𝚃𝚠𝚒𝚕𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝: 𝙱𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚔𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝙳𝚊𝚠𝚗 𝙿𝚊𝚛𝚝 𝙸 (𝙳𝙺 𝙼𝚎𝚝𝚌𝚊𝚕𝚏 𝚡 𝙽𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚊𝚗𝚒)

𝙲𝙷𝙰𝙿𝚃𝙴𝚁 8

~

𝙱𝙴 𝙿𝚁𝙴𝙿𝙰𝚁𝙴𝙳

{𝙹𝙾𝚁𝙹𝙰}

Marcus and I made it back to the Knowles estate. D must've saw us coming since he immediately came out the front door.

"Get ready," I said, getting straight to the point. "They're coming for ya'll. More so Mani since she's the one carrying the baby."

"They not touchin' her," D said with finality.

"Agreed," I agreed, Marcus nodding.

"Man..." I heard from behind me, "...I can smell 'em from all the way out here..."

I looked back to see Yara approaching, Marcus rolling his eyes as mine bored into her like she was crazy.

"What the hell are you doin' here?" I asked.

"You really think I'm dumb enough to let my little brother get himself killed?" she sassed.

"Cut the shit, Yara," Marcus responded. "I can take care of myself."

"Yeah, the fact that you think so proves you need a babysitter."

"Hey!" I yelled, putting an end to their annoying bickering. "Did Meg send you?"

"She doesn't even know I left."

Just as she said that, we heard that all too familiar howl from a long distance away.

"Sounds like she just figured it out," D said.

I sighed, pinching the bridge of my nose to keep my anger from boiling over.

"Jorja," Yara said, "I know what Meg's plan is."

I looked at her, eagerly waiting to hear everything. Once she told us, I relayed the information to the rest of the family, most of them downstairs while Mani was in her room resting.

"Meg's lost the element of surprise," I said. "And she doesn't want to take ya'll on outnumbered. So she's gonna come at you head on. She's got the place surrounded and she'll wait for her opportunity."

"We won't get through a fight," Tyler responded.

"There won't be any," Dr. Knowles said. "We won't be the ones to break the treaty."

"The treaty's void," I said. "At least, it is in Meg's mind."

"Not in ours," Mrs. Knowles responded.

"Ma," Tyler said, "No one's hunted for weeks. If somethin' went down-"

"We'll make do," she said.

Dr. Knowles turned to me with a smile, a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"Thank you, Jorja," she said. "For helping us protect our family."

I returned the smile. I stayed at the house the rest of that day, heading out a little further into the woods with Marcus and Yara later that night to make sure the place was protected.

While Marcus was securing the front end, Yara and I were in the back end, scoping out our surroundings.

"I know they're out here," I said, "but I can't hear 'em anymore. It's so quiet..."

"I stopped hearing them, too," Yara said. "The second I decided to leave the pack. It's nice."

After a beat of comfortable silence, I spoke again.

"You know you can't stay here..." I said.

"But I don't have any place-"

"I can't trust you with the Knowles family. You hate them too much. You don't even like me.

"I don't have to. I just have to follow you."

I shook my head some before looking back out onto our surroundings.

"Marcus doesn't want you here. Neither do I."

"Being unwanted isn't exactly a new thing for me..."

I didn't reply, her response striking me.

"Look..." she continued, "...I'll stay out of your way. I'll do whatever you want, except go back to Meg's pack and be the pathetic ex-girlfriend she can't get away from. You don't know how many times I wished I could imprint on someone...anyone..."

"...just to break the connection."

She nodded, me understanding what she was dealing with. She was me just a year ago.

"Come with me to do a perimeter run?" I asked her.

She smiled some – the first smile I've seen from her since we met – before she followed me further out into the woods...

~

{𝙽𝙾𝚁𝙼𝙰𝙽𝙸}

D and I were in mama's medical room. I had finally woken up not too long ago in Dinah's embrace.

The sound of her talking to the baby put my body at ease. I didn't wanna get out of bed. But I had to in order to see exactly what was going on.

Once mama did what she had to do, we all looked at the resulting x-rays. There my baby was – cute and comfortably snug in my stomach. The image had me smiling like there was no tomorrow.

"It looks like your rib's cracked," mama informed. "But there aren't any splinters. And you haven't punctured anything."

"Not yet, anyway..." I uttered.

"Baby..." D softly chastised.

I looked to him, smiling bashfully.

"Sorry. I'm trynna get better at not being pessimistic."

"The baby's breaking your bones..." mama said solemnly, "...it's crushing you from the inside out. It's not compatible with your body because it's a lot stronger than you currently are. It won't allow you to get the nutrition you need, and it's starving you by the hour. Unfortunately, there's nothin' I can do to slow it down. At this rate, your heart will give out before you can deliver..."

I felt my tears flood my eyes, even though what she told me was something I already anticipated. D's hand was on top of mine as we held the spot where the baby was.

"...then I'll hold on as long as I can..." I whimpered.

"Oh, baby..." mama uttered, her forehead against mine, "...I'm so sorry that I can't do anything...but there are some conditions that even venom can't overcome. Are ya'll sure you don't want to terminate? It would bring your body levels back up. And once D turns, ya'll can try again..."

She looked at the two of us, her hazel/green eyes shimmering with hope that we'd reconsider.

But D and I already made it up in our minds that we were gonna have this baby. No matter what.

At the realization that him and I weren't gonna change our minds, mama smiled the best she could before her emotions got the best of her.

She gave D and I a loving kiss before giving us the room. I silently cried in D's arms as he held me. His tears matched mine as we stayed silent.

"Something's gonna give..." he uttered reassuringly to me, "...we're still in this together, okay?"

I nodded as I buried myself in his warmth...

It doesn't
look good for
our girl...
🥺

Carrying the baby
is literally
draining her.

But her and D
are still gonna go
through with
the pregnancy.

And Jorja's
doing everything
she can to
make sure they're
safe.

What are ya'lls
thoughts so far?

Vote and comment!
🤍✨