Page 68 of Angelina

“Maybe.I’m not sure how my presence will be received after hiding for so long.”

“Are you regretting your choice to come here?”Clayton asked.

“No, I’m not.I just know that many people feel as if I have abandoned them.”

“I don’t think everyone feels that way,” Zander stated.“I think they understand that you were preserving the breed the best way you believed.”

“Perhaps, but others will look at it as a coward’s way out.”

Clayton laughed.“You are far from a coward, Kristin.”

I rubbed a hand over my stomach as a slight contraction tightened it.I wasn’t worried about it, as this was my third child, and I knew that Braxton Hicks contractions were common in our breed and for all women.

Zander zeroed in on the movement.“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.Just a little false contraction.”I smiled at him to convey the fact that I was not worried.“They happen around this time in pregnancy.”

He looked leery.“If you say so.”I wasn’t the only one that was worried about his blood feeding the baby.I knew that Zander worried it wasn’t strong enough, but Isaac continued to reassure us both that it was.

“Hugh also said that things, where he is, are pretty quiet.”

“Well, that’s good.”

“Yeah, it is.”

Another pain streaked over my stomach, a little stronger this time, and I winced as the baby kicked hard.“Whoa, calm down there,” I murmured as I rubbed my belly again.

The door opened, and an anxious Isaac stepped into the room.“She’s not happy.”

“It’s okay, Isaac.She probably doesn’t like the contractions.”

“No.”He shook his head.“It’s more than that.”

She kicked again, and pain speared through my belly.Strong enough to cause me to gasp and grab on to the desk.I breathed through it as all three men in the room looked on anxiously.I put my hand up as Zander started to get out of his seat.

“I’m okay.I’ll just get up and walk this off.They are fake contractions.”I got to my feet a little shakily and went to take a step when another contraction bore down on me, and I clenched on to the desk again and hissed.

Isaac was at my side before Zander could get there.“Mistress, it’s time.”

“Relax, Isaac.It isnottime.”

“Your daughter says differently,” he replied gruffly as he held my arm until the contraction was over.

“Yeah, well, you tell her she needs to wait.”

“She is agitated about something.”

“What?What could this little thing be bothered about?”

“I don’t know, but I think it has to do with her father.”

“Come on, Isaac.That isn’t possible.I just talked to him two hours ago.He’s fine.There is nothing to worry about.”After the words were out, I was slammed with two strikes of pain—one from my stomach and another in my heart.

My knees almost buckled as I tried to endure the double blast, but halfway through it, my water broke, and all of us looked at my feet.

“Oh, shit!”Zander growled.

“I’ll go get the doctor,” Clayton said as he rushed from the room.

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