“Bloody hell,” Jen muttered.

“You girls must be getting bored by now.  I think a game is in order. So you all might want to start saying your goodbyes. I will be back for one of you soon and the hunt will begin.” Then he was gone.

“He said I have a month and a half left,” Jen started, not bothering to acknowledge that he had left. “Okay, I was five and a half months pregnant when we were taken. So if he’s saying I have a month and a half, that would make me seven and a half months pregnant, which means we’ve been missing for a month in the human realm and two months here.” She glanced down at her stomach and lifted her shirt. She did look bigger, but she didn’t think she had grown that much while they had been there. She looked up at Cynthia. “Is she going to be okay? Do you think she’s developing according to the time here or the time in the human realm?”

Cynthia’s eyes were wide and filled with worry, which did not instill confidence in Jen. Cynthia walked over to Jen and bent down on one knee and pressed her ear to Jen’s abdomen. She strained to listen and then heard it.

“Her heartbeat is strong and solid,” Cynthia told her.

Sally cleared her throat, bringing everyone’s attention to her. “I could check on her.” She paused, waiting to see if her announcement was going to freak Jen out; she was so unpredictable these days. When she didn’t say anything, but just continued to stare at her, she continued. “I mean I could go in and look at her and see how developed she is. If you want?” she finished quickly.

Alina walked over and put her hand gently on Jen’s shoulder, “This is why having a healer is such a gift, Jennifer. She will not hurt you or the baby. This is what she was created for.”

There was complete silence as they waited for Jen to speak. Jen trusted Sally. It wasn’t a matter of trust that was causing her to hesitate. It was fear. Once Sally did her thing, they would know for sure if the baby was alright. What if she wasn’t? There’s nothing they could to help her. Decebel wasn’t here to hold Jen’s hand, or to wrap his arms around her and tell her he would protect them. But she knew if he were here, he would have already grabbed Sally and forced her on Jen. He would be brave and he would want her to be brave.

“Alright,” she finally agreed softly.

“Here Jen, come lay your head in my lap and I’ll play with your hair like you use to make me do for hours when we watched Buffy.” Jacque sat on the ground and motioned for Jen to follow.

Jen closed her eyes as Jacque’s fingers ran through her hair. She had always loved it when they would take turns fixing each other’s hair and brushing it. She felt the air flutter against her neck as the strands were lifted and then felt the soft brush of the locks against her shoulder and back. Over and overJacque’s fingers worked their way through the blonde strands.

She felt Sally’s hand press gently to her stomach and warmth began to radiate from it. It began in her abdomen then traveled outward, down her hips and thighs to her feet and toes, and up to her chest, shoulders, neck and head. The warmth made her relax even further, and she felt cradled in the arms of something greater than herself. She thought of Decebel and wished desperately that he could be with her, that he could be the one running his fingers through her hair. She longed so desperately for him and her mind tumbled back to a memory that made the warmth grow stronger.

He had been sitting on their bed and she had just come back from spending time with Jacque and Jen.

He turned to look at her and her heart melted all over again.

“Hey,” she said in an almost shy manner.

“Hey yourself,” he said back. His eyes danced with mischief and she knew he was in one of his playful moods, a mood only she got to see.

“Did you have fun with your friends?”

She nodded. “Yes. Did you have fun beating other wolves up?” she had asked him several times to let her come watch him spar with the others, but he was adamant about not letting her go. She had discovered, through doing a little eavesdropping in his mind, that he didn’t want her to see all the half-dressed guys. He had no clue how beautiful he was; how utterly perfect he was. She had told them that those other guys weren’t even in the same atmosphere as him, that he was on a totally different universe compared to others. He didn’t see it. He didn’t see how she saw him.

“Come here,” she told him.

He rose and turned to face her as he crossed his arms in front of his chest. “Feeling confident today?”

“Why wouldn’t I feel confident? I’m mated to you. That must make me pretty dang special.”

He walked towards her with a sly smile, his gait so confident and sure. When he was finally standing in front of her he lifted his hand to brush her hair from her face and then cupped her cheek in his large, rough hand. “I don’t think you have any idea how special you are to me, Jennifer. But I will spend my life trying to show you.” He leaned down and pressed his lips to hers, slowly, gently, until his hand slid back behind her head and pulled her closer. His other hand slid under her shirt and grazed her side where the marks, that testified that she was his, traveled from her hip to under her arm. He pulled away just briefly to whisper against her lips. “You are indeed mine and nothing will ever take you from me.”

Her mind returned to the present when she opened her eyes and saw Sally leaning over her with her eyes closed and her brow scrunched up, concentrating. She tried not to hold her breath as she waited for her gypsy friend to do her thing.