Page 46 of Ours

More like something you drank,Nikki said, her phantom voice unusually shaky.Get to the damn bathroom and call 9-1-1!

Suspecting that the tea she had consumed was most likely tainted, she hurried her exhausted body. Valentinameantfor this to happen, the bitch wasn’t loyal to Kade at all! How was he so fucking naive to believe she could be trusted?

Staying directly at her side, Cupcake whined as they stepped into the main hallway. Something was very,verywrong, and it worried him to no end.

Blinking her watery eyes, she tried to center her blurring vision. All she had to do was walk another ten feet to the bathroom. Once she had her phone, she could call for help.

“It’s ok...Cu...Cupcake ...I’mmm almos—”

Unable to finish her sentence, Lexi fell silent as her eyesight suddenly darkened. Stumbling over her own feet, she felt her body sway to and fro. Trying unsuccessfully to catch herself, she fell hard onto the wooden floor. Her last memory was that of her dog barking wildly, before she slipped into a drug induced sleep.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Unceremoniously forced back into consciousness, Lexi gulped in a large mouthful of air. Attempting to raise her pregnant body from the ground, she froze as an intense pain encased her skull. Dropping her torso back to the ground, she whimpered as her head bumped against the unforgiving wood.Where the fuck was she?

Moving her gaze across the dark space before her, she realized that she was in exactly the same spot where she had fallen. Judging by the lack of light in the room, she guessed she had been unconscious for at least a handful of hours. On the verge of panicking, she took comfort in the fact that she hadn’t been kidnapped and tossed into another underground bunker. Perhaps her fainting spell was caused by her pregnancy, and not from spiked tea?

With her thoughts turning to her daughter, she lifted her heavy hands to her belly. Frantically moving her touch around her sore midsection, tears welled in her eyes as she desperately searched for any sign of life.

“Please,pleasebe ok!” she said aloud, her voice cracking from stress.

Unintentionally holding her breath, she silently prayed to God that her child would be ok. She didn’t know what she would doif anything happened to her baby. She couldn’t believe that they were in this position yet again. When Kade came back, if he came back, they were going to get as far away from his father as possible. She didn’t care what she had to do, or who she had to kill. They were escaping Bloodbayne’s stronghold.

With hot tears streaming down her face, she halted her hands as she felt a soft press against her palm. Releasing a guttural sound that was part sob and part laugh, she rubbed her stomach. Almost on cue, her baby followed her touch with a series of tiny kicks. In that moment, nothing else mattered. Her daughter was alive and moving, all was well in her chaotic world.

“That’s my baby girl!” she praised. “You’re so verystrong.You’re a fighter just like me. We’ll be ok...we’llalwaysbe ok!”

Attempting to roll onto her left side, she heard a whine followed by a soft bark above her head. Remembering her canine protector, she looked up and gave the shepherd a warm smile.

“I’m ok, boy, andshe’sok, too! I had a nasty spill, that’s all. I just need to get up and go to bed,” she said, wiping the tears from her cheeks. “Everything will be alright as soon as Kade comes home. Won’t it?”

Leaning his head to the side, Cupcake whimpered a reply. His human seemed to be ok, but there was something in the air that he didn’t care for. It made the scruff on the back of his neck bristle.

“I promise, boy...we’re ok,” she tried to assure the pup, “I’m going to roll my fat ass over and—”

Before she could finish her sentence, a sharp, singsong whistle came from the mansion’s foyer. Recognizing the high-pitched sound, Cupcake immediately stood to attention. Letting outseveral loud barks, the German Shepherd bolted towards the call, leaving Lexi bewildered in his absence.

Furrowing her brow in confusion, she hoisted her torso from the floor as she watched the dog run down the hallway. Clumsily rising onto her feet, she used the wall to right herself into a standing position.

“Kade?” she called out.

Pausing for a moment, she pursed her lips together. Hearing the dog’s happy bark, she grinned to herself. Of course it was Kade, who else would Cupcake welcome to sweetly? She was so relieved that he was safe, and that he had come home to her.

Carefully walking down the hallway, she wrapped her arms around her belly. Hugging her pronounced bump, she whispered loving phrases to her daughter again and again. Their nightmare was almost over, it was almost too good to be true.

“Your Daddy’s home, baby girl!” she said, excitedly. “Let’s go say hi, huh?”

Halfway down the corridor, she realized that Cupcake had grown silent. She found it a little odd, but quickly brushed the feeling away. Kade probably ordered the dog to be quiet. It was late into the night, he probably assumed that she was sleeping and didn’t want to wake her.

“Kade? Is that you?” she asked again.

Shuffling her swollen feet, she reached the end of the hallway. Turning the corner to her right, she fully expected to see his handsome face greeting her with his signature smirk. To her surprise, the foyer was completely empty. There was no sign of Cupcake, or her dark lover.

“Ha, ha. Didn’t anyone tell you not to scare a pregnant woman?” she asked, turning her head left and right. “You don’t want to make me pee my pants, do you?”

Spinning on her heels, she waited impatiently for a response. As the seconds ticked by, she started to doubt her sanity. The doghadbeen with her, she definitely saw him run to the door. She heard the damn whistle, someone had to be in the house with her, right?

I don’t like this. Let me step in, Lexi.Nikki chimed in from out of nowhere.Something is wrong and you aren’t equipped to deal with it.

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