B.A.D (10 page)

"It's a bit cold..."

I shiver at the coolness of the gel he
sticks on my stomach. It's a sticky bluish substance. As soon as
the little white machine thing hits my stomach, a picture pops up
onto the screen.

"There it is." The doctor looks over at
us, beaming. Rane had told me he was a werewolf and it was very
exciting for him to be the doctor with us through the pregnancy
considering it was the future alpha's baby. His glasses are
slightly skewed but his brown eyes are bright with
happiness.

I feel Rane's hand squeeze
mine. I didn't look over at him, I was entranced with the picture
in front of me. I could slightly see the form of my -
our
- baby. My eyes widen
and tear up.

"You can see the head and parts of the
body right now..." Dr. Valentine, the doctor, traced the
outline of the baby on the computer. I tore my eyes away from
the screen to look at Rane who was hovering above me. His eyes were
wide in excitement and joy. He was beaming.

He looked beautiful in that moment,
just like the picture of the baby does on the screen. I look back
to Dr. Valentine.

"Can you tell the sex of the baby?" I
ask, hope filling my voice. The doctor nods.

"I can. Would you like to
know?"

"Yes." I'm the only one who
answers as Rane is still slack jawed staring at the picture of our
baby. I smile thinking about it -
our
baby.

He then starts talking in big technical
words.

"Can you just say if it’s a boy or
girl?" I sigh, I have no patience. I feel Rane's hand tighten on my
hand. We stare in each other's eyes while we wait.

"It's a baby girl." Rane's smile is
huge. I squeal. I actually wanted a boy... but I know I will love
this little girl. I look at Rane now and smirk.

Poor boy... she'll have him
wrapped around her little finger.

I feel a happy tear leak out. It's all
so exciting. I look at Rane and smile wide, just like he is. He
looks proud and happy. I sit up straight.

"I have to tell Layla!" I yell, sliding
out of the hospital bed.

"Wait - Elaina!" Rane calls after me. I
turn around and glare at him.

"No. I'm going." I glare at him,
challenging him to deny me. He holds his hands up in surrender, his
eyes wide. He smirks, though, clearly amused.

"Women." the doctor mutters and walks
off. I frown after him. I shrug my shoulders to myself and walk out
the door.

Rane drops me off. He goes back to talk
to his father on an update with the rogues.

I just walk on in her house, calling
her name. She comes running down the stairs, tackling me when she
gets in a close range. I squeak and freeze for a second until I
realize she is being careful of my stomach.

Then Jayden comes walking down the
stairs. My eyebrows scrunch together in confusion and I look
quizzically to Layla. An eyebrow lifts in an 'explain' gesture. She
smiles wide.

"I'm so happy that I can tell you
everything now."

"What?"

"Well," she points to Jayden. "He is my
mate and..."

"Mate! You're a werewolf?" I shake my
head slightly, this was too much at once.

"Well, not exactly." Then what the hell
was she?!?

"Then what are you?"

"A witch."

Chapter
20
"A... A witch?" I ask, disbelievingly. We had been friends for so
long and I had never known.
"Yup." she says, her hair swinging as she nods. I look at Jayden
and then her.
"How did you not know that he was your mate?" I ask, referring to
the time she was going to seduce him. "Wouldn't he already want you
since he was your mate? What is he?" The questions just pour out.
Layla sighs and looks heavenwards before answering.
"He is a werewolf, Rane's beta. I didn't know he was my mate and
nor did he know I was his. It wasn't until we touched, skin on
skin, that we knew. I am a witch, not all witches get mates. I
thought I was an unlucky one so I was going to go on ahead and lose
my virginity. I just didn't know I was going to pick my mate." she
cuddles up next to Jayden and smiles up at him.
I shake my head slightly, suddenly tired. "I'm going to go home. I
just... I need a nap." I say and start my journey to the door. It
seems so far away.
"Wait!" I hear her call out I slowly turn around, my eyebrows
together in confusion. She runs up to me, hugging me I hug her
back. "Don't go in the woods tonight." she whispers in my ear,
pulling away to look in my face seriously.
I glance back at Jayden and he has the same serious look on his
face. I slowly nod. "Okay..."
What was so bad that I couldn't go in
the woods?
That kept playing, over and over, in my head as I walked home.
She's never warned me about it before... Why now?
What was going to happen?

I finally made it home, darkness
crowding in overhead. I walked in, going for the
kitchen. Linda, Shane's mom, was nowhere to be found but
Shane ran up to me as soon as I entered. I lowered down next to
him.

"Hey, bud. What's up?" I smiled at him.
He smiled too, his front two teeth missing.

"I'm hungry. Can you make me
something?" he asks with wide innocent eyes.

"Yeah, did Mom not make
anything?" I still kept up the act of her as my "mother", for his
sake. I stood up from my crouched position, the air
whooshing
out of my lungs
as I did. Shane shakes his head no.

Why am I not
surprised?

Shane sits on a counter stool, slowly
spinning himself, as I make him spaghetti. He said he wanted it and
I was suddenly craving it, sleepiness gone.

"How do you feel about being an Uncle?"
I turned to look at him as I asked it, waiting for his reaction. At
first his eyebrows were scrunched together in confusion.

"Does that mean you have a baby in your
tummy?" he asked, eyes wide in wonder as he stares at my stomach. I
nod my head a move closer to him.

"Yup. A little girl." I step in front
of his now still chair. "Want to feel my stomach?" I ask as he
raises his hand. He smiles big up at me and touches my stomach, I
feel a light pressure.

