by Tigertalez
“Oh Maysa. Are you all right?” Gale ran to her and tried rubbing her back. “Havana, will you get a glass for her out of that cupboard?”
After rinsing the foul contents down the drain, Maysa used the glass Gale handed her and rinsed out her mouth before taking a drink. Her eyes and nose were running, and her hand shook so hard it made it difficult to hold the glass.
Alphy gave Maysa a sympathetic look. “Are the screams bothering you?” he asked. Maysa’s throat was sore, so she just nodded her answer.
“Oh!” Gale inhaled. “I feel so embarrassed. I should have realized…” Gale seemed to have become speechless for a moment, then recovered. “Would you feel better if we waited in the house? We can unload all those bags of clothes and pack them in your new luggage. That would be fun, you think?” Gale smiled at her encouragingly.
Before Maysa could answer, a baby’s cry came from the other room. Everyone turned to look at the closed door. It opened, and a very pale young teen appeared. He crinkled his nose as he approached. “Eww, who puked?”
“Reese!” Alphy actually growled at him.
Reese looked around before spotting her. His eyes took on recognition and rounded. “Oh, I’m sorry. That was really stupid of me. Hey, don’t feel bad. Sea sent me out here to get some color back into my face. That was, uh, interesting to watch, uh, yeah. It was a lot … uh…” His cheeks began to pink.
“Hey look, you got your color back.” Havana shot him a smug look.
Maysa smiled. “Thank you, Reese, is it?”
Reese seemed to snap out of his shock and embarrassment and perked up. “I can tell you it’s a boy. Cute little thing, if it wasn’t for all the slime all over him. Blood I can handle, slime … that’s going to take a little more time to get used to.”
Everyone laughed at Reese. Alphy asked him, “How is she?”
Reese shrugged, and his face took on a serious look. “Sea has a look about him, like he’s worried about something but trying not to let anyone else know.”
Maysa could feel the weight of worry in the room. She didn’t need eyes or a nose to sense it, it was that heavy. After knowing Lois only for a few hours, she understood why. Lois was a sweet and easygoing woman. She was someone who made you feel comfortable to be around.
“Well, uh, I guess I should get back in there. I didn’t know having a baby required more than a doc to catch it. He’s been keeping all of us, including Rushod, busy.”
“Would he like help?” Maysa asked. She’d been around births before and knew there were things she was qualified to do.
“I don’t know. Let’s ask.” Reese walked over to the door and stepped through. Maysa followed behind him and shut the door. Seamus looked up briefly. She recognized the placenta he was trying to remove.
“Maysa wanted to know if she could help,” Reese said, pointedly looking away. Maysa thought he was starting to lose his color again.
“Maysa, sweetheart, that would be great if you can take the baby’s vitals and clean him up a bit. Reese, you can help her. Katie, grab me that other pack.”
Currently, the man she assumed was the father of the baby, was holding him. Maysa made her way over to him. “May I?” she asked. She could see the pride and joy in his eyes for his child. Maysa indicated he put the baby down in the radiant warmer, noticing the heat was on. “I’ll clean him up and bring him back to you. Do you have a name for him yet?”
“No, not yet.”
“That’s okay. Go ahead and help your mate.” Maysa started to attend to the baby. She took his vitals while she had Reese help clean him up a little bit. She noticed Reese fight to hide his disgust at cleaning off the “slime” as he had called it.
“It’s called vernix. It serves several purposes. It moisturizes the infant's skin and helps their passage through the birth canal. It also serves to conserve heat and protect the delicate newborn skin.”
“I get that,” he said quietly. “It just looks like someone bathed him in cloudy snot.” His face soured. The baby cried a lot. “Am I doing it wrong? Why won’t he stop crying?” Reese asked.
“You’re fine. It’s good for him to cry a bit. It helps to rid his lungs of the fluid.” After the baby was weighed, measured, cleaned and wrapped, Maysa gently picked him up and took him to his parents. “Here you go. He’s a healthy six pounds and two ounces.” She let the new mother hold the baby, helping her to set him up to start nursing. The baby latched on without any problems, and soon she heard suckling noises.
