The Chosen Series Box Set: Books 1 - 3

by Charlene Hartnady

  “She might be a bit groggy for another minute or so. You have five minutes before she goes back under. Any longer and the pain will become too severe.”

  Why would she be in pain? Had the snake bitten her? She tried to ask but her tongue refused to move.

  “Ysnaar.” His deep voice caressed her, causing her insides to do back flips which…hurt. Damn that snake had gotten her for sure.

  “Cenwein.” Make that double the back flips and another painful throb. Tanya ignored it, trying to smile, thankfully her lips responded. Turning her head, she managed to focus on the two trouble makers that had turned her life upside down. Although exactly why or how they had turned things upside down she couldn’t remember. Having said that, she knew there was something she should be really mad with them about. If that was the case then why the heck was she smiling at them? Maybe because she missed the hell out of them.

  “Zane,” she croaked. “Brant,” sounding a little clearer.

  “Shhhh, sweetness, don’t try and talk.”

  “Did the snake bite me?” She needed to know what was wrong with her. It wasn’t a snake …no not a snake…but damned if she could remember.

  Brant cracked a smile but she could tell it was forced. His eyes looked so sad. “Cenwein, something has happened. We don’t have much time.”

  The throb in her belly increased and her memories came crashing back. The pain, the blood, the doctors at the hospital. “My baby.” She tried to move her hand to her belly but an IV was taped to her arm. Not a snake after all.

  “Oh my God, my baby.” She sobbed. “Is it, is it…?” She could not bear to ask and felt her face crumple.

  “Ysnaar. You are still pregnant. That monitor”—he pointed to a machine next to the bed, it had a green bouncing line—“shows that the baby still has a heartbeat.”

  The line continued to bounce, Tanya took in a deep breath trying to slow her racing heart. Her baby was still okay. Wait just a freaking minute. Why did Brant’s throat work, which was something he did when he tried to push down his emotions? Zane’s eyes shone with unshed freaking tears.

  “Am I dying or something?”

  “No,” Brant growled.

  “The doctors think that there might be something wrong with the fetus. It’s still very early in the pregnancy, Ysnaar.”

  She shook her head. “It’s just stress. I’ll take it easy. We’ll be fine.”

  “No it won’t, Cenwein. You carry a vampire. If the fetus continues to pull away from your womb it might kill you.”

  “Stop calling our baby a fetus. We’re going to be fine.” Her heart raced and the dull ache turned into something more sinister, but she refused to let the pain show.

  “Your doctor has advised that you should…we should have it removed. Our birthing healer agreed. You are showing all the signs. The blood loss and internal damage would be too much for you to survive. We cannot risk your life, Cenwein. You need to have an operation. Please try to understand,” Brant said, his eyes solemn, his skin taut with pain.

  She shook her head. “Not happening.” Tanya tried to control her breathing, tried to keep herself from shouting. “Don’t let them touch my baby please, Zane.” She turned to face him. His eyes were grave.

  “We don’t want anything to happen to you. There will be more children please, Ysnaar. We need to listen to the doctors. They don’t think the baby is going to make it.”

  Pain tore through her. It hurt way worse than the physical pain. There was another gush between her legs and she suddenly felt faint.

  “Your eyes are rolling back, Ysnaar.” She tried to fight the darkness, the dizziness. Had to stay awake. If she didn’t, then they would take her baby.

  “Fuck. She needs blood. I’ll hold her head, use your fangs to break the skin on your wrist and feed her,” Brant growled.

  Oh God, her baby. She had to convince them to save their unborn child. Tanya didn’t care that her pregnancy was so new. That at this point the little one would be a clump of forming cells. She was in and out of consciousness when she had first arrived at the hospital. One of her moments of clarity was when they had put a monitor on her belly. She had heard the distinct sound of the baby’s heartbeat, had seen the green line bouncing just now, evidence that her precious child still lived.

