Den of Sorrows (27 page)

"Are all werewolves like that? I mean, do they all not…uh…I mean, do any of them date?"

He shrugged. "Some do, some don't. It's always been greatly frowned upon to be with a female in anyway other than friendship who isn’t your true mate. Our kind consider it an insult to your own future mate. But there are some who have…" He paused unsure how to word what he wanted to say without sounding crude. "There are some who have entertained certain urges. Some have actually had genuine feelings for another female, though no relationship would ever come close to being as strong as what they feel for their true mate."

Bethany's brow drew together. "Urges?"

Drake wanted to smack himself in the face. He was going to have to remember that Bethany may be eighteen, but she'd been snatched away from the human world at the age of seven. Essentially, any knowledge about normal life did not exist. Any knowledge she had about guys and girls would be incredibly innocent.

"Perhaps, that's a conversation we should wait to have once we're better acquainted," he suggested gently.

Her eyes narrowed dangerously and her face flushed bright red. "I'm not a child. Ignorant, yes, but not simple minded."

He bit back the growl of frustration. He was screwing this up royally. "I know you're not a child, Bethany. But there are some things that are sensitive in nature and can be difficult to talk about even with a close friend, let alone a stranger. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable. I want you to feel safe with me, especially when we have
that
conversation. It has nothing to do with your level of intelligence. I look forward to the day that we are close enough to discuss things more personally. I want to know you and I want you to know me."

She was quiet for several heartbeats. Finally, she broke the silence and his heart. She started to let go of his hand but he held on. He wasn't ready to let her go.

"I just need a little space," she told him. She tugged her hand again and this time he released her.

Drake’s wolf snarled inside of him and he struggled to keep from vocalizing their hurt over their mate dismissing them. He was trying to get the wolf to understand that, though she was theirs and, yes, she was Canis lupus, she did not understand their ways. She'd been lost for eleven years and though she'd been found, all he did was take her and put her in a new kind of lost.

He gave her a curt nod and took a step back away from the bars. He continued to watch her, taking in every motion and facial expression.

She simply stared back at him. The unshed tears he saw in her eyes were like a knife being stabbed into his heart and slowly twisted. He didn't want her to hurt but there was nothing he could do. She wouldn't let him help. And it was killing him.

He squeezed his eyes closed and tried to push away the image of seeing his mate cowering in a dirty cell, brutalized, and afraid. The only part of the memory that kept him from losing it was the brave determination he had seen in her eyes and her clenched jaw that said she was ready to fight. His mate was a survivor. She'd survived eleven years with the oldest vampire in existence; she would survive this as well. This time she didn't have to do it alone. She had him, if she'd only let him be there for her.

B
ethany closed her eyes as memories rushed over her. So many years in the hands of Sincaro— so many bites, so many bruises, and hate filled words. Up until that point she'd been holding it together, but memories of the abuse she’d endured filled her with pain. The pain caused something to break inside of her, and it triggered the floodgates that had been holding the tide of her emotions. Her eyes became living waterfalls as tears poured out of them, coursing down her face. A sob broke free and she pressed her hands over her mouth as she tried to keep herself from shattering into a thousand pieces. Bethany's shoulders shook as eleven years’ worth of anguish came rolling out of her in a tidal wave.

She thought she heard Drake’s voice but she couldn't be sure and she couldn't look at him, not when she was losing it. She wasn't even completely sure why she was crying. It was all just too much. Vampires kidnapping her, feeding off of her, throwing her in a maze with those monsters, werewolves rescuing her, biting her, suddenly being ripped from the world she'd known for so long, and being handed choices that she could make on her own. She couldn't even decide if she was hungry or not. How the hell was she supposed to decide what her future was going to be or where it was going to be? How on earth was she going to survive?

She slid down the wall to the floor and onto her knees. Her body leaned forward of its own accord until her forehead was pressed to the cold, hard concrete. She pressed it down, hoping that maybe if she pushed hard enough she would just sink into the floor and it would swallow her, along with all of her problems. Her stomach clenched tightly inside of her and it felt as though it was trying to climb up her throat. Her breath came in ragged gasps as she gave into the despair and let it devour her.

Bethany had wanted to be free of the vampires and the hell they'd put her through. She'd wanted to be free and now she was. And she didn't have a damn clue how to survive, how to live. Her hand slammed down on the hard floor sending pain up her palm into her arm but she ignored it. She slammed it again and screamed, "YOU DID THIS TO ME. YOU CRIPPLED ME. YOU DID THIS." Her yells died down until she was muttering over and over again, "You did this, you did this to me, you did this."

