Captive's Desire (13 page)

“Ow,” Jenna said, dropping her bear.

“Did you prick your finger?” Livvie asked, looking at the small drop of blood on the tip of Jenna’s finger.

Jenna leaned forward and clutched her belly, rocking a little. She moaned.

“Jenna?” Livvie asked, coming around to put her arm over Jenna’s shoulder. “Jenna, what is it? Are you ok?”

It took a few moments and Jenna gripped Livvie’s hand, squeezing it tight, before she straightened.

“It’s ok. The baby’s coming. I’ve been having contractions all day, but not one like that one.” She rose to her feet, but remained slightly bent, clutching her belly with one hand, Livvie with the other.

“Sit back down, Jenna. I’ll run and get Shane.”

Jenna made a pained noise, but nodded and did what Livvie said. “I wanted to be finished with my bear,” she said as Livvie opened the front door.

“It’s ok, I’ll be back in a minute. I’ll finish it for you.”

Livvie ran down the dark road and made her way to Main Street. There were only a few people still out and one of them was Jayne from the school.

“Livvie?” she called out, stopping her. “What is it?” she asked.

Livvie looked at Jayne, seeing real concern in the older woman’s eyes for the first time. “It’s Jenna,” she said. “I have to get Shane; she’s having her baby.”

“Where is she?” Jayne asked very calmly.

“At my house. I told her to wait there.”

“Ok, I’ll get the doctor over there and run up myself.”

Livvie nodded her head, but her face must have shown her worry. Jayne squeezed her once before letting her go. “It will be fine, Livvie. Just go get Shane; the baby won’t come that fast.”

“Thanks.”

* * *

Shane, Hayden, and Livvie returned to the house to find Jenna lying on the couch with the doctor and Jayne huddled over her.

“Jenna!” Shane called out, rushing to her side.

“It’s ok,” Jenna said. “Just the baby’s coming a little sooner…” She squeezed her eyes shut and stopped talking for a few moments while Livvie watched in horror.

Hayden took hold of her hand. “It’s ok, it’s just a contraction.”

“Can’t they give her something for the pain?” she asked.

Jenna smiled again. “He’s coming sooner than we thought.”

Shane slipped onto the couch next to her and gathered her into his arms.

“We can’t move her anymore, she’s too close,” the doctor said. “Let’s get some clean sheets and make her as comfortable as we can. Jayne, I’m going to need your help so go wash up.”

Jenna’s small groan of pain was all Livvie could hear though.

“Livvie,” Hayden said, forcing her to turn and look at him. “If you want to go for a walk or something, you can.”

No, that wasn’t what she wanted to do at all. Her friend needed her. “No, I want to help. What can I do?” she asked.

* * *

About two hours later, Jenna held the small bundle to her breast. The doctor and Jayne left and Hayden gathered some of their things in an overnight bag.

“Do you want to hold her?” Jenna asked.

Livvie sat on the coffee table. “Um, no, I’d better wait until she’s a little bigger. What’s her name, anyway?”

“Anna,” Jenna said.

“Pretty.”

“You ready to go?” Hayden asked, dropping the bag by the front door. They were going to spend the next few nights at Shane and Jenna’s house until Jenna healed. The doctor would come back in a few hours to check on them and Hayden had wanted to give the new parents some privacy.

“Come back tomorrow after work, will you?” Jenna asked.

“Ok,” she said. “I will.”

She and Hayden left and walked the few blocks to Jenna and Shane’s house.

“You were very brave,” Hayden said to her as they went into the house.

“I don’t know if I can ever do that,” she said. She was still a little shell-shocked by what she’d seen.

“You can, you’ll be a great mom.”

She looked at him, realizing she’d not considered that possibility even for one moment. “Me?”

“One day, why not? Don’t you want to have babies?” he asked. “I’ve seen you with little Sarah; her mom’s even mentioned to me how much Sarah talks about you at home. And Jayne’s been very pleased with how the children react to you.”

“Me?” she asked again.

