Chapter 20 - Elle
The second vision occurred five days after the first. It struck her in the middle of the night with a violence that ripped a scream out of her throat. Silas immediately wrapped his arms around her, calling out her name frantically.
But Elle couldn’t respond. She was floating in between her visions, and ice ran through her veins.
Darkness. Blood. Fire. Something huge and dreadful on the horizon and getting closer every second. The danger was a kind they had never experienced before. A threat that would eat them up if they were not ready.
And underneath it all, a certainty that chilled Elle to her core: whatever was coming, it was coming soon.
As soon as the vision disappeared, Elle sat up shivering. Sweat soaked through
her nightdress, and her heart was racing so hard it felt like it would burst. “Elle.” Silas’ face swam into focus above her, his green eyes wide with fear. “Elle, talk to me. What did you see?”
“Something really bad is about to happen.”
“What kind of bad?”
Elle attempted to tell her what she had seen, but the images began to disintegrate and slip through her fingers like water.
“I don’t know. The vision was less succinct than the last one.
It was just... feelings. Warnings. Danger.
” Silas drew her into his chest. “It’s okay.
We’ll figure it out. We will be ready to face anything. ”
But Elle was able to tell by his voice that he was anxious, and she was able to sense the tension in his muscles.
The following day, Elle made an attempt to find out precisely what that vision was about.
She wasted hours studying those books Silas bought for her, whether there was anything in them about visions of prophecy, the premonition of evil.
Everything she read was unhelpful and provided no tangible advice on the interpretation of what she had seen.
And worse, Elle began to fall sick.
Initially, she thought it was the aftermath of the vision. But it was almost twenty-four hours now, and she felt sick and hot. But this wasn’t how she usually felt after those visions.
Elle was nauseous rather than feverish. And not even sleep could help.
She woke up every morning feeling that she had been hit by a truck.
The aroma and the taste of food caused her stomach to churn with nausea.
And the fatigue that she was experiencing was so deep-rooted that it tugged at her at all times, making even simple tasks feel monumental.
Elle tried to hide it. Silas and his brothers were deep into the investigation. They were running out of time to exonerate their pack.
She did not want to distract them with her issues or give Silas yet another burden.
But even ill health was harder to hide than she supposed. It was even more difficult since she was staying with a shifter, whose senses were superior to human senses. One morning, Elle was forcing herself to eat toast when Silas asked, “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Elle lied. “Just tired.”
He narrowed his eyes like he was not convinced. But before he could press further, Rael called him.
When he left, Elle sighed with relief. Then she went to the bathroom and vomited up the toast she had just eaten.
This continued for two more days. Silas became more doubtful, and Elle tried to hide what was happening to her body. It would be temporary, she thought to herself.
Whatever it was that was bothering her would be gone eventually, and she would be all right. But Elle felt that something was wrong. Her body was communicating something to her, but her mind refused to acknowledge it.
Sara was the one who eventually forced her into a corner. Elle was in the kitchen seeking a cup of coffee. It was the only thing that did not make her want to throw up. This was the moment that Sara walked in.
“Morning!” Sara chirped. She took one glance at Elle, and her smile faded away. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong.”
“Elle, you look like death, and you’ve not been eating. I’ve noticed.” Sara took a step closer, her expression concerned. “Are you sick? Should we call a healer?”
“No,” Elle said too quickly.
Sara’s eyes narrowed. “Elle. Tell me what’s going on.”
“I’m fine. Really. I—” Elle’s stomach rolled, and she pressed a hand to her mouth, fighting the wave of nausea.
“You’re not fine. It’s fucking obvious,” Sara grabbed her arm. “Come on. We will take you to the healer.”
“Sara, no. I don’t need—”
“Yes, you do. And if you fight this, I’ll tell Silas. He’s been hovering over you, worried.”
Elle sighed weakly. She could not keep hiding this. “Okay.”
Sara took Elle to the pack’s medical center and was chattering all the way there. Elle barely heard her. Her thoughts were filled with different things and most of them were dreadful.
What was she doing, killing herself with the visions? What if her powers didn’t like being in an Omega and were slowly killing her?
The pack healer was a nice older lady called Margaret who had been serving the pack for decades, according to Sara. She glanced at Elle and sent her into an examination room.
“Tell me your symptoms,” Margaret said, drawing up a chair.
