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  “No. Maybe as quickly for a few lucky women, but most are in pain for hours, and also they have to push the baby out. This is unreal.”

  Another couple of waves happened and suddenly she felt a popping sensation and her swollen belly became flat again.

  “He’s here,” Charlie whispered in total awe.

  Eve pushed herself up and stared down at the tiny bundle lying in the blanket between Charlie’s huge hands. He looked so small. Eve smiled. He had a huge black tuft of hair on his head, and his body was covered in small red freckles like hers, but they were bright red. As she watched each red freckle slowly changed, lighting up slightly. She wondered if this was where the tendrils had been attached to the baby and now that he was exposed to the air they were sealing themselves.

  He had bright green eyes that were currently trained on his father. Charlie was staring back at him, and she watched as the tears that had welled up in his eyes began to fall down his handsome face.

  “Charlie?” she asked.

  “He’s so beautiful,” he said, moving to sit beside her. He placed the precious bundle in her arms, then moved so he was sitting behind her in the lounger and he could hold on to both of them. “He’s happy.” Charlie chuckled. “He just sent me a picture of both of us smiling down at him.”

  “I can’t believe that happened so fast and with no mess or pain. He has no belly button either.” They were both running their fingers along his skin, it was so soft and silky. “I’ve been thinking about that. I can’t explain mine being Henrietta said I was carried normally, but maybe his freckles are caused by those tendrils attaching to him? I ate so much oily food, maybe that’s how he stayed so soft?”

  “I have no idea, baby, I’m just glad you are...well, okay. I’ve been dreading this day for weeks. I was so scared of something going wrong, or something happening to you. I couldn’t bear to be without you now.”

  She turned her face to look into Charlie’s eyes and saw the truth in them. She knew he had been worrying...she had too. She’d even written a letter to both of them and sealed it in an envelope in case something happened to her. But there they were on a crisp summer morning in July holding each other and a brand new baby boy and they were all doing good.

  “Do you hurt at all?” He pointed down between her legs.

  Knowing what he meant after they’d read the same book, she pulled on her kegel muscles and felt no pain. “No, I’m good.” She smiled. “Aren’t I supposed to feel like my center is falling out?” She chuckled.

  He chuckled along with her, shaking his head. “It would seem you had one fucking sweet birth. Other women would be so jealous.”

  “So what’s his name going to be?” she asked, wrapping their bundle up in the blanket.

  Charlie pulled his phone from his pocket and typed something in. “What about Zoran? It means dawn, daybreak.”

  “Oh, Charlie, I think it’s perfect. Zoran George McDonald.” She lowered her head and breathed him in. “He smells so sweet.”

  They must have been sitting there for about an hour, cooing over their son, when the dinging of a bell broke them both from their revelry.

  “Oh shit. Fred. I forgot he was coming,” Eve said. The bell meant Fred was already on the island. “Quick, go. We don’t need him near the house.” She moved forward and twisted, urging Charlie to move faster.

  “I’ll be back as soon as I can. Stay with me, okay?”

  Eve nodded and kissed him with as much passion as their brief kiss allowed. After a quick peck to Zoran’s head Charlie ran upstairs for some clothes and trainers then set off for the dock.

  Eve felt his loss instantly, but raising herself off the lounge chair she moved inside the house to the nursery. She gave the baby a wipe down, and after dressing him, she sat in the rocking chair that faced the window. She marveled at his tiny fingers that wrapped around hers in tight balls. The baby never reached out to her like he did with Charlie. She wasn’t jealous of that being she could communicate in her own way, but it was weird.

  She scanned for Charlie and felt him near the docks. He was singing badly along in his mind, trying to make the run shorter. She then searched Zoran’s mind as he grew fussy, he was hungry. She was still only dressed in Charlie’s t-shirt so had to lift the whole thing up and over her breast. Zoran turned his head and latched on without a fuss as soon as her nipple touched his cheek. Eve watched him suckle as she rocked and sang softly.

