“Do you want to know the sex?” Slade moved the probe around more.
“I don’t know.” Pam looked at Duncan. “Do we?”
“It’s up to you, babe.” Duncan felt honored she asked him. Even though he wasn’t the father by blood, she made him feel that he was.
Biting her lip, she looked back at the screen nodding, excitement blooming across her face. “Yes. We want to know.”
A wide grin spread across Slade’s face. “Congratulations. Looks like you are going to have a strapping young man.”
“A boy?” Pam put her hand across her mouth. “I knew it. I knew it was going to be a boy.”
When Pam smiled up at him, Duncan couldn’t resist kissing her.
Slade put the probe up, clicked a few more buttons before cleaning off Pam’s stomach, and pulled her shirt down. He turned to the nurse. “Thank you for your help. I need a few minutes with my patient.”
“Yes, sir.” The nurse replied heading out the door.
Duncan helped her sit up. “Thanks.”
Slade picked up a few pictures handing them to Pam. “Here’s the little guy’s first photos.”
“How adorable.” Pam stared at the pictures, and then laughed. “It looks like he’s smiling in this one.” She showed Duncan who laughed.
Slade pulled the stool in front of them. “I need to know what’s going on.” He broke into Pam’s excitement. “If I’m going to keep you and the baby alive, I need to know everything. This is not a regular pregnancy.”
Pam’s mood turned in an instant. “What do you mean keep us alive? You said he was fine.”
“He is, but he is a big boy, and you are a small woman.” Slade replied glancing at a printout from the machine. “By what I can tell, your due date is less than two weeks. The pains you were having I believe were Braxton Hicks contractions, which is what doctors like to call practice labor, getting everything ready for the real thing. Also with the baby nesting down, and not moving much, could also mean he’s getting ready. I’m concerned because he is not in the right position for delivery yet.”
“But you can still do a C-section, right?” Pam put the pictures down before she crimped them in her nervous hands.
“Yes, but…” Slade stopped pinching the bridge of his nose. “As a doctor, what you are telling me, I know is impossible. You’re telling me you are only three months pregnant, but the size of the baby indicates you are in your third trimester. What I don’t understand is how you can be six months off. What makes you believe you are only three months pregnant?”
“I know exactly when I got pregnant because I was raped.” Pam reached back grasping Duncan’s hand. “As I was being raped, I was given a shot that supposedly contained a fertility substance.”
Slade’s eyes darkened at the word raped. “I’m sorry.”
“Two days after I was raped, I started having morning sickness. I knew what he wanted and what the vial was for, so when I started throwing up, I got a pregnancy test and it was positive. Actually, I took three of them, all positive,” Pam sighed.
“How do you know what was in the vial?” Slade frowned.
“Because it was my ex who raped me. He bragged that he was going to make me a breeder.” Pam’s eyes became angry.
“Breeder?” Slade looked to Duncan. “A breeder of what?”
“Half-breeds.” Duncan answered. “Listen, we can fill you in on the rest of it later. Right now I just want Pam taken care of.”
Slade nodded in total understanding. “I guess we don’t have a vial of what you were given.”
Pam shook her head. “I’ve tried to find it, but nothing yet.”
“Okay, well it is what it is.” Slade stood. “We just go from here. With your permission, I would like to examine you. I really need to see if you’re dilated at all. The timeline is throwing me way off.”
“Okay.” Pam didn’t sound so sure.
“I can have someone else do it if you’re not comfortable with me, Pam.” Slade informed her wanting her to be at ease.
Remembering the way the nurse had looked at her, Pam shook her head. “No, I would rather you do it.”
“I’m going to have to ask you to step out.” Slade told Duncan as he pushed the sonogram machine back out of the way. When Duncan looked ready to argue, Slade held up his hand. “I’m going to have the nurse come back in during the examination, but I have to ask you to leave.”
“It’s fine, Duncan.” Pam squeezed his hand. “It’s kind of embarrassing anyway, so I’d rather you not be in here if that’s okay?”
