Page 47 of Branches of the Willow

“Big mistake.” Tessa growled at him at the same time.

“Well, now the world can end. The two of you found common ground. An equal loathing of Nicholai just happened to do the trick. How will we ever deal with all the peace?” Mikael teased as he slid his hand over to my leg. I attempted to glare at him, but I ended up laughing instead, because he was just too damn adorable to ignore.

“Whatever…” I finally managed. “We really need to see your dad, now. We have a pup being born back home, and the mom doesn’t want him.”

Disgust crept into Tessa’s face. “That’s a damn shame. He’s a bit tied up with my sister’s problems at the moment. I can slide these guys over to the guards and get them settled until Avery can meet with them.”

“I’m sure my father already sent word, but they were instrumental in helping us recently. Smart ass there even did the world a favor by ridding it of John Freedman.”

“Oh?” Tessa bent down to look in the back of the car again, reappraising the man with the shit-eating grin. “Too bad about that ego he’s lugging around.” She commented deadpan.

“That’s the damn truth.” I agreed.

She opened the back door, and stood out of the way, allowing for the men to get out, and stretch. Nicholai didn’t miss a beat. He put a little extra effort into his stretching, allowing for a healthy amount of his abs to peek out from beneath his shirt as it rode up with the movement of his arms.

If he thought Tessa Daniels was going to be an easy mark, he had another thing coming. That girl was tough as nails and didn’t take shit from anyone. She glanced in his direction, and feigned aloofness on the spot. “Grab your bags and follow me.” She spun on her heel and started walking off without waiting for the men. “It was good seeing you again, Mikael.” She called out over her shoulder, then added, “Jess,” at the end like it was a chore to include me.

Mikael waved at her and laughed. “Man, she really doesn’t like you.”

“Whatever. Let’s get back. I’m so damn tired. Is it bad that I am praying to every God ever known to man or beast right now that Tatianna has the quickest labor in the history of labors?”

“Funny, I was just thinking the same thing. I could use a nap.” Mikael topped that sentiment off with a yawn as we took off, heading back home.

18

The Birth

Whenwereturnedtothe pack, I was immediately swept into the makeshift birthing suite the women had made from one of the offices in the meeting hall. My mother and Ashley were there, coaching Tatianna on. Evan was there, because Tatianna was, unfortunately, one of the women who didn’t understand a lot of English. He was translating, but he was so out of his element that it was almost comical seeing him there. “Oh, thank God. Mikael can switch places with me.” He said to me.

“No can do. Mikael had to go have a conversation with my father. You’re stuck.” I laughed as Evan raked his hand across his clean-shaven jaw.

“This is not my life right now.” He mumbled, but his attitude changed a bit when Natalia came back into the room with a cool compress to put on Tatiana’s head.

She smiled slyly at him and winked. “You can go now, big baby. I can translate fairly well.” Her accent was thick, but her words were understandable. Evan leaned over and kissed her on her cheek. “Thank you!” He managed to get out, before he accidentally caught a peek of Tatianna’s spread legs. “Oh God! I did not just see that.” He whispered. I laughed and pushed him toward the door. He hurried away, comically fast, as if he feared he would be called back again before he could get out the door.

“Men!” My mother howled in between her laughter.

“Where is Sierra?” Ashley asked. As if on cue, Sierra burst into the room with some fresh blankets and towels.

“Sorry, they weren’t quite dry, and I had to run them through again. I didn’t think the baby would appreciate a damp blanket.”

Tatianna screamed, shouting what I was sure were obscenities in another language. My thoughts were confirmed when Natalia looked at me, eyes large, “No need to translate that.” Ashley moved Sierra out of the way and stuck her gloved hand down between Tatianna’s legs, and her other hand was up on her belly. “Okay, we’re ready here, she’s fully dilated, and her water’s just broken. I’m going to need a little room. Natalia, tell her with the next contraction, or wave of pain, she is going to push forward with all her might and squeeze down on those lower abdominal muscles, almost like she’s pushing out a bowel movement.”

Natalia’s nose crinkled, but she dutifully repeated the instructions in Romanian, and went to Tatianna’s side to hold her hand. As another contraction hit the woman, she pushed her upper torso forward, screaming the whole time, and from the look on Natalia’s face, she had quite the grip too. From my vantage point, I could see what was going on in the woman’s nether region, and as she began to push for the fourth time, I saw the top of a dark, hairy head peek out. “The baby’s crowning,” Ashley called out. “That’s it. Tell her to keep it up.” Ashley looked worried for a minute as Tatianna relaxed back down, and then she looked up at Natalia. “Tell her to get ready to push once more but be prepared to stop immediately if I say so.”

Natalia nodded her understanding, and then relayed the translation. “Okay, push.” I watched as Natalia helped the exhausted Tatianna surge forward once more, but then there was a gush of red. The baby came forward a little more, head popping free, but something didn’t seem right. There was too much blood. “Quickly, one more time. Push.” Ashley stepped into the way, so I no longer had a view of what was happening. I don’t think I’ve ever been more thankful in my life. I’m not sure how much more time elapsed, because my ears were ringing, and I felt dangerously like I was going to pass out. Odd, because a little blood had never bothered me before. Then again, I never had to worry before about that being me on the cot a few months from now. Suddenly, it was all I could think about.

Then I heard it, that sweet, shrill cry of a baby who finally got air to its lungs. “It’s a boy!” My mother called out. Tatianna dropped her had back onto the cot and refused to look at the squalling child. My heart broke for both of them in that moment. We female werewolves only had so many child birthing years available to us, the fact that this woman had a full year taken from her for a child she wouldn’t keep, must have been just as painful as her decision not to keep him. She still hadn’t told us how long she had been in the King’s harem, so there was no telling how many more years she would have.

Something else occurred to me then. I thought back to the strong likeness Malachi had to his brother, Evan, and wondered if the baby boy would end up looking like them too. I imagine that would be devastating for the woman to have to raise a male who looked just like his father, the man who had held her prisoner and raped her. In that, part of me understood her decision.

“Eileen, I’m going to need you and Sierra to take care of the baby, I need to help Tatianna out here for a minute.” Ashley sounded calm. I’m sure to everyone else, that was a good thing, but it alerted me that something wasn’t quite right.

“Ash?” I called out.

“Oh, good, you’re still here.” Ashley waved me forward. “I’m going to pop a few stitches in place really quick, but then I need you to make her shift. You can do that right?”

I nodded my head at my best friend. “I’ve never actually forced a shift on anyone before, but I’m sure I can.”

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