Midnight Eternal (18 page)

I had a million questions, like why would it kill her? Wouldn’t she just go back to being fully human? But before I could ask, he continued speaking.

“It was getting worse and worse. I took her to my aunt, who has a lot of medical training in both Bocaj and humans. That’s when I found out about the baby.”

“Baby?” I asked in shock, drawing the attention of Shane and Gabriel, who were about fifteen feet away. They walked toward me with questioning expressions on their faces. Jeremy had been quiet, clearly upset by what he was telling me.

“The baby she was carrying—our baby,” he responded. Both Gabriel and Shane saw the shocked look on my face.

“What’s wrong? Gabriel asked. “Who’s on the phone?”

“It’s Jeremy,” I said to the two of them. “He called to talk to me about himself and Hannah.”

“Ask if you can put it on speaker,” Gabriel said.

“That’s fine,” Jeremy responded, obviously hearing the request without me repeating it.

“Now what is this about a baby?”

“I was just telling Oliver that I almost lost cherry. She was pregnant with our child,” he said in response to Gabriel’s question.

“She’s not even Bocaj!” Shane blurted out. “How is that even possible?”

“I don’t know,” Jeremy answered. “But she was pregnant, then lost the baby.”

“Please don’t take this the wrong way,” Gabriel said after we had all been quiet for a moment, “but are you sure it was your child? Is it possible the baby could have been fathered by a human male?”

“It was mine,” he said with a sigh. “We were staying at my place in northern Wisconsin. We hadn’t seen another person in weeks. There’s no way the baby could have been fathered by anyone but me. I don’t know how it happened, but it did. That’s why I called—to warn you. I don’t want it happening to you and your butterfly.”

I looked over at my girl, sitting next to my mother with a smile on her face. I knew then. Hell, if I admitted it to myself, I’d known on the rooftop when I’d fucked her for hours. My body knew the instant it had happened, or I’d still be there. Those were fertility marks, and I’d done the one thing I’d promised myself I would never do to a submissive—put her in danger.

She looked so beautiful sitting there. So healthy and alive. She didn’t look at all like she was dying.
 

“Oliver?” Jeremy said from the phone, calling my attention back to him. “Are you there?”

“Yes, sorry. Could you please repeat that last part?”

“I just said that I hope it’s not too late, but if it is, keep feeding her. That’s where I went wrong. No…where I went wrong was putting my mate in this kind of danger.” He was clearly taking it hard, and I understood the pain in his voice.

“Is…uh, is she going to be alright?” I was scared to ask, but I was more afraid not to.

“Yeah, she’s getting better each day. As soon as she’s strong enough, back how she was before all of this, I’m going to turn her. No more waiting. It’s just too dangerous. I suggest you do the same.”

“Actually, we’re doing it on Sunday,” I responded, though Gabriel raised his eyebrows.

“Let me know how it goes, please,” Jeremy said. “I’m sorry for calling and not coming in person, but I wanted to tell you as soon as I knew, and I couldn’t bear to leave my cherry.”

“I understand. Give her our best.” I pressed end and just looked at Gabriel and Shane.

“Do you think she’s pregnant?” Shane asked the moment I set down the phone.

“I really don’t know, but my gut is telling me she is. It makes me want to change her now more than ever.” Gabriel still looked at me as if I were missing something. “What?” I snapped.

He ignored my rude reaction. “Oliver, if she’s pregnant, she may be too weak for the transformation. In addition, it may kill the baby.”

It was my turn to look at him like he was crazy. “What are you talking about? Didn’t you hear Jeremy? There’s no way the baby is going to make it anyway. This is about saving my girl so that maybe someday she and I can actually have a child.”

“So what does
that
mean?” Shane asked.

“It means that I’d do anything to make sure Bec is strong enough for the transformation. We will have to end the pregnancy.”

“You two have a lot to talk about,” Gabriel said as I headed over in my butterfly’s direction.
 

“There is nothing to talk about and no reason to even tell her,” I said back to him. “I can give her a morning after pill.”

“Wait, you’re not going to tell her she’s pregnant?” Shane asked with his eyes wide.

“For what reason? There is no way for the fetus to survive. Telling her about it would only cause her heartache.”

I didn’t wait for a response from either Shane or Gabriel. Instead, I walked over to my girl and calmed myself. “We are going home now, butterfly,” I informed her, clasping the chain to her wrist once again. “See you all Sunday,” I said to Caroline, Caleb, and Sydney.

We left the club and headed for home. The car ride was completely silent. I had a lot on my mind and was lost in thought. I went over everything Jeremy had said in my head and was deciding how much of it I wanted to share with Bec when we sat down and talked about how tonight went. It was something we always did after a visit to the club.

“Did you enjoy yourself tonight?” I asked her, still keeping my eyes on the road, as some sporting event had just let out and the traffic was terrible.

When she didn’t respond, I turned to see if there was something wrong. Her eyes were closed and her head was resting against the window. For a moment I panicked, thinking something had gone terribly wrong. “BEC!” I yelled and she sat up with a start.

“Oh, I must have fallen asleep.” She covered a yawn with her hand. “I guess it wore me out.”

I knew that wasn’t the case. It was like Jeremy had said. I didn’t know how I could have missed it. She’d been tired for the past few days. I’d just thought it was her wanting to cuddle and sleep with me. Now I knew it was more than that.

“It’s alright, Baby, go back to sleep.” She smiled and closed her eyes. I cursed the traffic silently and wove my way through, finally making it home thirty minutes later than I should have. I didn’t wake her as I carried her from the car to the penthouse. Once inside, I lay her in my bed. I was just going to let her sleep. It seemed like the right thing to do, but then I remembered what Jeremy said about making sure to keep her intake up. He’d said that his biggest mistake was when he stopped feeding her.

