her tight against him. “I’m sorry. I can’t get him. He’s not… He’s not…”
Not what? Panic threatened to overwhelm her as she grabbed him. “Not what?” she screamed into his face. “He’s not dead. He can’t be dead! He’s not dead!”
“No,” Evan shook his head. “No, he’s not dead. But he’s not here. I can’t get him for you because he’s not here.”
Erica came flying in, moving quickly as she demanded to know what happened. As Evan babbled out what he’d seen, Clementine eased her grip on him and laid back on the bed.
“My water broke. I’m having contractions. Every few seconds. It hurts. Like I’m being cut open. There’s something wrong with the baby.” Tears burned her eyes as another pain left her light-headed and gasping for breath. “Something’s wrong with the baby! Oh, god! Don’t let my baby die.”
Erica scrubbed down her hands and snapped on a pair of gloves. “Nothing is going to happen to your baby, I promise.”
“But it’s only been five months. That’s not enough time, at five months a baby isn’t—"
“You are a shifter,” Erica snapped, not letting her spiral further. “This baby is a shifter. Shifters are strong. Nothing will happen. We’ll have to do an emergency C-section, though. I suspect that the baby has shifted in the womb.”
Evan yelped. “That can happen?”
“It’s very rare but not unheard of. In most cases, they claw their way free.” Erica said as she palpitated Clementine’s belly. “Yeah, that doesn’t feel human. Do you feel any sort of burning sensation?”
“No… yes… I don’t know!” Clementine yanked Evan closer, just because she needed something and someone to hold onto. If Eugene was here, everything would be okay. But he wasn’t here, and she didn’t know what she was going to do. “It’s because I spent so long shifted. In the first month. It’s my fault and my baby—”
“Stop panicking!” Erica grasped her shoulders and stared into her eyes. “Listen. This is going to be okay. Your baby is strong and so are you. You have to stop panicking; you are putting yourself in more distress.”
“Eugene,” Clementine whispered.
“We’ll get him back,” Evan promised. “We will get him back.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
His throat burned with thirst. The screeches, roars, howls, hisses and other noises in his head were so loud that he couldn’t even think. He just felt the constriction around him. Felt that prick of pain in his neck and the darkness that threatened to swallow him again. He lashed out, kicking, clawing, screaming.
The shouting in his head grew louder. Liam was telling him to calm down. But how could he calm down? He was in the hands of the Pack; he couldn’t go down without a fight. He had to get back to Clementine. He let out a burst of fire that ate away the blackness, but it didn’t last long.
His strength fled and he collapsed, weak and helpless. He was so cold! Where had his fires gone? He wanted to wrap himself in fur, but if he did that, he knew he would lose himself forever. So instead, he curled in on himself, moaning. It hurt. It hurt so bad, he didn’t know what he was going to do. If it wasn’t for the knowledge that Clementine was out there somewhere, waiting for him, he would have given up.
But he wasn’t going to leave her again. He wasn’t going to do it.
He was pulled to his feet—no, not to his feet. He was being carried. His arm slung around someone’s neck, his head on their shoulder. Bridal style. A giggle burst from his throat, but it made his head throb and he had to stop. It was surprisingly gentle… usually the Pack just sort of threw him around and drugged him.
But he’d get away again. He’d been getting away from them all the time, and they weren’t going to be able to hold him here for much longer…
Liam talked in his head again. “It’s gonna be okay, buddy. Just hold on, okay? We’re gonna get you to the Academy. Everything’s going to be okay.”
Sure, but you have to find me first. And the Alpha has been moving me around too much.
The arms tightened around him. “We have you. Just hold on.”
Eugene sagged against his captor. He was too tired to fight. The Blaze Ops would try to find him… and when they did find him, he had to be strong enough to fight. So right now… would it hurt to rest for just a little while?
The darkness took him once more but not before Clementine’s scent enveloped him.
Quiet.
It was so quiet.
Eugene could hear the sound of his own breathing. His heart beating normally, steady and with its regular strength. There was no screaming in his head. No sense of animals clawing at his chest. Just the burning of his fires in the pit of his stomach, where they belonged. His muscles were sore, as though he’d been running for three days straight, but they were relaxed. Not twisting in on themselves as they tried to take multiple forms at once.
He opened his eyes, blinking at the dim light that still seemed too bright. This didn’t seem like the normal fare for the Pack. The walls were clean, there was a window (with the shades drawn) and he was laying on a soft, if not wholly comfortable, bed rather than being strapped down onto a table.
“Hey.” A raspy voice said from beside him.
He swung his head toward the sound, a growl preparing itself in his throat. His eyes widened. “Adam?”
Adam grinned at him. “You gonna stay awake this time?”
Eugene frowned.
“You’ve woken up half a dozen times since we got you back here. And sorry,” he added as Eugene moved to touch his forehead but was stopped by a metal cuff on his wrist. “You’ve been a little… violent at times. We had to keep you restrained for your own protection.”