  A heartbeat meant life. To her it represented their unborn child. He or she deserved a fighting chance. She didn’t care if she died trying because she certainly wouldn’t be able to live with herself if she didn’t at least give it her best shot.

  Stay awake.

  She so needed to open her freaking eyes. If she could slap herself she would.

  But as hard as she tried, she couldn’t get them to open. Something warm was put against her mouth. Wet and toasty. It trickled into her mouth and she swallowed.

  Blood.

  Delicious.

  The energy burst was immediate. Not enough to fully rouse her but enough to allow her to close her lips on Zane’s skin, to suck down his life giving blood in tiny sips.

  “Thank fuck,” Brant’s relieved voice registered in her tired mind.

  “You should feed her too,” Zane said, his deep voice washed over her.

  Brant made a sound of affirmation. Zane pulled away. She whimpered but the loss didn’t last long. From the scent, Brant’s skin touched her lips and she sucked greedily even managing to crack open her eyes. Her…the males stood close, a look of relief crossed Zane’s face.

  “That’s it, Cenwein,” Brant whispered.

  “That’s all the time I can give…” A male voice sounded from the far side of the room. Zane and Brant huddled together using their big bodies to block her from whomever it was that had just entered.

  “One more minute.” Zane turned his head.

  “I can’t possibly allow—”

  Brant cut him off. “Get! Out!” he said on a vicious growl that had goose bumps rising on her arms.

  “Fine, one more minute,” was the flustered reply. The door closed with a swoosh.

  Tanya released Brant’s arm. She needed to talk to them about the baby. The fire in her belly increased. She moaned, feeling dizzy.

  “Drink more,” Brant said.

  “Save the baby,” she whispered.

  “Drink, Cenwein. We can’t lose you.” His brow was creased. Tanya did as he said, knowing it was the only hope left for the new life that struggled inside her.

  All too soon she heard the door swish. “We really need to prepare Miss Milan for surgery. It can’t wait. You are putting my patient at risk.”

  As soon as she stopped drinking, the pain and dizziness returned. She could feel herself slipping. “Please.” She looked them both in the eye from one male to the other. “Our baby.” It was no use trying to fight it, but she did anyway. Her eyes fluttered closed. As she drifted further away she could still hear what they were saying.

  “Her scent,” Zane’s voice cracked.

  “I could scent the change when I first entered. The baby is killing her.”

  “It’s faint, but there.”

  “Fuck. I wish there was more we could do. I wish more than anything that there was another way.”

  “We need to do what it takes to save our female.” She couldn’t make out who was talking anymore.

  “She’ll never forgive us.”

  No, she screamed, the sound in her own head. It looked as if she hadn’t managed to get through to them. They were going to let the doctors cut out her baby and there was nothing she could do about it.

  Chapter 31

  Her eyes snapped open. White light made her momentarily blind so she closed them. Trying to keep her breathing even, Tanya slowly cracked them open a second time. Taking her time so that she could acclimatize. A machine beeped softly somewhere in the background. Low murmuring voices, footsteps down the hall. She lay in a semi reclined position, the IV still attached to her arm. The sides were up on her hospital bed, caging her in.

  Brant slept in a chair to her left and
Zane in one to her right. Both males looked like hell. Brant’s hair was mussed and Zane had dark smudges under his eyes. Neither looked comfortable. She slid her free hand under her hospital issue gown, holding her breath and was shocked when she met with skin instead of a bandage. Maybe they hadn’t operated after all. Maybe she was still pregnant. She couldn’t be. Everyone had been dead set on cutting her child from her belly. They had been so sure that she was losing the baby. Maybe they hadn’t operated because she had miscarried in the end.

  She whimpered. Couldn’t help the small sound that escaped her at the thought of the loss of her baby.

  Zane stirred, his eyes opened and locked with hers.

  It was all it took to start up her tears which rolled down her cheeks, splashing on the gown.

  “Ysnaar, thank God.” He stood in one swift move that brought him to her side. Then Brant was there too on the opposite side.

