Requital

CHAPTER 18

Deianira

I wake up to light streaming in the room we are in. Even though I should be well rested I'm not, I feel so drained. Maybe its all the events the past few weeks or maybe its the pregnancy. I'm gonna go with both. I stretch and my body moves closer to a hulking frame. That's right I slept beside Lorcan last night. He chuckles and whispers in my ear, "ahh none of that boss lady unless you wanna play with little Lor." Something is poking me in my backside. "I see you're back to your normal self, felling better?" I roll over with little grace holding on to my stomach. I look into his eyes. "Much, all healed up actually. Surprised me when I woke and the evidence of my failure has disappeared." His failure? His face is set in a serious expression one hardly see from him. He continues, "I failed to protect you from that rotten egg smelling bastard. I won't fail you again. The next time he shows his face I will not hesitate. For you and pups safety. I know you want to save this Tarkik but what if he kills you. What if he kills the baby?" I gasp he's right. I just hope we make it to the under before the demon tries to attack again. "You're right, its just hard Lorcan. I grew up with him. He was one of my bestfriends and before he came of age everything was perfect. Until the demon emerged he was my beloved, my everything and now he killed my dad well the demon did and I don't know how to feel. One moment I want him dead but the other moments, I want him to live. Not just for me but for this little girl growing inside me. If we have to kill him what will we tell her? That her other daddies killed her dad? You know she will figure out fast she's not biologically yours or Leiths. She will have questions and we have to have answers, good ones." "Let's just take it one day at a time" he says, "try and worry about the future later. We will try as hard as we can to lift the curse but I'm not taking chances anymore." He's right I know he is. I still don't respond though I just change the subject. "So we are ready to continue our journey then?" I say "Yes" he says, "We need to stock up on our supplies but otherwise I believe we can continue further this afternoon." Timber chooses this moment to walk in. Leith is awake now and starring daggers at him. It's then I notice a little puffiness and color around his right eye. I look to Leith and raise a brow. "I'll never let anyone hurt you love. That includes your mates." "Mate?!?!" Lorcan yells excitedly, "This is perfect. Another brother and before long we will have our own pack. The most badass if I do say so myself. One of many species, the first pack I've heard of like this." He smiles such a bright smile, so breathtaking. The moment is ruined seconds later when Timber opens his big fat mouth. "I can never mate her" Lorcan shoots up and is serious once more. He stands off in front of Timber glaring at him. "And why not?" He says, "Is boss lady not good enough for you rock man? You need a fellow rock lady to get your rocks off huh?!" Even in serious situations he cracks jokes. I want to laugh and cry at the same time. It's the hormones let's go with that. "It's not that" Timber says. "Then what is it?" Leith says, "It better be a good damn excuse too." Lorcan nods his head in agreement. Timber looks to me and says, "One day I will share it with you but not today." I stand and walk over to him. I poke my finger in his hard chest. "Listen here" I say, "I have had just about enough of you. Your rude, and all around asshole. You don't wanna tell me? That's fine. You don't wanna be my mate? Also fine, we will be gone before nightfall and you will never have to see us again." I turn to walk back to my other mates but what he says next makes my blood boil. "I'm going with you." "Like hell you are" I say, "You cant just treat me this way and expect me to let you accompany us the rest of the way I forbid it." Both Lorcan and Leith keep quiet. Letting me handle this stone headed gargoyle. "I will accompany you and that's final. I will not let anything happen again I will protect you both. All of you." He looks to me, my stomach, and my men. "Again?" I say, that just causes him to lock up and turn to leave. "We will meet at the gates sunset." He leaves without looking back. "Rocky is all messed up huh?" Lorcan says, I just smile at my wolf man and shrug. I have enough to deal with without a brooding asshole...

We get everything ready in record time. Leith Lorcan and I head off to the gates, packs in hand. We have enough food, water, and supplies to last the rest of the trip. The guys carry everything. Have since we started this. They try make sure I don't put anymore stress on myself but I'm pregnant not dying. I can handle holding a damn bag. "I can help you know, I'm not helpless." I say, "We know" Leith says. "This makes us feel good. It's a part of taking care of you." Whatever I'm not going to argue about this again. As we reach the gate we spot Timber. All tall dark and snarky. He has his own pack and I see his hand curled in a fist in front of him, he's holding something. "What do you have there Rocky." Lorcan says and I snort. "Rocky?" Timber looks at me for answers but he wont get any from me screw him, I look away from him. He walks over to me and opens his hand, "Here" he says. I look down at it, its beautiful. It's a golden necklace with a single pink stone in the middle. I just stare at it. He continues, "It's an enchanted necklace. It's to help the fetus grow and develop as it should." "Thanks" I say, "where did you get it?" "I had it in some of my things" is all he says. Then he just turns and walks back up to the gate. I guess that means no more questions then. Leith steps up to me and puts his hands out for it. I drop it in his hand and he motions for me to turn around. I do and he puts it on me. I immediately feel something happening and it's coming from the necklace. "Something happening with it I feel it." "Yes" Timber says, "It's supposedly quite powerful. Let's get back on track though. Is everyone ready?" He really knows how to make my blood boil. "Would we be here if we weren't?" I snark, and he actually cracks a smile. Though it is a nice smile I still wanna kill him. "Well then lets go" he says. He opens the gate and we all follow him down a path I didn't notice yesterday. "If we follow this path a few days we will reach the borders of the under." We all just follow him and ignore what he says because one again he's an asshole and my other mates agree so we all choose just ignore him. We travel down the path after nightfall for a few hours. We come across a split in it. Timber goes left so we go left. After a while longer to our right we see a hole carved out of some rock. It's big enough to fit all of us and it will shield us from the harsh sun rays of the mornings so we choose to camp out here. Leith and Lorcan start a fire and Timber makes all our beds up. Leith decides to cook tonight. We eat and then we all lay down. It doesn't take long before my eyes grow heavy and I'm lost in slumber. Two warms bodies slide beside me once more and we sleep peacefully.....