Hope Awakened by Charlene Hartnady

Chapter 34

Reece paced. His feathers not only rubbed but sprouted, too. He felt the need to shift with every fiber of his being.

The feeling of being locked away while a battle was being fought above him was excruciating. It physically hurt. He could hear screeching. Sounds made in rage and others in agony. He could hear thuds, followed by more screeches…louder and closer this time.

He glanced at the females. Hope was positioned between Claire’s legs. She was frowning and saying words of encouragement.

It looked like the eggs were well and truly on their way.

His eyes flashed from left to right, following the noises outside. Trying to escape these silver confines would be futile. Touching the silver would simply burn and weaken him. No, he needed to stay and wait. Every protective instinct raged inside him. He had to work hard not to shift. Not to pace faster. Not to throw his head back and to screech himself. All of which would be a useless waste of time, not to mention that it might draw unwanted attention.

“I need to get up,” he heard Claire say. She was panting and moaning.

“Yes, that’s fine. Whatever is most comfortable,” Hope said as she helped her into a squatting position.

There were scrapes on the ledge. Two faces appeared at the entrance. Milos and that fucker, Cradock. They unlocked the cage, pulling the door open.

“Leave now, and I will let you live,” Reece warned. Every muscle in him tightened.

“Step aside!” Cradock bellowed.

“We’re here for the queen.” Milos’s eyes were wide. The male looked frightened, and he glanced back. The Fallen were losing. In fact, it sounded like the cries of battle were dying down. This was Ekon’s last-ditch effort to get Claire.

“Go now, and I will let you live!” Reece growled again. “If you take one step into this nest, I will end you.”

“Let’s get the human,” Cradock told Milos. “We have our orders. I’m not leaving without her.” He turned his cold eyes on Reece.

“Maybe we should run. If we—"

“Do you see yellow feathers?” Cradock growled at Milos. “We will take the queen and then we will leave. Our king was clear.”

Claire was breathing heavily. Hope had put herself in front of the queen. Her eyes were narrowed. “You will have to come through me first.” She picked up a nearby candlestick, holding it above her head. Hope’s eyes burned with fierce determination.

That’s my female!

The thought startled him. There was no time to ponder further since Milos and Cradock were advancing. Even though Milos had seemed to be the most reluctant, he charged in first. Reece wasn’t sure what the male hoped to achieve. He certainly hadn’t thought this through. Reece waited for the last possible second and then ducked out the way, putting his arm up to catch Milos by the throat. The male went down, choking.

Reece stomped him twice while he was down. Both blows were to the head. Not enough to kill the male, but enough to keep him down for a while.

“Thank god!” Hope shouted. Reece heard something metal clang to the floor. The candlestick perhaps? Why had she dropped it?

“Claire!” he heard Leukos shout.

“Sweets.” Magnar was there too.

Cradock’s top lip curled in a silent snarl. “Next time.” He started to back off.

“No! We’re having this out,” Reece shouted.

Cradock shook his head as he turned and ran.

“Not a chance,” Reece muttered as he chased after the male. This fucker had done a number on him too many times to just let him walk away. He seemed to enjoy hurting people. Reece gave Cradock a shove as they reached the ledge.

The male stumbled forward, shifting as he ran. Reece did the same, feeling his jeans rip. It felt good to let his feathers erupt and his wings extend. His tail thrashed as he took to the sky. Reece screeched as he raced after the bastard. Why was it that the biggest bullies always ran the fastest?

When the asshole realized that he wasn’t going to get away, Cradock turned and lunged at Reece with his claws. The long, sharp talons caught him across the chest, slicing through flesh. Reece screeched, slashing back. They went at one another with claws and beaks. Falling and falling and falling in a wild flurry of feathers and shrieks. Cradock was a big, strong bastard. Reece knew as they hit the hard, unforgiving ground that he was in the fight of his life.

* * *

“Oh, thank god!”Hope shouted, dropping the candlestick with a hard clang.

“Claire!” Leukos shouted. The king was naked, with streaks of dirt across his chest. His eyes were wide as he ate up the floor with long strides.

“Sweets!” Magnar bellowed, coming in right behind Leukos. His face was bloody, as was his right hand and arm. It looked to Hope like it wasn’t his blood, since he didn’t look injured in any way.

Claire was laughing and crying. Her breath coming in sharp pants that reminded Hope that Claire had been in the middle of pushing out a baby. Not a baby – eggs – the first of three.

“No! We’re having this out,” Reece shouted from the other side of the room.

Hope glanced over in time to see Reece chase one of the Fallen out onto the big ledge.

Claire moaned loudly. Shit! She couldn’t think about Reece right then. She heard cracking. Reece was shifting. Claire moaned again. Reece was a big, badass warrior. He could take care of himself…she hoped…prayed. Right now, she needed to keep her head in the game.

