Page 71 of Prince of Tides
A sudden wave of nausea keeled me over, sending me to the floor where I was sick. Then another hit me.
And another.
“Laurie?” Gisele asked, worried. “Are you okay?”
“No,” I gasped between rounds, clutching at my stomach. “Something is wrong, Gisele. I need to get home. Now!”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Laurie
While I remembered very little about my frantic flight to the giant mountain, I did remember apologizing profusely as I spilled what little I had in my stomach down the scales of the dragon carrying me. Was it Gisele? I didn’t know. Someone had ridden behind me, holding me in place. Perhaps that was Gisele.
Whoever it was, they carried me through the Rift, where they started bellowing for Eb. I tried to tell them he would be downtown, but apparently, I was wrong. The long-haired shifter appeared, taking me from whoever was carrying me. He barked some questions, asking what was wrong and where I was hurt.
“My stomach,” I whispered. “Something’s wrong with my stomach.”
My baby. Oh, god, please, not my baby.
That was all I could think about as a bucket was shoved under my face and they strapped me into the backseat of the giant SUV.
Eb, with Gisele in the passenger seat, got in and started driving us toward town. I continued to dry heave—though nothing was left for me to bring up. The twisting of my stomach, however, never ceased. The pains were sharp, and my muscles ached from the constant attempts to expunge something that wasn’t there.
“Just hang on,” Gisele said from the front seat as we drove through snow-covered roads at breakneck speed.
“Too fast,” I whispered. “We’ll crash.”
Gisele shook her head. “Snow is water, my dear. You don’t have to worry about traction with Eb at the wheel.”
So that’s how he did it.
It was my last coherent thought before I blacked out. I vaguely recalled lights and faces peering down at me. A bright light shining in my eyes. A painful prick in my forearm.
Then more darkness.
My stomach hurt.
That was the first thing I noticed as I swam my way back to consciousness through a sea of disorientation.
“Ow,” I said through a throat mangled from projectile vomiting for hours on end.
A frantic-looking Gisele appeared in my vision. “Laurie? Laurie, are you okay?”
“No,” I said. “My stomach hurts. Water?”
“Here,” the elderly shifter said, lifting a plastic cup to my lips. “Drink.”
I didn’t have the energy to hold it, so I let her dribble the liquid into my mouth bit by bit. Most of the water just trickled down my throat on its own. I was too scared to swallow; it hurt.
“Am I okay?” I asked eventually.
Gisele looked over at Eb, who was leaning calmly on the wall. He was right next to the door, I noticed, allowing him to intercept anyone who came through. My guard.
“I’ll get the doctor,” he said.
That sent a stab of worry deep into me.
“The baby,” I whispered fearfully to Gisele. “My baby, oh, god.”
