Page 81 of Reign

I looked back at my mate, who was staring at me. “Ember…?” he whispered. No one heard him. The noise in the room was too great.

On the other side of me, Mea growled and charged back towards my body. Connor narrowed his eyes, his mouth tight and his neck muscles bulging. Prime sprung from him. Together they pushed Mea’s spirit back into my body.

“Connor, no! Our little girl needs to live; she needs a chance at life. I can give her that.”

Connor shook his head, his eyes shining wetly. “I can’t. I’m sorry. I love you too much…” And the King of Hell-beasts and Shifters pushed his power into my flesh and bones, giving my body the strength to heal my ruptured vessels. Fire swooped above us and stared down at my daughter. My heart broke. Without my phoenix, my baby girl could die.

Fire hovered over our tiny baby girl and looked at me. As a tear escaped my body, so did one escape her. I watched as it dripped off her beak and fell into my daughter’s lax mouth before a mask was placed over it.

On the resuscitaire next to her, our son screamed, his arms and legs kicking and punching the air. His little fists opened and closed when he reached towards his sister as if he was trying to grasp her very soul.

Connor tugged, and Fire shot from above my daughter back into my flesh and bones.

“No!” I screamed. “Save her!”

I coughed and choked and pulled out the tube that had been shoved down my throat. I dragged in a huge breath, and screamed, grief consuming me. The next few minutes were a blur.

“She’s stopped bleeding,” the obstetrician stated. He didn’t sound surprised, only relieved. In this SBI hospital, I doubted exceptional healing was rare.

As I struggled to sit up, the team continued working on our daughter. Connor helped me up, his face pale and his hands shaking. I gripped his cold fingers, but couldn’t tear my gaze from the little blue body of our daughter, not even when he peppered my face and head with kisses, thanking all the gods in existence for my life. I knew the moment they decided to stop. They made eye contact, their faces sad but professional as they looked at us.

“My baby...” I sobbed, holding out my arms. I just wanted to hold her.

Connor let go of me long enough to take our daughter, who had been wrapped in a soft white blanket.

I’d never seen Connor so pale or so shell-shocked. He brought her to me, and with every step, his shoulders curled downwards even further. “I’m sorry...I couldn’t let you go…”

There was no anger in me, only a great emptiness that I knew would be filled with a drowning sorrow soon enough. I took her and looked up at him. “Lyss,” I whispered. “I wanted to call her Lyss, but maybe that name is a curse…”

“No…” His voice broke. “It’s perfect.”

He looked up as the midwife gently placed our screaming son in his arms. I cried. I didn’t care who saw me. This was supposed to be the happiest day of our lives, not the one that broke our hearts.

“Hi, my beautiful son.” Connor looked at me. “Ash?”

I nodded. The name we’d picked suited his explosive nature.

How could we be so blessed yet so cursed?

“I’m so sorry. This is my fault…” It had to be.

“No, it’s not. Don’t ever say that.” A sob escaped Connor’s chest as he kissed our son’s downy head and then placed him next to our baby girl. Ash immediately settled, turning his head towards his sister. His little fists escaped the blanket, and his tiny hand touched his sister’s face.

Connor leaned forward and kissed Lyss’s head—and pulled back in shock. He sucked in a huge breath, his eyes wide.

“What? What is it?” My heart beat faster at his expression.

“She’s warm,” he croaked. Fumbling, he unwrapped the blanket. As he did so, our twins touched hands, their little fingers entwining, and together they let out a huge, triumphant cry.

“Mother Wolf! How!?” Connor looked at me, tears of joy on his cheeks as he took it all in.

Fire pulsed inside me.

I took a shaky breath. “The tears of a phoenix,” I whispered against his cheek as he embraced us all.

Epilogue

Ember

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