“Claire is having these eggs,” she told Leukos and Magnar.

“What?” Shock registered on the king’s face. “Now?”

“You’ve got this, Sweets.” Magnar sat next to Claire on the bed, taking her hand.

“You’re bloody,” Claire said between pants, looking at Magnar.

“I’m fine,” Magnar growled. “Not my blood.”

Claire groaned, her eyes squeezing shut as she gripped her belly. “I need to push. I really need to push. It’s coming. Our egg. Our baby.” She looked excited.

“What?” Leukos yelled. “Are you sure?” He also grabbed Claire’s hand. “My love, I’m so sorry. We should have stayed at your side. Should never have left you. This is all my fault.”

Claire groaned again. “Not…your…” She grit her teeth.

“Here comes another one,” Hope said. “Help her back into the squatting position,” she told the men. “Unless you want to lie down?” she asked Claire.

“Squatting…is…good,” Claire said between pants. Her mates helped her up. They held her on each side.

Hope moved to the front of Claire, where she could see what was happening. She really wished that Delise was there. Hope had delivered countless human babies. Eggs, though? Holy shit! She could do it, she assured herself. If Reece was there, he would tell her as much.

Reece.

Crap!She didn’t want to have to worry about him, too. Thing was, he was good at his job. Amazing at his job. And so was she. An egg…a baby. Tom-ay-to…tomato. She had this.

“Do you still need to push?” she asked Claire, who nodded almost manically.

“Yes!” Claire grit her teeth again. “There is a heaviness…down there.” She looked down between her splayed thighs. Just as she did, a gush of fluid splattered onto the furs.

“That’s great!” Hope said. “Your membranes have ruptured. It won’t be long now, Claire.”

“Oh, good!” Her face was pinched with pain. “I can’t take much more. I…can’t…”

“You can! Push when you’re ready.” Hope could see that Claire was having another strong contraction.

Claire nodded once, bearing down. She pushed, and she pushed hard, putting her chin on her chest.

Hope thought she saw something for just a second, but Claire stopped pushing and it disappeared. “Again!” she shouted, but Claire was trying to catch her breath. “It’s there,” Hope told the other woman. “Right there. When the urge hits again, I want you to push with everything you have.”

“You saw my egg?” Claire sounded excited.

“Yes!” Hope grinned. “I think one or two more big pushes and you should have a beautiful…egg.” She cleared her throat.

Claire laughed. Her cheeks were flushed, and her hair was plastered to her forehead. She looked at each of her mates in turn, who also beamed with excitement. It didn’t take long before the next contraction hit.

“Push!” Hope shouted. “Push!”

“Push!” both men shouted in unison.

“You can do this!” Leukos bellowed.

Claire gave a hard yell, and it was there. An egg. It slid right out, landing with a plop on the soft bed. Hope gave a yell, too. Her mouth hung open. She could feel that her eyes were wide.

Claire was breathing heavily, looking down between her legs. “I did it!” she shouted.

There, in the middle of the furs, lay the egg. It was oblong and perfectly white, with brown speckles. It was bigger than Hope had expected. Her mouth still hung open. Hope couldn’t seem to close it. “Oh, my word!” she finally whispered in absolute awe.

“You did it!” Leukos shouted.

Magnar threw his arms around Claire. “You are amazing in every way.”

Hope touched the egg, being as careful as possible. It was soft and yet very strong, like leather. She knew from her discussions with Delise that it would harden up and become brittle, just like a regular egg, and then hatch in a couple of hours. This one would hatch first. A smaller version of a human baby would emerge. It was a miracle. “Should we move this egg?” Hope asked, not sure what to do at that point. They’d never actually discussed much about what would happen beyond the laying.

“Um…” Leukos looked at Magnar, who widened his eyes as if to say that he didn’t know.

Claire groaned, clutching her stomach. “The next one is coming,” she groaned. “I…I…feel it. I need to push again.”

“Go ahead, Claire,” Hope said. “We need to get the next two out as soon as possible.” She knew that once the membranes broke, if labor stalled, clutch sickness would set in. Clutch sickness occurred when the eggs turned hard inside the woman, making it impossible to get them to pass. It would mean breaking the eggs internally, thus losing the babies. The woman then stood a good chance of dying too. Although she had told those Fallen bozos that she would perform a C-section, nobody knew if that would be possible. Or if either the mother or the children would survive the surgery. As it stood, Hope didn’t have any of the equipment required to perform a surgery. Claire needed to get those eggs out.

It turned out that her worries were unfounded because Claire pushed hard, and another egg landed neatly next to the first. The queen squealed with sheer delight, as did both her mates.

“Brother,” a man said from behind them.

Shit!

Shit!

Shit!

It was Ekon. Not now!