“Whatever you want, I’ll do.” Duncan kissed her before heading for the door. “I’ll be right outside.”
Slade handed her a hospital gown. “I’m going to get the nurse. Go ahead and put this on and I’ll be right back.”
“Okay.” Pam took the gown staring at it.
Duncan watched Pam who looked so alone and scared sitting on the table he almost went back to her, but Slade stopped him. “I will take good care of her Duncan. I swear it.”
With one last look, Duncan let Slade push him out the door.
******
“Is she okay?” Nicole ran up to Duncan.
“Yeah.” Duncan replied looking at the anxious faces of Damon, Jared, Tessa, Sid, Jill and Sloan as they waited for word on Pam. “She’s fine. Slade is going to do an examination on her right now.”
“How about the baby?” Tessa walked up next to Nicole.
“The baby is fine and will probably be here sooner than we thought.”
“What? Seriously?” Nicole replied looking panicked. “Crap! We haven’t had the baby shower yet.”
They stepped away from the door as Slade and the nurse came back. Slade knocked making sure Pam was ready. Everyone heard Pam’s voice carry through the door.
“I’ll be right out when I’m finished, so you can go back in.” Slade told Duncan before disappearing inside.
Duncan nodded without saying anything, but as soon as the door closed, he stepped right next to it so he could hear if she needed him. If she did, it would take an army of men to keep him out.
“Is she going to have to stay here?” Sloan asked. “Because that may be a problem.”
Duncan’s protective instincts kicked in. “Why would that be a problem?”
“Because we didn’t cover our tracks, so this place is crawling with media.” Sid answered, tossing back a bag of potato chips. “And it will be hard to keep her safe from Kenny.”
“You told them?” Duncan glanced at each of them. The angry frowns on their faces answered that question.
“He comes anywhere near her, we’ll know it.” Jared growled.
Sid watched a nurse walk by eyeing him. Knocking the crumbs off his shirt, he crumbled the empty bag. “So the pregnant one is good, as well as the little rug rat?”
Rolling his eyes, Duncan nodded. “They’re fine.”
“Good.” Sid grinned as the nurse passed again. “Hey Sloan, we got health insurance through the Council right?”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Sloan looked up from his phone with a growl.
“I think I need to get my blood pressure checked.” Sid wagged his eyebrows as he took off after the nurse, tossing his empty potato chip bag in the trash.
“I think I hate him,” Sloan sneered. “I really do.”
“Ah, he grows on ya.” Jared shook his head laughing at Sid.
“Okay, now that the scare is over with we need to plan a baby shower.” Nicole whipped out her phone.
All the Warriors threw up their hands in horror, even Sloan, different mutterings of protest coming from each of them.
“What?” Nicole stared at them.
“Me and Nicole can’t do this on our own on such short notice. The baby is coming soon. That doesn’t give us much time.” Tessa flipped her hands in the air. “Come on, guys.”
“Babe, we kill shit.” Jared talked to her on a serious level. “We don’t do baby showers. Nowhere in the War
rior’s oath does it say we do baby showers.”
“Oh, and it says you kill shit?” Tessa gave him a disbelieving snort.
“As a matter a fact, it does.” Jared tossed back at her.
“I’d like to see that oath.” Tessa’s glare was suspicious.
“Only Warriors can lay eyes on the oath.” Jared smiled knowing he had her.
“Uh, actually I’ve seen the oath and it doesn’t say that.” Jill stepped next to Tessa and Nicole. “Count me in girls. We don’t need their help. We got this. They’d just get in the way.”
Tessa elbowed Jared in the stomach when she walked by him, she and Nicole already making plans.
“You’ll pay for that in training,” Jared warned Jill with an evil glare.
She just shrugged her shoulders with a grin. “Sorry.”
Jared snorted at her as she followed Tessa and Nicole. Glancing around at Damon, Duncan and Sloan, he threw his hands in the air. “Thanks for jumping in and helping out guys.” Jared growled.
“Hey, you were doing fine,” Sloan replied, leaning against the wall.
