38)

Chloe's POV

Tears was streaming down my face, practically blinding my sight from everything and anything that was approaching or in our path, but thankfully Liz was there to stir me in the right direction at the same time keep me from danger that seems to be following us around. Although I'm happy to have Liz by my side, I was simply just a mess and had absolutely no control over my emotions. Blame it on hormones, but just the thought about the fact that I left my husband and the father of my child along with said child's grandfather behind made me cry. Of course, I understood why Derek did what he did and why I went along with it, but that didn't mean it didn't feel like I was stabbing myself in the chest several times.

We ran down the corner and turned to the right or rather it was me who was running while Liz was I don't know if I should call it floating over hovering over the place. Nevertheless we ended up running down a couple of stairs, but unlike before when I was running with Derek around the place the bad guys that was currently following us was shooting at us. And when I mean us I really mean me.

"That's one thing I didn't miss," I said as we turned and continued down the stairs. "Getting shot. The only difference between now and back then, is that now they are using real bullets when they shoot."

Under normal circumstances Liz would have chuckled over my words, however for obvious reasons she didn't and just forced me to duck when one bullet got a little to close to my head. She was careful not to make the evasion have any effect on the baby that could possibly lead to damage it or worse make me miscarry. The thought alone made me terrified and hoped to any god or deity out there that nothing were to happen to my child because I'm not sure if neither Derek or I could ever get over such painful experience. It was probably one of many things my mom went through regarding having kids.

Anyways after I duck down to avoid getting a nice little bullet stuck to my head, I almost crawled the rest of the stairs. There was a small space underneath the stairs that was perfect for someone of my stature like me to hide under and wait for the bad guys to move on. So quickly I told Liz my idea and she certainly didn't hesitate to follow it through and gave them the distraction by opening and closing the door that led outside hard enough so they would believe that I had indeed left the building and gone outside, meanwhile I went and hid under the staircase and simply waited for the bad guys to follow the ruse. And not surprising they bought and went out the door as soon as they reached the end of the stairs. Then I waited until it was clear or until Liz showed up and tell me that the coast was clear.

I waited under the stairs for what seemed like minutes, but I didn't worry too much that Liz hadn't return because either she was still distracting the bad guys or she scouting the area to that I wouldn't meet up with them once I was outside and vulnerable. So rather than getting myself and the baby in the danger and later on get reprimanded by Derek about it later, it was for the best to wait just to be sure. Although I was almost certain that Derek would bitch about it either way, knowing him there was little to nothing that would please him about this situation.

As I was sitting there, just letting my own thoughts wander around, when the door suddenly opened. Immediately guarded, I waited for whoever it was to go up the stairs like I expected him or her to do, but whoever it was didn't do that. Not the slightest either this person was walking around the little walking area around the stairs, like he was looking or searching for something, presumably me. Either way it wasn't good and what was even worse that I couldn't escape from my hiding place. I couldn't summon a ghost, especially without possibly putting myself in danger and considering the ghosts I'm more or less used to tend to have knack of wanting me gone, and I most certainly couldn't take this guy down in normal hand-to-hand combat and even without my condition I was and would be relatively weaker physically than anyone else. And things didn't exactly get better by the fact that the only way to get past this guy was the same way I got in, which means I only had one escape exit from my hiding place. So in other words, I was officially screwed.

Then suddenly, out of nowhere someone grabbed a hold of my leg and pulled it hard forward, leading me to come out of my hiding place by force, but do not assume that I didn't try and put up a fight. I kicked as hard as I could until I looked up and saw a very familiar face that had a very similar annoyance on his like the one I would see all the time on Derek.

"Clay?" I said dumbfounded. The older werewolf was staring down at me, other than annoyance was totally expressionless, but let go of his grip on my leg and carefully in one movement pulled me up and placed me back on my feet. "What are you doing here?"

"Elena told me to go and find you," Clay explained plainly. "She was getting concerned when your two friends and their crew returned successfully and you two were still in there."

I sighed heavily, "Apparently we took a lot more time than we expected getting there and well…there was a few distractions along the way."

That reply certainly got his attention as he twinkled his nose and said, "What kind of distractions? You know what, never mind that for now. I will learn about it later, so where is the Mutt?"

Of course, Clay didn't see Derek as a fully werewolf or even a Pack material werewolf, hence why he still called Derek a Mutt whenever he had to address to him, but still the older man had a caring spot for my husband even if it wasn't always appearing and that was enough for now. Back to the situation at hand and I quickly gave him a cliff note version of what happened excluding my pregnancy from the story. There was no need to mention it when it didn't have any relevance to what was going on, although I was pretty sure that this guy probably knew that I was pregnant based on my scent, but never mind that for now. Once I finished my story Clay literally ordered me to do what Derek told me to do, get out and meet with the others. He reassured me that there were no threats around the property and that Elena was waiting just outside for me. And before I had a chance to argue or say anything more he began running up the stairs where Liz and I had come from earlier. Seeing no point in standing there any longer, given the few options I had, I left and went outside to meet up with Elena and the others.

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Thank you for the response I have been receiving, hope you guys like this chapter.

As I mentioned in my last AN this story would continue this year as well and I'm hoping to finish it soon. Maybe in the end of January or February, but I will not make any promises.

And due to school, job and everything else I will also continue updating this story every Monday (or Monday for me) unless there are circumstances that is preventing me from doing so. Otherwise I will update as soon as I'm able to.

I have finished reading Kelley Armstrong's latest book, City of the Lost. I'm liked it, although the first few chapters I was staring to doubt whether to continue or not, but in the end I'm glad I did. It was a good adult thriller, so obviously not for the easily scared hearts, but nevertheless I recommend it.

Please, please, please continue giving me reviews, favorite and/or followings, and the next chapter will be out as soon its done.

xXrebelgirl07Xx