CHAPTER 48

CHAPTER 48
BLAIR

"This will be your new home," says the girl with pink hair as she opens the door.

"I don't need a damn babysitter," I respond, entering and discreetly caressing my belly.

"I won't be a babysitter. I live next door, that's different."

That idiot named Gavrel decided I was going to live in this place. The truth is, it's not bad and it saves me a lot of trouble of having to find a place to live, but I won't admit it. Besides, it turns out that the pink-haired girl, whom I now know is called Gwen, is my neighbor.

According to Gavrel, the deal will end when my child is born.

"I hope you like the place," he says as he sets my suitcases down while I look around.

Upon opening the door, the first thing I see is a small table to put essential things on. The hallway is narrow but wide enough for two people to pass through. I walk slowly down the hallway, and there's a doorway that leads to a small kitchen. I take a few more steps and enter an open living room with a three-seater sofa, a two-seater sofa, and an individual one.

There's a small fireplace that gives the place a homely touch, but I can't help but feel that this place is not a home; it feels more like some kind of prison. Damn it, what have I gotten myself into?

DALTON

I pound the wall, feeling the remaining tissue on my knuckles further affected. My hand burns with pain, but it's nothing compared to the fury I'm feeling right now. My Luna escaped, she left with my unborn child.

"Sir, I think that's enough," Nick whispers behind me.

"I'll determine when it's enough," I step past Nick.

I approach the man tied to the chair. Blood trickles from his temple down to his neck.

"I'll ask you again, which flight did she take?" I circle him like he's prey.

"I already told you, sir, I have no idea," he slurs his words.

I don't know if I should kill him right away or believe him when he says he didn't see Blair take any flight.

"Well, let's see if this refreshes your memory," my fist strikes his cheekbone again.

BLAIR

Two months later.

I look around, and everything is perfectly in place. Throughout all this time I've been away from home and away from everything, it's when I've finally been able to find myself and realize where my true talent lies.

After gaining enough trust from Gavrel to allow me to move freely around the city, I found this place: a small hotel located on the main streets of Russia that had been gradually forgotten, causing it to age. With Gavrel's help, who is my only partner in the hotel, we managed to breathe life back into it.

And today, precisely, is our grand opening. This place is primarily intended for those who share our race, although obviously, humans are unaware of it. Gavrel's pack members are here, admiring the place.

The hotel's decor is composed of sky blue, white, gold, and other pastel colors. We've tried to give it a Victorian style, and we've succeeded. I can't deny it has been a great challenge, especially being five months pregnant with an alpha baby eager to be born. I've reached a point where it's difficult for me to breathe due to the weight of my belly, but still, my baby and I have come through.

Among the people present, I see Gavrel, looking handsome in an elegant black tuxedo. However, I don't feel even the slightest flutter in my stomach. His blonde hair is slicked back, giving him a more sophisticated look.

"Everything is going smoothly, my partner," he says with a charming smile.

"Yes, just as I promised before my baby was born," I respond with a smile, but without showing my teeth.

"And how is that champion doing?" he tries to touch my belly, but I take a step back.

It's not that I'm mean or don't want him to touch me, but there's something I don't like. I feel like this place is still not entirely my home, and I still need to protect myself.

"I'm sorry, I forgot," he says, raising his hands in a peace gesture.

"You don't have to apologize, but you know how I feel about it."

"No problem, first-time mother's paranoia," he says with a sigh. "What name are you going to give him?"

"Eros," I say, gently caressing my belly.

"Like the god of love?" he asks expectantly.

"Yes, like the god of love," I reply, standing beside him.

"Why?"

"Because despite everything that happened between the father of my baby and me, Eros will always be a testament to the great love we had for each other," tears well up in my eyes.

"If you loved him so much, why did you decide to say goodbye to everything and leave?" he asks, looking straight into my eyes.

I lower my head and take a small breath. I think it's more of a way to gather the courage to answer that question. Why did I say goodbye to everything? Because I wanted to protect my little one because I needed to protect myself, like in...

"If I said goodbye, it was in self-defense," I answer with complete honesty.

"Well, let's change the subject. Where are you going to have the baby?"

"At home. You know I don't want to have it in a hospital."

"Well, then the Crown's doctor will help you."

I laugh at his words.

"What? Don't laugh, I must make sure that child comes into this world safely," he says with a smile.

