Chapter 7 Lina #2
It wasn’t a request. I fumbled for my phone on the bedside table and pulled up the messages, handing the device to Knox with trembling fingers.
I watched his face as he read them. Watched the color drain from his skin. Watched his eyes go dark with a fury so intense it made the room feel smaller.
Congratulations on the baby, Luna. Such a shame if anything were to happen to it.
You’re going to pay for every single second of suffering you’ve caused me, Luna.
“When did you get these?” His voice was barely above a whisper, but there was nothing soft about it.
“The first one was a few days ago. The second one was yesterday.”
“And you didn’t tell me?”
“I was going to. I just... I didn’t want you to worry. I didn’t want you to go crazy and lock me in the house and triple my security and...”
“You mean exactly what I should have done the moment someone started threatening my pregnant mate and our unborn child?” He thrust the phone toward Hunt, who took it and scanned the messages with a grim expression.
“Jesus Christ, Lina. Someone has been threatening you for days and you just kept it to yourself?”
“I thought I could handle it.”
“By handling it, you mean ignoring it and hoping it would go away?”
“I didn’t know it was serious! I thought it might just be some random person trying to scare me. I didn’t think they would actually do anything.”
“They burned a baby blanket on our doorstep and stabbed a note into our door promising to hurt our children. Does that seem like something that’s going to just go away?”
“Obviously I know that NOW, thank you very much.” I glared at him, some of my usual fire returning despite my exhaustion. “Hindsight is a wonderful thing, Knox. I made a judgment call and it turned out to be wrong. But standing here yelling at me about it isn’t going to change what happened.”
He opened his mouth to argue, then closed it again. His hands clenched into fists at his sides and I could see him struggling to control his temper, to remember that I was lying in a hospital bed and probably shouldn’t be stressed out any further.
Hunt cleared his throat. “Do you have any idea who might be sending these, Lina?”
“No.” I shook my head. “The numbers are blocked. I don’t recognize them. I’ve been trying to think of who might hate me enough to do this, but I can’t come up with anyone.”
“The messages mention suffering you’ve caused them,” Hunt continued. “Is there anyone who might feel that way? Anyone who might blame you for something?”
I tried to think, but my brain felt foggy and slow. “I don’t know. I honestly don’t know who would do this.”
Hunt and Knox exchanged another one of those looks. The kind that said they were having an entire conversation without words, and I wasn’t invited.
“What the hell was that?” I demanded. “You two keep looking at each other. What do you know that I don’t?”
Hunt’s expression shifted into something that clearly said tell her already as he stared at Knox.
“It was nothing,” Knox said quickly. Too quickly.
“It’s obviously not nothing. Something is going on and you’re both keeping it from me. I’m not an idiot, Knox. I can tell when people are lying to me.”
“We don’t have enough information yet to...”
“To what? To tell your pregnant mate who’s being threatened that you might know who’s behind it? To include me in decisions that directly affect my safety and the safety of our children?”
Knox’s jaw clenched. “I’m going to figure out who’s behind this. I’m going to deal with them. You don’t need to worry about it.”
“The doctor literally just said I need to reduce my stress. How am I supposed to do that when my own mate is keeping secrets from me?”
“This is different.”
“How? How is this different?”
He didn’t have an answer for that. Of course he didn’t.
“Fine,” he said finally, his voice tight.
“Here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to have ten guards watching you at all times.
You’re not leaving the house for the next few days.
Neither are Rowan and Thea. Everyone stays inside where we can protect them until we figure out who’s behind this. ”
I grimaced. Ten guards. House arrest. This was exactly what I’d been trying to avoid by keeping the messages secret. But I also remembered what the doctor had said. The warning about premature birth and complications. The fact that my stubbornness could cost me my baby.
“A couple of days,” I said, negotiating even as I gave in. “I’ll stay inside for a couple of days. Let the guards follow me around. Keep the twins home from school. But I’m not staying locked up forever, Knox. A few days to figure this out, and then we reassess.”
Knox looked ready to argue, but something in my expression must have convinced him this was the best deal he was going to get.
“Fine. A couple of days. But if we haven’t caught whoever’s doing this by then, we’re extending the lockdown.”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.”
Hunt took that as his cue to leave. “I’ll coordinate with the guards and set up a rotation schedule. We’ll have the house locked down by morning.”
“Thanks, Hunt,” I said.
He nodded once and slipped out, leaving Knox and me alone again.
Knox stood by my bedside, looking down at me with guilt and fear and love all mixed together on his face. I knew there were things he wasn’t telling me. I knew he and Hunt had been sharing significant looks all night. I knew that whatever was going on was bigger than he was letting on.
But right now, I was exhausted. My body ached. My eyes could barely stay open. And despite everything, despite the secrets and the fear and the uncertainty, I missed him.
“Come here,” I said softly, patting the bed beside me.
He hesitated. “You need to rest.”
“I need my mate. Now get in the bed before I make you.”
A ghost of a smile flickered across his face. He kicked off his shoes and carefully climbed onto the narrow hospital bed, arranging himself around me so that my back was pressed against his chest and his arms wrapped protectively around my belly.
“Sleep, baby,” he whispered against my hair. One of his hands slid under my belly, taking some of the weight the way he always did. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”
The exhaustion finally won, and I drifted off with Knox’s arms around me and his heartbeat steady against my back.