He laughed and hugged her to him. “Oh, Livvie! Come upstairs, let’s go to bed.”

She followed him, but her mind went immediately back to Katie. Her need to save her sister grew even greater, if that was possible. She looked at Hayden as he undressed and slipped beneath the covers.

“Hayden?” she asked when he turned the light out.

“Yes?” It was so dark she couldn’t even see his face.

“When will you attack the cities?”

“Soon. Within two weeks.”

* * *

Livvie didn’t sleep that night. Too much had been happening and tonight, seeing Jenna with her newborn baby, had been the final straw. She’d been worrying about her sister for weeks now and although she fully believed that the resistance fighters were the good guys, she wasn’t willing to call her sister collateral damage just yet. She needed to find a way to get back to her before the attacks took place. There was no other option.

The next day was slow at school; a few kids were out sick. Jayne came to their classroom at about half past three.

“You did great last night, Olivia,” she said to her. Something had shifted between them; Livvie could feel that the woman trusted her now.

“Thanks, Jayne,” she said, feeling warmer toward her. “I’d never seen anything like that.”

Jayne smiled. “I imagine not,” she said. “You were wonderful though.”

Livvie smiled back.

“I actually came to see if you wanted to head out early. With the number of kids out today, you are free to go, if you like.”

“Really?” Livvie asked, her brain working.

“Yes,” Jayne answered.

“Ok, thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess,” she said. Jayne walked out and Livvie put away the things she was working with before heading out the door.

Once outside, she stood still, looking around for a moment. Her life was different, so different, than it had been less than two months ago. She thought of that old life and of her sister. She missed Katie more than she could explain with words. And she wondered what was happening to her now. She couldn’t put aside the feeling she had, the weight in her stomach telling her things weren’t going to go well with Katie. Wondering if she was already too late to save her twin sister.

In the time she’d spent at the camp, she’d not gotten sick once as she thought she would. As she’d been told she would. The people she was meeting were kind and in Jenna, she’d found a best friend. Jenna was probably one of the warmest people she’d ever met.

She headed toward Shane and Jenna’s house where the street was empty and quiet, as it always was. The sky was darkening a little; it wasn’t as blue as it usually was. A storm was coming in. She looked at the front door of the house, even had her key ready to insert into the lock when she decided. She pocketed the key and turned around, picking up speed before she could change her mind.

This was her opportunity. There wasn’t going to be a better time.

Mentally, she ticked off all the people she’d be leaving behind here. But if she could just get her sister and come back to the camp, they would forgive her. They’d have to. They’d have to understand she couldn’t leave Katie behind.

And she couldn’t afford to be afraid any longer. Her sister needed her and she knew Hayden wouldn’t allow her to go back; the risk was too great. She could understand it in a way, but it didn’t change the fact that she needed to get to her sister.

She headed down the road and toward the river.

* * *

“I’ll wait out the storm here,” Shane said into the phone.

“Relax and spend some time with Jenna and the baby. Don’t worry about coming back in now,” Hayden said, looking at his watch. He had other plans anyway. “I’ll see you later.”

They hung up just as the first strike of lightning lit up the darkening sky in the distance. Hayden counted the time between the flash and the sound of the strike. He had a few minutes before the storm hit town, just enough time to get home. He thought of Livvie. She’d come so far since she’d first gotten here. She seemed to be adjusting and had made a best friend of Jenna. People were coming around and beginning to trust her. Having her work at the school had been a good move. Not to mention how she was coming along in the bedroom. She was insatiable and although it still shamed her to no end when he fucked her, it didn’t take much to coax her into trying new things and asking for more. He smiled and was about to walk out the door when a small beeping sound changed his expression. He looked down at his wrist where a blinking red light told him Olivia was out of school and heading in a direction opposite Shane and Jenna’s house.

“What are you up to?” he asked, walking out the door.

* * *

The drizzle had turned into sheets of rain quite suddenly. Livvie pulled the canoe to the water’s edge, doubting whether or not this was the best time to execute her plan. She was soaked already and the rapids seemed rougher than ever. But she was running out of time, she needed to act now. And it was just a small piece she’d have to cross. Once on the other side, she’d climb out, get on land, and be on her way home.

