Page 61 of Duke's Baby Deal
She nodded.
I went numb, completely, except— “Duke! Can we get a message to Duke?”
“I can try. But right now, I need to call Dr. Stambourg and get you down to delivery. You okay here by yourself for a moment?”
I nodded. “I don’t feel sick. I just…” I had to stop, because I was going to start crying again. “I’ll be okay.”
“I’ll only be a second.” She left, and moments later I heard her saying something sharp to Nurse Cranky, then she was back to help me into the wheelchair. “We’ll call your husband from labor and delivery. The doctor is being called now, he won’t be long. Don’t worry. We’re going to look after you and those babies of yours.”
I hoped so.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Duke was just cleaning up after a messy glue job fixing a broken table when his cell phone went off. He glanced at the screen, and his heart started beating so fast it ached. It was the hospital. The only reason for the hospital to be calling him was if something went wrong. “Hello?”
“Duke Mercy Hills?”
“That’s me. Is Bram okay?”
“We’re just calling to let you know that Bram has been taken down to Labor and Delivery. It looks like his water broke last night, which means that the babies have to be delivered now.”
It was only twenty after five in the morning—he had another forty minutes before he could leave. “Thank you,” he stammered out, his brain going a mile a minute trying to figure out a way to bypass the curfew laws and get to the hospital. He paced the Alpha’s living room, chewing his lower lip and eyeing the door. Fuck it. He’d go talk to the guys on the gate and see what they’d do. Maybe he’d get a sympathy vote.
He left a note for the family and slipped out the door. The van started easily and he was down at the gate within ten minutes of the call coming in.
The human guards were nowhere to be seen, probably inside their building watching television, or whatever it was that they did to pass the time. Duke got out of the van and paced restlessly in front of the gate, hoping that they cameras on the space and would pick him up. Eventually, the door to the building opened and a man came out, hitching his pants up and pulling a ball cap down over his eyes.
“Gates don’t open for another fifteen minutes,” he said, his tone saying he thought Duke was stupid to try to get out early. “Curfew’s still on.”
“Isn’t there any kind of exception for emergencies? My mate’s in the hospital here having twins and the babies are coming now, early. I need to get there.”
“Can’t open the gate. Against the law. She’ll be fine, you can wait.” The man started to turn away, but spun back again when Duke threw himself against the gate, ignoring the burning in his hands.
“Dammit, he could die. The babies could die! You’re telling me there’s nothing that can be done?”
The human put his hand on the holster at his waist. “You just calm yourself down there, boy, or you won’t be going anywhere. Gate opens at six, just like the law says. If you want to be driving through it at six, then you need to go sit back in your van and wait, like a good dog.”
Duke snarled and shook the gate once before storming back to the van to glower at the gate and the humans on the other side of it until curfew lifted. As soon as the bars rolled away, the lights glinting off them like off the edge of a knife, he put the van in gear and headed out.
The human held up a hand to stop him, something he hadn’t done since the end of the second week. “Papers.” He stared at Duke, his hand still on the butt of his gun, the holster opened. Duke stared at him, then slowly reached for the papers in the glove compartment and handed them over. The human slowly read through them, glancing between them and Duke as if checking him against the description, then read through the papers again a second time.
Duke gritted his teeth and squeezed the steering wheel. He wanted to yell, to curse at the man holding him up, to tell him to fucking grow up and to let Duke go to his mate. But he didn’t, couldn’t, because if he did, he might never make it to the hospital. This was all happening because he hadn’t kept hold of his temper when he first arrived. He had to wait it out.
Finally, the man nodded and handed the papers back. “You remember this, next you’re in a hurry. I don’t got to do anything you say, so if you want something, you got to make it worth my while, or wait until it’s convenient for me.”
Duke swallowed and nodded, keeping his eyes focused on the road ahead of him. The guard watched him for a moment longer, though it felt like an hour, then nodded and let him go.
He rode the speed limit like it was his life on the line, and luckily there wasn’t much traffic. He pulled into the hospital parking lot at twenty to seven and raced up to the maternity ward. “Bram,” he panted. “Where is he?”
Kristy took his arm and led him down the hall. “Follow the green line. And good luck,” she called after him as he raced away from her.
The hallways twisted and turned and he wondered if they’d ever end. Then, he came to a set of locked doors. He pushed at them, then shook them.
A voice crackled out of a small speaker he hadn’t noticed. “Can I help you? Push the button to speak, please.”
He pushed the button. “Bram was brought down here. My mate, he’s having the pups. Please, let me in!”
“Oh, I was told to watch out for you.” The door made a noise. “Come in.”