  “You scared the crap out of us.” Brant clasped her hand.

  “How long have I been asleep?” She asked not wanting to know the answer to the most pressing question. She wasn’t ready to deal with it.

  Brant looked at the Rolex on his wrist. “Two days and one hour give or take a few minutes.”

  “Okay.” She swallowed hard. Blinking until the tears stopped threatening to fall. Zane used the pad of his thumb to wipe away a lone tear that had managed to escape. Brant swept a wayward strand of hair behind her ear.

  The two males locked eyes.

  Zane finally broke the stare and looked at her. “You are still pregnant, Ysnaar.”

  She let out all her breath on a sigh. The water works started up again but this time they were tears of joy. “Oh, thank God. Thank you for listening to me.”

  “You could have died. There were a few times there that I nearly changed my mind,” Brant said. His eyes dark and churning with emotion.

  “For a while I was sure we had made the wrong decision.” Zane’s brow was creased, he looked ready to kill.

  “I’m fine. We’re fine.” She smiled broadly.

  “You’re coming home with us,” Brant declared squeezing her hand a little too hard.

  Tanya winced, glancing down at where he clasped her poor fingers. “Hello! I break remember?”

  “Sorry.” He eased his hold.

  “Brant is right, you are coming home with us and we’re mating come the new moon.” Zane scowled at her. “Both of us,” he growled. She could see that he expected her to disagree and he was right.

  “No. Nothing has changed. You are both still pig headed royals. Both too dominant to ever be able to both take me as a mate. Too freaking dominant to both rule the covens. Are you telling me that one of you has conceded?”

  They both looked away. Brant’s jaw locked. Zane looked sheepish for a few beats before trying to entwine his fingers in hers. The IV got in the way so he stroked the top of her hand instead.

  “I thought so,” she said trying not to sound so disappointed.

  “We will make it work,” Brant said.

  “Let’s give it a little time,” Zane added.

  “Where have I heard that before? It’s not going to happen.” She shook her head trying hard not to cry. “It won’t be long and you’ll be at each other’s throats again. I don’t want to raise a child under those conditions. I know how it feels to…” She knew all too well what growing up in an unhappy home felt like. “Never mind.” She didn’t have the strength right now.

  Neither male even tried to tell her that she had it wrong.

  She chewed her lip. So tempted to give them another chance, but how could she? “It won’t work.”

  “At least come back with us. We don’t want you working right now.” Brant looked over at Zane. “Not after what happened.” His eyes turned stormy.

  “Yeah,” Zane said. “Too much stress won’t be good for the baby. Stephany and Charlotte will take care of you. You should not be alone right now.” He glanced back at Brant.

  “Please, we have discussed this. It would be for the best,” Brant said.

  “I can take care of myself.”

  “Think of the baby.” Zane raised his eyebrows.

  “You need rest and care. The doctors will tell you. They have already spoken with us. You need to be in bed for a week…maybe more and will need to take it easy.” Brant leaned in a little closer.

  “At least until we mate, at which point you will grow stronger.” Zane narrowed his eyes looking deep into hers.

  “There will be no mating.” She couldn’t disagree with needing bed rest, though she’d be sure to confirm it with the doctor first.

  “Please, Cenwein. Just come back with us. The new moon isn’t for another week. If we mess up, then you can always change your mind.”

  “I want my own room.”

  “Done,” Zane said.

  “No sex.”

  “The doctor said that you will be fine by the new moon, but until then it’s strict bed rest…no sex”—Brant conceded looking miserable—“It would be for the best for both of you.”

  “It’s not about what the doctor said dummy. Even if he’d told me hours of sweaty, hard core sex was perfectly okay, the no sex rule would still apply.” His jaw tightened. “I’ll go back with you for the sake of the baby, but we are no longer in a relationship and that still stands.” It hurt her to say it but she had to stick to her guns. Needed her feelings to be clear.

  “We can discuss it.”

