The Heir (32 page)

Matt took a deep breath and nodded. Standing
next to each other, they stood in silence and listened to the sound
of the ensuing struggle between Sarah and Nicks bodyguards. In an
attempt to erase the picture of them touching his mate, Matt closed
his eyes, took a deep breath. Immediately he realized it was a
mistake.

Sarah's scent invaded his senses and it took
all of his control to stay put. He gritted his teeth, fisted his
hands at his sides and hardened his heart against the sound of her
struggles all while reminding himself that he was better off
without her.

That he no longer wanted her.

"Let me go!" They heard her shriek, "I need
to speak with my brother, its important. Get your hands off of
me!"

"Sorry, we have our orders."

"Let me go! Nick, please!" They could clearly
hear her struggling against the guards but neither Nick nor Matt
made a move to go to her rescue, "I know you can hear me! I have to
talk to you, it’s about Jessica!"

Nick took off towards his sister like a horse
who'd been given free rein. He flew off so fast that Matt had no
chance of stopping him. She wanted an audience with him and she'd
gotten it. For her sake Nick hoped that using Jessica’s name wasn't
just a ploy to get his attention.

"Let her go."

The words were spoken softly; he didn't need
to scream to be heard. A gust of wind carried his power lazed words
straight to his guards. He caught up to them just in time to watch
the guards step away from his sister while Sarah straightened
herself.

"Be warned Sarah, if this is just another one
of your ploys...you are dead to me."

His warning was like a blow to Sarah’s heart.
Looking at her big brother for the first time in months, it hurt to
see nothing but contempt in his cold eyes. For a second there she
suffered second thoughts but she refused to be cowered by his
disdain. She'd done what she had to do and her actions today would
prove to them that she did care about him and his mate.

She straightened her back and looked straight
at him. "It's not, they found her."

"What?!"

"Who are they?" Matt demanded from behind a
perplexed Nick.

"Kate and her accomplices." Matt and Nick
looked at her in disbelief, they didn’t make a move and all her
composure fled out the window. "We don't have time for this! I
snuck out as soon as word came in that they found Jessica. Please
you have to believe me! They are on their way to her now."

Nicks heart skipped a beat upon hearing his
mates name and his beast wanted to follow Sarah but he wasn't ready
to make such a rash decision. He stood his ground, raised an
eyebrow and crossed his arms over his chest. "How do I know you
aren't lying?"

"I'm not and you don't know but I will tell
you this I heard they were following Danielle and that’s how they
found her."

Matt scuffed and shook his head, "we have
someone on Danielle. If she was meeting with Jessica, we would know
about it."

Sarah turned to look at Matt; the contempt
she'd gleamed in Nick's eyes didn't hurt as much as Matt's look of
indifference. He looked at her and it was as if he looked right
through her. She could deal with anger from him-it meant he still
cared but what could she do when it seemed that he didn't care
anymore?

Her heart lay at his feet and Sarah was
amazed to find that she could still stand. Hoping that none of the
pain she felt showed, this wasn't about them, she raised her chin,
"Are you sure about that?" She asked him, mimicking his stance.
"Call them," she dared.

Matt eyed her with distrust even as he slowly
pulled his phone out of his pocket and hit the speed dial button.
Everyone waited in tense silence, after letting the phone ring with
no answer,

Matt turned it off and bit out a curse.

He looked at Nick. "No answer, something's
wrong."

Nick felt as if all of the air had been
sucked out of his world, he turned to look at Sarah, "Where is
she?"

His question was almost an intelligible
growl. Nick could feel his canines begin to extend, his nails turn
to claws and his eyes began to glow, shifting into those of a
predator. His arms began to sprout fur and he could feel his whole
body shaking as he fought his beast for control, fought the urge to
shift.

Matt grabbed Nick by the shoulders and gave
him a shake, "get a hold of yourself," he told him then turned to
look at Sarah and also asked, "Where is she?"

Sarah told them where she heard that Jessica
and Danielle were meeting and added, "They were barely leaving when
I snuck out, it's not far from here, if we hurry we can get there
in time to save her."

In better control of himself, Nick shrugged
of Matts hold and took a step forward, "let's go."

"Nick wait," Matt rushed to stop him, "You
can't just go in like this, we need to make a plan it could be a
trap to get to you. What if they don't have her?" He tried to
reason, "We need to think this through."

"I already did, there is no way I'm going to
waste any more time, and if they have her they are dead." He looked
at Sarah with eyes so cold they rivaled and an Arctic winter, "And
if it's a trap, everyone involved is dead."

Sarah correctly interpreted his not so
disguised threat and answered him with a stiff nod.

Nick looked at Matt, "I'm going ahead with
Sarah; you get a hold of Axel and Christian and everyone else and
meet us there."

Immediately his guards and Matt shook their
heads, "you aren't going alone, we're coming with you."

"I can take care of myself; I wouldn't be the
Alpha if I couldn't."

Matt crossed his arms over his chest, "As
your enforcer and your guards our place is by your side. We are
going with you." Nick shook his head but before he could protest,
Matt added, "I can coordinate with everyone else through the phone
on our way there."

"We are running out of time!" Sarah broke in,
"We need to leave now!"

"She is right," Nick agreed then looked at
Matt and his guards. "Let’s go."

Using their shifters speed, they were out of
the woods minutes later and jumping into Nicks SUV. With dust
swirling in their wake, they drove off as is the demons from hell
were after them.

It was a silent and tense ride except for
Matt who was busy relaying orders on the phone.

Looking out of the rear passenger side
window, Nick wanted nothing more than to shift and run to Jessica
but he knew that he would get there faster on car. They took the
roads seldom traveled at neck breaking speeds and Nick prayed that
they reached her in time.