Home. Was Magnus One her home? No. Not anymore. This was home.

She made a noise and hauled the canoe the rest of the way, setting the first part of it into the water. Home or not, she had to get to Katie.

She picked up the oars that lay inside the canoe, pushed it a little further and just got inside when the current picked the canoe up and began to carry it down river. She let out a small scream when the force of it knocked her back and she lost one of the oars over the side of the boat.

“Olivia!” Hayden’s voice carried over the rapids and she turned just as the canoe hit a rock and flipped. She went into the freezing river, submerged fully. Her scream was swallowed by the water as the current pulled her along. The sound was remarkably peaceful even as she tumbled, her foot catching on a rock, giving her just enough so that she could momentarily grip it, gulping in air as she broke the water’s surface.

Hayden’s large hand reached for her and lifted her halfway into his boat before he had to let go of her to control the progress of the canoe. She pulled herself in the rest of the way, coughing up the water she’d swallowed, not sure which were tears and which were river water. She didn’t open her eyes, but lay shivering, huddled in around herself as he guided the canoe to the water’s edge and, with some effort, out of the raging river.

“Are you all right?” he asked, lifting her sopping body out of the bottom of the canoe.

She put her hands on his shoulders, both needing him to stand and needing to feel the solid mass of him there with her.

“Olivia, look at me,” he said, gripping her jaw and lifting her face to his.

She coughed, her eyes still watering. Without another word he lifted her and carried her home through what had now become a full lightning storm the likes of which Livvie had never seen.

* * *

Hayden was pissed. Well, now he was pissed, after the terrified shitless part had passed. When her collar had led him toward the river and he’d seen her dragging the canoe into the raging water, he’d about lost his mind. And he’d been just in time.

He stood in the kitchen drinking a whiskey, something he rarely did. He was still shaking, but whether that was because of the fact that he’d been afraid he’d lost her to the river or at how furious he was now that he knew she hadn’t been injured, he wasn’t sure.

She was sitting in the bathtub getting warm now. He’d told her not to bother to dress, but to report downstairs for punishment in—he checked his watch—just three more minutes.

Her footfalls on the tile floor were quiet. Hayden turned to face her. She stood small, repentant almost, wrapped in a towel, her long dark hair braided down her back.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“What the hell were you thinking?” he asked.

“My sister,” was all she said, her big eyes on him.

He put his drink down, conflicted. “You could have died if I hadn’t been there. Did that idea even cross your mind?” He tried to control the tone of his voice.

She stared up at him. “I had to try, Hayden.”

“So what was your plan exactly?”

“I was going to rescue her and bring her back here to camp.”

His eyebrows went up. “On foot after crossing the river?”

“I don’t know! Jenna had her baby and watching her like that, with Anna…then you told me last night we’d attack within two weeks. Two weeks, Hayden! I can’t be a part of an attack that could hurt my sister. I can’t. And I can’t just forget about her!”

“Then why didn’t you talk to me? I’m not unreasonable!”

“You wouldn’t have let me go!”

“No, you’re right about that. I wouldn’t have let you go off in a canoe in the middle of a fucking thunderstorm!” He turned away for a moment, took a deep breath before turning back. “But you should have talked to me, told me what you were feeling. Damn it, Livvie,” he said, taking a step toward her. “Have I been so awful to you that you can’t even talk to me?”

She started crying quietly and shaking her head. “No. You haven’t been awful at all.”

He looked at her for a while, then gathered her in his arms. “You should have talked to me. Don’t you think I’ve been thinking of her too? Trying to figure out a way we can get her out?”

She looked up at him. “You have?”

He shook his head and looked away. “Christ, Livvie. Shane’s going to have my fucking head.”

“You’re going to rescue Katie?” she asked, smiling a small smile, the relief being so great.

“I’m going to try.”

“Hayden! Thank you. Thank you so much!” She wrapped her arms around him.