Defender's Blood The Birth and The Battle (Urban Fantasy)

by A. K. Michaels

  His mate was losing her inhibitions. ‘Good’ was the word that came to mind.

  Chapter 5

  Alex slept badly, tossing and turning and making soft groaning noises. This worried Zach because usually, so long as she lay in his arms, she slept all night peacefully. Not one night had she been like this and he wondered if something was wrong.

  She woke early, it was still dark outside and smiled up at him sleepily. “Morning, my Vampire.”

  “Morning, my little one,” he replied as he usually did.

  He noted she had dark circles under her eyes and she looked very tired. “You had a restless night, maybe you should go back to sleep?” he said quietly.

  “I’m fine, a little tired and I had bad dreams last night. I can’t remember the last time I had a nightmare. Certainly not since I met you.” She yawned again. “I’m hungry, I want a nice big breakfast,” she managed to get out between yawns.

  Zach smiled, he loved cooking for her. She always enjoyed her food and actually ate it, not like a lot of women he knew who just played with their food. He tried to get her to lie back down but she got up and went into the en suite. “I need to pee – badly!” she laughed.

  The next sound he heard had him out of the bed and at her side in less than a second. She had let out a small “Oh,” and it didn’t sound like she was happy – she sounded scared.

  “What’s wrong?” he said – at the same time as seeing for himself what the matter was.

  Her belly was protruding, quite noticeably, and she was rubbing her hands over it as if to convince herself she wasn’t seeing things.

  Alex had lifted her nightie, which she had put on after their shower the evening before, and sat down on the loo. However, as soon as she sat down she noticed her belly. What on earth? she thought.

  Zach was next to her in a flash, she hadn’t even realised she had made a sound. She rubbed her belly, the belly that had been flat as a pancake the night before. Zach knelt down in front of her and took hold of her hands. She looked at him with such a look of fear that it tore at his heart. “What’s going on, Zach? I know I don’t know much about pregnancy, but this – well I’m pretty sure this isn’t the norm?”

  Zach didn’t have an answer for her, he was as shocked as she was. “I think we’ll go see David as soon as the clinic opens.” Zach spoke in barely more than a whisper.

  “I think that may be a good idea,” Alex agreed.

  They got dressed and once more Alex was starving. “Zach – I’ve no idea what’s going on with me but I feel as if I haven’t eaten in days. I could eat a horse!”

  “I don’t think you’d like horse – it’s a bit tough,” he said and raised an eyebrow at her with a slight smile to his lips.

  “Oh don’t tell me you’ve eaten horse?” she squealed.

  “Yup, I surely have ma’am,” he replied in a put-on Southern drawl.

  “Yuch – no, I don’t want horse but I do want breakfast and it’s to be a big one!” she retorted.

  “Okay – one big breakfast coming up. You can make some of that new decaf coffee I got for you.”

  “Yeah yeah, okay I’ll give it a go,” she grumbled. She went over to make the coffee and her stomach rumbled, jeez she was soooo hungry.

  The coffee didn’t take long and she was soon tasting it, she was very pleasantly surprised to find it tasted fine, more than fine. “Thanks Zach, this stuff’s not too bad.”

  He smiled and brought a huge plate of food over to her. “Sit down and try and eat all this,” he said jokingly.

  He had made a huge plate with bacon, eggs, toast, hash browns, mushrooms and some pancakes on the side. He had meant it as a joke as it was about four times as much as she would usually have eaten. However, he started to worry as she continued eating, she didn’t look like she was going to stop.

  “Honey – are you sure you’ve not had enough?” he asked.

  Alex spoke between mouthfuls. “Nope – still hungry.” She finished it all and then had two very large glasses of orange juice too. Zach thought they should maybe ask David about this.

  As soon as they knew David would be at the clinic, they drove over and on the way Alex said she was hungry again. Zach was getting worried, this was way past what a normal human should be able to eat. He told her they would stop off and get something on the way home.