Death would have been better than being a lost child in a woman’s body.

"You did this," she said one last time, her voice hoarse from her screams. It was when she finally quieted and raised her eyes that she realized the cage across from her was shaking and creaking as the huge man inside of it hit it repeatedly with his shoulder. His face was hard as stone and his eyes narrowed with determination. If he kept this up he was going to hurt himself.

"Drake," she said sitting up and wiping her tears away. "Drake, stop. You're going to hurt your shoulder." Bethany crawled over to the cage and sat leaning against it. He stopped as soon as she was within touching distance. He was on his knees just on the other side of the bars from her. Their shoulders were touching and the heat from his body was strangely comforting.

"Are you okay?" she asked him quietly, hoping that she could calm the beast she'd obviously stirred up with her outburst.

He chuckled but there was no humor in the sound. "You are the one who has endured hell and you're asking me if I'm okay?"

"I'm sorry," Bethany whispered.

She felt his hand cup her cheek and apply gentle pressure so she would look at him. "You do not owe me an apology,
A Mea
. You don't owe me anything."

"Why were you trying to break the cage?"

"My need to comfort you and my wolf’s need to shelter our mate is strong. To see you hurting like that, it was more than I could stand. You aren't alone. Never again. I will always be here. And if you let me, I'll bear your burdens when they become too much."

She felt something brush her mind and warmth flooded her. "What was that?"

His eyes held her as he spoke. "That is me reassuring you that you aren't alone. All you have to do is reach out to me through the bond."

Bethany tentatively attempted to do just that. She thought of Drake, about his passionate words and gentle touch. When she pushed out with her own emotions she heard him sigh and felt his warm breath on her face. She'd sent him her gratitude. He'd rescued her and been tender and patient. He'd repeatedly told her that he wouldn't leave her, that she wouldn't be alone anymore. She needed him to know how much it meant to her. Regardless of the fact that she was a mess, she did appreciate him.

"What now?" she asked still staring up into his face.

"For now, we'll just rest. Peri will return and let me out of this cage and then if you will allow it, I would really like to hold you."

Bethany felt a strange tightening sensation in her lower abdomen as she imagined what it would be like to be in his strong arms. She imagined that she must have been held by her father once in a caring way, but she couldn’t remember it now. She only knew the touch of violence. Bethany was pretty sure that when Drake held her she just might not ever want to leave the shelter of his arms.

Chapter 17

"Betrayal's a bitch. That's all I got." ~Peri

"
D
o you think she's going to be okay?" Sally asked Jacque and Jen as they stood by the cell where Bethany had been held captive only a few moments ago.

The males were just a tad ticked off with them over their latest stunt and refused to let the girls accompany them on their search of the vampire stronghold. So there they were stuck worrying and wondering.

"Better question," Jen said as she tapped her thigh with the tip of the sword Decebel had left with her, which drove Sally crazy and she was sure that's the only reason she did it. "Will
we
be okay once our mate's aren't distracted by a huge hoard of child stealing, dormant enslaving, bloodsuckers and can fully appreciate the fact that we totally had Peri bind them." She paused, no doubt for effect. "Again."

Jacque blew out a breath through her parted lips causing them to vibrate, making a motor sound, and then sighed. "It's really hit or miss with their reactions."

"True," Jen agreed. "They really are indecisive in their responses to our indiscretions. Some consistency would be much appreciated."

Sally laughed. "How 'bout you tell them that, Jen?"

Jen snorted. "Please, I'd rather stick my finger in a light socket repeatedly than deal with those hardheaded flea balls."

"Speaking of flea balls," Sally said. "Either of yours got the bond open?"

"Nope," Jacque answered.

"Locked tight," Jen chimed.

"Something isn't right," Sally said, unable to keep the worry from her voice. Something bad was going to happen. She didn't know how she knew, but she just knew.

"They'll be fine, gypsy lady," Jen reassured. "Our boys are beasts. I mean that literally and figuratively."

"Yeah, we got that," Jacque said dryly.

Sally leaned back against the stone wall. There were two doors to the dungeon, one to the left of her and one to the right. She was staring at the one to the right, which was the direction their mates had departed earlier. Her gut was rolling with fear and it was growing worse by the second. Something was coming. She didn’t want to worry Costin any more than he already was so she was keeping a wall up in her mind. Finally, after several more minutes of frustrating silence and blood pulsing worry, she pushed away from the wall.

"That's it. I'm not just going to sit down here and worry and wonder and fret."

"Worry and fret are pretty much the same thing," Jen interrupted.

