The Lions Den

Chapter Forty: When the Lioness Accepts the Sacrifices of the Pride

Kashera

One Month Later

Waking up I took a deep silent breath as I tried to calm down my erratically beating heart. Everything was blurry at first, my vision dotting with black dots behind them as I blinked rapidly to rid them away. I tried to calm down the harshness of my breathing, but my heart beat would not slow down as I squeezed my hand into the pillow.

Calm down, Kash. Think about where you are. Breath.

I repeated the phrases in constant succession trying to calm myself down. I couldn't feel anything outside of what was going on internally for a long moment it seemed until I felt the unconscious movement of his hand over my stomach. With a deep sigh, the motion quickly settled me back into reality. I let my hand rest over his as my breathing finally evened itself out. The nightmares I couldn't seem to fully shake loved to rattle me to the bone. Images of Matteo's body going limp in my arms flooded my nightmares. Everything that could've went wrong played out some nights, and it was hell trying to come back from it. Yet, when I woke up and was reminded that he was there things were fine.

I looked over my shoulder lightly at Matteo sleeping soundly beside me. His arm was stretched out across my stomach securely as it had been for the past week he'd been at home. It had been a long month since everything occurred at the warehouse that dreadful day, but I was comforted by having him here with me when I was present enough to control my perceptions of reality.

When Anfernee shot Matteo, he'd made sure to alter the bullets to be impact explosive. The fragments of the bullets that struck Matteo spread throughout his body and almost doubled the impact of his injuries. He was bleeding almost uncontrollably, not just outwardly but internally. If it hadn't been for Loren hauling ass to the emergency room while Kat's medical expertise kept him together there was not a question that he would've died. I was gutted beyond belief at the way he was knocking on death's door as the doctors rushed him to surgery, but before I could even give myself over to grief I was getting placed in a room myself.

Katerina was extremely protective, and she made sure the doctors caring for me were of her specific choosing with my final approval. I couldn't even be mad at her protective need considering what happened the last time I was at the hospital. I was checked out and had another pregnancy test ran just to ensure that it wasn't some fluke misconception. By the time all of that was done, I was meeting with an gynecologist who'd been caught up to speed with my medical history as somehow Kat had managed to get my medical information faxed over to the hospital in record time in the wee-hours of the morning. I was on track for a high risk pregnancy because of my previous miscarriage, and it was being advised for me to have a cervical cerclage done as soon as I got back home to my doctor to ensure I carried to term.

It was also high risk as all multiple births were.

When we looked on the sonogram screen and heard the sporadic heart beat, I got painstakingly scarred just to for the doctor to light up like a Christmas tree when she shifted the camera to show that Baby B was hiding snuggly behind Baby A. Katerina and I were reduced to tears while Marcus gripped my hand like he was about to go into labor. I was so happy in the fleeting moment until I remembered the state my husband was in. My first time seeing him since he'd became my husband officially, and there was a possibility that he could die. The moment my mind went back there I was stoic and in a mental agony that I couldn't begin to explain. I was in my own personal hell to say the least.