Free From Eden
Page 8
With a nod the officer walked away, talking into his radio. Looking around, Lulu saw three men cuffed on the floor.
“Let’s get you dressed quickly.” Alex pulled her jeans from behind her head and helped her to stand and put them on. He then zipped and buttoned himself up.
Chapter 14
On her chest lay the bloody body of her child. At first the baby didn’t make a sound, but then she heard a small whimper, which gradually increased in volume until the full-bodied cry of the newborn filled the air.
Henrietta loomed over the top of her, a malicious grin on her face. “All mine now, Lulu.”
Lulu tried to move her heavy arms, but the cloth restraints held both her arms and legs down. “No!” she screamed. “No, you can’t have her!”
She watched the small, plump woman with gray hair pick the child up, wrap it in a blanket, and walk out of the white room.
“Please, no. She’s mine! No, please!”
The room was shaking.
No, it was her that was shaking.
“Lulu! Lulu! It’s Alex. Come on, sweetheart, you’re dreaming.”
Lulu opened her bleary eyes. Her body was coated in a thin sheen of sweat, her heart was pounding in her chest, and she could still hear the baby crying. Looking up, she stared straight into Alex’s beautiful blue eyes and felt like crying.
It was a dream.
Taking a deep breath and closing her eyes briefly, she tried to calm down.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. I had nightmares too. You’ve been through a lot.” He continued to stroke her arm while holding her against his chest. “We’re safe now.”
Sitting safe in Alex’s arms she calmed, going over everything that had happened in the last week. It had taken the police a couple of hours to question them, then they escorted them home. Alex’s frantic parents had met them at the elevator with massive hugs and reassurances. Lulu had been frightened that their whole demeanor would change toward her being it was her fault Alex had yet again been kidnapped, but she’d been wrong, they were just as loving toward her as before, if not more.
Once they had been released from the cage and led outside to the fresh air Lulu had heard one of the officers report that only five of the armed men had been caught and arrested. They were waiting for a dog and handler to arrive to try to trace the last one and hopefully Henrietta. Knowing she could do a little better, she closed her eyes and reached out with her senses.
With each sound and smell she expanded outward from the warehouse. She’d reached further out than ever before. Other than the police in the warehouse, the night was pretty quiet. The odd bird, insect, or fox in the area was nothing, and traffic was quite a distance from where they were so it made it a little easier. About a mile out she picked up a pair of footfalls, one of them stumbling quite heavy on a bum leg. The fact the male was cursing every now and again had Lulu believing it was him.
Finding them hadn’t been a problem, but convincing the police what she could do and where they were was another thing. But in the end Henrietta and her armed man were picked up at the edge of the wasteland where the warehouse had been. At the station where they were all taken to be questioned, Lulu found out Henrietta could swear fluently in several languages.
The scientist and her men were still being held without bail, waiting for their court cases to come up.
For the last week Lulu had suffered her fair share of nightmares, each one involving scientists taking her baby. Every time she woke up she was comforted in her man’s arms.
“Why is it you seem to be coping better than I?” she asked, meeting his caring eyes.
“Not sure, sweetheart, but we are here for each other. Perhaps it’s the fact you’re pregnant and still fear losing the baby? It could be a multitude of things.”
“You are happy about the baby though? I mean, I know it wasn’t conventional conceiving.”
“How many times have I told you—yes, I am glad about the baby. And my mother is over the moon that she will get to fuss over her grandchild sooner than the average person.”
Lulu smiled at the memory of Josephine’s face when she was told that Lulu would only be pregnant for five months. Brewster had passed a message on from Eve and Charlie to tell the new parents-to-be that the birth would be easy as pie, and if it went the same way as Eve’s had gone, she wouldn’t feel any pain at all. Eve had also sent them the name of her doctor—Mike Times. She said he could be trusted and wouldn’t want to treat Lulu or her child as a test subject. Both Lulu and Alex liked him. He wasn’t overzealous, treated her well, and was interested in everything she could do or say.
