57. Baby Bump.
Daphne’s POV.
I struck a pose as I checked myself out in the helpless mirror placed at a corner in the small room. It had only been a week since I moved into this little form of shelter, that marks exactly ten days since I got chased out of the castle.
It had only been ten days since I found out I was pregnant but it was really taking a toll on me. Firstly, my baby bump was already a bit visible, you could tell I was pregnant but not by a lot; some ignorant people might just think I had a really huge lunch, which is now impossible since I am too freaking poor to afford even a proper meal.
Secondly, I had not had a change of clothes in days, Eric had offered me some but I declined. Is it so wrong that I did not want his help more than this? He had done quite a lot for me and I certainly did not want to be a problem for him; he had a whole kingdom to run, he did not need to add me to his list of responsibilities. I could carry my own weight, and that was I would be doing from now on.
Who needed friends or happiness or an actual home or a mate who actually loved you?
A mate who actually loved you; I really could not tell if I still had the right to claim to have one of those. What was a mate who actually loved you really? Is love even a real thing? Is it just a fragment of the mind?
If it was just from the mind, why did my heartbeat hitch whenever I saw his handsome face? Why did my heart race whenever my eyes had the privilege of seeing him? Why did my body fit so well next to his? Why did I respond so well to his touch?
I could not tell I was crying until I looked at the mirror once again. My tear drenched cheeks looked pink, it was a contrast to my now pale skin tone; sometimes, I would cry to get some color in my face. It was as dull as my life, my very messed up life. Who was I lying to? I missed him, every part of him; I had no idea what I missed in him, I just knew I did.
Although I had somewhat accepted my cruel reality and fate, I still could not seem to digest the fact that he had been sleeping on the same bed with that woman. That was the bed we mated on, the bed where we sealed the deal, that bed was sacred; it was our special place, a place we could use to escape the hustle and bustle of our busy and occupied lives.
Now, she was sleeping on it and rubbing her scent all over my mate’s body and my bed. I wondered if they had had sex, would I have felt it if they did? Would it hurt me like the history books said it would? I had not felt any pain so I assumed that was a good thing, I prayed to the goddess it was a good thing.
Feeling heavy on my feet, I took a seat on the old dusty couch that sat in the middle of the room; the chair had been extremely dusty when I got to the shed, of course, I could not get all the dust out of the chair but I managed to keep it in check.
I started to feel sleepy, another perk to having a very boring life like mine; my current motto was sleep, clean and repeat, I only ate when extremely necessary or when I could actually gather up enough strength to hunt down some food.
Hunting for me was done in human form which was a huge disadvantage, I was not as agile and fast as a human than I would be in my wolf form. But sadly, I had lost that part of me simply because I got knocked up by a man who really does not care about me anymore.
Curling up on the couch, I found the comfiest position it could give me as I drifted off to a sound sleep.
Narrator’s POV.
Almost half way across the world, the young maid and second in command to alpha king walked through the thick forests on their way to their nearing destination. As they got closer, the determined duo became filled with doubts and nervousness.
Although they did not bother showing it to the other person, they both had the same nervous questions racking through their brains;
What if the witch head turns out to be as evil and unpredictable as the other witches?
What if the witch head does not help them?
What is they do not end up seeing the witch head at all and they decide to kill them on the spot?
“I can feel your nervousness, are you sure you want to go on?”, as determined as Fredrick was, he would not mind her replying him with a simply ‘no’ at the moment, having the grace to turn back now would be a sure blessing. It would be cowardly but at least, they almost made it to the border.
As tempting as it was to turn around and go back, Daphne knew exactly why she was doing this; her friend needed help and she would do anything in the world to help. “Yes, let us go on”, she breathed out with a shake of her head. The sun was almost about to rest for the night, the moon making its way to the darkening sky, “But I would really wish we do not barge into the witch’s territory at night. That would be very rude and frightening”, she pointed out while chewing on her lip nervously.
“You do not have to worry about that, we are already here”, he took her hand and dragged her along with him, stepping into the border of the witch’s territory,
“This is the…”,
“On the ground, now”, a masculine voice said while striding over to them, the two looked at each other in surprise, “Could you not hear me? I said get on the ground, right now”, he flashed a torch into their eyes and they shielded away from it, “What are you werewolves doing on witch’s land?”,
“We are here to see the witch head”, Fredrick said as he knelt down with Sarah, he was still holding her hand, hoping to provide comfort to her in this frightening situation.
The man scoffed, “The witch head does not have any time to waste on you filthy werewolves. Plus, if it was that important, she would have been notified before time”,
“Please, if you could just let us see her, I assure you that it is really important”, Sarah said shakily, she was so afraid, she thought she would mess up her pants,
“Why else would we cross our territory?”, Fredrick pointed out as he backed up her statement, he could sense her fear and so could anyone from a mile away.
“State your business and I shall decide whether or not you are worthy enough to meet the witch head”, he crossed his arm feeling empowered and proud, forgetting that the two of them could take him down if they wanted to.
“It is quite personal, unless, you want us to discuss our activities on the bed with you”, he lied and moved Sarah close to him and placed an arm on her waist, she was incredibly confused by what he said. What did he mean by ‘activities on the bed’? Did he mean… Sarah’s cheek turned read as she realized he was implying that they had sex.
“Oh, hell no”, the man scrunched up his face in disgust, “Get the fuck up”, he had mistakenly envisioned the both of them having sex himself, it was absolutely dreadful.
“Would you please let us see the witch head?”, Sarah said as she stood onto her feet and dusted the sand of her jeans,
“What is in it for me?”, the man smirked, shining his stupidly white teeth at them,
“A punch in the face”, Fredrick muttered lowly so only Sarah could hear him, she elbowed him on the rib, asking him to not provoke this man.
“I did not quite get that”, the man cocked up an eyebrow and stared them down,
“What my partner was trying to say was that; we do not even use the same currency”, Sarah said quickly before Fredrick could repeat his sentence,
“I would exchange it. Your dollars are worth more than ours”, he shrugged.
“Would people not ask you where you got it from?”, Fredrick had his wallet out and counted out a thousand dollars for the man,
“It is none of their business, now give me the fucking cash so I can take you two pests to the witch head’s castle. You are really starting to get on my nerves”, he said in frustration, werewolves were way too inquisitive for his liking. In the witch’s coven, it was ‘you see nothing, hear nothing, speak nothing and do nothing’, it was their unwritten rule; one could say they had a ‘snitches get stitches’ policy.
“We are not giving the money until we get there”, Sarah said quickly. Witches were very smart, which means they were also very sly and shrewd. Giving him the money then would have been like walking into a self-made trap,
“You are very smart”, he said to her, “Very well then, we have no time to waste if you want to get there while she is still awake”, he began to walk away, “Come on, we do not have all day”.