Seamus and Katie finished cleaning up. “Can I bring in the alpha?” Seamus asked.
The new father looked up. “Yeah, bring them all in. I want to show off my son.” Maysa could easily hear his breathy reply was filled with extreme pride. He was looking down at his nursing son with so much joy and love.
The group that quietly filtered in was much larger than she had left. Maysa began to back against the wall, but Seamus came over to her and held her back against his front, wrapping his arms around her. His warmth and scent surrounded her, calming her panic.
“He’s so little,” Havana whispered.
“I’m so relieved you both are safe and sound.” Gale breathed out.
“Seamus, what happened?” Alphy asked.
“Yeah, she wasn’t due for another few more weeks. What happened?” Kace asked seriously with sincere concern.
“She suffered what is called a pseudospasmodic promorphism. You won’t find that in any human medical books because it is unique to shifters. When a pregnant shifter’s body reaches a certain stage in their pregnancy, their animal finds no desire to shift, so they don’t. That’s because it is too dangerous to shift at that point. If they shifted, there’s an almost one hundred percent chance that it would result in the miscarriage of the infant. Sometimes, because of the long period they endure without shifting, a shifter’s body can send false signals to shift, kind of like a muscle spam. I believe the pack run last night might have contributed to creating the false signal. And that is why no one scented a change in her chemistry that normally indicates labor.”
“If I would have known it would endanger her pregnancy, I would have ordered her to stay back,” Alphy said. Maysa could hear and see his guilt. He looked devastated.
“Though it isn’t rare, it isn’t too common of a condition either, and she might not even ever suffer it from any other pregnancies she may have in the future.”
“I will do a more compete exam on the infant, but I believe he should be fine, as well as you, Lois.” Seamus spoke directly to the new mother.
“All right everyone, let’s give them some rest,” Alphy ordered. “Seamus, when will you be able to leave?”
“I’ll give Katie some instructions. Maybe an hour, or less. It also depends on what I’m allowed to take, and if I get help loading it up.” Seamus gave a pointed look towards the alpha. Maysa noticed Kace slowly backing out of the room.
“Kace, help him out,” Alphy demanded.
“Aww, maaan. Why do I gotta help?” Kace whined.
Alphy quietly chuckled. “Because it makes me smile. Sea, do not bring the portable x-ray machine. We’re taking Tyler’s plane again. However, Raymond is sending a team to help out, including their coven doctor and we’ll be in the Buffalo coven territory. They have also agreed to help us. They’re putting us all up in one of their hotels.”
“That will be helpful to not look suspicious when we bring survivors back with us. Are Raymond’s men flying with us?” Seamus asked.
Alphy’s brows rose. “No, but don’t think that will give you an excuse to take more than we can pack onto the plane.”
Most of the people filed out of the room after whispering their congratulations to the couple. Gale brought two women over to her whom she didn’t recognize. “Maysa, this is my mother, Connie, and Alphy’s aunt, Betty. Mom and Betty, this is Maysa.”
“Hi, Maysa. I’m happy to finally meet you.” Connie smiled and shook her hand.
Betty smiled as well. “We hea
rd you were going with the men, so while you were up here, Connie and I laundered and packed your new clothes and other things.”
“Oh, thank you. That was really nice of you.” Maysa smiled at the women before they headed out.
“Did you get a chance to call your aunt yet?” Seamus asked.
“No.”
Seamus reached into his pocket and pulled out his cell. “Here, why don’t you go to the table and call your aunt while I pack.” She nodded and did as he suggested.
The ringing on the other line stopped, and her aunt’s voice replaced it. “Hello?”
“Aunt Grace? It’s Maysa.”
“Maysa? Where are you? What happened? Why can’t I get in touch with your mother? It’s been over six months! What’s going on? Is everything all right?”
Maysa didn’t want to go into detail. “We were abducted. I escaped.”
“Abducted? By who? Where? Where are you right now?” Her aunt sounded so worried.
