Pregnant With The Lycan's Triplets

Chapter Four

Daphne spent days in her apartment weeping. She forgot about work completely and, for the first time, she tested the theory of how long a werewolf could go without food.

On the evening of the fifth day, when she could no longer feel her legs, she crawled to the telephone and spent nearly an hour ordering a pizza because she was barely coherent.

She couldn't eat the pizza at the end of the day because she kept throwing it up and could only drink the water and Coke that came with it.

Even the pizza guy had recognized her as the ‘crazy lady’. He'd tried to hide it given the state he saw her in, but she'd known.

Sometime later, she heard a knock on the door. It was late, and she couldn't possibly be expecting anyone, so she just continued to lay on the floor, figuring the person would go away eventually.

But they didn't. When she finally managed to open the door, it was the pizza guy and an older woman.

“Wh– wha– what's going on… here?” She tripped over her words, slurring weakly.

""Oh my goddess! She's even worse than you described!"" The woman exclaimed, hurrying in and grabbing Daphne as she did.

Daphne tried to fight her off but couldn't.

“Calm down. I'm a nurse. My nephew here said you looked terrible when he delivered some pizza to you earlier this evening and thought I should come check on you.""

Daphne looked over at the young man as the woman settled her onto the sofa.

He just gave a small smile.

Daphne didn't remember much after that. She just knew that days later she'd begun to feel better and had found a friend in Niara, the nurse.

The woman came to see her every day, checked on her and the baby, and brought food.

“You haven't gone out in almost two weeks.” She said to her one day. ""I understand you're scared of people recognizing you and stigmatizing you, but you need sunlight, the baby needs it. You could wear a baseball cap or something to hide your face.""

Daphne burst into tears – an act she seemed to be doing quite well these days. She didn't know what to say or do. Niara thought she was just someone who'd decided to try her luck at dating a man like Xander Ark, but the pain of the truth had yet to heal. How could he have slept with her and then rejected her? Treated her so awfully? And he'd known. He'd known that she was his mate. He'd been waiting to reject her.

The tattoo on her neck had disappeared and been replaced by a small scar: the mark of a rejected wolf. There was no way she could present proof to anyone.

Daphne followed Niara outside the next morning. She wore a face-mask and a baseball cap.

They went to the aquarium and then the train station.

Daphne wondered why Niara would take her to a place where there was no sunlight, since her principal reason for making her come out was sunlight, but she figured she would just trust her.

Niara kept walking, she took Daphne to the departures platform, took a one-way ticket for the next train, and then pulled a growingly suspicious Daphne to a bench.

“You're leaving now.”

“Excuse me?” Daphne was beyond confused.

""You can't stay in this town anymore. Members of the crescent moon pack would make your life and that of your child miserable.""

""Why – why would you say that? I'm – I'm a member of the pack too, although, by association, I’ve worked for a lot of their pack members over the years.""

""Daphne, you have to trust me on this. Look into my eyes and tell me you haven't thought of it.""

Of course, Daphne had. From the very beginning, she'd wanted to leave Davedswood. Go somewhere far away where nobody knew her or could recognize her. But she couldn't afford to.

And now here was someone offering her a chance to.

Her eyes filled with tears.

“I don't know how to ever repay you, Nini,” she croaked.

Niara hugged her.

“Just take care of that baby for me. And live a good life. All of your bills will be paid, so don't worry about that. Go start afresh.”

Daphne wiped her tears as they continued falling and could only nod.

Terrence, Niara’s nephew, showed up out of the blue with a small travel bag and Daphne was so overcome with emotion she nearly choked him to death with a hug.

“I owe you my life, Terrence,” She whispered.

*******

Eight months later.

Daphne wobbled into the maternity ward, sighing constantly as she did. The woman who was helping her in gave her a warning glance as they kept marching on.

""Beaula, for crying out loud, I'm fine! I'm sure I've still got at least three weeks before I –''"

“You'd better shut your mouth hole and quit yammering.” Beaula snapped.

Of course, Daphne shut up. Beaula was from the streets and had a mouth every grandmother would wash out with soap once they got the chance, but she was also the kindest and sweetest person Daphne had ever known. Since the very first day she'd arrived in Veaden, Beaula had been by her side.

She'd saved her from some thugs who'd tried to rob her at the train station and had taken her in and helped her get a job waitressing.

Ever since her pregnancy had clocked six months she'd been fussing over her, got her manager to give her ‘maternity leave’, and had ensured she never missed a doctor's appointment.

Now she was convinced that Daphne was going to give birth in a few days and not a few weeks, hence their impromptu doctor's appointment.

Daphne sighed again as a nurse helped her onto the bed, looking at Beaula long-sufferingly.

She hadn't done a scan since, but now, since ‘she’ was concerned that she might be having the baby earlier than expected, the doctor had to check and confirm the position of the baby.

Minutes later she was all gelled up and the doctor was doing his thing while Beaula monitored her very closely.

“Oh my!” The man chuckled. He looked a little pained like he was trying desperately to hold in his laughter.

“What's wrong?” Beaula demanded.

Daphne also looked earnestly at him, knowing there was no way she could understand the black-and-white squiggly things on the monitor.

""Uh well, firstly, Miss Beaula was on the right track. I expect you will be going into labor in a week or less. The babies’ heads are almost perfectly aligned.""

“And there goes the second surprise,” Beaula whispered, her face slackened by shock.

“I don't understand.” Daphne glanced frantically between the doctor and Beaula.

“He said babies Daphne .”

“You're going to be having triplets, ma'am.”