  There was no nurse at the desk when they went in, obviously they hadn’t worked out Kate’s replacement yet. David was in his office but came out when Zach shouted his name. “Hi you two – thought it was tomorrow you were coming in for the scan?”

  Alex looked to Zach and then she opened her jacket, the protruding belly had not disappeared as she had hoped. It was still there.

  David’s mouth opened in a silent ‘oh’ and then his professionalism kicked in. “Okay, now Alex … there seems to have been a development in the pregnancy. Come on through and I will give you another scan, see if we can discern what’s going on.”

  He led them both through to the room she had been in before. She got up onto the bed, pulled her now-very-tight jeans down a little and lifted her top up, so her belly was clear. “Is it okay if I give you a quick exam before the scan?” David asked.

  Alex nodded her head but Zach gave a low snarl and moved to stand at her side and took a hand in his. “If you must,” Zach directed to the doctor.

  David looked at Zach warily, it was obvious he didn’t want to upset him. “Zach, I can see with my eyes that Alex’s belly has grown in just a few days. However, I am a doctor, I need to examine her. I promise I won’t hurt her,” David said in a professional tone to which Zach only nodded.

  David did the usual exam and looked very surprised. He didn’t say anything and turned to get the scanner. “Okay, the usual cold jelly Alex, and then we can see what’s going on.” He squirted the jelly and Alex jumped – it felt freezing.

  “Sorry about that, right here we go.” David pressed the scanner to her belly. Images appeared on the monitor and Alex and Zach could now clearly see two distinct forms. Before they could hardly make out anything other than the blip of a heartbeat.

  “Doc, what’s going on?” Zach asked. David had no answer, he had no idea. The images showed a pregnancy more than double what they had seen a week ago.

  “I’m not sure,” he said quietly. “I’m not going to lie to either of you, but this is not the normal progression of a pregnancy. I think both of you have come to that conclusion already?”

  “Sort of,” Alex replied. Alex was more than a little scared.

  “Doc – Alexina is eating a lot, and I mean a lot. In fact she is almost always hungry,” Zach told him.

  “Well, looking at this scan I’m not surprised. She would need vast amounts of food to feed this kind of growth.” David had a frown on his face and Zach was getting uptight. He needed to know his mate was alright.

  “Doc, is Alexina going to be okay with this … this ... kind of growth?”

  David thought for a minute. “Zach, I really don’t know. I think we need more tests, and a 3D scan which would give us much more information. We don’t have that type of equipment here. I could make an appointment with a specialist in Tucson? He works with Wolves a lot so he can be counted on to be discreet and is used to dealing with non-humans and humans. If you wait here, I can phone him and get an appointment set up?”

  Zach was even more worried, he looked at Alexina and his worry was mirrored in her face.

  She nodded to Zach and Zach responded to David, “Yes, go phone, get the earliest appointment.”

  David came back in a few minutes. “I couldn’t get an appointment for a couple of days, but as he is booked up months in advance I’m pretty pleased he could fit you in. Do you want me to go with you? Or are you happy for him to send me all the data and we can have an appointment when you come back?”

  Zach wanted David to go with them but Alexina had other ideas. “I think we’ll go on our own, I would quit
e like to stay in the city for a day or two and start looking for cots and a suitable buggy for the twins. So we’ll come and see you when we get back, David.”

  Zach wasn’t too happy with this but he acquiesced to Alex. At the rate things were going they would need things for the babies soon, far too soon.

  David nodded. “Okay, I’ll see you when you get back – we won’t bother with an appointment. Just come see me as soon as you are back. Here’s the details of where to go and date, time, etcetera.” He handed a slip of paper to Zach.

  Alex was worried but she was trying not to show it. She couldn’t do anything to change things so she was trying not to get too stressed. Well, at least until they knew what was going on. “Come on, big guy – take me for something to eat,” she smiled.

  They went out to the jeep where Zach asked Alex what she wanted to eat and did she want a takeaway. “I think we’ll go to the diner?” She said it as a question, trying to gauge Zach’s reaction.