“Um, in Canada. I found someone I think might be my mate.”
“You think? Maysa, honey, you either know he is or you don’t. If you only think, then he’s probably not. I got lucky my arranged marriage was my mate. I knew right away. Trust your nose.”
“That’s just it, Aunt Grace. The people who took us did things to us. My scent is off. I can’t smell things like I should.”
She could hear her aunt gasp. “That’s horrible.”
“Uh, Aunt Grace, I need to go, but I wanted to call you to tell you what happened. If we are able to free the others, I’ll call you.”
“Okay, May. You be careful. If you need anything at all, you let me know.”
“I will, thank you.”
Maysa disconnected the call and breathed out a sigh of relief. Talking to her aunt was stressful. She felt Seamus wrap his arms around her. “Alphy told me that you got sick, and why. I’m so sorry, sweetheart, for not being there for you.”
“You were needed, and I have you now.” She smiled sweetly up at him.
Within the next forty-five minutes, she was on a flight with him, heading towards the U.S. Even though she was filled with anxiety in anticipation, with Seamus’s care she still felt confident that she would be fine.
Chapter Seven
Seamus kept as much physical contact with Maysa as he could allow himself. Though he was sure he felt in control enough not to drink from her without her permission, he was growing severely hungry. It was a hunger that only a feeding from blood would satiate. He could also feel his body weakening from the hunger for blood, but he was adamant he wasn’t going to push or guilt her into allowing him to feed from her. However, his need for only her blood strengthened his conviction that she had to be his beloved. He was done fighting himself with the argument of if. He was happy to just be content that she was.
They were met at the airport by a vampire who introduced himself as Max. He accompanied them to the hotel and led them up to their rooms.
They had the entire top floor of the hotel they were taken to. It was about five in the evening by the time they reached it. Raymond’s men were already there.
Seamus could tell Maysa was hungry. They all were. But with her being so petite, and knowing how starved she’d been lately, it didn’t sit right with him for her to go hungry. So with Alphy’s permission, he ordered pizza for everyone.
Max introduced the Buffalo coven leader, Aaric Hawks as soon as he arrived.
“Thank you for helping us, Aaric,” Alphy said as he shook the coven leader’s hand.
Aaric gave a lethal look. “It is in the best interest of all paranormals. That this was done in my territory has me fighting bloodlust. Besides, I’ve known Raymond for over a century. I know he doesn’t trust easily, but he does trust you.”
“Thank you. He’s done a lot for my pack. I owe him a great deal for everything he’s done for us.”
After everyone was introduced, they sat down to begin their planning.
Seamus was glad that Gale and Elise were there with them. It gave Maysa someone to talk to on a feminine level. As much as he wanted to be everything for her, he was grateful to Gale for being there for her when he couldn’t. With an unknown number they were to rescue, and in unknown conditions, he didn’t know how much he could help her during that time.
“I can have my coven doctor waiting in our coven clinic for the survivors,” Aaric said.
Alphy shook his head. “If there was a chance that any of these guys could somehow follow or track any of us, I don’t think we should lead them to your coven.”
Aaric rubbed his chin as he gave a considering look. Dex, whom Seamus was happy to see fully recovered, added, “This hotel is also closer than the coven. Since we do not know the health they would all be in, we should assume a shorter commute would be best.”
“That is very likely,” Seamus agreed. “I think it would be best to set up a triage here. We can offer them choices where they would like to go, after they’ve been stabilized.”
“Sounds logical.” Aaric nodded in his agreement. “Our coven doctor planned on renting several vans tomorrow to use as temporary makeshift ambulances. I don’t know how many he will be able to get.”
Seamus lightly waved a hand dismissively. “Whatever he gets should be fine. We don’t know how many shifters we’ll find. Just make sure you have something capable of heavy weight. We don’t know if any of them are going to be capable or willing to shift out of their animal forms if they are in them, or if they have any large shifter breeds like elephant or hippo.”