  She’d been staring at Zoran for a while before realizing she hadn’t checked in on Charlie recently. Sending a brain signal out, she came on nothing but static. Adrenalin flooded her as panic began to set in. She scanned again, trying to find him; she couldn’t even find Fred’s brain waves. She did, however, come across the static again—a woman?

  A woman and not being able to find Charlie could mean only one thing—she couldn’t rationalize anything else. She lay the baby in his Moses basket so she could put the papoose on over her t-shirt. Once it was clipped and ready she picked Zoran up and put him inside it. When he too was secured, she picked up his go bag. Charlie had insisted they be ready in case anything happened. Each of them had a backpack ready with needed items inside.

  She ran into the master bedroom and quickly pulled a pair of jeans on and slipped her feet into some trainers. She then picked up her go bag. Her hand hovered over Charlie’s before grabbing it too. She couldn’t bear the thought of being without him. Perhaps he was just injured. He had to be okay!

  With the bags on her shoulders and Zoran on her chest she ran downstairs, coming to a grinding halt at the bottom of the stairs. Henrietta was standing there with a gun pointed at her head.

  Chapter 15

  “What did you do to Charlie?” Eve asked Henrietta.

  “When he got to the dock I shot him!” She said it as if she were stamping out a bug without a care in the world.

  Tears fell down Eve’s cheeks in streams as she thought of the man who had helped her escape, the man who had given her Zoran, had given her a small piece of freedom. The man who had loved her. He was gone, and it was all her fault.

  “You think we didn’t know you liked Charlie? You think we didn’t notice how your body reacted to him? Girl, you have a lot to learn. We started noticing little things after your body went into its first heat. You became agitated, restless for a few days, and your hormone levels went sky high. So we had your clothes examined every day after that and we discovered all kinds of details about you. Of course you tried to cover it up, but when you slept your body lit up and betrayed you.”

  Eve blushed, remembering how her freckles lit up when she had an orgasm.

  “You went into three heats before we let you go. We wanted to discover just how far you would go, and now we know,” she said, nodding toward the baby in Eve’s arms. “We swapped your guard and brought in Charlie, hoping he would feel something for you. We were pretty pleased with his reaction, and more than happy we didn’t have to replace him and get another guard. The next point in the plan was to allow you both to think you could escape. The only thing we couldn’t work out was how you communicated. Willing to share that? Bert even suggested that you were talking telepathically.”

  Eve shook her head. They would probably find out sooner or later, but it wouldn’t come from her lips.

  With a shrug of her shoulders, Henrietta carried on talking. “The other subjects became very possessive when they were impregnated, leading to several dying or killing both themselves and the fetus. But after being allowed to have a child naturally, we can see how both you and the child interact. I would presume that you wouldn’t kill your child now?”

  Eve nodded with disgust. She couldn’t killed her baby now, not even if they were to spend years being tested. She would fight and be defiant as much as she could, but with no Charlie, all she had left was her son. Looking down into his green eyes, she wanted to cry and scream at the injustice of it.

  “How did you know where we were and when I had the baby?” Eve asked.
r />   “The last pill you took before leaving us contained a micro GPS tracker. It also sent us your vitals. Don’t you just love technology!” she said sarcastically. “It’s just a shame the thing only works for a year before degrading. We could have watched you for a while longer, and we were willing to, but we couldn’t wait to get our hands on the baby. We’ve been sitting on the mainland waiting for any signs it was coming. We’ve already managed to get a lot of data—shortened gestation, severe craving for oily food, stress levels were high at some points—but it’s the birth that amazed us. Your body showed no signs of distress at all.” She motioned to the baby. “When the data came through about an hour ago we were ecstatic and couldn’t wait to come over. When we saw the caretaker we knew it was our chance. Being this went rather well we might let another of the subjects go and see what happens. We admired your hiding place, but it also helped us. Since the only items that were brought onto the island were yours it helped us to monitor what went on. Right now, though, we have to go. My men should be gathering at the dock. Move.” She waved the gun. “Walk in front of me.”