“I…” Eugene sighed. “The last thing I remember is being held by the Pack. When did you guys get me back here?”
“It’s been about a month. And I take it that since you’re actually asking me questions and stuff that you’re back in your right mind and you’re not going to try to kill me?”
Eugene chuckled weakly. “Don’t be a smartass.”
Adam hummed and unlocked the cuffs holding him there. He then helped Eugene sit up and gave him some water. “I already called Utopia; she’ll be here soon. How are you feeling?”
“Like crap. But better than I was.” He gulped the water down, grateful as the fog in his head continued to dissipate. “How did you know how to find me?”
“Karey. She escaped us—I told Patrick she needed to be on the blockers, but nobody would listen to me—and went back to the Pack. We got a message from her that you’d escaped the Pack and were somewhere in the forest. We weren’t going to let you get caught again, so we found you. You didn’t recognize us and put up quite a fight when we tried to bring you back, though.” Adam’s brow wrinkled. “Whatever the Alpha did to you…”
Eugene recognized the anger in Adam’s tone. It was the same anger that he’d felt when he thought Adam was dead. He tried to reassure his teammate, but the words got caught in his throat
. He didn’t know what the Alpha had done to him either, except give him multiple injections.
There was a knock on the door and Utopia entered. She smiled, beaming at him as she came to check on him. Eugene answered all her questions as she gave him an examination. When she was done, she was pleased to announce that he seemed to be perfectly healthy.
“Although I don’t want you leaving this hospital. We need to keep you under observation until we’re sure there aren’t going to be any more relapses.”
Eugene thought of the menagerie in his head and shuddered. He didn’t want to have a relapse into that either. He’d accept staying under observation without complaint. Well, as long as there was one thing he could do.
“I want to see Clementine.”
Utopia sighed. “I understand that you do, but in your current state you really shouldn’t—”
“I want to see her.” Eugene’s fires rose with his agitation, no matter how much he tried to keep himself calm. “I need to see her.”
This time it was Adam who sighed. “Do you really want to see her when you’re not sure if you might lose control again? This is the first time you’ve been lucid when you woke up. I think you need to wait a little longer. Besides, I don’t think that Patrick would be happy with us for letting you get up and walk about without his go-ahead.”
“Speaking of Patrick,” Utopia said, “I have to go report this to him, Fiona and Maura. And no,” she added with a stern look at Eugene, “you aren’t allowed out of this room. Not yet. Get some more rest, you look like you’re about to fall over.”
Eugene growled. Even though he felt like he was about to fall over, he wasn’t going to lie back down until he saw for himself that she was alright. He watched Utopia leave, knowing she would never change her mind, then focused on Adam. All the Blaze Ops were stubborn, but out of all of them, Adam was the most absorbed in the chain of command. If there was anybody he could out-stubborn, it was Adam.
“Where is she?”
“Eugene—”
“Where is she? Is she locked up? Is she being held prisoner?”
Adam pinched the bridge of his nose. “She is alive and well. Isn’t that enough for you?”
“No,” Eugene snarled. “It’s not. Of course, it’s not enough! I need to see her, Adam. The last time I saw her, she was running for her life. The Pack was trying to kill her and me both. So I can’t rest until I know for sure. And after everything that happened… But fine. I will stay here in bed if she comes to see me.”
Adam flinched. “She can’t.”
A growl rose in Eugene’s throat.
“Stop that,” Adam snapped. “Getting all overprotective isn’t going to help her and growling at me isn’t going to help you. I’m not allowed to let you leave this room until you get a psych eval. Got it? So you can save all your posturing, I am not going to let you go anyway.”
Eugene only growled more. “Why can’t she come see me? Is she locked up?”
Adam sighed again, slumping in his chair. “Sort of. It’s complicated. She’s here in the hospital. A lot happened since you were last here, Eugene. She’s okay,” he quickly added, “but she hasn’t recovered. It was very traumatic, and I guess even a shifter doesn’t get over that very quickly.”
Ice spread through Eugene’s veins. “What happened? She hasn’t recovered from what?”
“Oh. Oh, right. Sorry. You wouldn’t know.”
“Know what?” Why was he beating around the bush like this? Why didn’t he just come right out and say whatever it was he had to say? Eugene snarled as he tried to get up, but Adam grasped his shoulders and pushed him back down onto the bed.
“She had a baby.”
Eugene was so shocked he couldn’t resist when Adam pushed him down. “What?”
“It was about a month ago now, a tiny little thing. But the baby started shifting in her womb and so things went bad for them both. She had to have an emergency C-section. And she’d have recovered from that already, but there were complications since the baby burned her when it was shifting. A little dragon.” Adam grinned widely. “He’s the cutest little thing, wait until you see him.”
Eugene batted his hand away. “I need to.”
If she had a baby… what did that mean? How long had he been a prisoner? He struggled himself out of bed again, and when Adam tried to protest, Eugene glared at him and made it an order.
Adam took him to a room a little way down the hall. Inside, Clementine lay sleeping on a bed. Her face was pale, too pale, and there was clear tension in the way she held herself. Even in sleep, she wasn’t relaxed.
