He nodded again and as he started putting in the call to the Mother Ship, Lizabeth groaned loudly again.
“Oh God, Kat—it hurts! The pains…they’re coming faster now!”
Her eyes were wide and frightened and Kat struggled to keep her calm.
“Hang in there, doll!” she said, gripping Lizabeth’s hand. “Just let me get my guys on the line. We’ll get you taken care of in no time.”
She closed her eyes and began mentally reaching for Deep and Lock. She got Lock first and then, after a second, Deep came into the mental connection as well.
“What is it, sweetheart?” Lock could clearly feel her panic through their link. And no wonder, Kat thought. Poor Lizabeth was moaning continuously now and her belly was rippling under the pretty blue maternity dress she was wearing.
“What’s wrong, little Kat?” Deep asked, also sounding concerned. “Are you in danger? Did that Blood Kindred pilot get you into a crash? If he did, so help me—”
“No, it’s nothing like that,” Kat sent back hastily. “Guys, it looks like Lizabeth is going into labor! And I’m not really any judge of this kind of thing but it seems to be going really fast. As in, I’m afraid I’ll be doing the delivery myself if we don’t get back to the Mother Ship right away!”
“Stay calm,” Lock instructed her. “I studied natural birthing methods for your labor, Kat. If it comes to that, I can talk you through it.”
“Well, I’d rather you didn’t have to!” Kat thought at them. “What I need is for one of you to go grab Sylvan and drag him over to the Med Center as soon as possible. No—better yet, have him meet us in the Docking Bay,” she corrected herself. “Better tell Lone to meet us there too, just in case. I had the pilot send him to the Med Center but who knows what might happen?”
“I’ll get Sylvan and Lock will get Lone,” Deep assured her.
“We’ll be waiting in the Docking Bay with an emergency med team,” Lock promised.
“Okay, thank you.” Kat felt a surge of gratitude for her men. I’d better let you go now—I need to concentrate on poor Lizabeth.”
“You do that, little Kat,” Deep told her. “Just be safe and tell that damn pilot to be careful!”
Kat promised she would and then broke the connection to give her friend her full attention.
Lizabeth was crying out in pain and when Kat took her other hand, she clutched it with panicky tightness.
“Oh Kat, it hurts! I knew it was going to be painful but it feels like someone is ripping me apart!”
“That’s just because Kindred babies are so big, doll.” Kat tried to keep her voice cheerful and light as she squeezed Lizabeth’s hand. “Don’t you worry—we’re going to be back to the Mother Ship in no time and Sylvan is going to meet us there with a great big shot of pain killer, I promise!”
“I hope…hope you’re right,” Lizabeth panted. “I thought I wanted to go natural but now…all I can think of is getting something to stop the pain.”
“You’ll get it,” Kat promised her. “I swear you will.”
She just hoped they would get to the Mother Ship in time for her to keep her word. Unfortunately, she knew from experience that giving birth to a Kindred baby—which could be five to even ten pounds bigger than a regular human one—could be an arduous process.
She was afraid that Lizabeth was in for a rough time but she promised herself she wouldn’t leave her friend’s side for a single moment of it. Not one moment.
Chapter Thirty-seven
Vicky waited and waited but the only people who showed up at her door were her two daughters, Jodi and Melinda. Of course she was extremely happy to see them—she loved them more than life itself—but she couldn’t help keeping an eye on the door. And with every hour that passed without another knock, her heart sank a little lower.
“Mom, what’s wrong?” her oldest daughter, Jodi finally asked, pushing a sheaf of long black hair over one shoulder. She had Vicky’s coloring with her mother’s green eyes and dark hair while Melli looked more like her father, with tousled honey-blonde curls and big blue eyes.
“Wrong? Why would anything be wrong?” Vicky said, trying to sound nonchalant.
But apparently her attempt failed because Jodi paused the movie they were watching—Moonstruck, an oldie but a goodie—and looked at Vicky with a hand on her hip.
“Don’t give us that—we know when something’s wrong with you—the same way you always know when something is wrong with us,” she told Vicky.
“Yeah, Mom—something’s up,” Melinda chimed in. “You know Jodi’s right—we can always tell if something’s bothering you.” She put a hand on Vicky’s arm. “Are you…are you missing Dad?” she asked in a low voice.
Vicky almost laughed at the thought. Miss Kevin? After she’d actually found out what a real man was like? A man who cared about her and her pleasure?
Only maybe he doesn’t care quite as much as you thought, whispered a pessimistic little voice in her head. Otherwise he’d be here, right?
Vicky tried to push the voice to the back of her mind and concentrate on her girls. She hadn’t told them about her little space adventure, preferring to keep up the convenient fiction that she’d gone and spent a couple of days with her friend, Kathy, on the other coast of Florida. So there was no way she could explain that she was hoping—wishing—that the handsome, much-younger-than-her Kindred warrior she’d gone off with on Valentine’s night would soon come knocking on her door.
If Chain actually showed, she could explain then. But it seemed like a bad idea otherwise. After all, she wouldn’t want her girls acting like she had—running off with a strange man in the middle of the night to