Elle listed them all. The nausea that struck her day by day. The burnout that caused her to
sleep sixteen hours per day. The nausea that was intermittent. The food aversions had apparently grown overnight. Margaret was a keen listener, asking some questions, writing down notes, not giving any sign of anything.
“What was your last menstrual period?” Margaret asked.
Elle froze. “I… uh,” she awkwardly cleared her throat. “I don’t remember. So many things have been going on, I didn’t think about it.”
The expression on Margaret’s face changed slightly, and Elle felt her heart start racing. “You are mated to the Alpha, yes? Fully bonded, yes?”
Heat flooded Elle’s cheeks. “Yes.”
Margaret stood. “I would like you to take a test. Just to be sure.”
Elle swallowed hard. “You think I’m pregnant.”
“I think it’s worth checking.”
Margaret walked out and came in with a pregnancy test. Elle grabbed in and went to the bathroom, her mind racing with the possibility.
She could be carrying Silas’s child.
The test took three minutes. The longest three minutes of Elle’s life. What if she were pregnant? What if she wasn’t? What did she find the most frightening?
Her phone alarm went off, and Elle picked up the test, fumbling. She looked at the two pink lines positive. Shit. She was actually pregnant. She was bearing a life in her. She was going to have a baby with Silas.
Elle very tenderly pressed her stomach. “Holy shit, I’m pregnant.
” She did not know how much time she had been standing there, simply gazing at the test and her flat stomach and trying to figure out this new reality.
She finally strolled back to the examination room in a trance.
Margaret took a single look at her face and grinned. “Congratulations.”
“I am pregnant. Shit. I’m actually pregnant.”
“You are. I’d guess about three or four weeks along based on your symptoms.” Margaret wrote some things in her notes.
“We will want to make frequent check-ups, of course. And I will provide you with some information on what to expect, particularly since this is a shifter-human pregnancy. We have some special considerations we will have to keep an eye on.”
Elle barely heard Margaret’s words.
The entire world appeared to have tipped on its axis. Everything she had thought until this moment was nothing in comparison with what was happening in her body.
“Is it...” Elle’s voice cracked. “Is it dangerous? A shifter-human pregnancy?”
“There can be complications. But we’ll monitor you closely. You’re in good hands, Elle.”
When Elle emerged from the healthcare facility, she saw Sara sitting in the reception with her knees bobbing. “Sara.”
She sprang to her feet. “Oh, thank God. What did Margaret say? Are you okay?”
Elle opened her mouth and could not utter anything. And all she did was to stare at Sara, slightly dazed.
“Elle?” Sara lowered her voice to a whisper. “What’s wrong? You’re scaring me.”
“I’m pregnant,” Elle blurted out.
Sara’s eyes went wide. “You’re—what?”
“Pregnant. With Silas’ baby.” A tear rolled down her cheeks. Elle did not know whether these were happy tears or scared tears or both. “Sara, I’m pregnant.”
The biggest smile Elle had ever witnessed filled Sara’s face. She shrieked so loud that a few of the people in the reception area turned to see what was going on, then pulled Elle into a tight hug.
“Oh, my God! Elle! That’s amazing! I’m going to be an aunt!”
“Shhh,” Elle hissed, looking at the reception area. “I don’t want anyone to know yet.”
Sara drew back, looking confused. “Why not? Silas will be thrilled.”
“Will he? Sara, he has never mentioned wanting kids. We have never even talked about it. And I’m human. What is to become of it, should he not want a half-human child? What should I do if he believes I have done this intentionally to trap him? What if—”
“Okay, stop,” Sara grabbed her shoulders. “Elle, Silas loves you. He’ll love this baby too.”
“You don’t know that. You can’t know that.”
“I do know that. I know my brother better than anyone. Well, except Rael. And I see the way he looks at you.” Sara’s voice grew softer. “The way he speaks of you behind your back. Silas adores you, Elle. He will be ecstatic about this baby.”
Elle wanted to believe her. She hoped with all her heart that it would make Silas happy, that he would not regret their bond, that he would love this child as much as she was beginning to love it herself.
But fear was a great force, and Elle dreaded her and the child being rejected.
She shook her head. “I am not ready to tell him yet. I just need time to figure this out. To process.”
Sara sighed. “Okay. But you must tell him soon. You cannot keep a pregnancy a secret.”
“I know. I just... I need a few days. Please, Sara. Don’t say anything.”
“No, no, I won’t. I will not tell anybody anything, not even Rael.”
Elle exhaled deeply. “Thank you.”