Fate Stained - Part Two

Every part of my body ached. Every part. I’d lost count of how many times Jayce and I’d had sex but it was safe to say that there wasn’t a surface in the pack house that he hadn’t bent me over or sprawled me across.

We’d ended the night…or early morning, in our bed and to my great delight and surprise, Jayce had fallen asleep next to me once we’d satisfied our wolf’s needs.

He was gone now though, and that was ok, because he’d given me a chaste kiss on the cheek before he’d left to meet Cameron.

Stretching out in the sheets I winced slightly at the ache in my lower abdomen, a reminder of where Jayce had been only hours earlier. I sat up and rolled out of bed but the second my feet touched the ground and I tried to stand, an overwhelming wave of dizziness took hold of me. Ringing filled my ears and my mouth began to water. I could literally feel the colour drain from my face as my hands flailed around pointlessly in an attempt to grip on to anything to prevent myself from falling. But my efforts were futile, the floor came up to meet me quicker than I thought possible and an intense pain radiated through the side of my head as I struck something on the way down.

More ringing - fuzziness. The room needed to stop spinning. I struggled on to all fours and used all of my strength to push myself up on my feet. The room spun again and I stumbled with drunken steps, crashing into the bedside table. More pain, this time in my stomach. I moaned but the sound was quickly smothered by the vomit that tore from my throat.

Jay—

The mental strain of trying to mind link Jayce brought on another wave of nausea. I didn’t have the strength to fight it anymore. Closing my eyes I gave into the call of sleep, anything that would stop the room from spinning and dull the pain in my head and stomach.

What sort of powerful Queen was I? If only Hades and Magdalene could see me now.

The Fates

Atropos hesitated. What was that?

She knew immediately what it was. Zeus had tethered her to The Shifter Queen and this was the first time since Quinn’s return from Hell that Atropos had felt her presence within her. The Goddess’s stomach jumped, a weighty feeling of dread nestling itself into her abdomen. Something was wrong. Something was wrong with Quinn.

“Atropos…what is it?” Lachesis asked hesitantly.

Atropos hadn’t even realised that her sister was now standing right by her side, staring down at her with a level of concern that must have reflected the look she had on her own face.

“It’s The Shifter Queen. Something is wrong”

Clotho stopped what she was doing and turned to face her sisters, the three of them sitting in stunned silence for what felt like seconds too long.

“So, go to her!” Lachesis yelped, swatting The Cutter Of Threads on the arm.

Atropos swallowed, her mouth dry, and nodded before vanishing from the thread room.

………………

“Shit”

Atropos found herself in the Alpha and Luna’s bedroom, staring down at a shallow breathing, unconscious Quinn. Blood stained the thick rug under the tribrid’s head and for a moment Atropos held her breath, waiting….listening…until—

Thump. Thump. Thump.

The faint, yet powerful sound of the baby’s heartbeat caressed Atropos’s ears and she’d never been so grateful to hear such a beautiful melody. The future god or goddess was alive and seemingly well, but Quinn was weak and the injury to her head was worrisome.

Atropos knelt down next to the tribrid and allowed her hand to hover for a moment just above Quinn’s face. The poor girl was exhausted, mentally and physically. The strain of carrying a new life, combined with the added stress of juggling two mates was taking it’s toll.

The sound of yelling and crashing from below, quickly followed by two sets of heavy footsteps up the stairs, had Atropos’s head snapping up to face the doorway. She knew exactly who it would be, two terrified men who’d simultaneously felt something was wrong with their mate. The door burst open and both the Alpha and Prince tried to squeeze through the door at the same time, it would have been almost comical to Atropos if the looks on their faces hadn’t been of sheer terror and heartbreak at the sight of their beloved Quinn lying helpless on the floor.

“QUINN!” They both bellowed at the same time.

Jayce swatted Kyanite into the wall and skidded to a halt on his knees by his Luna’s side.

“What the fuck happened?!” He growled, looking up to the Goddess with a combination of anger and fear in his voice.

“She fainted” Atropos answered, “it looks like she hit her head—”

“Why are you here?” Kyan cut Atropos off mid sentence, his eyes narrowing as he looked her up and down.

Atropos knew how it must have looked. Quinn was lying unconscious in front of her, blood around her head. How could the Goddess explain that she was tethered to the Shifter Queen? That Zeus himself had appointed her Quinn’s guardian? Well, the baby’s guardian anyway.

“She called to me but by the time I got here, she was unconscious” it wasn’t completely a lie.

Kyanite’s eyes narrowed further and Jayce scooped Quinn up into his arms, careful to keep her head and neck protected.

“Moira is on her way” he said, lying her down gently on the bed, “she said to keep her here—”

Another two sets of heavy footsteps sounded up the stairs and within seconds both Quinn’s father and brother ran into the bedroom.

“What the Hell? I felt something…Quinn. Then Moira received your link…I ran straight here. What happened?” Flynn cried.

The Warlock-shifter joined Jayce’s side while Kyanite remained pacing by the window.

“We were just getting to that, weren’t we Atropos?”

“Atropos, as in The Cutter Of Threads, third sister of The Fates? Why is she here? Quinn’s not d—”

“No! Quinn’s not dead!” Yelled Atropos, cutting Mason off as she crossed her arms defensively in front of her chest.

How could the room be full of so many men that supposedly loved Quinn, but not a single one even sensed that she was pregnant? The baby’s heartbeat was almost deafening to the Goddess but no one else in the room seemed to notice. Maybe the doctor would pick up on it when she got here, because for now, Atropos was sworn to secrecy.

