Whoever had broken in had done so with a single-minded purpose. A purpose that had guided them past the valuables and straight upstairs to Erin.
Glancing at the phone, Erin thought again about calling her mother, but she could still be of no use, she was too far away to help. But Erin could call, just to say goodbye, as she sensed that whatever was out in the hallway had terrible intentions for her.
The hairs on the back of her neck stood to attention, sensing the dark terror floating through the air.
Erin’s arms wrapped around her stomach. Her maternal instinct was trying to surface, desperately wanting to protect her unborn baby. But what could she do? She was helpless and completely vulnerable.
More tears flooded her cheeks, and Erin struggled to stop herself from sobbing aloud, causing her chest to heave and her whole body to shake.
The footsteps stopped outside her bedroom door. Erin almost wanted to call out and demand who was there but she remained silent, not knowing what else to do. She didn’t want to die, not there alone in her home, on the brink of giving birth.
The silence seemed to stretch on indefinitely as Erin fought against countless contractions, which were becoming more frequent and closer together. Her child’s birth was imminent. She looked fearfully at her bedroom door; it was her only escape route and it was now off bounds as outside it something was waiting for her, and she sensed it was something with malicious intent.
As if confirming these fears, she suddenly heard a low guttural growl coming from behind her bedroom door.
“Oh God,” Erin uttered fearfully as she steeled herself to face whatever was about to come crashing into the room.
The growl came again, more menacing this time. A low, guttural sound that left no room for interpretation. Whatever was beyond her door was hostile.
Erin whimpered as she drew herself further away from the door, her contractions continuing. The adrenalin surging through her made her feel terrifyingly alert. Frantically, she wondered if there was any way she could secure her bedroom door, to keep out whatever was about to enter, but in doing so she would also deny herself her only means of escape and she was in labor. Things were really starting to look dire for her.
She remembered the first night she had awoken to howling. It was the third night after Sean had left. Her sleeping was already fitful, her dreams still tormented by images of gnarling, snapping dogs. But this night when she woke, the howls weren’t confined to her nightmares, somehow they had seeped out in to the real world and were now delivering their moonlight serenade from beneath her window.
The sound had made her heart momentarily cease beating in her chest. Initially, she hoped she was merely dreaming, but as her senses quickly returned to her she realized, with a sinking feeling, that she most certainly was not. She was awake, which made the howling all the more terrifying.
Every night, she hoped that the howling would depart and never return. But night after night, beneath the veil of darkness, the long drawn out wail came back, crying out into the unforgiving night. Erin didn’t want to believe that the howling was in any way connected to Sean’s werewolf delusions, but she couldn’t accept the fact that the howling gave his theory some credence. It was a fact that didn’t sit well with her.
***
“What if I’m losing my mind?” she asked her mother during one of their phone calls.
“What do you mean?” her mother asked, her voice concerned.
“I’m…hearing things,” Erin explained vaguely, unsure if she wanted to divulge too much information for fear of seeming mad.
“What sort of things?”
“Just…noises.”
“Bad noises?”
“Unusual noises,” Erin sighed. A part of her wondered if the howling existed only in her mind or if there really was something keeping a nightly vigil at her house.
“Perhaps you’re just dreaming them,” her mother suggested.
“Mmm.” Erin wasn’t convinced. She knew that the howling was very much real, what she needed to know was where it was coming from and why it was happening at her house every night.
Ideally, she needed to ask Sean, to question if there was any connection between his cursed beliefs and what was now happening to her. Between the howling and the canine-themed nightmares, Erin was starting to doubt her resolve in sending him away, in discounting what he said as merely madness.
***
And now there was a very real threat just beyond her bedroom door. Something, which was now growling menacingly, had broken in to Erin’s home and was set to enter the very room where she was going into labor.
Closing her eyes, Erin tried again to steady her breathing, fearing what the sudden insurgence of stress would do to her unborn baby, who was preparing to make its debut in to the world.
The growling intensified and became accompanied by a scratching sound upon Erin’s bedroom door. It sounded like nails were being racked upon the thin wood. The noise made Erin’s insides twist with dread. She wanted to scream out at whatever was there to leave her alone, to let her be, but she sensed that it wouldn’t understand her, that whatever it was, it wasn’t human and would fail to respond to words alone.
In any other circumstance, Erin would attempt to defend herself but her labor left her almost completely incapacitated. When her body wasn’t enduring another contraction, she was trembling uncontrollably. Without the assistance of pain medication, she was going in to shock.
The scratching upon the door became more frantic. Erin knew that she was running out of time. Whatever was beyond the door would soon be in the room with her. She looked over at her en suite bathroom. The door was flimsy but it at least had a lock and would buy her a few more precious minutes.
The en suite was located just across the room but in her fragile state it might as well have been on the moon. But Erin knew that her only chance of surviving lay within that room, stowing herself away behind a locked door.
Summoning all the energy she could muster, Erin began to slide over the bed toward the en suite door. Each movement resulted in eye watering pain and Erin was constantly forced to stop and cry out in agony. She no longer cared if the creature scratching at the door heard her. It already knew she was in there; she was the reason it had come.
