Beauty and the Beast

Chapter 40

I wiped my face, not caring what I looked like as I walked into the house, my slightly protruding belly hidden by the hoodie I wore.

I walked into the living room quietly, where my mother lay on the ground, still holding my father's hand as she wept with her face in the crook of his neck.

Everyone turned as I entered.

I stood at the edge of the living room as I stared down at my father's lifeless body as it lay under a blood stained sheet. I didn't understand how this happened.

"What happened?" I asked quietly to Elise.

"Bran is dead, so his title would usually go to his first born, but since he doesn't have a pup it went to the next sibling and-

"Clara is Alpha. She can shift." I said putting it together.

"Your father went to take her some water and food and she shifted for the first time. She was uncontrolled, wild, the power a first shift gives you is brief, but if aimed at someone other than  another alpha, it can be murderous if accidentally provoked. Clara...she wanted to kill your father on purpose. He's not an alpha anymore, he couldn't fend off her attack and by the time we got to him he was so hurt because she caught him off guard. I'm sorry, Charlotte." Elise said as she wiped her tears.

"But I am an Alpha. I can fight her." I said with a growl.

"She also took something of his though...I don't know if you're ready to see this though. It's gruesome. You don't have to if you don't want to." James warned as he walked over to the sheet that covered my father's body.

I needed to. I gave him a curt nod.

James peeled back the sheet slowly, and my voice caught in my throat at the sight of my father's clawed out eyes. His blue eyes. The ones so similar to mine were gone.

"I'll kill her." I said.

"You're pregnant, Charlotte. You aren't going to do anything." Kieran said firmly.

I watched as everyone's eyes landed on me in disbelief.

"Surprise." I said in a monotone as I unzipped my sweater.

Elise was in front of me in a second, her hand smoothing over my stomach softly.

"How far are you?" She said quickly.

"About two weeks, I think." I answered.

"You need an ultrasound now. You're a little bugger than normal. Your body could be under stress since your last pregnancy and it could be harming the fetus and causing inflammation around the embryo." Elise said quickly.

I sat on the couch quietly as Leah rushed off to get the portable ultrasound machine as Elise squeezed the cold gel onto my stomach as I lay on the couch, the temperature causing me to jump at the contrast against my body heat.

I closed my eyes as Elise turned the machine on and began examining me, trying my best to listen for the fetal heartbeat, my eyes popping open in confusion when the monitor picked up an off beat rhythm.

"What's wrong?" I asked quickly.

"Nothing's wrong, doll. I've heard that sound once myself. When I had the boys." She said with a small smile.

"Twins." I said immediately and she nodded.

"They grow a lot quicker than one pup. Your caloric intake is going to have to triple in order to provide enough energy for you and the boys." She said.