“So why are you here?” Mason asked, “what place does a Goddess like you have in my daughter’s bedroom?”

“It’s a long story” Flynn sighed, “Atropos is…ok. She helped get Quinn, Kyan and myself out of Hell”

Mason looked back to the Goddess but he didn’t look overly convinced.

Jayce’s large fingers stroked the side of Quinn’s head softly and he leant down, planting a gentle kiss on her cheek. Atropos noted how the panther’s whole body tensed at the action but he did nothing to stop it. The Goddess subtly edged closer the Quinn’s bed, now that she had both of Quinn’s mates in the same room she thought that maybe she would be able to get a read on who the father was.

“Have you noticed anything different about Quinn’s behaviour or how she has been feeling since returning from Hell?” Atropos asked as she hovered behind Jayce.

“She was sick the night she returned” Jayce answered, “but we put that down to travel sickness from the portal”

Atropos mentally rolled her eyes. Travel sickness from the portal? Was he fucking stupid?

“She’s been tired” Kyanite added, “I spent some time with her yesterday afternoon, she mentioned she was exhausted—”

“She didn’t seem that exhausted to me last night…” the Alpha whispered under his breath, but loud enough so the panther could still hear.

I gasped as Kyanite clenched his fists and moved towards Jayce but stopped when Flynn grabbed him by the arm, slowly shaking his head and mouthing ‘don’t bite’. It was clear to Atropos that these two hated each other. If something didn’t give soon then their anger would surely come to a head and the Goddess didn’t want to be around when it did.

“How is she? Any change?”

The wolf doctor came marching into the room with her bag of goodies clenched firmly in her hand. Everyone apart from Jayce stepped away from the bed, giving Moira the space she needed to do her thing.

“No. Still unconscious” Jayce muttered.

Atropos watched intently as the doctor checked Quinn’s pulse by placing her fingertips on her wrist, then felt her temperature with the back of her hand. Moira hummed and nodded her head before fishing around in her bag and pulling out a stethoscope.

Surely, Atropos thought, surely a stethoscope will pick up the extra heartbeat if her ears hadn’t already.

Moira placed the stethoscope on Quinn’s chest, she paused, moving the diaphram slightly to the left before lifting it up and placing it back down again. Atropos was sure by the look on the doctor’s face that she must have picked up on the baby’s heartbeat. She looked confused, slightly perplexed and also maybe…irritated?

“What is it?” Kyan asked, inching closer to the bed.

Moira lifted the stethoscope again and tapped the diaphram a couple of times. She winced at the loud ‘tap’ in her ears and placed the equipment back down on to Quinn’s chest.

“I don’t understand” Moira breathed, “it doesn’t make sense”

What do you mean ‘it doesn’t make sense’?, Atropos thought, she is pregnant! What did you think would happen when she was sleeping with two virile men?

“What?” Jayce asked, “Moira, tell me!”

The doctor pulled the stethoscope from her ears and placed it down on the bed.

“I can’t hear her heartbeat”

“She doesn’t have a heartbeat?!” Mason gasped, “but she’s breathing! I can see her chest rise and fall”

“No. She has a heartbeat, I just can hear it through my stethoscope”

“Is it broken?” Jayce asked.

Kyanite picked up the piece of equipment and placed the ear pieces in his ears and the diaphram on to Flynn’s chest.

“No, it definitely works”

He then stepped closer to the bed and placed the diaphram on to Quinn’s chest, the same puzzled look reflecting on his face that had been on Moira’s only moments before.

“Well I’ll be damned”

“Nothing?” Mason asked.

“Nothing” Kyan replied.

Atropos’s eyes widened and a thought crossed her mind.

“Moira?” Atropos spoke up.

The wolf doctor jumped at the sound of the Goddess’s voice and then again when she realised she was standing in the room.

“Atropos! Goddess! I— I didn’t see you there. Yes? Was there something you needed?”

“I’m concerned maybe the Shifter Queen hit her side or stomach when she fell, she was clasping her middle before she lost consciousness. Do you maybe have anything in your bag—?”

“Oh yes! Of course”

Moira reached into her bag and pulled out a small screen with a probe attached to it on a short cord.

“I don’t know what is going on with the stethoscope, but if there is any internal bleeding then this should pick it up. It looks like her head has healed but I’ll check her belly too”

Moira squirted a small amount of gel on the tribrid’s belly and turned her ultrasound machine on. She placed the probe on the skin and with her eyes focused on the screen, began to move the probe around slowly. Within seconds Atropos noticed the same perplexed look take over Moira’s features and she knew immediately that her thought had been right.

“What’s wrong?” Flynn asked, picking up on Moira’s unease.

“There’s nothing on the screen” Moira answered, “just like the stethoscope…it’s not picking up anything”

“That can’t be right” Jayce muttered, “is there something wrong with your equipment? Maybe there is something faulty with the technology…”

“I don’t think it’s technological” Flynn cut in. He placed his hand over Quinn’s forehead and closed his eyes, as if he was feeling for something, “sounds more mystical to me”

“Mystical?” Asked Kyan.

“Yes. It wouldn’t be outside the realm of possibility. Maybe she picked up something in Hell and she brought it back with her…”

Yeah like a baby, Atropos thought, her eyes combing over Kyanite, a baby that is dead set on keeping it’s existence a secret for now.