  Eve began to walk, Zoran whimpered against her chest. Eve wrapped her arm around him and cooed gently to him. Reaching out with her mind, she connected with his and began singing nursery rhymes to him. It was then she noticed that her son was reaching out with his own mind and connecting with another’s. Following that link, she tried to hide her shock at feeling Charlie. He was alive! He was confused, like he was just coming around, but he was alive.

  The protective instincts that she felt while carrying their boy kicked in. Looking over Henrietta’s shoulder, she saw the huge white vase that stood in the corner. Lifting it with her mind, she propelled it with all the telekinesis she could straight at the Coat’s head and ducked in case the gun went off.

  She curled around the baby, lying still and listening for a few seconds. When no movement came she moved to sit up and felt a stinging pain at the top of her left arm. Not only had she not heard the gun go off but she hadn’t felt when she’d been shot. Reaching out again for Charlie, she felt him getting nearer, he was frantic.

  “Fucking bitch! Oh God, let her be alive! I’m coming, Zoran.”

  “Eve!” he screamed, running into the house. His face was the picture of horror, and her heart broke just looking at it. The right side of his head was covered in blood where the bullet had slid along his scalp instead of entering it.

  Eve burst into tears. “Charlie...she said she shot you…I thought you were dead!”

  He rushed over to her, pulling her into his arms. “Baby, I told you before I have a hard head. No idea how she missed, I must be fucking lucky she is a bad shot, but I’m here.”

  The baby whimpered again in her arms, causing Charlie to look down at his son. Green eyes met green eyes.

  “He knows you,” Eve said reverently.

  “Of course he does. He has been touching my mind for months. We have one smart boy here.”

  Movement across the room caused them both to startle.

  “Oh crap, I only knocked her out. The gun, Charlie! She still has it. She has men coming too—she said they should be getting to the dock about now.”

  Charlie dived across the room, picking the gun up as Henrietta came around. She immediately scrambled about, looking for the offending item. Seeing it in Charlie’s hand, she looked up at him with startled eyes.

  “How long before they show up?” Charlie asked with venom in his voice.

  “Do you think I’m going to tell you that?”

  “No.” He sighed. “Fucking people.”

  He turned around, looking for something. Plucking the sheet from the baby’s Moses basket they kept in the living room, he tore it into strips. He walked over to the White Coat and tied her hands behind her back. Shoving a piece of the material into her mouth, he tied another around strip her head, muffling what she was trying to say. He then tied her feet to the heavy kitchen table leg and moved toward Eve.

  “Consider yourself lucky I’m not like you, bitch,” Charlie spat at her before turning his attention to Eve. “Come on, sweetheart, we have to move.”

  It took all of five minutes to check each other’s wounds over and clean them up. Lucky, the wound she had received was just a flesh wound. After grabbing their go bags they made a dash for the dock.

  “Four armed males coming from the dock,” Eve said, pulling her mind back.

  They both turned and moved off the pathway. Finding a huge clump of bushes, they hid behind them and waited. Eve slipped into the baby’s mind, making sure he was calm and quiet, not wanting him to give them away. She didn’t have to worry though; the baby was more than content to be sleeping safely against her chest.

  They listened and waited until four pairs of heavy footsteps ran past. Eve ducked her head around a bush to see each one of the men had batons as well as guns attached to their belts. Although the guns had straps holding them in, the batons could be slid upward and out of their holders. Inwardly, she smiled. Using her telekinesis, she quickly pulled each baton from their belts and slammed them over their heads. They’d been too surprised to react. All four men tumbled to the ground. They would wake up with a headache, she mused.

  Eve motioned Charlie forward. “We have to go. I don’t think they’ll be out for long, and it won’t take them long to discover Henrietta. I wonder why they only sent her in first and they didn’t come together?”

  “Let’s just call it luck.” Charlie smiled.

  Seeing two boats and theirs tied up to the dock, Eve had an idea. Hastily, she tied each rope from the boats to each other and then attached them to their speedboat.

