Page 65 of Fated to the Wolf Prince

“I know, I’m sorry. Can you take a few deep breaths for me and uncurl a bit so I can see how close you are?”

She sniffled, but I heard her breathing change as she dragged a long breath in through her nose.

“Good girl,” Leigh crooned, sinking to her knees at Gracelyn’s side. “You’re going to be just fine. Brielle is the best. She’sneverlost a mom or baby, and we’ve done this a lot of times.”

“Really?” she asked, her voice watery and edged with pain.

“Really,” Leigh promised, squeezing both of her hands. “You just hang on to me and look in my eyes. Do I look scared?”

“No.”

“That’s right. And you don’t have to be either. We can help you do this. You’re not alone.”

I scrubbed my hands in the bathroom and slipped on a pair of gloves while Leigh calmed her and Shay found a place for my bag. To my relief, there was already a delivery kit spread out neatly on a dresser, a sterile pad underneath.

“Okay, Gracelyn, I’m going to check and see what we’re dealing with. Are you okay with that?”

“Yes.” She was still staring into Leigh’s baby blues, breathing in time with her. Leigh was an amazing anchor person, while Shay helped me with the babies. We were a good team, but I was concerned. In my home pack, I was always called as soon as labor started. Gracelyn appeared to have been in distress awhile.

I gestured to Adam as I gently felt to see how dilated she was.

He crossed to my side, worry hanging in the air around him, turning his scent bitter.

“How long has she been like this?”

“I’m pretty sure she’s been in labor all day, but she seemed okay until around midnight, which is when I called John Henry. She started screaming about forty-five minutes ago.”

“Okay, thank you. We’re about eight centimeters, but the head isn’t dropping.” I withdrew my glove, my own nerves ratcheting up a degree at the amount of glossy, dark blood coating it. Something was wrong.

I peeled off the gloves and accepted the stethoscope Shay held out for me.

“Okay, time to listen to the little one’s heart. Everyone stay quiet for me.” I pressed the diaphragm of the stethoscope to her belly gently, moving it around until I found the best spot. It was steady, but a little slower than I’d like. Not distress yet, but not ideal either.

Next I checked her blood pressure, and my heart sank. It was low, dangerously so, and we didn’t have much time to figure out what was going on.

Without more medical equipment, though, I was flying blind.

“How far is the nearest hospital?” I asked Adam quietly, and his jaw clenched.

“More than an hour by seaplane.”

“Go tell them we might need the plane.”

He nodded, his expression bleak as he left the room. I took the cuff off her arm, handing it to Shay and running through my best next steps in my head as a sudden urge overtook me to drop my hands to her belly.

“Leigh, can you give me a little room?”

She looked up, confused at the deviation in our usual method, but scooched as far to the right as she could, giving me access to Gracelyn’s stomach.

I placed a knee on her bed and let instinct guide me. One hand went to the top of her stomach, the other lower, near the baby’s head. Unsure what I was looking for, I closed my eyes to concentrate.

Magic like I’d never experienced before surged under my palms, and I sucked in a breath as my wolf pushed forward. Gracelyn was right, something was very wrong. There was a tear in the lining of her uterus, and for some reason, her wolf wasn’t healing it as quickly as she should have been. It wasn’t a complete rupture, but if she continued to struggle and strain…

My eyes flew open, and I turned away from the bed, crossing to where Shay waited.

“She has a tear,” I said under my breath.

“What? How do you know?” Her eyes were tight, tension leaking into her usually calm demeanor.

---