If they harmed one hair on her head, he would
make sure they died a slow and painful death. From a very young age
he'd learned all kinds of torture techniques from his father and if
they hurt her he'd make them pay. By the time he was done scraping
the skin from their bodies with a silver edged blade, they would be
begging for death.

Nick closed his eyes and prayed that he
reached her in time. Jessica couldn't die, he didn't know how he'd
managed to survive the last five months but he knew that he
couldn't survive a lifetime without her.

If Jessica died... so would he.

Chapter 25

Jessica strolled at a leisurely pace down a
less trodden trail of the nature park; enjoying the solitude and
the fresh air. After spending the last five months in a metropolis
she was in dire need of both. With every step and breath of fresh
air that she took she felt the stress from living in the city leave
her body.

When her heart had been broken, it had been
the concept of getting lost in the crowd that had lured her to the
east coast.

But soon after her arrival she realized that
she hated living in the city. With her super heightened senses it
had proved difficult to deal with the city’s many different sounds
and scents.

Even worse was the loneliness, she'd never
felt more alone as when she was surrounded by so many people.

At first, time crawled by, every second felt
like an eternity. She spent most of her days in bed where sleep was
her only escape from the pain. In fact, for the first couple of
weeks she only bothered to get out of bed to eat or use the
restroom.

It was on one of her trips to the restroom a
month after her arrival that Jessica realized that her clothes were
a little too tight. Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, she
noticed for the first time the changes taking place in her body.
She did the math in her head and shock had her stumbling back into
the wall and sliding down to the floor.

A broken heart wasn't the only reason for her
increased appetite and lethargy.

She was pregnant

She didn't need a test to confirm what she
already knew but she made an appointment at a local clinic anyways.
Two weeks later, under an assumed alias, she met with a doctor who
confirmed it-she was having Nicks baby. After promising to take
better care of herself and exercise she stumbled out of the clinic
in a daze. She made her way to the local pharmacy where she bought
the prescribed pre-natal vitamins and headed back to her place.

When she got home she sat on her bed and
stared at the bare wall. She laid her hands on her stomach and wept
as it all sank in. Nick had gotten everything he set out to
get.

Followed by that realization was a fierce
determination to keep her child safe and away from Nick. Filled
with a new resolution, she sat up straight and wiped away the
tears. Fisting her hands over her stomach she made a silent vow to
herself.

She would never allow him to hurt their child
the way he'd hurt her.

Time passed, weeks became months and all
along she held strong to her resolve. Even if at times it was
trying having to deal with everything on her own. Not a day went by
that she wasn't thankful for the money her parents had given her,
it wasn't much but with careful planning she didn't have to worry
about working until after she had the baby.

Unlike other women she could not afford to go
see a doctor every month nor could she go to the same clinic twice,
so she made sure to eat healthy and stay active for the sake of her
baby.

She read everything she could get her hands
on about pregnancy and when she learned that her baby was developed
enough to know the sex, curiosity got the best of her.

She indulged herself and made an ultrasound
appointment.

Lying on the examination table she prayed for
her unborn child’s health as the ultrasound technician smeared a
clear jelly on her round belly. As the technician moved the probe
over her belly a grainy picture came up on the screen and Jessica
realized it was her baby.

She cried tears of joy when she saw her child
for the first time.

But her elation lasted only seconds; her
worst fears had come true, something wasn't right. The technician
was frowning at the screen as she moved the probe over her belly
again and again.

Jessica felt her heart drop and she looked at
the screen trying- and failing- to figure out what was amiss.

"What's wrong?"

The technician shook her head and instead of
answering asked, "how far along did you say you were?"

"Almost five months, why?"

The technician frowned, "I don't think so,
your baby has almost reached full term, your dates must be wrong."
Jessica was too shocked to speak and watched in silence as the
technician took a second look. "Full term," she declared again with
a smile and continued soothingly, "this can happen sometimes, your
belly is not so large so your confusion is understandable but you
should be happy to know that the baby is healthy. I'm going to give
you a copy of the results so you can show them to your ob-gyn and
you guys can start making some birthing plans."

Jessica nodded and smiled no point in telling
her that she had no doctor and that she couldn't possibly be more
than five months pregnant. She wiped the jelly off her stomach, got
dressed and was soon on her way with her ultrasound pictures and
results in her bag.

She didn't remember how she got home, terror
for her unborn child held her in a tight grip and for the first
time since running away she thought about going back. She wasn't
completely human neither was her child. What other surprises
awaited her and what could happen if she wasn't properly able to
deal with them? Her baby chose that moment to move and she realized
that it was no longer about her. She had to think about her baby’s
safety first and if that meant going back, so be it.

That had been a week ago and now here she
was.

She had runaway to lick her wounds but now
she was back, stronger and with a little extra. Jessica smiled as
she rubbed her belly, the baby didn't move as much as he did a
couple of weeks ago and now she understood why. Birth was just
around the corner.

Jessica kept walking along the trail until
she reached a clearing where she'd arranged to meet with Dani, her
sister was the only one who knew of her arrival -she wasn't ready
for everyone to find out-and they planned to surprise her parents
and Riley when they returned from their trip. And what a surprise
it would be! No one knew about the baby-not even Dani- and she
smiled in anticipation of dropping the news.

She smiled wryly; it wasn't as if she could
hide it.

That's how Dani found Jessica, smiling and
glowing with a serenity that came from the inside. 'Jessica!" She
ran to envelop Jessica in a hug and stumbled back in shock when she
felt a soft nudge against her midsection. Without a word, Dani
reached for Jessica’s bulky coat and spread it open to expose her
expanded belly. "OH MY GOD!"

"Surprise!" Jessica told her sheepishly.

"How?..."

Jessica rolled her eyes at a stunned Dani,
"do I really need to tell you how?"