“Okay…..,” she said slowly, not really understanding.

“Won’t they be able to just figure out that we went by the water?”

His hand tightened around hers as he shook his head.

Well, she thought he shook his head, but she couldn’t really tell because she was being dragged behind him and he was moving really fast.

“The smoke from the fire is going to blanket this entire area for a while and make it difficult for them to find our scent. Add the scent of a hundred or so frightened humans into the mix and it’s going to become damn near impossible for them to find our scent,” he explained as he caught her once again with a pained grunt.

“Um, if the smoke and human scents are going to give us cover for a little while then why are we walking in the water? Why don’t we cross and walk on land where it’s warmer?” she suggested even as she tried to release his hand to do just that.

“Oh no, not so fast, my little Munchkin,” he said, pulling her so that she could walk right alongside of him. “The other scents will confuse and cover our scents, Munchkin, but it won’t be long before they figure out that we never came out the front. They’re going to look for us and when they don’t catch our scent then they’ll split up and I don’t know about you, but I’d rather only have to deal with one of those dumb asses if I have to.”

Actually she’d rather not have to deal with any of them if given the choice. They’d scared the hell out of her when they grabbed her and whisked her off to that room. She truly thought they were going tear her apart.

What she hadn’t expected was that little sniff fest of theirs. Talk about creepy. Speaking of which.

“Chris?”

“Yes, Munchkin?” he asked distractedly as he watched the woods around them for any movement, she supposed.

“I don’t think we really have to worry about them being able to scent us and come after us. They thought they scented a pregnancy on me so I think we’re in the clear if we want to walk on land now, okay?” she explained, wondering why he didn’t come to the same logical conclusion sooner as she gave his hand a tug as she tried to go towards land only to have him haul her back to his side.

“They weren’t wrong, Munchkin,” he said tightly, not sounding pleased at all.

“Ah, yeah, they were,” she said, feeling her patience fray. Not being able to have children was a sore spot for her and not something she could joke about. She’d always wanted kids, and when she found out that she couldn’t have any it damn near destroyed her.

“No, they weren’t, Izzy. You’re pregnant. That mark on your neck is a pretty clear indication and those dumb f**ks took away any lingering doubts,” he said evenly as he doubled his pace, forcing her to practically run through the water to keep up with him.

“You mean my rash?” she asked, wondering what the hell was wrong with everyone. She’d seen the blockage in the ultrasound images and knew there was absolutely no way that she could be pregnant.

None.

“It’s only appears as a rash in the beginning, but now it’s a circle, the symbol that you’re carrying a human child. If you kept the child you would only be pregnant for another four months. Sentinel pregnancies only take half the time of human pregnancies whether you’re having a human or a Sentinel baby,” he said, but she was only half listening as she reached up with a shaky hand and traced the small raised circle beneath her ear where the rash used to be.

“What do you mean by, ‘if I kept the child’?” she asked numbly, afraid to even blink and discover that this was a dream. This couldn’t be real, she thought with a watery smile. A baby? She never dreamed this could ever happen, but what if it was?

Having a baby would change things and she’d definitely have to see about getting trained and buying a house with the best security money could buy, but she’d do it. She do anything to give her baby the childhood she always wanted. She couldn’t believe it. It felt like winning the lottery. She wanted to cry, jump and hug someone.

“I meant exactly what it sounded like, Munchkin. You can’t keep the baby. As soon as we get to the compound I’m having a doctor terminate the pregnancy,” Chris said, bringing her world crashing down around her.

*********

This f**king hurt, he thought , grinding his teeth together as he did his best to get them the hell out of there. At least four of his ribs were broken, one of them pressing against his lung if the pain he felt every time he sucked in a breath was any indication. His shoulder and leg were killing him, but at least they hadn’t hit the rocks, he thought, wincing when sharp pain shot through his lung.

Izzy yanked her hand away from his and he barely caught himself before he stumbled. She didn’t need to know he was in bad shape. He didn’t want to scare her, but if they were found now he wouldn’t be able to put up much of a fight to keep her safe. He’d only be able to shoot them and that wouldn’t do a hell of a lot of good with Djaeho demons. It would just piss them the hell off.

As much as he hated doing this, he needed help for his mate. It was a chance he didn’t want to take, but he had no choice. His only hope was that whoever answered his call had brains enough to get Izzy to a compound and under protection before nightfall. Leaving her in a Sentinel home would only cause more problems, problems that a Sentinel couple wouldn’t be able to handle on their own. Izzy needed to be brought to a compound where there would be more than enough Sentinels to guard her and help get her ass out of the country.

“Did you seriously just tell me that I’m pregnant only to turn around and tell me that I’m not keeping it?” Izzy demanded, thankfully using her anger to haul ass through the water ahead of him.

Sucking in a pained breath, he pulled his Sentinel phone out of his bag and scanned his thumbprint. As the phone slid open he kept his thumb firmly pressed to the screen and pressed 1-1-2-5, the SOS code that would hopefully get his little mate the protection that she needed.

When he didn’t answer, because he couldn’t, she continued. “Because I’ll let you know right now, buddy, that’s not your choice! I never expected this and I sure as hell never planned on it, but I’m telling you right now that I am keeping this baby and it’s going to take more than just you to take away from me,” she practically yelled, which was okay at the moment since it meant that she couldn’t hear him struggling to breathe.

With a shaky hand he placed the phone back in the bag, sealed it and placed it in his pocket before he did something stupid like drop it. He wrapped an arm around his chest to help lessen the pain, but it didn’t help. Holy f**k, this hurt. Every breath felt like someone was taking a hot poker and ramming the tip into his lungs.

“I don’t want children, Munchkin,” he somehow managed to bite out. He’d never allowed himself to want any children of his own. He was more than fine with his brothers and sister and future nieces and nephews, but he would never have one of his own. He just couldn’t take the chance that he’d hurt his child, he just couldn’t.

“Good for you, buddy. You don’t want this baby then that’s fine,” she said, sounding close to tears and if he wasn’t in so much f**king pain or struggling just to keep putting one foot in front of the other while he slowly trailed behind her he’d grab her and pull her into his arms and explain everything, but he couldn’t.