“Yeah, until you crashed and burned,” Damon added with a rare grin. “Didn’t really want to go down with you.”
“Yeah, and I’ll remember that, pal.” Jared walked away, but realized he was heading toward the planning women. With a quick turn, he headed back past the Warriors who were all laughing at him. “Fuck you, guys.”
Duncan was paying half attention to what was going on. His focus was on what was going on in the room behind him. He tried to get a read on Slade, but he was closed off tight. He wouldn’t try to read Pam, didn’t even know if he could. He had tried to get into the nurse’s head, but all her thoughts were about how she was going to get the new doctor into her bed and he so wasn’t going there.
“How you holding up?” Sloan walked over.
“I’ll let you know after the doc comes out.” Duncan replied glancing at the door with a frown.
“He’s the best, Duncan,” Sloan reassured him. “I wouldn’t have brought him in if I didn’t believe that.”
“So is he a doctor or a Warrior?” Damon asked, hearing their conversation.
“He’s both, but he’s a Warrior first. I’ve known him for a long time. He will be an asset to the team.” Sloan patted Duncan on the back. “She is in the best hands.”
The door opened as Slade and the nurse came out. He gave her instructions before turning toward Duncan. “I need to talk to you alone.”
“Is she okay?” Duncan didn’t budge from his stance by the door.
“She’s getting dressed.” Slade looked around. “Come on.”
Duncan followed him to a private room that wasn’t being occupied. “You didn’t answer my question.”
Slade frowned as he closed the door. “Okay, I need to get this out of the way first. I hope to God you find the bastard who did this to her, and even though my priority is to save lives, there are some lives not worth saving. Kill the bastard or I will.”
“No worries there. He’s a walking dead man.” Duncan tried to remain calm, waiting to hear something he was sure he didn’t want to hear.
Slade took a second to compose himself, his black eyes going to gold in a flash. “She has been used, hard.” Slade growled knowing he didn’t have to explain what he meant. “She has a lot of damage that is not repairable. This birth, if natural, is going to be hard on her.”
Duncan looked away his face a mask of stone. “Does she know?”
“Yes.” Slade replied. “I told her everything. She asked me to tell you; she wanted you to know. She said that you two haven’t been intimate yet, but I advise you to go very slow with her.”
“Not a problem.” Duncan was having a hard time talking, his words coming between clenched teeth. His rage so raw, he was about to explode.
“Have you thought about the possibility she may never be able to be intimate with a man, with you?” Slade’s eyes were clouded with sympathy.
“Yes, I have,” Duncan replied. “And it doesn’t matter to me.”
“But it matters to her.”
“What the hell do you mean by that?” Duncan’s eyes finally shot to Slade’s.
“She’s very concerned that she can never be the woman you need,” Slade said point blank.
“What the fuck did you say to her?” Duncan growled plowing Slade into the wall.
“I didn’t say anything to her. I told her how much damage had been done.” Slade understood Duncan’s rage and didn’t push back. “She was the one asking the questions. She is more concerned about you and the baby than she is about herself. I am just giving you fair warning about where her mind is.”
“Fuck!” Relaxing his hold, Duncan cursed again as he let him go. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be. I would be slamming people if that was my woman,” Slade replied. “Just go slow with her. Keep her as calm as possible. I honestly cannot pinpoint a due date with her, but I can tell you it’s going to be very soon. She is already dilated, but it’s different with different women.”
Duncan didn’t even act like he knew what he was talking about. He didn’t care about other women. All he cared about was Pam and that she stayed safe. Duncan stepped away. “Thank you.”
Slade slapped him on the back. “Come on. She should be dressed by now.”
Duncan walked out of the room and headed to the room where she was. Hearing her voice, he looked down the hall and saw her sitting in the waiting room with Tessa and Nicole. The Warriors surrounded the women as they sat and talked. Pam smiled at something Nicole said, her eyes lifting to meet his. Her smile started to fade as her eyes went from him to Slade and then back to him again. Duncan gave her a grin with a wink, letting her know that he wasn’t running; he was here and wasn’t going anywhere.