"Not. The. Point," Sally ground out. "Vampires are attacking the people we care about. There might be more dormants somewhere in this hell maze. Drake has gone off the deep end. And I for one am not just going to sit on my thumb and spin."

Jen whistled. "I don’t know what Peri fairy is feeding you gypsies these days, but it must have 'grow a pair' fertilizer in it because you, Sally dear, are totally packing some cajones."

"Eww," Jacque retorted. "But I do concur with our disgusting friend."

"Okay, well, good," Sally breathed out as she paced restlessly. "Ballsy is better than ball less I suppose."

"Oh dear," Jacque muttered.

"So are y'all with me?" Sally asked, ignoring her red headed friend’s comment.

"I'm in, Ballsy. That your new nickname btw," Jen said, winking at her.

"Um, no." Sally shook her head and then turned to Jacque. "You in?"

"I'm totally with you in spirit. But I think I'm going to have to stay back here and worry and fret because I'm pretty sure I'm in labor and I don’t think chasing after my mate who is chasing after vampires would be what a doctor recommends at this stage in my pregnancy."

Sally's eyes widened and her mouth dropped open.

Jen wasn't as speechless. "What the hell do you mean you're in labor? Why didn't you say something?"

"Sort of just did," Jacque pointed out.

“What’s wrong?”
Costin’s worried voice reverberated in Sally’s mind. In her shock, Sally had released the small hold she had on the bond, and her mate had immediately picked up her panic loud and clear.

“Uh, well, Jacque is sort of in labor.”

“Sort of? I thought labor was labor. You’re either in it or not in it.”
His voice was getting deeper as his frustration grew.

“It might not be real labor. And even if it is, labor can take a day or more. My mom was in labor with me for like twenty-eight hours. So I’m sure we’ve got time.”
Sally’s voice was steady, which surprised her considering she was feeding her mate a load of bull. Oh, what she’s said was true enough, but there was no way Jacque was going to be in labor that long.

“Keep the bond open, Sally,”
Costin growled at her.

She didn’t answer him because she couldn’t make that promise. If things got bad and he was stuck on the other side of the world with no way to help her, it would be cruel to make him just listen in when he had no way of helping.

J
acque attempted to count the oncoming contractions, but it was hard to focus with a squawking Jen and gaping Sally. She'd been having the contractions all day, but they weren't uncomfortable or close together. Well, that had changed in the last hour.

"Sally, quit looking like you've never delivered a baby and get moving," Jen snapped.

Jacque laughed as Sally responded.

"But I haven't ever delivered a baby."

Jen rolled her eyes. "Yeah well, Mozart had never written a piece of music before his first piece and look how it turned out for him?"

"I want to say that's a good analogy but really it's not even in the same ballpark," Jacque spoke up.

"No one asked you, Red. Your job is to have a baby not run your trap. Now—" Jen jumped into four-star general mode and started doing what she did best under pressure—barking orders. "Jacque start walking around slowly. It will help the labor progress. Sally go see if you can find any water, clean preferably, and blankets or cloth of some sort, also preferably clean. Take two swords with you and for the love of healthy placentas everywhere, don't get yourself killed."

"Oh, okay," Sally said sounding just a tad hysterical. "I'll just snap my fingers and make that happen."

Jen paused. "Wait, is that a new gypsy thing you learned while off on your 'there and back again' hobbit mission? Could you have been snapping your fingers and making stuff appear and things happen all this time and didn't tell us? Wait," she said again.

"I'm not going anywhere," Sally said but Jen didn't acknowledge her.

"Could you have gotten me chocolate at the snap of a finger and you didn't?"

"Jen!" Sally pinched the bridge of her nose as she cut her friend off. "I was being sarcastic."

Jen frowned. "Oh, I knew that." She looked from Sally to Jacque and then back to Sally. "Why are you still standing there? Red’s, going to pop out a furbaby any second and you're just standing there."

"You told me to wait!" Sally stomped her foot.

Jacque snorted and then grimaced as another contraction started.

"I swear, Jennifer, one of these days," Sally muttered under her breath as she headed off in search of the things Jen had requested.

Jacque would have laughed at her usually subdued friend but she was in too much pain. She bent over at the waist, holding onto the wall in order to remain upright.

"How you doing?" Jen asked her as she rubbed Jacque’s lower back.

"Hurts like hell, but that feels good. Will she be okay?" Jacque asked nodding in the direction Sally had just gone.

"Dude, you're about to have a baby, in a vampire dungeon I might add. Way to go on joining me in the all-time freakiest places to give birth club," she added and then continued. "The only person you need to worry about is you, well you and that pup you're carrying."

