Page 102 of The Unwanted Mate of the Lycan Kings
Turning, I look for the voice but find no one there.My heart is beating so loudly that it makes me pause as I peer around the darkened tunnel.The only light offered flickers ahead, casting shadows on the wall.I hear another whisper, only this one sounds from behind my ear, and the iciness of its breath skates across my neck.
“No daughters born, the line shall fade, a heavy price your defiance paid.”
The whisper makes me jump, but once again, no one is there.Suddenly, the whispers repeat, echoing around me, more voices, their taunting whispers making goosebumps rise on the back of my neck.So many that I run, clutching my ears, wishing they’d stop.I keep running, trying to find my way through the tunnels.Only when I findthe source of the light at the end of the tunnel does the last whisper skim across me.
“In shadows hidden, the truth is near.The oracle’s power brings hope and fear.”
As the whispers dissipate, the tunnel suddenly opens a little.I stop in my tracks when I see two women.One woman stands clutching the stone walls, her clothes filthy and her hair matted.She wears a floor-length dress that was once white but is now stained in blood and dirt.Her pain echoes through the tunnel, and the runes glowing up her arms burn brightly in the darkened room.
The other woman is clutching her arm, trying to help her up as she falls to one knee.It takes me two seconds to figure out who they are.“You must move, Litha.We need to get out of here,” the woman whispers urgently, trying to haul Litha to her feet.The woman peers down the tunnel, yet when I catch sight of her face, I stagger back a step.
“Granny?”I murmur.
My mind is racing as I try to make sense of what I’m seeing.I have no doubt it’s her.Her face is the same though brighter, younger, not marred with the lines of old age.
“I can’t,” Litha gasps, clutching her swollen belly.“The baby is coming,” she groans.
My granny’s eyes widen in fear, but she holds Litha’s hand, offering what little comfort she can.
“Please, Litha, come on.We can’t stay here.The war is spreading.It won’t be long before they check the tunnels,” Granny begs Litha.
“Then go, Mother.Just leave me, there is no point in both of us dying!”Litha yells, shaking off Granny’s hand.
“I am not leaving you...I will not abandon you.”
“Get the coven, run.He’ll go after them next,” Litha urges my granny.However, Granny shakes her head.
As the contractions grow stronger, I know there is no turning back for Litha.The pain makes it nearly impossible for her to take a few steps before the next contraction comes.Time seems to stand still in the dimly lit tunnel.The air ripples with each of her contractionswhen footsteps sound.
“Litha, up.They’re coming,” Granny hisses, pulling her up, only for Litha to scream and clutch her stomach.My granny clamps a hand over her mouth, her eyes frantically peering down the tunnel.Suddenly, the footsteps grow so loud it makes me turn to see Zeke and Regan storm into the tunnels, walking straight through me as if I am nothing more than an apparition.
Met with the scene before them, they stop in their tracks.My granny puts herself in front of Litha protectively.“You don’t have to do this...”
Regan and Zeke look at each other in shock.“She’s pregnant?”Regan gasps.“He never said anything about her being with child...”Regan says, looking at Zeke.
“I’m not killing a pregnant woman,” Zeke says, clutching his hair as Litha screams, drawing everyone’s attention to her.My granny turns, trying to help her while still watching the kings.
“What do we do?”Regan looks at Zeke as he paces, but Litha’s screams echo loudly.
“Shut her up!You need to keep her quiet!”Zeke hisses at my granny, glancing nervously down the tunnels.
In the dimly lit tunnel, with the support of my granny, she gives birth to her daughter.
“She’s perfect,” Litha whispers.My stomach sinks as I take in what I’m witnessing, what I’m learning.When Litha turns her pleading gaze to the kings.“Please, I beg you, just let us go.We’ll leave.We won’t return.You can have the Kingdom,” she pleads.Her voice is weak as she continues to bleed, my granny frantically tries to stop the bleeding by removing the placenta.
“Here, take her,” my mother says to my granny.I still can’t wrap my head around it.However, I know that title feels right.Litha is my mother.
“Please, spare my mother.Let her take my daughter.Please, she is just a baby,” she pleads, lifting her arms to Regan.Regan scratches his chin.
“Let me think...let me.You have half the city hunting you.There’s a bounty on...”his words trail off as he looks at the baby inLitha’s arms.
Regan suddenly falls to his knees beside her, hands trembling as he kneels and carefully takes me from her arms.He looks up at Zeke, and I see the same wonder in his eyes.
“It can’t be...”Regan murmurs.
Yet no sooner has the baby been placed in Regan’s arms, Zeke staggers forward.Zeke’s eyes lock onto me in his arms, and I can see the hunger in Zeke’s eyes as he reaches for me.
“She’s mine!”he snarls.My granny screams, shoving him back, but Zeke lunges at her, knocking her aside and into the wall.Regan shoves me back into my mother’s arms and tackles Zeke.
