Fate Attracts

Chapter Twenty-Nine

After rearranging the blankets for the tenth time in the last twenty minutes, I finally give up on trying to get comfortable. It was a useless hope anyways to try and get some sleep without Tate here, but I thought I would try despite the lack of comfortable heat he gives off. Throwing back the blankets, I push myself away from the usually comfortable mattress. The air is cold in the room, but that is to be expected when Winter is quickly approaching.

The baby kicks slightly, as if protesting me getting up in the middle of the night, but I rub my hand along my bump, quietly trying to soothe the baby. They seem appeased after a minute or two, finally stilling their motions so that I no longer feel as if I am being used as a soccer ball.

My socked feet press against the shag rug that sits on top of the wooden flooring. Wiggling my toes, I try to still the restless feeling coming over me, but it doesn't seem to help. With a heavy sigh, I push myself up from the mattress, a task that is becoming harder to do on my own. Usually, Tate or Liam will help me with the difficult task, and they are both finding it quite hilarious. Well, more so Liam. Tate usually gets a smile on his face and steals a kiss as payment for helping me up.

The moonlight peeks in from the window, lighting up the room enough so that I do not run into anything as I navigate to the door. The silence I had been laying in only minutes before is broken as soon as I open the door.

Voices are coming from downstairs, but they are too muffled for me to hear them. Too tired to pick up my feet, I take advantage of my socks, using them to partially slide and skate across the wooden floors overs to the stairs. The descent down both flights is quick but still manages to make me feel like I have just finished running a marathon. My hand sits under my stomach, trying to stop it from jostling too much as I move down the steps.

Finally, I make it onto the ground floor and into the large living room. A fire is lit in the woodstove, casting a warm glow around the room and giving it an inviting heat. Micah is sitting on one of the couches, a passed out Matty across his chest. Liam, though, is pacing the room, his hands wringing in front of him.

They both look at me when I step into the room, Liam wearing a look of worry while Micah just looks agitated.

"What's going on?" I question, joining Micah on the couch.

Liam doesn't stop his pacing, not even to talk, and it is slowly driving me crazy. "They aren't back. She said they would be back thirty minutes ago and they aren't."

"I thought they were going to be gone the entire night patrolling the fences?" I say, confused as to what Liam is saying. All of the betas and Alpha Seren decided to walk the fence line tonight, not wanting to risk someone attacking while we are especially vulnerable due to the full moon. Alpha Seren had said that everyone who wouldn't be affected by a heat or a rut had to go out, and even though I wanted to protest Tate being a part of the patrol, I knew I wouldn't win. They weren't due back till sunrise and that is still hours away.

"They have been periodically stopping by, usually whenever they pass the house, but it has been a while since anyone has come," Micah says. "Alexis was the last one to stop by and said that Tate was right behind her, but no one has shown up for a while."

"For over thirty minutes," Liam says, as if to reiterate the point.

A feeling of dread comes over me. From our experience, when something doesn't seem right, then something is probably drastically wrong.

"Should we go out and look?" I ask, already pulling myself up from the couch, or trying to anyway. Liam just walks over to me and gently pushes me back down onto the cushions, sitting down on my other side.