Lying down next to her on the bed, I
 thought about our night together at the club before the phone call. I found myself stroking my cock, thinking about her ass after the flogging and how good her mouth had felt on me. I recalled the look in her eyes as she gazed up at me each time she drank from me. My hand moved rhythmically as I went over the memories, and it  didn’t take me long until I was ready to come. It seemed ridiculously selfish to wake an exhausted, potentially pregnant woman to have sex, but this was more for her than for me.

“Bec, can you wake up? I need you.”

She rolled over and looked at me. Her eyes still appeared tired, but the spark was there. “Mmmm, I need you, too.”

I thought about where it would work the best and the fastest. The answer was obvious. “Baby, I want your ass.”

My girl was more than accommodating. She rolled over and offered herself to me. I could tell she was tired, but she was trying so hard to hide it. Guilt struck me, but I knew that she needed this.

Using lube, I entered her slowly. Between the tightness of her puckered hole and the fact that I was almost there before I even started, my orgasm only took a few minutes.

Her entire demeanor changed the moment the come was absorbed into her body. She was awake, alert, and horny. We spent the next hour making love, in which I gave her another two doses. I only drank from her once, wondering if perhaps doing so would drain her strength.

We made love or had playroom sessions at least every six hours all day on Thursday, and she seemed back to her normal self. By Friday morning, we were lying on the patio enjoying the sun.

I’d made a few calls and had gotten a morning after pill, though I was still warring with my conscience as to whether it was in Bec’s best interest for me to tell her or keep her in the dark.

“Oliver, can you tell me what to expect on Sunday?” Bec asked, rousing me from my thoughts.

“As far as I know, it’s never been attempted, so no, not really.”

“You said a lot of people had made the alteration. Am I really the first who is doing it voluntarily?”

“Well, there is another couple that is similar to us, who were planning the transformation, but they’ve put it off a few months.”

“Why are they waiting?” I didn’t want to mention
Jeremy and Hannah, but I also didn’t want to outright lie to Bec, either. I decided to just tell her.

“Hannah became pregnant.”

Bec gasped, and we both sat up at the same time. “This woman, Hannah, she’s human?” I nodded. “And she became pregnant by a Bocaj?” I nodded again. “How?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know, Baby.”

Bec was silent for a moment and I watched the light come on behind her eyes. She took several quick breaths. “Oliver, could I be pregnant?”

I pressed my lips together and took a deep breath. “I don’t know. It’s possible…it’s probable, actually.” I sighed heavily. “Yes, I’m positive you’re pregnant.”

She was silent again for at least a full minute. When she did speak, her voice was nearly inaudible. “You weren’t going to tell me? Why?”

Never in my life, especially with a submissive, had I ever felt at such a loss for words. I shouldn’t have kept it from her when I’d found out. Our relationship was based on honesty and open lines of communication. In order to maintain what we had, I knew I had to tell her everything.

“The baby won’t make it through the alteration. I didn’t want you to be upset.”

Her mouth dropped open and there was a fire in her eyes I’d never seen before.

“You were going to let me go through with the change knowing that if I was pregnant, it would kill the baby?” she questioned in a raised voice.

“The baby wouldn’t have made it either way,” I said solemnly. “Hannah lost hers and it almost killed her.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry. That’s awful.” She was quiet for a long time before asking, “What happened?”

“Bocaj babies take a lot from their mothers. It’s hard enough to sustain a fetus through pregnancy for a healthy Bocaj female, let alone a weak one. Hannah wasn’t even Bocaj, she was human with Bocaj characteristics. Then, when she started
to feel tired and unwell, Jeremy stopped feeding her and she began to return to a human state, ending any chance for the baby. At least they realized what was happening before it was too late and Jeremy was able to save her. She’s recovering now, and in a few months, she will go through the change.” Bec looked up at me with tears in her eyes. “In a few years, maybe a decade, I’m sure they will try again.”

Bec nodded. “That’s good for them, but with me it will be different.”

“I know, Love. After Sunday we won’t have to worry about it.”

She looked at me like I had missed her entire point. “Oliver, I’m not going through with the change. I’m going to have our baby.”

“There is no chance for the baby to make it. All that will happen is that you could die, too.”

“You don’t know that!” she shouted.

“I do know that,” I responded in a raised voice. “It takes the strongest, healthiest Bocaj women to carry a baby to full term. The fetus isn’t even a month old, and already you are tired and weak. If there was any way, don’t you think I’d try it? Don’t you think I love and want this baby, too?” She’d turned her back to me. “We can have another child, as soon as you want, I promise. I just don’t want to lose you.”  

In the end my voice broke, and when she turned back around, I found that she was in tears. “I don’t want another child, I want this one.”

“I do, too,” I said, pulling her into my arms, “but I want you more.”

She sobbed against my chest for a few minutes, and when I felt her sway slightly, I knew she was losing her strength. I pulled back and stroked her cheek. “Baby, you’re getting weak again.” Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a small white pill. “Take this. It will make it all go away. We can make love and you’ll feel strong once more.”

I pressed the tablet into her hand and we walked inside.

“Can I have a little time to myself. I just…I need a minute.”

“Of course,” I responded, watching her walk into the penthouse. I lay back into the sun, hoping to soak up as much nutrients as possible. I wanted to be strong for her.

I expected her to come out onto the patio shortly after going inside, but she had asked for a minute, so when she didn’t come right back I wasn’t concerned. After over thirty minutes had passed, I began to realize that she was even more upset than I’d thought. I gave her ten more minutes before going inside.

I’d expected to find her in her bedroom, thinking maybe she’d gone to lie down and wait for me. “Bec?” I called out, looking in the bathroom and my bedroom. When I didn’t find her, I returned to the living room and noticed that the door to the playroom was open.