Poison Ivy Ch. 09

Her muffled words were lost to the damp spot on his shirt. He drew back, fingers tangled in her wild hair gently pulling her head away from the place on his side she had burrowed into. She immediately missed his warmth, his comforting scent, the soothing vibration of his purr against her cheek.

"How did you-" she hiccupped, "find me?"

The dark, primal eyes of an animal bored into her own for a moment too long. "I told you, Ivy." He wove a second hand through her hair, clenched his fist until her face was lifted to his. "I will always come for you."

Fuck. Did he have to be so... so... Hunter-ish all the freakin time? Any more of that, and she'd start swooning.

Wait... She was swooning. Or, at least, she was swaying. All the blood drained from her face. Her vision blurred, and the sounds of the night around them were wrapped in cotton. She gasped, clutching his forearms as he cradled her skull in his palms. "I don't feel so good, Hunter. I think I need to..." Instead of finishing, she went limp, stopping just short of the pavement by Hunter's arms wrapping around her, lifting her up.

"Ivy? Fuck! Ivy, wake up for me now. Open your eyes, baby."

His voice sounded like it was miles away. Still, she struggled to obey him, if only to assuage the undercurrent of desperation in his words. The world around them had taken on a blurry haze. She felt like she was underwater, the current pulling her deeper and deeper into a vast, dark space. She saw a dark car pull up to the sidewalk, felt him place her gently into the back seat.

"What happened?" a silky voice asked, honey laced with worry. Yes, what happened? What was happening? She slipped silently under the waves before she could hear the answer.

......................................................

An efficient, professional knock sounded at the door. Hunter grunted, never taking his eyes off Ivy's too-still face. Cole strode into the room, stopping when he saw her pale skin and sunken eyes before pulling up an extra chair to the bedside by his patient.

Shaking his head, he began taking items out of the simple black case he had brought with him. "Omega pregnancies drain the body of reserves. The shorter gestation means their body has to supply more nutrients in less amount of time.

"Her protein levels are dangerously low. Her metabolic numbers indicate severe malnourishment. She most likely wasn't eating enough even before she was taken." He drew a clear fluid into a syringe, flicking the side to expel any air bubbles. "Vitamins," he explained, glancing up at Hunter, who watched his every move like a fucking hawk. "She'll get an injection twice a day. I'll start an IV to keep her hydrated and to make sure her sugar levels stay up. I've left Aella instructions for when she regains consciousness. She should be following the diet I've outlined until about 2 months following the birth." Swiping the inside of her elbow with an alcohol swab, he stuck the needle into her arm and used his forefinger to depress the plunger. Ivy didn't so much as flinch.

"I'll start seeing her daily. I'll do blood tests and monitor her weight and fetal growth every Monday. In two weeks, we can do an ultrasound."

Hunter watched as the physician found a vein in her delicate wrist and inserted an IV, hooking it up to a big bag of fluid that he left hanging on a tall pole beside her bed. Trevino had brought it in just minutes ago, his dark eyes lingering on her motionless form. He'd opened his mouth to say something, then shut it, simply nodding to the larger Alpha before turning to leave the room.

Cole cleared his throat. "Hunter. We should talk about the possibility of possible birth defects from --"

"Stop," Hunter interrupted with an irritated growl. "We will not be discussing that further. Unless it's something that will kill either of them, you will not be mentioning it to me again."

Cole gave a curt nod. He stood, re-checking and adjusting the equipment he had set up, and leveled a look at his friend and old colleague. "I'll do everything I can, Hunter. I'll be here whenever you need me. But she needs to rest and relax, let herself heal and let the baby grow. With the condition she's currently in, any additional stress could result in a termination of the pregnancy. Get her out of this, Hunter. Do what you have to do and take her home."

Hunter stroked a thumb over her jaw, her skin too cold, too pale, too clammy. He wanted to shake her awake. He felt powerless against this invisible foe, gripping his mate in its sharp claws. He placed a hand over her stomach, felt life thrum under his touch as it sucked the strength he fed it through its mother's bond.

Almost all Omega and Alpha pregnancies resulted in female infants. Rarely, a male infant was thrown into the mix, but as far as Hunter knew, all Omega/Alpha offspring, male or female, resulted in an Omega dynamic later in life. For unknown reasons, Beta and Alpha matings no longer resulted in that dynamic. Only Omegas could give birth to Omegas.

The life pulsing beneath his palm was almost certainly a tiny baby girl. An Omega, like her mother. He thought of Ivy's words back at the station. She was now painfully aware of how Omegas were treated, like commodities, like prized possessions. Hunter had never thought of the Omega compounds as anything other than a safe, guarded place for the most vulnerable of the country's population. But Ivy's own blossoming awareness had spurred uncertainty and skepticism about things he had always just accepted. Her fears for their daughter ran so deep, she was willing to leave him in hopes of giving her a chance at a better future.

He'd made a promise to her. A promise he intended to keep. If he had to tear apart the world to build up a better one for his family, then that was exactly what he would do.

A sharp knock sounded on the door as Fowler walked in, his wide frame leaving a distorted shadow across the bed. "We're ready," he growled in typical Fowler fashion. Aella darted into the room from behind the giant's back, a child to Fowler's beast. She approached the bed, stroking a calming hand over Ivy's dampened brow.

"I'll take care of her, Hunter," she said softly, her voice soothing and reassuring. He nodded, finally looking up from Ivy's sickly pale skin.

He locked eyes with Fowler. "Let's fucking finish this."

Pyle suddenly appeared in the doorway, his crooked teeth on display as a wicked grin spread across his face. He fist-pumped the air, jumping up and down on the balls of his feet like the giddy, psychotic man-child he was. "Fuck yeah!" he yelled-whispered, cognizant of the resting Omega.

Fuck. Yeah.