Page 37 of A Drink of Destiny
“I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw you two in the birthing center in a few days,” the midwife nodded. “Are there any changes you liked to make to the birthing plan?”
“No. Just make sure to have extra blood on hand. I don’t want to drink him dry,” I said, jerking my head in Raiel’s direction. “It took gallons last time to bring me back to normal after I gave birth.”
“I’ll start bottling it up,” Raiel said.
“No,” the midwife and I said at the same time. “It should be fresh,” the midwife went on. “Fresh blood is best for labor anddelivery. There will be plenty of blood there and we always have donors on hand for vampyric deliveries.” He turned his attention back to Raiel. “The donors won’t be drank from directly. So you can calm down.”
“Don’t –” he started and stopped himself. He took a deep breath and I squeezed his hand.
“Our little girl will be here soon and then we’ll all be safe and sound back at the house. We won’t have to see the midwife as often. It’s just a few more things and then we’ll be set,”I said, switching to our mating link.
“If that’s your only concern, you’re good to go,” Ophelian said. “I’ll see you in a few days. Call or come in straight away if you think it’s getting too close to your time. You’ve done this five times before. I trust you to know your body. You can pick up your sonograms on the way out.”
I lingered in the examination room to rest and soothe Raiel’s lion. The big maned and sabertoothed cat paced inside his inner sanctum. He needed to get out for a run or a hunt before the baby came but Raiel refused to leave me on my own.
“I’m fine,” he said as soon as the thought crossed my mind. “I really am.”
“Beal could come over or Crilus or anyone. We could hire a bodyguard or a nanny or---”
“Mate, I am fine,” he said and pushed a lock of my sort of messy hair behind my ear. “He is worried and impatient and you are hungry. Before we came to Earthside to work we lived with many cats. There would have always been someone to sit with you but over here is different. Over here is…” he paused, selecting his words carefully. “There are less people we trust here.”
“What does he think will happen if I’m alone?” I asked.
“Anything could happen. You could fall and get hurt or get stuck somewhere. Someone could break in and hurt you or kidnap you.”
“I’m not that easy to kidnap and just between us if someone actually tried to hurt me right now, I’d hurt them. Like a lot. It wouldn’t even be conscious. All vampires have some genetic self-preservation but pregnancy kicks that into overdrive. You can go out for a while.”
“I’ll shift when we get home,” he said and kissed my forehead.
“Will that be enough?” I asked.
“It’ll be more than enough. He just likes being out with you.”
Chapter Twenty-Three
Raiel
Pierce’s Family Estate
At home, I got Alvis settled in on the sofa only after making sure he peed before he sat down. This close to delivery the baby was doing cartwheels on his bladder and with our mating link wide open, sometimes the signals got crossed and I thought I had to pee when I didn’t. I didn’t want to deal with that while my lion was the one in control.
I gathered up all the things my mate might need that would require thumbs and made up a few extra bloodshakes. Only when I was certain that my mate was properly settled in and comfortable did I give in to the sabertoothed beast inside me. After stripping down, I stretched out on the floor. Fur started on my stomach and my hair grew out turning the tawny color of my lion’s mane. My canines extended and my claws came out of my fingers and toes. I grew larger, stronger, and furrier until I was my lion.
Alvis reached down and scratched between my ears. Normally, I’d take off the hand of anyone who treated me like a housecat but I loved Alvis’s touch and craved it in every form. I nuzzled so gently into his hand. My mate was strong but he was also fleshy and pregnant. He was my whole world and when you nuzzled the very person who was the reason you got out of bed in the morning, you were gentle. How could I be anything else with him?
Purrs echoed from deep inside me as he scratched me until he fell asleep. I catnapped on and off, opening one big eye to check on him every few minutes. Eventually, he was deep enough asleep that I scooted out from under his hand and didsome big stretches. My muscles were tight and ached to run. Maybe I could run around the house a few times. Maybe run in between the houses even. That would help ease this stir-crazy feeling eating away at my bones.
I prowled to the door and stepped on the little lever we had installed so that a press of a foot could open the door from the inside. Then I stepped outside. I sprinted around the house, stretching and picking up speed. At first, I stayed right next to the house, following its edges as if they were my boundaries. Then I spread out a little more with each circle until I was running all over the place and around all the houses. Crilus waved to me out of his kitchen window but I didn’t slow down. Couldn’t slow down. I lost myself to the run and the damp grass crushing beneath my massive paws.
“RAIEL!” Alvis’s voice cut into my thoughts.
How long had I been running? Shit! I knew something would happen the moment I left him. I leapt across the yard, landing in front of the house with a quiet thump before squeezing back through the doorway and over to the sofa. The whole house smelled as if kittens were on their way.
“I was just---”I started over our mating link, but Alvis spoke before I could finish my sentence.
“My water’s broke,” he whispered. “Calm. Stay calm. This isn’t an emergency. Babies are born every second of the day. It’s not an emergency. Even if we stayed right here nothing bad would happen but I’d much rather be at the hospital with a little bit of pain medicine and a whole lot of people to make sure the baby’s okay when she gets here.”
I started to grab his arm in my mouth but stopped short. Alvis wasn’t another cat. He didn’t have fur to protect him while I dragged him around. My cat yawned and gave in, and slowly but surely, I was back to being my fleshy form. I scooped up Alvis and carried him out to the car. His hospital go bag was already inthe backseat. I started to slide into the car when Crilus ran out of his house like a bat out of hell. I glanced around, sniffing out the threat the elf must’ve seen but there was none. He waved a pair of pants in the air as if they were his battle flag.