  His mind swirled with emotion, he didn’t want her upset by people staring.

  “Honey, the news is out, we can’t change that. With you at my side I can face anything, so no more hiding away – we’re going to the diner. You also need to try and keep your anger under control. You can’t go around killing folk just because they stare!” Alex tried to make a joke of it, although she worried he might overreact.

  Zach just stared straight ahead and gave a slight nod. She could feel him trying to get his emotions under control.

  When they parked in front of the diner, Alex was relieved to see Vlad walking down towards them. Good, she thought, he can come have coffee with us and hopefully that will help Zach.

  “You do know I can hear your thoughts, little one?”

  Alex just smiled at him and thought ‘Yup, but still makes sense.’

  Zach went round and helped her out of the jeep. She normally had trouble getting in and out as she was so small but with the added roundness of her belly, it was even worse.

  “Vlad, nice to see you. Come join us?” she asked as Vlad made his way over to them.

  The tone of her voice alerted Vlad, she was nearly pleading and it was obvious he guessed why. She wanted some moral support to make sure Zach didn’t fly off the handle. The way Zach had thrown one of his Guards through a window the other day – well she thought he knew she might just need it.

  “Yeah, I could do with a break,” he smiled, trying to sound casual.

  They all went in and, luckily, it wasn’t very busy. They walked to the booth at the back that they had used on previous visits and sat down. Vlad sat next to Zach on the outside of the booth, so he would have to get past him first if anything happened.

  The few people that were in did stare, but not quite so overtly as before. Vlad thought it was down to the story of Zach’s attack on his Guard. Folk would think twice about angering him now.

  “So Alex, I kinda noticed, you’re showing a tad more than you were when I saw you last? That was only a couple of days ago? What’s up?”

  Zach took a calming breath. “We don’t know, Vlad. We’ll be heading into Tucson. David wants a 3D scan and some other tests that he can’t do here.” Zach’s voice relayed the underlying strain.

  Vlad thought about this for a moment before answering, “Do you want me to come with you? It might be better if there was more than one of us watching Alex?”

  This startled Alex, she hadn’t thought about that. They would be in a large city with lots of possible opportunities for danger.

  “Vlad – I don’t want to take you away from your job, I know you’re always busy.” Zach’s tone also said much, he wanted Vlad to go with them but didn’t want to ask.

  Alex had a thought. “Guys, I’ve got a great idea, why don’t you bring Irina and we’ll make it into a nice little break. She can help me with all the baby stuff I want to find.” Alex thought this was a good idea, having another Vampire, one as strong as Vlad, with them would calm Zach’s fears a bit. Not to mention Irina, she was a Wolf and as she had proved in the past, she could be deadly.

  “Now that, Alex, sounds like a plan. Irina will be so excited,” Vlad replied. Alex could feel Zach relaxing a bit, he was happy that Vlad and Irina were coming.

  “Well I think we should take my car, your jeep’s okay for running around on compound, Zach, but it’s not very comfortable. Plus I think you need to seriously think about getting something else. It won’t be very practical as Alex gets further along, and don’t even get me started on trying to put two car seats in that thing,” he laughed.

  Shit, Alex thought – they hadn’t even thought of that.

  ‘I know’, Zach thought back at her, ‘I guess we’re going to have to sit down and discuss these things, Vlad’s right though, my jeep has to go.’

  “Enough with this, where on earth is that waitress, I’m starving!” Alex exclaimed.

  Alex ate yet another large meal. Zach noted she was eating a lot of meat. He wasn’t sure why that was appealing to her but the vast amounts she was putting away were astonishing.

  They finalised the arrangements with Vlad and headed out of the diner. Alex was pleased that Vlad being there together with them discussing their trip had kept Zach from noticing the stares they had been getting. Alex noted that she got more than one smile from people as they left. She returned them, she knew that people were amazed about the pregnancy but she also felt that the majority were happy for them.

  They were saying their goodbyes to Vlad when a couple came out of the diner behind them. Alex had seen them around but didn’t know them very well, obviously Vlad and Zach did.

