8

Chapter 8

ELENA'S POV

The sound of frantic knocks coming from my window caused me to jolt awake from my sleep.

At first, I thought it was just the thunder striking. But then I heard the sound again. 

Someone seemed to be knocking repeatedly on the doors of the apartment leading to mine.

Glancing over at my clock, I realized it was just three in the morning.

"These drunk neighbors again," I groaned exasperatedly, convinced that the young couple living a few apartments down had returned home from another party, drunk and completely unsure which apartment was theirs. One time, they'd even lost their keys and slept outside their apartment till morning.

"Someone needs to talk some sense into these people," I muttered to myself as I pulled the sheets over my body and walked out of the bedroom. It was three in the fucking morning for fuck's sake, I needed my complete hours of rest!

I cracked my front door open and popped my head out.

"Don't you guys think it's too early to be..." My voice caught in my throat when my eyes landed on a familiar figure.

"Elena, thank goodness!" Realizing the voice, I stumbled back in shock.

"Freya...what..." 

She quickly brushed past me and someone else followed while she banged the door close.

"Lights! Kill the lights!" She said shakily, already pacing around looking for the switch.

"Wha-why? What the hell is going on? And who is this?" I rambled in confusion, my heartbeat racing.

"I'll explain later, Elena," she finally found the switch and turned it off, leaving the apartment dimly lit with the faint light from the hallway.

"We all just have to stay calm..." 

"Calm?" I interrupted the young man. "I don't even know you. What is going on?" 

A knock sounded on the door before I could get an answer and the room went as silent as a graveyard.

Freya shook her head at me, her eyes wide with fear and her chest heaving with panic. She pointed to the man and back to herself and shook her head again.

I nodded with understanding and moved to the door. "Wh-who's there?" 

"Hey, we're looking for two of our friends who happened to come in this direction. Did you happen to see either of them?" a male voice asked. I glanced back at Freya and the stranger and swallowed.

"I'm afraid I've seen nothing, sir," I tried to keep my voice steady. "But I did hear someone knocking on the other apartment, you could check there." I responded, even though I knew the owners had traveled a long time ago.

"Thanks," the voice responded and I heard the sound of footsteps receding quickly.

Soon, he began to knock on the empty apartment door but there was no response.

"You think they're hiding in there?" One asked.

"They won't be for long," another responded. "Come on, we'll keep our eyes on this building. None of them leaves without our notice." 

The room remained still until we could no longer hear the sound of their footsteps.

"This was a terrible idea, they're going to come back," Freya said shakily.

"They may not come back," the stranger said. "But they're definitely going to watch this building until one of us shows up." 

"What the fuck is all that about?" I hissed, giving both her and the stranger a quizzical look.

"It means you're also at a risk," the stranger replied and I gasped, both scared and shocked.

"I don't even..." Words failed me. "Freya, is there an explanation for this?"

"I...I think it's time I told you the whole truth," she responded in a low, sad voice and lowered herself to the sofa.

I waited patiently, not wanting to push her to speak and just watched as she exhaled, running her palm over her midsection repeatedly and then through her wet hair.

"Fine," she breathed out and then she began.

"My...my, um, family sort of disowned me. They threw me out and Doctor Carver managed to find me. He took me in, just like you already know but now I...uh..."

She mindlessly ran her hand over her stomach again and my brows pushed together at the repeated action.

"According to Finnley here, I think those people are out to find me and hunt me down and I swear I have no idea why because I haven't done anything wrong or tried to harm anyone. I don't know who those men were and now I think I might have to go back to my family and try to find a way to...to..." The words left her lips in a rush and ended up sounding like a jumbled mess while tears rolled down her pale face.

I reached out to hold her hands in mine and immediately noticed how hot she was.

"You're running a fever, Freya, are you sick?" 

She looked up at me through her wet lashes, her mouth twitching as she tried to hold back her tears. 

Unconsciously, I tried to hold mine back as well but staring at her pale, tired face made my eyes instantly fill with tears.

"I'm pregnant," she whispered and a gasp reflexively escaped my lips. 

I could always tell she had a lot she was going through whenever I looked at her, but pregnant was definitely not something I had expected to hear.

"Oh dear," I sat beside her and pulled her closer to myself, trying to imagine what it felt like to carry the emotional weight. 

"Does Doctor Carver know?" I asked her and she shook her head.

"No, not yet at least." 

***

The sun was fully up by the time Doctor Carver knocked on my door.

He walked into the house with that air of confidence he always had and tossed a brown folder over the table.

The expression on his face was soft but serious. 

"I am a generous man who is ready to go to any length to protect the ones who need my protection, Freya, you know that, don't you?" 

Freya nodded to him.

"Early this morning, I had visitors who came looking for someone and that someone they described sounded like you. But I insisted that I had no idea who the hell they were talking about until they left." 

Freya let out a relieved breath at his words.

"If there is something I need to know, you'd better start talking. I cannot continue to protect you if you don't tell me who you really are." 

Blinking up at

him, Freya let out a shaky breath and swallowed nervously.