Sweating from the exertion, Erin reached the end of her bed and pushed herself off, hoping the momentum would propel her closer to the en suite and relative safety.
She landed heavily on the floor with a thud. She was almost within the en suite, at least the top half of her was. Crawling along the floor, Erin tried to get inside, knowing that once the door was locked behind her, she could relax at least a bit and catch her breath.
The phone.
Glancing back regretfully at the bed, she realized she’d forgotten to grab the phone, the only connection with the outside and with help that she had.
“Shit,” Erin hissed, still gasping for breath. She paused on the floor, debating whether she had the energy to climb back on the bed and retrieve the phone or if she should just proceed in to the en suite but her mind was made up for her as her bedroom door suddenly came crashing down.
***
“Not long now.” Frank had smiled at Erin one evening as they both pulled in to their driveways at the same time, both relieved to have completed another day at work.
Erin’s car was full of balloons and flowers. It had been her final day at work before her maternity leave commenced and her co-workers had seen her off in style.
“Let me help you with some of those,” Frank kindly offered.
“Thank you.” Erin smiled gratefully before handing him a vanilla tray back someone had made her, iced with a good luck message.
“Do you always come home with this kind of stuff or was today your last day at work?” Frank quipped.
“Last day,” Erin confirmed. She was thankful to no longer have to drag herself into work as the daily grind was draining her. Being pregnant was much more tiring than she ever antic
ipated it would be, especially when she was struggling to sleep at night.
“Looks like they gave you a good send off.”
“Yeah, it was lovely,” Erin commented as Frank waited for her to unlock her front door before following her inside with his arms laden with cake, balloons and flowers.
“If you could just pop them on the counter.” Erin glanced at the kitchen counter and Frank dutifully unloaded his burden there.
He paused briefly after doing so and glanced around the room. “I don’t think I’ve ever been in your house before,” he commented somewhat sadly.
“No,” Erin agreed, “I don’t think you have.”
“It’s nice,” Frank said kindly, the sadness now replaced with polite formality.
“Thank you.” Erin still felt saddened by his comment. She knew what he was feeling as she felt it each and every day. He was feeling the weight of what might have been if Erin chose men who were good and decent, loving and kind. Instead she chose a man haunted by mad werewolf theories, who couldn’t stand by her while she carried his child.
“Do you need anything else brought in?” Frank suggested helpfully.
Erin wanted to tell him what she was feeling. How she desperately wanted to keep him around, how she’d been a fool not to see what a good man he really was. Sean was sexy and alluring but what good were those qualities if, in times of need, he was nowhere around?
“That’s everything, thanks.” Erin forced a smile as Frank nodded and left the kitchen and ultimately her house, heading back to his life next door.
Erin wished she could love a man like Frank but she knew she never could because each time she thought of Sean her body felt weak with longing. In spite of everything, she remained incredibly drawn to him. It was as though she were powerless to resist him. Erin hated the fact that if Sean showed up after months of no word, she would still welcome him back in to her arms. He made her weak, he made her needy. Sean was no good for her yet Erin already knew that he’d ruined her for any other man. The sex with Sean was electric, it made Erin feel impossibly alive with desire. No one could ever even come close to replicating that and it meant that Sean would forever have a hold over her.
***
The bedroom door came crashing to the floor, breaking free of his metal hinges with a loud snap. As the door fell, a huge gray wolf pounced in to the bedroom, its huge white fangs exposed and glistening with moisture.
It growled, the silver fur on its back prickled with hostility. Sniffing the air, its head immediately turned to face Erin, locating her sprawled upon the floor, an easy target. It pounced again, set to land upon her.
Erin instinctively held her arms over her stomach in an effort to protect her baby and closed her eyes, preparing for the horrific moment when the wolf landed upon her and set its monstrous teeth in to her flesh, tearing her apart as though she were made from paper.
But the terrible moment never came. At the point when Erin knew the wolf should be upon her, a deep, resonating growl filled the room, followed by a swift flurry of movement.
When Erin dared to open her eyes, the air was filled with a terrible squealing sound, like a pig being gutted. On her bed, she saw the most brutal of scenes. Two wolves were fighting each other. There was the wolf who had lunged at her and another, new wolf.
The two creatures were locked in a brutal battle. Snarling and ripping into each other, sending blood and fur everywhere. As one wolf sunk its teeth in to the other, the victim would scream out in pained horror.
Erin wasn’t sure what to do. Tentatively she backed away from the dueling wolves and tried to finally get in to her en suite.
The wolves were ferocious, biting and chomping at each other with a horrid intensity. It was clearly a battle to the death.
Finally, the new wolf seemed to gain the upper hand as Erin pulled herself in to the en suite and kicked the door shut behind her. She heard an awful, high-pitched squeal and then silence.
Even from behind the bathroom door, she could smell the unmistakable stench of fresh blood and the underlying odor of death.