  The man was tall and very thin and the lady was small and round. They made their way over to them, rather timidly, Alex thought. “Hi Vlad, hi Zach, hello … Alexina, is it?” the lady spoke. Her voice was lilting, pleasant and friendly.

  “Hello, I prefer Alex, though my big Vamp here prefers Alexina,” Alex advised them, trying her best to sound friendly.

  “Well hello – I know we’ve not met …”

  Vlad interrupted. “Hi you two, Alex, this is Sam and Emily. Emily works in the library and Sam here works on the computer database side of things for me.”

  Alex was glad for his interruption. Emily continued talking, darting glances at Zach but putting her focus on Alex. “Yes, it’s lovely to meet you, I hope to see you in the library in the future. Uhm, the reason we stopped – well, I know your condition is private and that Kate let the cat out of the bag so to speak …”

  At this point Zach snarled and Emily shot him a nervous look but she continued on. “Well I would like to say how pleased we are for you both. If there’s anything I can do to help then please just ask.” She had rattled off the last couple of sentences quickly, obviously scared Zach was going to intervene.

  Alex was touched, Emily was brave to come forward while Zach was there and obviously not friendly, “Thank you very much, Emily, your good wishes are much appreciated.”

  Emily visibly relaxed. “Well I’m a Wolf and have dealt with many pups – mmm, I mean babies – in my time. So I mean it, if you need any help I will be only too happy to oblige.”

  Emily gave such a warm smile that Alex stepped forward and gave the woman a hug. “Thanks,” she said into her ear.

  Zach was a little shocked, he knew this couple. Even though they were Wolves they were quite far down the pecking order and, in Zach’s mind, quite fearful. For them to have the guts to come over, well it showed their true fortitude. He tried hard to smile and said in a low voice, “Thank you, much appreciated.”

  Sam and Emily walked off and Alex beamed at Zach. “See, people are happy for us, Zach. You need to relax a bit, and try not to snarl at everyone that comes over to talk,” she admonished.

  “I’ll try but then again it depends on who it is and what they say,” he added, just to let her know that if the need arose he would indeed snarl – or worse.

  “Alex is right, Zach, everyon
e I’ve spoken to is happy for you. Nobody is thinking bad thoughts about this pregnancy, everyone is rooting for you both.” Vlad slapped Zach’s back and walked away with a wave of his hand.

  Vlad was a good friend, Alex thought. Zach’s answer was immediate in her mind – ‘Yes he is,’

  “Come on, get me home, Vampire. I’m tired,” she said and before she could even blink he was at her side and picked her up. “What are you doing?” she squeaked.

  “Getting you home for a rest, my little one. I’m much quicker than you so you better get used to it.”

  He put her in the jeep and they went home with Zach carrying her from the jeep and straight to their bed. “Rest. I’m going online to book us rooms in the city. I’ll try and get something near to the doctor’s offices and also near shops, so you don’t have far to go for either of the reasons we’re going.”

  Alex smiled sleepily. “Okay,” was all she got out, she curled into her pillow and was soon sound asleep.

  He looked down at her, she was tiny in their big bed, and once more the need to protect her was strong, deep in his soul. He had to keep her, and their children, safe.

  Zach surfed the net for quite some time looking for just the right hotel, he wanted something special for Alexina. They had only gone on a day trip shopping once before and none like this one and although it wasn’t purely for pleasure he wanted it to be special.

  After quite some time he found what he was looking for. Smiling, he let out a sigh, and instead of booking online he reached for his phone and dialled the hotel.

  He had a long conversation with them and gave the details, making sure they knew exactly what he wanted, and after he hung up he smiled again. He was going to show Alex just how much he loved her.

  Once he was finished he made his way to their room and laid down next to her. He loved holding her in his arms, whether she was asleep or awake, she seemed to fit just so and he closed his eyes to rest. The emotional turmoil since they had found out she was pregnant was tiring him, something he wasn’t used to.