Pregnant With Alpha’s Genius Twins

Chapter 44 – Camping trip 1

The morning dawns bright and sunny. I turn over in my makeshift bed on the twins’ floor, seeking to escape the rays that pry into my eyes, disrupting my sleep. I give a little grunt of discontent, taking my blankets with me as I turn over. Unfortunately, I also roll over onto one of Archie’s squeaky toys, which excites the dog and sends him scurrying over.

“Go back to sleep, Archie,” I whisper, burrowing my head lower under the blankets. The puppy ignores my command and begins to wriggle with the excitement of a new day, burrowing under my covers in an attempt to kiss me good morning.

“Archie,” I sigh, giving up and opening up my blankets to pull the puppy closer. “You ruin all good attempts to sleep in.”

“It’s good,” I hear Edgar whisper, and look up to see him smiling at me from his own makeshift bed a few feet away. “We have to get up and clean up all this trash before it starts to smell.” He waves a hand at the boxes and boxes of takeout food which we have spread all over the room.

“I guess you’re right,” I say, surveying the chaos. “All good things must come to an end.”

“Before they start to smell,” Edgar agrees, scrunching his nose.

Edgar, the boys, and I have been holed up in the twins’ room since the moment the paramedics gave me the okay to go upstairs without them. We locked ourselves in here – watching movies, curling up together, ignoring the world – to help us return to a sense of normalcy, of safety, of fun.

Downstairs, we can hear the thump of the Betas tromping around the house, of Victor yelling at people on the phone. But somehow, there’s a comfort to that as well. While half of me is not thrilled at the idea of the first floor of our little cottage overrun by what is, essentially, a military operation, the other half is glad they’re there. Nobody’s getting in with Victor downstairs.

Edgar, too, has been wonderful. The boys already liked him, but now they’ve truly warmed to him, seeing him as a protector, a friend, and a fellow fan of Thor. He also ate all the vegetables in the Chinese food, which the rest of us refused, so we see his worth there too.

As Edgar and I smile sleepily at each other, and Archie licks my nose, the door flies open. I gasp, shooting up to a sitting position, fear flooding my body.

“Oh, sorry,” Victor says, staring at me, realizing that it’s probably not a great idea to surprise someone who was attacked in their home just yesterday. “Not the best entrance, hey?”

“Um, no.” I say, my eyes wide with adrenaline and frustration. For someone so smart and in control, he does stupid things sometimes.

up, rubbing his eyes. “Did you

he entered the room this way because he is, for

once – my voice full of shock,

of here!” Victor says, pumping a fist into the air. “No more hiding in this stinky room, we’re going

this is ridiculous. What we need is to

Because I’m having the whole house reworked with top notch security – cameras, alarms, weaponry – everything you need to be totally safe. But to do that! We have to get OUT!” He says the last sentence as an invigorating cheer. The boys fall for it, jumping up in their bed and shouting along with him in

forget the horrors of two days ago. Part

other. He shrugs, quirking his

“Fine.

fist again. “It’s going to be great! Fresh air! Moonlight! Fireside

and down on the bed, shouting “I love camping! I

say, pressing a hand to my forehead.

adventures, mama!” Ian says, reaching for Alvin’s hands as he jumps. “I’m so

to my makeshift bed, covering my head with my blankets, wishing

face each other, neon lights, and a sound system, the kind of van which I think are usually used for bachelorettes and other drunken parties. Not that I’d know, unfortunately.

They spend the first hour of the ride exploring every piece of our transport – playing with the lights, digging

been driving. I

of course, I was staring at her. How could I not? It’s hard to look away from such abject misery. I smile at Edgar instead, grateful

I notice that the car is slowing down, turning off the main road. Our travel suddenly becomes bumpy, jerky, as we pull onto a

windows, ooh-ing and ahh-ing at everything they see, even though to me it just looks like a bunch of trees. After about a mile, the van

thighs as he declares, “We’re here! Finally, we’re here.” His excitement is palpable and even I start to