“What gave it away? The, I’m in terrible pain, look, or the, I’m scared as hell and don’t think I’m ready for this, look?” Jen asked dryly as she tried to breathe through the next contraction. She gritted her teeth and braced herself on the cave wall as her stomach cramped down. She swore that her child was trying to claw her way out instead of going the traditional route. “I guess we don’t have to worry about that C-section, huh doc?” Jen growled.

“How far apart are the contractions?” Cynthia asked as she went over to the box that contained the blankets. She began making a pallet for Jen to lie on.

“Not freaking far enough,” Jen growled.

Cynthia watched her for a little while as she helped her walk slowly around the cave with Jen cussing her all the while. She determined that the contractions were around six to seven minutes apart; so they still had some time.

“Well, look on the bright side,” Jen said after a particularly difficult contraction, “at least you don’t have to filet me.”

Cynthia didn’t smile. “We aren’t out of the woods yet.”

“Pun intended?” Jen tried to smile but it came out more of a grimace.

“I’d like to say that I’m feeling that clever right now, but honestly Jen, I’m just hoping I remember everything I need to about delivering a baby. I haven’t done it since med school.”

“Uh, doc, you aren’t inspiring a whole lot of confidence here.”

“I’m going for honesty.”

Jen let out a huff of laughter. “Of all the times, you go for honesty. Remind me to teach you when it’s appropriate to lie which is in nearly all stressful situations, by the way.”

“I’ll remember you said that.”

“Tombstone,” Jen grinned at the doctor.

“Is there any movie you haven’t seen?” Cynthia asked.

“Doc, we’re from Coldspring, TX,” Jen said just as another contraction began.

“Point made.”

Chapter 23

“Have we been foolish to believe that we could win? Have we been so vain to think that we were powerful enough to defeat evil and walk away with no casualties? We have been fools. We have walked into the lions’ den. Instead of respecting the danger the beast possessed, we believed ourselves to be invincible.” ~Peri

“Do you remember the first time we shaved our legs?” Jacque asked Sally, though she knew she wouldn’t, couldn’t answer. “We were eleven and Jen had told us that she refused to be seen with hairy beasts and if we wanted to remain her friends then we would have to become Schic chicks. You had asked her what the crap a Schic chick was and she had tossed a pack of disposable razors at us and then refused to let us out of the bathroom until we had shaved. I don’t think Ihad ever seen you that mad. You were as pissed as a wet cat.” Jacque laughed out loud. “Jen had asked you what the big deal was and you had told her that it should be your decision when you were ready to shave your legs and then Jen had told you that anything related to beauty was always to be deferred to her. I swear I thought she was going to shave your legs for you.” She ran her fingers through Sally’s brown hair as she looked out into the dark forest. Her mind wandered back to happier times.

Jacque felt the tears as they slowly slipped down her cheeks. She wondered if she would ever be able to smile again, and if so, how? She thought about the other girls and about her mom. Oh crap, my mom. Please don’t let my mom die, she told the Great Luna. Please, I don’t think I can handle losing her. Jacque squeezed her eyes closed and leaned her head down until her forehead touched Sally’s. She was still warm, though not as warm as someone whose heart still beat, but warm enough to know that her life had only just been taken.

“I’m so sorry, Sal. I’m so sorry this happened to you,” she wept. She wept for her friend; she wept for Alina and for Vasile and Costin. She wept for Jen who didn’t know about the deaths. And she wept for the loss she knew was yet to come. She wondered if it was possible to die of pain, to die from too much loss, and as the sobs wracked her body, she decided that it just might be a possibility.

“So we know that Reyaz has rigged this so that one of the females will sacrifice themselves for us,” Sorin growled, “and there isn’t a damn thing we can do to stop it.”

The group paused as the wolves took in deep breaths, trying to catch the scent of any of the four females still hidden.

“There has to be a way to stop him. There has to be a way to protect ourselves so the females don’t feel they have to make the sacrifice,” Adam spoke up as he pulled Crina close to his side. She had tears glistening in her eyes and he rubbed circles on her back, attempting to comfort her.

Peri flashed to where they had stopped and pulled the fae stones from her pocket. “We might have a way to do just that.”

Alston stepped next to her. “They show up now? Why not two deaths ago,” he nearly yelled. Peri saw that it hurt him nearly as much as it hurt her to lose those under their protection.

“You know I don’t know the answer to that,” she snapped back, “and asking questions like that isn’t going to bring them back.”

“Elle and Lilly are that way,” Sorin said and his eyes narrowed in the direction he pointed. Part of him wanted to take off in a dead sprint, to get to his mate as quickly as possible, but a part of him was terrified of getting too close and having her put in a position where she felt she had to sacrifice herself for him or anyone else.