"It's hard." he whispers. He looks up
at me in curiosity. "Can she hear me?" I shrug my
shoulders.

"Why don't you see?" he nods his head,
blond hair swinging. His hand is still on my slight bump. He leans
in close, as if to tell her a secret.

"Umm... hi?" it comes out as a question
and I have to hold in a laugh. When nothing happens, he pouts. "She
didn't do anything back."

"It's okay." I tell him while rubbing
his hair. "Why don't we eat? Maybe in a couple weeks, she will be
big enough to talk or do something back?" I tell him while getting
plates out. He nods, his eyes bright.

Throughout dinner, he talks about the
baby. He tells me that he will protect her with all his heart...
and muscles. He even holds his arms out and flexes. I laugh at his
show of machoness.

"Oh yes. You will definitely be able to
protect her with those muscles." I reassure him. He agrees and
keeps on eating.

When he finishes, I bathe him and get
him dressed. He gets in his own bed this time and I tuck him
in.

"Night, Shane." I say and kiss him on
the forehead.

"Read me a story?" I turn back to him
and nod. As I read 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf', I realize that maybe I
could do this, care for the baby. I practically raised Shane
myself.

I shower and get in pajama shorts and a
big t-shirt. I throw my wet hair up in a braid. I am on my way to
my bed when I hear a scream.

I immediately freeze and look towards
the window, where I heard it come from. I hear it again and don't
waste any time in running out the door.

I run until I get to the wood's edge,
where I stop. I suddenly remember Layla's warning.

Don't go in the woods
tonight.

I look uncertainly at my house back to
the woods. Making my mind, I run into the forest.

Stupid?
Yes.

Brave?
Probably not.

Do I care?
Nope.

From Chapter 11, A dream of
Elaina's:

My bare feet run across the
green grass without a sound. They pad carefully through the thicket
of twigs and leaves. Darkness caresses my skin and surroundings.
The only light was from the full moon, peeking through the trees
that tower above my head.

I was not yet tired, I would
soon though. I was not a werewolf, but a witch. I couldn't continue
running as long as they could.

I hear footfalls behind me,
they get louder and louder. I turn my head a fraction and catch
sight of a black wolf and a light brown one. They are big, way
bigger than normal wolves. I know they are werewolves and I doubt
that I can outrun them.

Brown hair flutters over my
eyes briefly and I almost trip over my own feet. I manage to keep
upright but they are closer now.

My hands slap branches and
leaves from my face. My legs are getting cut by the briars that
stick up from the ground, making me bleed.

I squint my eyes when I
think I see a flash of blond hair. I shake my head and pray that
she isn't here, that the blond wasn't from her hair. I would
die for her, I've been alive way too long now anyway. She has yet
to live.

I know that my praying has
gone to waste when she yells my name. She says it three times, I
count.

The way her voice carries on
the wind tells me that she is in my path, my only way to
freedom.

I turn back around and face
the wolves.

I can't bring them to
her.

"Please! Answer me!" she
yells at the top of her lungs yet I won't say anything.

As the wolves barrel down on
me, I can't control the scream that rips from my throat as they
prepare to jump...

Chapter 21

I run through the forest, my breathing
heavy. I swear that the scream had come from this way. I also knew,
somehow, that it was from Layla.

Was this why she didn't want
me to go in the woods tonight?

I shook my head and screamed her name
out.

"LAYLA!!"

I didn't hear an answer. I look around
wildly. I wasn't even sure what I was looking for, something to pop
out at me, maybe? Something that had answers.

I didn't know where I was either. I was
too intent on finding where the scream was coming from. I hadn't
heard a scream in a while though.

"LAYLA!!"

I didn't know what was worse, not
hearing a scream or hearing one.

I call her name again, that making
three times.

"LAYLA!!"

My breathing comes in pants, getting
harder each second. I turn in circles until I hear
growling.

I still, frozen to the spot. There are
at least three wolves close by. Is Layla being chased by
them?

I run to where I think the growls come
from. I realize something. I have never been that smart these past
months.

I mean...

I went out to a party.

I got drunk.

I had sex with a stranger.

That stranger being a
werewolf -
even if I
didn't know it at the time.

I got pregnant by it.

Now here I am - chasing after
wolves.

"Please! Answer me!" I yell out, hoping
she would actually obey my plea. She didn't. I heard and saw
something worse.

I see Layla run out slightly to where I
can see her. I see that she plans to try and detour the wolves into
following her instead of seeing me but it doesn't work.

I run to her yet I won’t be fast
enough. I scream out at the same time she does.

The wolves are preparing to pounce on
her. Our screams bound around in the woods, shrill and high. I know
someone had to have heard it.

The lead wolf starts to jump as another
turn to me. I slowly back away, shaking in fear. I know that they
can all smell it yet I don't care. I'm not even scared for
me.

I'm scared for Layla and my baby. My
arms circle ,y waist in a protective manner as the rogue stalks
after me.

I can tell that they are all rogues,
they have red eyes full of bloodlust. The third wolf watches from
the shadows, silent but deadly.

I feel ready to cry as I see the big
black wolf, the leader, jump. But I almost fall to my knees in
relief as more wolves start to pour out of the forest. Rane is
there too, I recognize his blue eyes on his silver wolf. He is
beautiful.

A mix between dark and light brown fur
suddenly hits the leader of the rogues. I know this is Jayden, he
is protecting his mate.

While looking at the scene of the
wolves, Jayden, and Rane, I don't see the light brown rogue in
front of me. I should have. I didn't. I also didn't see the man
creeping up behind me, read to knock me out.