Days Later.

Thank all the gods, the hotel opening is over, but now I feel very strange because suddenly all the weight I felt, even breathing, is slowly disappearing. However, now I feel all the weight stagnated in the lower part of my body.

I enter the kitchen of the apartment carrying a bowl full of green grapes when suddenly I feel a pain in my back so intense that I stop to be able to process it. I breathe and repeat in my mind over and over again that it will soon pass. I start counting until the pain gradually disappears until it's gone.

According to my calculations, the pain lasted about twenty-five seconds. It could be anything, the other day the doctor told me it was something normal.

I take a deep breath and walk to the living room couch to continue watching my series, which I had paused just to go to the kitchen to get more grapes. I sit on the couch and see that the TV's timer indicates there are still twenty minutes left for my episode to finish.

My only attire is a long pearl-colored silk nightgown that reaches my knees.

After finishing the episode, I stand up, turn off the television, and walk towards my bedroom. As I walk past the dining table, I quickly hold onto a chair because the pain returns to my back, but this time it's stronger as if I had been hit in the lower part of my back.

"Oh God," I start breathing through my mouth to calm myself down. It's still time for Eros to be born.

"Eros, if you're listening, my love, it's not time yet. There's no rush, Eros."

I walk carefully towards my phone, which is in the living room, and slowly sit on the armchair. I turn on my phone and see that five minutes have passed since the incident with the chair. I carefully dial Gwen's number.

"Blair, how delightful, woman," Gwen begins.

"Gwen," I say to make her stop.

"Nothing but the hotel happened, and you forgot about us."

"Gwen," I repeat.

"But of course, we'll still be here."

"Gwen!" I shout and manage to make her quiet.

"Well, but calm down."

"Gwen, I think I'm going into labor."

"Damn it," Gwen has quite a colorful vocabulary.

Before I can reply, a much stronger pain takes hold of my lower back again, and this time it makes me let out a small cry of pain and double over.

"Blair? Tell me you're still alive," I hear Gwen's voice through the phone.

"Yes," I barely reply.

"Don't move, I'm coming right away, but... just don't move," she says and hangs up the call.

I breathe slowly and try to calm myself down.

DALTON

I watch Nick closely as he punches the punching bag. I stand up and start pacing back and forth. My senses become completely alert, like that time when Blair fell down the stairs.

"Blair," I murmur with accelerated breathing.

"Dalton, we've talked about this already," Nick says, stopping his punches.

"No, you don't understand," I keep pacing back and forth.

"What's wrong?"

"Something's happening to her, I can feel it," my hearing has become so sensitive that I can hear the drop of water falling at the gas station two streets away. "Nick, what day is today?"

"It's November twenty-seventh," he says, puzzled.

"There's still time."

"For what, sir?"

"For my child to be born."

BLAIR

Cursed to be the one who said motherhood was something good. I feel as if my hips are being slowly pulled apart, stronger with each contraction that takes hold of my body. I feel as if the pain is embracing me, starting from my hips and back and spreading toward my belly. And with each contraction, it feels as if my bones are breaking. I would say it's the strongest and ugliest pain that exists.

I'm lying on the bed with Gwen tightly holding my hand and looking at me with pure horror on her face.

"I'll never have puppies."

"Blair, how are we doing?" says the most angelic voice I've heard all day.

Doctor Elena Fimsa.

"Well, let's say..." my words are interrupted by the pain.

"Well, we're on the right track. How often are you having contractions, Blair?"

"Every five minutes," Gwen answers before me.

"It's clear you want to get out of here," I say, laughing.

"Blair, we need to wait for at least two more contractions to check the timing."

The doctor leaves the room, and Gavrel enters.

"How's the future mom doing?"

"I feel like I'm being stabbed in the back and my bones are breaking."

"How lovely," he says, shocked.

"Ready, Blair?" the doctor enters again, this time with gloves on.

"I guess," I said fearfully.

"You can do it," Gavrel says while squeezing my hand.

"Gavrel," I say before letting go of his hand. "There's a letter on the desk, in the last drawer. It specifies what to do if something happens to me during childbirth," I say with tears in my eyes.

"I won't need that letter, nothing will happen to you," he says, leaving the room.

"Ready, Blair?" the doctor says.

Before answering, another contraction arrives.