Eugene wanted to lay beside her, to cuddle her and make her feel safe. He wanted to break the handcuffs that were shackling her to the bed. But even though he longed to just look at her, to drink her in and make sure for himself she was okay, his gaze was drawn to the bassinet or incubator (whatever it was) beside the bed. Inside, a baby lay. A tiny face, tiny body, wrapped cozily in blankets.
He moved unsteadily forward, Adam supporting him. As he looked down at the baby, he felt like all the air left the room. This baby… it was too big. Too old to be his.
“We didn’t know if he would make it,” Adam said. “But he’s strong. He’s a little dragon, too. The nurses have a hell of a time wrapping him up with his wings.”
He chuckled, but Eugene turned abruptly. A dragon. But Clementine had to have already been pregnant that first time they slept together. With her frame as curvy as it was, it wasn’t like he’d have noticed. And they’d only slept together for the first time, what, two months ago? They’d only been together twice.
“Hey.” Adam grabbed his arm and helped him back into the hall. “I thought you’d want to—”
“You thought wrong,” Eugene mumbled. Was he the father of Clementine’s child? Or was it someone else? Someone in the Blaze Ops? Being a dragon was so rare! Who else could she have known? “I need to lie down… You’re right, I shouldn’t have woken up.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
The baby didn’t need to be in the incubator anymore, at least not all the time. He’d grown a lot in the month since he’d been born and was now the size and weight of a newborn. That still seemed impossibly tiny when Clementine looked at him, but the pediatrician that had been brought in to keep an eye on him said that he was perfectly healthy. His lungs were strong, he was eating well and putting on weight. The doctor said that he was surprised at how quickly he’d developed but chalked it up to being a shifter.
“Shifters have a tendency to adapt to their situations,” he said the last time he’d been in. “This isn’t the first case I’ve had of a premature shifter baby developing quickly and stabilizing like this, although usually, it doesn’t happen quite this quickly.”
Clementine sighed as she leaned back in her bed. Her body still hurt, although not as bad as it had. When the door opened and Fiona and Stephen came in, she smiled briefly. Even though she was technically a prisoner, the Blaze Ops had been visiting her regularly.
“How are you feeling?” Fiona said, smiling.
“Better than I did before I slept, but not great.”
Stephen pulled a wheelchair into the room as Fiona uncuffed Clementine from the bed frame.
Clementine frowned. “Am I being summoned to talk with Maura again? Or did she finally decide that I won’t leave my baby and so I don’t need to be chained up?”
“Eugene’s awake and he’s asking to see you,” Stephen rumbled.
Clementine straightened. The exhaustion in her body seemed to lighten, everything feeling a bit more buoyant. She glanced at Fiona for confirmation, and a grin broke across her face. Fiona nodded and Clementine almost bounced out of the bed. The movement jostled her, sending a dull pain through her abdomen, and she grimaced.
“Easy,” Stephen said, grasping her elbow. “Don’t hurt yourself.”
“You don’t hurt yourself,” Clementine shot back but allowed him to help her into the wheelchair. It was only when she was seated
that she looked over to her baby. “Fiona, will you bring him?”
“Eugene wants to see you alone,” Fiona replied.
Clementine’s brow furrowed. “Does he know?”
“About the baby? Yes. But you have to remember, he didn’t even know you were pregnant. This is a huge shock for him.” Fiona smiled sadly. “I’m sure he wants to be able to talk to you first, without having to deal with the shock of being a father, too.”
Clementine nodded. That made sense. She settled into the wheelchair, although she didn’t like having to use it. Normally, a C-section would not have this sort of effect on a body. After a month, especially, things were knitting back together nicely. Her problem was that the baby’s partial shift had done a lot of damage and not just because he’d been breathing fire inside of her.
They had kept her off the blockers long enough for her to heal from that. It shouldn’t be an issue in the future, although she would have to be extra careful with any future pregnancies. As soon as the OB/GYN had said things were in a normal state, though, Maura had ordered Clementine put on blockers. So, she was stuck healing at the normal rate, now that the worst of the damage was fixed.
Technically, she could walk but it still hurt, and she was still so tired.
Her hands twisted in her lap as Stephen wheeled her down the hallway. The familiar sounds and smells of her hospital weren’t enough to calm her. Eugene had been unconscious and disoriented for a month. That he was awake and asking for her… did it mean that the worst was over?
When Stephen took her into Eugene’s room, relief washed over her. He was sitting up in bed, alert, eyes bright. His skin had returned to its normal tones and food was laid out behind him. He’d lost weight and muscle since she had seen him last before she escaped the Pack. He was there, though, and once he started eating again, he’d fill out those tattoos once more.
When he saw her, he smiled. But it was strained. Nervous. He quickly looked away, down to his plate. The smell of food made Clementine’s stomach rumble. When was the last time she had eaten?
Dragon's Pride (Dragon Blaze Ops Book 3) Page 15