Chapter 439: My Water Broke
Chapter 439 of "Mated To The Crippled Alpha" opens with dynamic events: My Water Broke"Elena?"The voice was familiar in a way I couldnāt quite explain ā like... Read on for more!
My Water Broke"Elena?"
The voice was familiar in a way I couldnāt quite explain ā like a song youāve heard before but canāt name. It didnāt feel threatening, at least.
"Elena, can you hear me?"
"Yes," I said quickly. "But Iāve lost nearly ten years of memories. Iām sorry ā I donāt know who you are."
A sharp curse came through the line, followed by something almost wounded in his tone. "You really donāt remember me?"
"Your voice feels familiar, but I canāt place it."
"What about Lewis? Did you forget him too?"
I answered honestly. "I know heās my mate, but everything between us is just... gone."
The moment I said it, a sound erupted from the other end ā loud, unrestrained laughter.
"Hahaha! Lewis, this is your reckoning! She forgot me and you! And I was the one who found her first!" The man sounded genuinely delighted, completely out of step with the danger I was sitting in. I wanted to remind him that this was not the moment for triumph, that I needed help ā not commentary.
"Could you help me contactā" I started, but a second voice cut through. Low. Rough. Unmistakable.
"Elena. Are you okay?"
My nose stung the instant I heard it, and tears were already sliding down my face before I could stop them. I knew it was him. My mind had erased him, but something deeper hadnāt. Something older than memory ā an instinct that lived in my bones. The moment his voice reached me, something inside me unlocked all at once.
"Carl ā is that you?" My voice cracked.
"Itās me, Elena. Itās me." He sounded exhausted and anxious, the urgency barely contained. I could hear it ā days of sleeplessness, days of searching ā so I gave him only what mattered. "Iām okay. Sergio hasnāt hurt me. Heās restricted my freedom, but thatās all. Weāre hiding on a small island."
"Iāve already tracked your location," Lewis said, steadier now. "Iām on my way. Twenty minutes, Elena. Just twenty minutes."
Twenty minutes.
Something warm and fierce surged in my chest.
"You have my little bunny to thank for that," the first man announced, smug as ever. There was another voice now ā female, sharp.
"There you go. Couldnāt resist bringing that up, could you? Creep."
"Come on, say thank you."
"Pervert."
Then her tone flipped completely, bright and breathless as she spoke to me. "Elena! Itās Riley. Do you remember me? Please say you remember me. Iām so sorry ā if I hadnāt asked you to come get me, none of this wouldāve happened. Have you been eating? Are you cold? Has he hurt you? Why do you always end up surrounded by absolute lunatics?"
She didnāt pause long enough for me to answer.
"Itās my fault, all of it. I swear Iāll never ask you to pick me up again. I already lost Whitney. I canāt lose you. Just hold on ā weāre coming."
When she finally stopped, I got a word in. "Riley. Iām fine. I havenāt gone hungry. Iāve actually gained about twenty pounds."
Most of it was the pregnancy ā but I hadnāt lost weight, and my face looked the same as it always had.
"Carl," I added quietly, "if you find Sergio, please donāt hurt him. Heās... heās not what he seems. Heās a broken person."
Lewis was silent for a beat. Then, softly: "Alright."
"Are you serious, Elena?" Riley erupted. "Do you have any idea what Lewis has been through? And now youāre asking him to spare the man who took you? Youā"
Footsteps. From the stairwell. Fast.
"Shh." I dropped my voice to almost nothing. "Someoneās coming. Donāt say anything."
"Elena ā twist the left ear. Thereās a mute button."
I found it and pressed it. Their voices vanished, but I knew they could still hear everything on my end.
The footsteps were quick and heavy. My pulse jumped. I reached for the pistol and knife Sergio had left before he went out, then chose the knife. I didnāt trust myself with the gun ā not now, not like this. I pressed myself behind the door, grip slick with sweat.
Sergioās footsteps had a rhythm Iād learned without meaning to. This wasnāt him.
"Ms. Morrigan." A manās voice from the doorway. "Plans have changed. We need to go now. Thereās a mole ā the organization knows where we are."
It was one of the bodyguards. Iād seen him around Sergio, though weād never spoken directly.
"Whereās Dr. Zimmer?" I asked. I trusted Sergio more than I trusted this man.
"Boss is held up. Heās dealt with the mole, but our location is burned. He sent me to take you to the port. Someone will meet you there, and heāll follow as soon as he can."
Lewis was twenty minutes out. The organization was closing in. Sergio wasnāt here.
I needed to stall ā or at least move.
"Okay," I said.
I gathered myself, one hand braced at my side, the other cradling my stomach, and moved as fast as I could manage. For every five steps I took, he needed two. "Ms. Morrigan, youāre too slow. Let me carry you."
Before I could argue, he bent down and lifted me, moving quickly toward the exit.
Maybe it was the fear that had been building since last night. Maybe it was the running and the cold and the weight of everything at once. But as we came up out of the basement and I saw a body slumped near the door ā the so-called mole ā the sight of blood sent images screaming through my mind. Severed heads. Explosions. Things Iād seen and couldnāt un-see.
And then the pain hit.
A sharp, deep cramp tightened through my abdomen. Then another. Then another.
"Stop ā put me down. Somethingās wrong with my stomach."
"Ms. Morrigan, thereās no time! Hold on just a little longer ā if they catch us, itās over! Weāre almost at the port!"
Then I felt it. Warmth, spreading down between my legs.
Everything Iād read over the past few months came back to me in a single, terrible instant.
"Thatās amniotic fluid." My voice came out barely above a whisper. "My water just broke. Put me down. Iām in labor."
Why now? The stress, the fear, the running ā it had been too much. My body had decided it was time, whether I was ready or not. The contractions were coming faster, harder, and I could feel the babies beginning to descend.
"Put me down!"