"For the record I really wasn't trying to join your freaky birth place club."

Jen shrugged. "We're married to werewolves. Did you really expect us to give birth in a normal place, like a bed? Noooo," she sang. "We give birth in creepy, filthy, vomit-worthy places. Go us."

"You're not helping right now," Jacque said and then groaned again. The damn contractions weren't playing around anymore. Her stomach tightened and she was pretty sure it was trying to make her have a trajectory birth.

"Do you know how far apart they are?" Jen asked.

"I think roughly three minutes."

"Okay, so you're getting close. You should probably try and contact your mate. He might just want to be here for the birth of his first child."

Jacque knew Jen was right but she was also afraid that if she tried to use their bond he would get distracted while he was possibly fighting vampires. Just as she finished that thought she felt the bond open.

"You're in labor?"
Fane practically yelled in her mind.

Jacque glared at Jen. "Dec?" she asked.

Jen nodded and smiled unapologetically. "You're as stubborn as an ass. I knew you wouldn't contact him. So I bombarded Dec with some pretty strong emotions until he finally opened up."

"It's stubborn as a mule, you dip wad, not stubborn as an ass."

"Probably, but you're being an ass right now so I'll stick with my first description, Alec."

Jacque rolled her eyes and then remembered that Fane was waiting on her response.

"Yes, sorry I was berating Jen. I'm in labor. Surprise!"
she ended lamely.

"Are you okay? Are you in pain?"

"You did hear the part about me being in labor, right?"

Fane broke out in a string of Romanian and she almost smiled because she knew he was cussing up a storm, and she had caused it, which always made her want to smile.

"I'm on my way to you,"
he told her and she felt him pour love and reassurance through their bond.

"I'll be waiting,"
Jacque told him, and then screamed.

"
S
hit!" Jen hissed. "Shit, shit, shit, and shit some more."

Jacque’s scream reverberated off the stone walls and pierced Jen's ears but that wasn't what had suddenly limited her vocabulary to one, four lettered word. It was the gush of blood that now soaked Jacques jeans.

"Take them off," Jen ordered as she began helping her friend unbutton, unzip, and then remove the jeans and then underwear. Jen hurried to take off the jacket she'd been wearing and help Jacque remove hers, laying them both on the ground.

"Down," she pointed to the makeshift bed as she helped ease Jacque to the floor.

"Jennifer,"
Decebel’s voice filled her head.

"Not now, B,"
she practically snarled. She was trying to keep herself together but there was just so much blood—too much blood. Jen looked up at Jacque’s face and nearly gasped at how white she had become.

"Okay, okay, we got this," she said under her breath as she helped Jacque bend her legs at the knees and open them wide. "I have to admit, Red, I'm really glad we're best friends because I don’t think I could look at a stranger’s girly bits and not be critical." She heard a small, breathy laugh come from her friend, which is what she'd wanted to hear, as she jerked her shirt over her head and attempted to clean away some of the blood.

"Are you feeling the urge to push?"

No answer.

"Jacque," Jen growled as she looked up at her best friend, but she was passed out cold. "Okay, so maybe that's a good thing."

"I found," Sally's breathless voice came barreling in behind her. Jen didn't turn around as she heard things clatter to the ground and Sally gasp. "Oh God."

"Praying would be a good right about now, but I also need supplies," Jen practically yelled. "What did you bring me?"

"I… I found—. Holy crap, Jen, that's too much blood."

"SALLY! Pull your crap together and give me what you found and then place your hands on your best friend and do your gypsy mojo or so help me I will knock you out just to shut you up."

"Right," Sally breathed out. "Thank you. Okay, all I could find were a couple of blankets. I don't know how clean they are."

Jen snatched the blankets from her and then motioned for Sally to kneel down next to Jacque. "We need to know what's going on inside, Sal. Do your thing and tell me if there's something you can do and be quick about it."

Jen wiped the sweat from her brow as she watched Sally place her hands on Jacque's swollen belly. She closed her eyes and then went perfectly still. She didn't know how Sally's magic worked or what it was she was capable of, but she begged the Great Luna that she could save Jacque and the baby.

"The placenta isn't attached to the uterus anymore," Sally said, her eyes still closed. "That's where the bleeding is coming from. The baby's heartbeat is dropping. We need to get it out. I'm trying to slow down the bleeding. You wake Jacque up and make her push this child out, now."

Jen crawled up to Jacque's face and patted her a few times. "Jacque, come on, you have to wake up. Jacque," she said a little more forcefully. When that didn't work she growled. "Screw this." Then she slapped her friend hard. "WAKE UP."