  “Clever!” Charlie nodded with a smile.

  He started the engine, and they took off, pulling the two other boats behind them. When they were halfway to the shore he released the rope, leaving the boats abandoned at sea.

  “Dock?” Charlie asked.

  “The dock is clear, but there is one male in a van there. He’s waiting for the others to return.”

  “I can deal with him,” Charlie muttered.

  Seeing them dock, the bloke left his van and met them as they were climbing out of the boat. Using her telekinesis, Eve whipped the gun from his hand and threw it into the sea. She was more alert now and less frightened than when she’d come across Henrietta. Charlie then turned and punched the man out without even asking a question.

  “Now that was hot!” She giggled, waving her hands in front of her face like a fan.

  Charlie just shook his head and chuckled. With one last act of defiance, he threw the speedboat key into the ocean.

  “Come on, sweetheart, we’ll have to take my car until we can swap it, but it will take them a while to get off the island anyway.”

  They’d been driving a while when Eve asked the ultimate question, “What now?”

  “Now we fight dirty! I’m taking you home. My father’s place is like a fortress.”

  * * * *

  After swapping their car and phoning his father, Charlie drove through the night until he finally reached his parents’ place. Eve was surprised to see a six-foot wall that surrounded vast grounds, with a massive house in the center. She knew Charlie’s family had money, but this was frigging huge! She looked at him as they went through large iron gates that were unlocked by several guards.

  He looked at her, smiled, and shrugged his shoulders. “Didn’t want to boast.”

  “You have all this and you worked in Eden?” she asked in surprise.

  “My father taught me well, never sit on your backside and do nothing, it grows fat and lazy, and you like my butt as it is now.”

  Five minutes later they pulled up outside the huge house. The baby began whimpering in Eve’s arms as she got out of the car. The back door opened and a tall, stern looking, gray-haired gentleman and a petite, gray-haired lady came outside. Without reaching into their minds she knew that they were Charlie’s parents. Her man came around the car and was immediately engulfed in his mo
ther’s arms, and then his father shook his hand vigorously.

  “Glad to see you, son. We added the extra security you asked for. Are you going to introduce us?”

  Charlie put his arm around Eve and pulled her close. “Eve, these are my parents.”

  “I guessed.” She chuckled. “Hello, Mr. and Mrs. McDonald.” She nodded to each of them and smiled. “Charlie has told me so much about you both I feel like I already know you.”

  The woman smiled at Eve. “It’s so good to finally meet you. Please call us Poppy and George.” She looked over at Charlie. “Being out of touch for the last few months has been awful. Hearing from you last night was a breath of fresh air. It’s just a shame what is to follow.”

  Zoran began to whimper even more, and Poppy looked down at him and smiled tenderly.

  “He needs feeding.” Eve motioned toward their son who was now getting pretty grumpy.

  “Come on, let’s get you all inside, and we can get to know each other better.”

  Chapter 16

  Eve sat in the living room, feeling the weight of the world on her shoulders. Charlie and his father had gone to the study to fine-tune a few things before they put the plan they had made into action. Eve wasn’t sure how Charlie was still going. He hadn’t slept in almost twenty-four hours, and he was showing signs of weariness. She herself was beginning to feel awfully tired too.

  Poppy sat next to her with Zoran in her arms cooing over him. “Come on, sweetheart, let’s go show Mummy her room.” Poppy stood and motioned for Eve to follow.

  “What about Charlie?”

  “I’m sure my boy will follow as soon as he can.” She smiled.

  Eve followed the woman up a winding staircase to a hallway with several doors running off it. Poppy opened a door at the end of the hallway, and Eve was shown into a massive and stunning room. In the center of the room was a king-size, four-poster bed with a nightstand on each side. One wall was adorned with massive wardrobes and another with several chest of drawers and a dressing table. The last wall was filled with huge picture windows. There was also a small, white, swinging crib beside the bed. She stood stock-still, staring at the elegance.