Chapter 15
A tall, older man in a physician’s jacket met the large group as they made their way to the emergency room exit. “Dr. Buchanan?”
Slade stepped up. “Yes.”
The man stuck out his hand. “I’m Dr. Krebs, chief physician here at the University and would like to welcome you.”
“Thank you, sir.” Slade shook the man’s hand. “I apologize I haven’t introduced myself, but we had a bit of an emergency. I appreciate you and your staff setting things up for me.”
“Glad we could help,” he replied. “I do want to inform you that the hospital is surrounded by reporters who seem very interested in your patient. They are not allowed inside the hospital, but they have the area covered.”
“Where’s our decoy?” Jared looked around for Jill.
Jill stepped forward. “I didn’t bring a pillow,” she grinned.
Dr. Krebs smiled. “I think we can help you with that.” He walked to the nurses’ station giving a few orders before he walked back. “You can bring a car where the ambulances unload.”
Slade smiled. “Thank you.”
“No problem at all.” Dr. Krebs smiled shaking hands with the rest of the Warriors who thanked him. “Dr. Buchanan, I’m looking forward to working with you.”
Nodding, Slade watched the older doctor walk away. A nurse came up with a pillow and coat. Jill walked up and took them.
“Be right back.” Jill took off to a restroom.
Sid walked up. “What’s going on?” he asked, combing his messy hair with his fingers.
“Reporters. Decoy time.” Jared answered. “Go get the car and pick up the doc, Duncan and Jill.”
“I’m not leaving Pam.” Duncan’s tone indicated to everyone that he was not leaving her side.
“Okay, I’ll go with them.” Jared nodded at Sid to go.
“Ready.” Jill walked out with her instant pregnant belly and large coat. “I need a hat.”
The nurse who brought the other stuff looked around the nurses’ station and came back with a baseball hat. “Here.” She handed Jill the hat.
Jill put it on her head and smiled. “Thanks.”
“I’ll let you know when
the car pulls up.” She grabbed a wheelchair. “Those reporters know the ropes at the hospital. If you walk out of here, they might figure it out. All pregnant patients brought in, leave in a wheelchair.”
Jill sat in the wheelchair pulling the cap lower. Glancing up, she caught Slade staring at her. “Do I look like Pam?” she asked.
“No.” His reply was short and to the point.
Jill frowned at him as the nurse walked up.
“Okay, there’s the car. We have an ambulance that just pulled in, so please try to stay out of the way of the paramedics.” The nurse warned them.
“Okay, let’s do this.” Jared got behind to push Jill.
Slumping down Jill lowered her head. Just as she started to look up, a sweet smell hit her nose. In an instant, her fangs grew, her mouth flowing with saliva. Passing her on a gurney was a man who was bleeding profusely. A growl erupted from her throat that sounded animal like. Her golden eye turned black as midnight.
“Jill?” Jared leaned down to whisper. “What’s…?”
She heard nothing but the heartbeat of the man bleeding as it pumped his lifeblood out his wound. Nothing mattered to her at that moment except to taste the sweet blood. In an instant, she was out of the wheelchair.
“Son of a bitch!” Jared reached for her, but missed.
It took Slade a second to realize that Jill was under an attack of bloodlust. Grabbing her before she could reach the man on the gurney, he held her against him as he rushed through a throng of reporters shouting questions. Jill fought him with everything she had, but he was too strong for her. He could feel Jared at his back pushing reporters back. Sid had jumped out, and was ready with the door open. Slade fell in the back of the car with Jill underneath him.
“Jill!” He tried to get through to her, but he knew she was too far gone. Holding her down with his hand on her chest, he sat up trying to get his jacket off with one hand.
“What the fuck happened?” Jared slammed the door as Sid took off.
“Bloodlust.” Slade’s eyes didn’t leave Jill’s vacant ones. “Help me get my jacket off.”
“They’re following.” Sid kept his eyes peeled to the road and rearview mirror. “Where do you want me to go?”
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