Leena moved farther into the kitchen, every step composed despite the pressure lingering beneath her abdomen.
“I need a blood bag for Rhen. He gave too much during the transition, and the tether is draining what remains.”
Dax opened the temperature-controlled cabinet and removed a warmed donor bag.
“Here.”
Leena reached for it.
The instant her fingers touched the plastic, a sharp, searing pain tore across her abdomen.
She gasped.
Her hand flew to her belly as her breath locked in her lungs. The pain came deeper and harder than anything she had felt before.
Not pressure.
A contraction.
The certainty arrived before reason could argue against it.
Her knees buckled.
Cole caught her before she struck the floor, one arm securing her carefully against his side despite the wound beneath his shirt. Dax moved to her other side while Malakai stepped into position facing the doorway, guarding the room as he watched her closely.
They moved with the coordinated precision of males who had protected one another through centuries of war.
“Leena?” Cole’s voice cut through the haze. “What is happening?”
She clenched her jaw and breathed through the pain, her fingers gripping his forearm. Cold sweat broke over her skin.
For several brutal seconds, it felt as though her body were being wrenched apart from within.
Then the contraction released.
Her vision cleared.
The pulse in her ears faded.
Leena drew one shaky breath and forced a smile onto her face.
“It was a cramp.”
Cole’s jaw tightened.
“That was not a cramp.”
“The baby is close, but it is not time yet.”
“You sure about that?” Dax asked.
“Yes.”
The answer came too quickly.
Dax placed one steadying hand against her shoulder.
“You should be resting. Where is Sule?”
