Page 310 of As The Shifter World Turns

It was nice to see him so comfy. The trip to the lake house hadn’t been as relaxing as I had hoped it would be. But then again, who could’ve seen the whole Anthony thing blowing up like that? No one.

And who helped make it better? My mate. My sweet, sexy, human mate. Gods, I loved him so much it almost hurt.

I spent a few hours taking care of the kids, doing laundry, and catching up on my favorite television show before heading to bed myself.

Neil tossed and turned, kicking me more than a few times. I felt so bad for him, whatever dream he was having was awful, so awful he woke up crying.

“I got you.” I wrapped my arms around him, my heart breaking for whatever had his subconscious so upset. “It was only a dream.”

“Dream?” He curled up, letting out a moan. “No dream. It hurts. It hurts so badly.”

“What hurts?” I was so confused and a feeling of helplessness flooded into me.

“My… I think something’s wrong with the baby. I need to go to the hospital. Now.” He broke into a sob.

I grabbed my phone, called Nate and asked him to come over. Thank fuck he was one of those people who kept his phone on at night. I had Neil’s shoes on and made it to the door just as Nate arrived. I filled him in on what was happening and he promised to stay with Toby and Charlie while they slept.

Never in my life had I felt as scared as when I drove my mate, my pregnant mate, to the hospital. He was in so much pain. All of the kicking and tossing and turning had been his body's way of trying to control it.

The ER was packed and when they asked why we were there, Neil toldthem, “I think I’m having a miscarriage.” When the nurse asked how far along he was and he told her, the nurse told us to fill out a form and take a seat in the waiting room and we would be called when a doctor was available.

I managed to get my mate to a seat, his pain worse than before. I filled out the paperwork the best I could, not wanting to ask Neil about stupid history from each side of the family. He had enough on his plate without trying to remember all that crap.

“Here are his papers. Do you have a guess how long it will be?”

She took the clipboard from me and looked up with empathy in her eyes. “If he’s miscarrying, there’s nothing that can be done at this stage so he won’t be rushed in.”

“And if he’s not?”

“Then he will wait as the heart attacks and head injuries are seen first.”

I understood that there were protocols, but when it was my own family, I hated them.

A blood curdling scream came from my mate and I rushed to his side. “It’s so bad,” he whimpered when he was finally able to speak again. “Please make it better.”

If only I could.

It was another hour before we were seen and after blood tests, some poking and prodding, and more questions than should be legal, the doctor came back in with news.

“The good news is you're not miscarrying. The bad news is you have a case of appendicitis. Emergency surgery is not optional. We need to prep you now.”

“My baby,” Neil sobbed.

“Will be in danger right along with you if we don’t do this now.”

They wheeled him away within minutes and I made the mistake of looking things up on the internet. Story after story of similar situations not going well filled my screen. I couldn’t bear to think of anything happening to Neil or our baby.

After what felt like eons, the doctor came out to let me know the good news. The surgery had gone remarkably well and both Neil and our little one were going to be okay.

143

SOMEONE’S IN A BAD MOOD

Daire

“Don’t do that, Nate. You’re making a mess. Let me do it.”

My mate was frying fish, and oil was spattering over the tile splash back. I enjoyed eating fried fish, but the cooking was a bit ewww.

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