Page 26 of Ours

Pressing his lips into a thin line, he stared into eyes. He had a feeling she would respond favorably to the idea of being drugged and wouldn’t fight to stop him from injecting her. With her defenses down, Lexi should have no problem overtaking her.

“Well, get on with it then,” she said, not paying attention to Lexi as she prepared to attack. “Remove these damn cuffs already so you can shoot me up properly.”

Careful not to tip her off, he nodded his head. Reaching into the front pocket of his pants, he pretended to fish for the keys to bide Lexi some time. Distraction was the name of the game; he needed to keep Nikki’s defenses down.

Pushing out an exasperated sigh, she eyed him as he dug around for the keys to the handcuffs. “What’s taking so long? Are you nervous or something?” she asked. “If this is about Junior, don’t worry. I’m sure he’ll be fi—”

Before she could finish her sentence, Lexi summoned all of her pent-up rage and began her second attack. With an animalistic scream, she burst through the invisible walls of her mental prison. Only having a split second to succeed, she threw her consciousness into every cell in her body. Catching her alter off guard, the forceful action switched their positions, allowing her to fully step back in as the main personality.

YOU STUPID BITCH!!Nikki screamed, rattling around in her newly acquired prison.

With a sharp wail, Lexi shook violently as she took stock of her physical body. She was weak and disoriented, overheated and filled with pain. Wracked with vertigo, her stomach churned, causing bile to rise in her throat.

“Kade...it’s me...it’s me,”she whimpered.

Swearing hotly, he tossed the syringe into the corner of the closet. Lifting his hands, he gently cradled her face. Looking into her wandering eyes, he felt relief wash over him when he noticed that they had returned to green.

“Lexi?!” he said, trying to get her to focus. “Oh, thank God! Are you ok?!”

Slowly meeting his concerned gaze, she swallowed a mouthful of vomit. Opening her mouth to answer, she was silenced by a crushing tightness consuming the muscles of her abdomen.No, she most certainly was not ok.

Noticing a look of true pain painting her features, a shiver of icy panic raced down his spine. He had never seen her face contort in such a way before, and it frightened him to his core.What the fuck was going on?Was Nikki trying to take over? He didn’t know what he would do if Lexi couldn’t stay in control.

“Lexi?Lexi!What’s wrong?” he demanded. “Tell me what’s wrong!”

Unable to form a coherent thought, she whimpered in response. Locking her shaking knees together, she felt the energy drain from her sore muscles. After what seemed like an eternity, the pain lessened just enough for her to verbalize that her worst fear was coming true.

“Our baby...he’s...ahh...something...something’s very wrong!” she managed to stammer before another wave of unexpected pain crashed into her.

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Pacing back and forth beside Lexi’s hospital bed, Kade kept his dark eyes on her sleeping face. She looked so peaceful, so angelic. It was in stark contrast to how she looked only hours before. He couldn’t remember the last time he had ever been so afraid. Her doctor assured him that she and the baby were fine, that her contractions were caused by nothing more than dehydration and stress. Even with that assurance, he couldn’t ignore the nagging feeling that something horrific was about to happen, and that he would lose them both.

Lifting his arm, he swiped his hand over his tired face. Letting out a sigh, he winced as his fingertips brushed against the bite mark on his jaw. That had been fun to explain away. The last thing he needed was to be dragged to the Cambridge police department for domestic assault. Luckily, the authorities that came to visit were under Bloodbayne’s payroll.

Moving his gaze from Lexi, he glanced towards the electronic fetal monitoring machine. A small smile brightened his face as he listened to the sound of his son’s heartbeat. It was strong and steady, whooshing at a healthy one hundred fifty-three beats per minute. His boy was definitely a fighter.

“Just like his Mommy,” he whispered, reaching over to take her hand in his.

Feeling a small squeeze around his fingers, he turned his attention back to her. Noticing her eyelids flutter, he held his breath as she began to stir. He prayed that it was his Lexi waking up, and not the bitch.

“Hey, Sweetheart, how are you feeling?” he asked, keeping his voice as soft as he could.

Moaning softly, Lexi fought off the remaining grogginess from her much-needed nap. Shaking off the last bit of her nightmare, she met Kade’s worried eyes. Deep lines etched into his handsome face, the aftereffects of worry and stress.Good,she thought. After what just happened, he deserved to feel like complete shit.

“The baby,” she rasped, trying to pull her hand from his.

Tightening his hold, he stopped her hand from slipping away. While she had every right to be mad, he would be damned if he let her shut him out. “He’s fine, my love. Healthy as a horse. They were able to stop your contractions and he’s not showing any signs of distress. They said they would take you to do an ultrasound when you woke up just to make sure, but he seems to be doing just fine,” he said, leaning over the gurney. “I don’t know what I would do if anything ever happened to you or our boy. God, I love yousomuch. Sofuckingmuch!”

Pursing her chapped lips together, she felt her eyes well with hot tears. She was relieved to know that her baby was healthy, but his hollow declaration of love made her sick to her stomach. How could he possibly love her after everything he did withher?

“Really? You love me? You sure have a funny way of showing it,” she said, her voice filled with a mixture of pain and anger. “If you really loved me, you wouldn’t have done what youdid.”

Closing his eyes, he felt a sharp sting on his cheek from her verbal slap. He deserved her fury, he only wished they could save this fight for a later date. A much,muchlater date.

“How much do you know?” he asked, reluctantly meeting her gaze once more.

“Everything,”she replied, successfully pulling her hand from his. “She made sure of it. The first time I couldn’t fault you, you didn’t know...but you sure as hell knew by the fifteenth time, didn’t you?! God dammit Kade! You just kept fuckingher!Again, and again andagain! Why?”

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