  She never thought she’d ever hear Zane say those words and was momentarily stunned. After blinking a few times, she managed to get her vocal cords to work again. “Unless you can prove to me that you can get along and this can work, all bets are off. And by work I mean double king size bed and all or”—she paused—“nothing. Once I’ve had my bed rest, I’ll go back to my apartment.”

  The males locked eyes. Something they were doing far too often for her liking because she got the feeling that they were in cahoots to win her back. A short term truce of sorts, all hell would break loose the moment she mated them though. Tanya refused to believe their so called friendship went any deeper than that. She really didn’t want to have her heart stomped on all over again. She couldn’t take it.

  “Did you hear that?” Brant asked.

  Zane nodded once. “The part where our little flower made a bet?”

  Brant grinned. “Yeah, that would be the very part I am referring to.”

  “I definitely heard it.” Zane raised his brows.

  “Wait,” she said, her eyes wide. “I didn’t make a bet.”

  Both males raised their eyebrows. “You said that we had to prove that we could get along or all bets were off. I accept.” Zane grinned.

  “Yeah. Sounded that way to me too and I also accept.” Brant winked at her.

  “I didn’t mean it like that.” Once they won the stupid bet it would be back to the same old bickering and shuffling her around until one finally killed the other.

  They both turned to her. “Too late to change your mind.” Brant smiled.

  “We already accepted and, Ysnaar”—Zane’s voice had grown husky so she kept quiet not wanting to encourage him—“when we win, you will owe us.” His predatory stare bore into her for a few beats before he turned his eyes on Brant. The males actually smiled and nodded at one another. Tanya almost expected them to pat one another on the back. “After the new moon, and our mating, we will stay in bed for several days and explore all the opportunities a three way mating has to offer.”

  Brant chuckled. “I really like the sound of that.”

  There was still a whole string of arguments she wanted to bring to the table, but her blasted vocal cords seized on her…again. Watching the two of them grinning at each other like old buddies was just plain weird.

  “We will win this little bet before the new moon,” Brant said.

  “Then you will be ours.” Zane’s voice was so low that it sent flames of heat licking up her spine. “We will claim you in so many ways…”

>   “You will scream my name so often…” Brant’s voice was just as deep, just as seductive.

  “Our name,” Zane growled.

  “Our name,” Brant agreed.

  It wouldn’t last. She would be fooling herself if she thought that they had a chance. No freaking way. Tanya refused to allow herself to believe.

  “I demand to be let through,” a familiar voice sounded from the hall. “That is my best friend in there. I’m a doctor dammit.”

  “Ma’am it’s family only at this stage.”

  “I. Am. A. Doctor. What part of that don’t you understand, nurse?”

  “You are not Miss Milan’s treating physician. I would be happy to set up an appointment for you to see Doctor Pollard to discuss Miss Milan’s progress,” a woman said clearly distressed.

  “Move it or freaking lose it, darling. I’m going in.” Becky was using that tone. The one that meant trouble would follow close behind. Tanya cringed. So did Zane and Brant.

  “Please.” A male voice, she recognized but couldn’t quite place, chimed in. “Let her have five minutes. What is your name?”

  “Emma and I really shouldn’t.” The feminine voice had turned a little giggly.

  “Tanya would want this female to visit. She is both a family friend and Miss Milan’s health advisor. Two minutes please.”

  “Fine.” A giggle. “Two minutes,” her voice had turned hard which meant she was probably addressing Becky the second time around.

  “Thanks, babe,” Becky crooned.

  “Anytime,” replied the same male voice, only this time husky and full of promise. It was Ross.

  “How’s that petition coming along?”

  “Very well. I hope you’re ready for me little human,” Ross murmured.

  “Oh, you have no idea, big boy,” Becky giggled.

  Tanya covered her mouth with her hand to hide a smile. Zane and Brant’s expressions had both turned stormy.

  “We need to do something about that,” Brant mumbled running a hand through his hair.