Not much else had changed, other than the fact that even more press had camped outside the apartment. The trials for the Eden scientists were to begin within the month. With the amount of paperwork that had been collected the women were safe from having to testify themselves, which was a blessing in disguise. Lulu never wanted to see any of them again.
“Fancy a bath?” Alex asked, stroking her arms.
“How about the hot tub?” She grinned.
About T. Cobbin
Trish Cobbin started to write books as an escape, but she took a break when she became a full-time mother to three children. Once her children were grown and flew the coop, expanding their own families and giving her three wonderful grandchildren, she was left with some spare time and decided to put pen to paper again. She lives in the UK with her faithful dogs Jellybean and Puddin’, and her youngest son, and a door that is never closed to family.
T. Cobbin’s Website:
www.tcobbin.co.uk
Reader eMail:
Pinchmeitsreal@gmail.com
More Beachwalk Press Titles by T. Cobbin
Running From Eden
Whisper Pride Pack
Dragon’s Heart: Troy’s Trouble
Running From Eden
Eve and Charlie find love in a place named Eden, but it’s not a flowery garden. Eve is a test subject and Charlie is her guard.
Eve has lived her entire life in a hidden, underground complex called Eden. Decades earlier a group of clever scientists combined human and alien DNA, creating Eve and her fellow prisoners. Each of them have a range of paranormal abilities, and they’ve been poked and prodded and studied since the day they were created.
Eve longs for freedom, but it seems impossible, until Charlie, her new guard, joins the place. He is nothing like the scientists that run Eden. Charlie is kind and handsome, and they soon fall in love and begin to plan Eve’s escape.
Will they be able to remain hidden, or will the guards track them down and drag her back to her prison, killing Charlie in the process? When Eve discovers she’s pregnant, the stakes are raised even higher.
Content Warning: contains steamy sex scenes, strong language, and some violence
Whisper Pride Pack
What happens when the Alpha of a wolf shifter pack discovers that his mate is human and she has no idea shifters even exist?
Conan, the Alpha of the Whisper Pride wolf pack, has to hire a new veterinary nurse when his current one leaves to have her pups. As soon as Josie walks through the door and he picks up her scent he knows he’s found his mate. But there’s a slight problem—she’s human and has no idea shifters actually exist.
Josie has had to flee her hometown to escape the local thug who has some very nasty plans in store for her. She strikes it lucky, finding a job that also offers a free apartment as part of the package. Discovering that her boss is sex on legs is an extra bonus. When Conan informs her that he’s a wolf shifter and she’s his mate, she thinks he’s nuts…until she sees him shift. She’s fascinated, but wonders if she could ever fit into this strange new world.
Trouble isn’t far behind Josie. It’s not long before the thug tracks her down, and that may mean the end of everything.
Content Warning: contains strong language, some violence, and lots of hot, steamy sex scenes
Drag
on’s Heart: Troy’s Trouble
It was just supposed to be a one-night stand, but it turned into so much more.
Troy spends his days and nights running his nightclub, Dragon’s Heart. Despite his busy schedule, he doesn’t lack for female companionship. He’s never had a problem attracting women, or a problem saying goodbye to them the next morning. Then one night he meets a beautiful young lady at his club, and she changes all that.
Initially, Troy thought it would just be another one-night stand, but he discovers he’s very wrong. This woman is his mate. However, the next morning he wakes up to an empty bed with no way to locate her. He doesn’t even know her name. He’s determined to find her though—he has to. But how will she react when she discovers he’s a dragon shifter?
Amy is a nursery teacher who lives a quiet life. She isn’t one for sleeping around, but something about Troy pulls her in. She decides that just this once she’ll relax and enjoy herself…enjoy him. She has no idea that one night will turn her world upside down. Not only is she about to enter a whole new world she had no idea even existed, but her past is about to rear its ugly head, and she may not survive.
Content Warning: contains strong language, some violence, and lots of hot, steamy sex