Trembling, Erin panted and heaved, knowing that she had to calm herself, to regulate her breathing to save her baby. She had no idea how far along her labor was, or if her baby was now in distress. Sat up beside the toilet bowl, with her hands over her stomach, Erin tried to shut out the crazed happenings that were occurring in her bedroom and focus on the most important task at hand; delivering her baby.
Her mind wanted to fire countless questions at her but she refused to let it. The questions would have to wait. As crazy as it was that two wolves had just been fighting on her bed, she couldn’t let herself think about it, not now.
Taking long, deep breaths, Erin tried to calculate the time between her contractions. She sensed that she was extremely close to giving birth. She continued to breathe slowly, rubbing her hands over her bump, whispering reassuring comments to her unborn baby.
“It’s going to be alright,” she promised, even though she wasn’t sure it was. “Mommy’s here, it’s going to be alright.”
“Erin?” someone called from the other side of the door, making her abruptly stop whispering and subduing her in to stunned silence.
“Erin?” the voice called again and it was instantly recognizable. She knew the deep, dulcet tones immediately. It was Sean.
“Sean?” she called out weakly. Her whole body ached and groaned with the final stages of labor, and she was close to losing consciousness. The surge of adrenalin that had enabled her to reach the bathroom had drained her of her final stores of energy.
The door to the en suite bathroom opened, and Sean stood in the opening. Erin was too exhausted to be shocked though her eyes did widen when she realized that he was completely naked. As she looked at him, she also spotted splatters of blood upon his skin.
She didn’t want to query where he had come from, why he was naked and covered in blood but a part of her already knew the answer. She was too weary to deal with any of it now; all she cared about was her baby.
“Are you okay?” Sean knelt down before her and ran a comforting hand across her forehead.
“I’m having the baby,” Erin gasped.
“Now?” Sean looked alarmed. Erin nodded frantically in response.
“That explains the attack.” Sean cast a backward glance toward the bed, where a dismembered corpse of a wolf now lay.
Erin wanted to press him for more details, to demand to know what was happening, why he had suddenly showed up at her house but the pain of labor clouded her thoughts and she could do nothing except cry out in agony.
“We need to get you to a hospital,” Sean declared decisively. “I’ll go call an ambulance, wait here.”
Erin watched him hurry out of the room, unsure where he had disappeared to as there was a phone on the bed, or at least there had been before the battle between the wolves had ensued.
The contractions were much sharper and almost on top of each other. Erin knew she didn’t have much time.
A few minutes later, Sean returned. He was suddenly dressed and his face and arms had been cleaned of any blood.
“The ambulance is on its way,” he explained, taking Erin’s hands in his and giving them a squeeze.
“It’s going to be alright.” His deep voice was soothing as he spoke.
Erin wanted to just lap it all up. To enjoy finally having someone be there for her. With Sean’s sudden appearance, everything was as it should be. She was going into labor with the father of her unborn child beside her, literally holding her hand for support. But Erin couldn’t suppress her need for answers, even as her body was burning with searing pain.
“You’re dressed.” She coughed out the words in an accusatory tone. Her mind wasn’t playing tricks on her; he was most definitely completely naked when he had initially opened the bathroom door.
A part of her regretted her current state as the sight of Sean’s naked torso was a glory to behold. He was perfectly toned with flawless, sup
ple skin. His physique was the stuff fantasies were made of.
“I stored some clothes out back in your shed,” Sean explained casually as though that were a completely normal thing to do.
“In my shed?” Erin asked, bemused.
“Guess you never go out there.” Sean smiled and in spite of her confusion and suspicions, Erin felt herself melt. Sean was so devastatingly handsome.
She wanted to shout and scream at him for abandoning her for all these months but now, with him there, she was powerless to do anything at all. The pain impaired her judgment, meaning that for the time being, she was just thankful that he was there to help her.
“Owww!” Erin leaned forward, her eyes watering as the pain became more intense. Sean rubbed her back as beyond them, outside, the sounds of sirens bled in to the night.
“The ambulance is here,” Sean explained. “I’ll be right back, I need to let them in.”
Again, Erin watched Sean leave the room but then another, more urgent thought exploded in to her mind. How would she explain the wolf carcass? She cast a desperate look at the bed and wondered why Sean hadn’t thought to at least hide it. If the paramedics saw it, they would ask questions, questions Erin couldn’t possibly hope to even attempt to answer without ending up in some sort of mental institution.
Her body was all but completely drained, but Erin forced herself to stand up. Seeing Sean had empowered her somehow. A part of her knew that what was on the bed had become not only his secret, but hers too. Perhaps it was the baby growing inside her that propelled her forwards, the baby that was tied to Sean, tied to his curse, but Erin managed to stand up and precariously made her way out of the bedroom and to the top of the stairs.
The paramedics were already halfway up the staircase and immediately took her by both arms and helped guide her down to the waiting ambulance. As Erin stumbled out of her home, she saw Sean by the doorway and spotted the look of relief, followed by admiration in his eyes. He knew that her quick thinking had potentially saved them both.
Phases of Passions II (Trilogy Bundle) (Werewolf Romance - Paranormal Romance) Page 3