Alphy chuckled. “If my mate was awake right now, I’d bet she would be excited to hear about elephant and hippo shifters.”
“Or she’d be pissed you just insulted a girl’s weight.” Kace snickered.
Seamus looked down at the sleeping woman in his alpha’s lap, then looked down at his own beloved to see Maysa was asleep as well. Looking around, he saw Elise was, too. He, Alphy, and all the others shared an amused look.
“Perhaps we should continue this meeting tomorrow. We are going in tomorrow night, after sunset, correct?” Aaric asked.
“Yes. I don’t want to chance going in the daylight. It’s in too public of a place,” Alphy answered.
“Then I will return first thing in the morning and we can continue to make plans and prepare. Should we make the triage here, in the suites with all of you?”
Alphy dipped his head once. “That sounds fine.”
With their meeting finished, Seamus had no troubles carrying his beloved to bed, his bed. His body craved her intensely, but fatigue from all the events the last couple days, coupled with the lack of sleep and lack of blood, gave him no energy to do anything but curl around her, following her into sleep.
Bright and early the next morning, as promised, Aaric arrived. With him was the doctor for the Buffalo coven. Aaric introduced him to everyone. “This is Doctor Wicker Wilkins. Doctor Wilkins has gathered a bunch of equipment to make a temporarily triage. I have volunteers ready to bring everything for the triage to set up.”
Everyone worked together carrying equipment in and setting things up. Seamus let out a silent chuckle when Doctor Wilkins gave orders to Kace to help him move, what else but a portable x-ray machine. Irony could be so entertaining.
Seamus caught Maysa hiding in a corner, wringing her hands. “Maysa, sweetheart, what is it? What’s wrong?”
“I heard Alphy talking to Aaric. They said because I escaped, that the company might have moved so as not to get discovered. What if they did and my family aren’t there anymore? All because I didn’t get help right away. Instead, I kept afraid of everyone.”
Seamus held her close and rocked her. “Shh, it’s going to be fine. We know about them now, and what they’re doing. Running won’t hide them forever. We’ll find them. And you did the exact right thing. You kept yourself safe until you could find someone to trust.”
He held Maysa as she silently sobbed. He could feel her distress overriding his thirst to taste her with
a need to comfort and care for her. He greatly hoped that her family was there, just so he could see her smile again.
****
Seamus waited in the van he was assigned to. His adrenaline pumped though his system, and there was nothing he could do to burn it off. Through the windshield, he watched the black objects that moved silently through the shadows. There were many, as Aaric had enlisted many from his coven to help. The coven was smaller in size to the one in Toronto, which had over five thousand members. But Aaric’s was still a good size at just over two thousand. He had many who volunteered.
Aaric was so pissed that this was going on in his own territory, that he himself was one of those moving black shadows, intent on satisfying his bloodlust. Undoubtedly a vampire I would not want to anger, Seamus thought to himself as he remembered learning from Alphy that Aaric had also served in the military and taught martial arts to the coven kids. Though one may not think teaching kids something to constitute danger, the murderous look in the coven leader’s eyes told Seamus he was plenty qualified to inspire fear.
Seamus fidgeted. The men were going to enter from multiple points, after cutting all electricity. At least Maysa is waiting safely back at the hotel with Gale and Elise.
Light flashed through several different windows. Seamus’s attention sharpened. He didn’t know how long it would take for them to start bringing out survivors, if there were survivors.
Minutes felt like hours as he waited. He didn’t have a headset like the others, to know what, or even if, they found anyone. He did have a walkie-talkie but had to wait for them to turn theirs on. It was separate from what was in their earbuds. They didn’t want any possible distractions.
Alphy’s voice finally came over the radio waves. “Seamus, Dex is coming your way. He’s going to escort you up here. Bring everything you can carry.”
Shit. That means it’s bad, he thought, as he leaped out of the van. He opened the door and grabbed his two backpacks, putting one on and carrying the other in one hand, while grabbing a large duffle with the other. They were all made especially for his profession, so he had, he hoped, everything he would need, including several IV bags.