The doctor pressed the wand to Chelsea’s large belly and I held my breath. I didn’t know what to think, what to prepare for. The profile of a baby came into view but I could immediately see something was wrong. The head was misshapen, more coned at the top and the nose was nearly missing. My eyes widened in horror as the doctor scanned the chest and I saw that no heart flickered. It was dead. Then, suddenly, it moved, jerky and animalistic.

“Like us, they do not breathe or have heart beats. But the fetus is growing in size, and we think the head and nose will normalize during the final month. It’s a success!” Layla clasped her hands and the couple seemed delighted.

The head and nose will normalize? Bullshit. Seriously? You were excited about a non-breathing, no-heart-beating thing with no nose and a cone head?

I could feel Chelsea’s depression settle over the pack. She was desperate to get out of this situation. She didn’t know Tara and although she cared for another female werewolf, she wanted the hell out of here no matter the cost. She wanted this thing out of her. She was a loose cannon and I understood why. She felt like a piece of meat. Carrying this unnatural thing inside of her was making her crazy. Being Alpha, I was privy to all of her thoughts.

‘It’s going to be okay, I will get you out of here. I will fix this, I have a damn good plan.’ I sent waves of calm through my Alpha bond to her. Okay, damn good plan may have been over selling it a bit, but it was the only plan I had.

Her eyes met mine and I saw a fierceness in them that told me that if I didn’t get us out of here soon, she was going to lose it and put all of us in jeopardy. She was even strongly considering suicide. Anything to get her out of this situation.

“Will the baby grow old or stay a baby forever?” Sarah asked, her high-pitched, eager vampire voice made me want to dropkick her in the teeth.

I had a god-awful feeling that the baby hadn’t been able to grow in Layla’s belly before because vampires don’t age. My theory was that by using werewolves to incubate and carry them, they were some type of vampire-werewolf hybrid. If that was even possible.

The doctor met my eyes and seemed to consider if she should comment.

Layla smiled as the doctor put an arm around Sarah. “We aren’t sure, but we suspect that if the baby can grow inside of the werewolf carrier then it may continue to need werewolf blood for feedings to continue to grow.”

My stomach dropped. Oh God no. No. This was beyond evil. There was no way they were feeding off of us! Tears rolled down my cheeks.

‘Kai, I need you. I can’t do this.’ This would never stop; we would be hunted forever. I felt Kai’s pull on my energy trying to find me, to communicate with me but I couldn’t hear him.

The doctor wiped Chelsea’s belly clean and then grabbed her by the arm pits and hauled her up, dragging her out of the room.

Layla strode over to the table and grabbed the blood pouch that she had taken from my arm and enclosed it in a nice silver case, handing it to Sarah.

“We will wire the money.” The woman kissed each side of Layla’s cheek.

Layla waved her hand like she didn’t care about the money. “Follow me to the procedure room. You will need to stay overnight. In the morning, we will implant the werewolf of your choosing.”

Oh God. Not another one. I had to get us out of here now! Layla winked at me before slamming the door and taking her entourage with her. Oh my God, I was so tired. It must be two in the morning and I was having trouble keeping my eyes open.

Sadie spoke to me frantically.

‘They are here to take the next girl and switch out for Tara.’

‘Make sure they take Kylee!’ I told her.

I searched for Kylee within the pack bonds. She wasn’t afraid. Not feeling pain had given her a courageous edge. I closed my eyes and grabbed the link that bound us. I could feel her fighting. She had punched one of the vampires. They slammed her against the wall and she cried out in fake pain.

‘They’re taking me,’ she told me.

‘Good.’ This plan had to work. It had to.

‘You do realize that just because she can’t feel pain, doesn’t mean she won’t die of silver poisoning, right?’ Sadie told me.

I sighed. ‘I know. I won’t let that happen.’

There was silence for a moment. ‘Sadie, they are coming to take another girl for implantation in the morning. We need to get out tonight. Stay awake.’

I felt Sadie’s apprehension at my news. ‘Okay, we’ll be ready.’

Werewolves slept at night like normal people. We would be a weak and tired bunch by the time we got out of here, but it was the only way. Now, I just needed to get out of this cage. Once I had word that Tara was free of the torture chamber, I could go to work on getting us out of here.

‘Sadie, tell Tara that Max loves her. He wanted to tell her but didn’t get the chance,’ I added.

I felt fear roll through Sadie. ‘You don’t think we will get out of here.’

‘No, I just want her to know. To give her hope.’ Right? I looked down at my arm, which was slowly dripping blood into the bag. How much blood could I afford to lose? Would it start to weaken my power? Blood. Blood! A light bulb went off. I was an Alpha now and Alpha blood was the most powerful for spell casting. I grinned.

‘I have a crazy idea,’ I told Sadie.

‘Good, I’m down for crazy right now,’ she replied.

‘Take Chelsea hostage. Make a weapon and threaten to bash her belly in with it. Anything to create a distraction.’