Page 48 of Branches of the Willow

“Well, I need you to make this one count and the sooner the better.” She glanced up at me quickly before going back to what she was doing. Ashley, not joking around, was a force to be reckoned with. I had everyone clear the room and get the baby out. A wounded wolf could strike out at anyone, and I didn’t want to take the chances of that happening. “Okay, now.” Ashley called out to me, as she quickly stepped back out of the way.

“Shift,” I called out to her, putting power behind the word. At first nothing happened. Then I remembered, “Shit, she doesn’t speak English.” Ashley ran to the door, and thankfully Natalia was still close by, along with Evan who had been waiting outside the door.

“Quick, what’s the word for shift in Romanian?”

“Schimbare.” Evan and Natalia offered in unison. I heard them, so I didn’t have to wait for Ashley to relay the word.

“Schimbare.” I commanded her with all the power I could possibly throw into the word, and before my eyes the woman morphed from human to wolf in a beautifully seamless display of magic. In place of the devastated, human-looking woman was a russet-colored wolf with dark brown spots across half her back. She was a bit skittish, and I wish I had picked up more Romanian from being around the DéLune brothers, but I hadn’t. “Shh,” I began talking to her. “It’s okay.” Tatianna’s wolf bared her teeth and looked ready to bolt or do damage. I did the only thing I knew to and commanded her to shift back. “Schimbare.”

With that one word, and the power behind it, the wolf again shifted in a fluid transition to the form of a woman. “Okay, let me check her out now.” Ashley muscled her way by me and put her nursing degree to good use. “Perfect, it sealed everything up nicely. She should actually be able to carry another baby down the road if she finds a mate.” Ashley called out to me over her shoulder.

“Perfect.” I said as I took another step back. “Ash, do you need me for anything else?”

“No, hon. Can you send Sierra and Natalia back in though? Maybe tell your mom to stand by with the baby too just in case she’s changed her mind.”

“No baby.” Tatianna whispered. Apparently, she understood enough.

“I’ll let them all know.”

When I made it outside, Mikael had just walked up too and was standing there with his brother. Both had their eyes on Sierra as she rocked the baby boy side to side in her arms. She hummed as she did it and looked as though she were the proud new mom. An idea was born then, as I watched what felt like the natural order of things taking place. It felt right to my wolf, and that was good enough for me. There were just two other people to convince first. I pulled Mikael and Evan aside, far enough away from the others who were cooing over the baby so that I would not be overheard.

“He is your nephew,” I reminded them. Both men seemed to startle at that admission, as if neither of them had really given it much consideration before now. “He is a DéLune, no matter how that happened.”

I could almost feel the air change as the breath was sort of punched out of Evan’s lungs. “You’re right. I hadn’t thought of it like that. I guess, in my mind, I’d forgotten what a horrible piece of shit our brother had become.”

“Jess, I’m sure you had a point in reminding us,” Mikael insisted, as if waiting for me to finish.

“We have a baby of our own on the way. I would take the little one, if we need to, but we have so much work to do already.” I turned to Evan then. “You are a single, male, werewolf. You have a woman who you are going to start a relationship with soon, and travels that are still calling to you.” Evan and Mikael were both smiling at me as I spoke. I think they both saw through what I was about to ask of them.

“Sierra had her chance at being a mother taken from her because we didn’t have a proper healer with the pack. The bullet she took as a result of that accident had most likely been aimed for me. Then she lost her true mate.” I had to fight to keep the tears from spilling free of my eyes as my whole body shook with the rightness of what I was asking. “Can we give her this one bit of happiness? Please? The baby will be here, within my father’s pack. You will both be able to be the uncles that he deserves while Sierra will have a child to call her own.”

“Jess,” Mikael pulled me into his chest as I lost the battle with the tears and they spilled freely down my face. He kissed the top of my head lightly before he pulled me back and used his thumbs to swipe away the rogue tears.

“Of course, it’s the right thing to do for both of them,” Mikael told me as he kissed my cheeks and then my lips. Evan stood, watching, not an ounce of jealousy in his eyes as he smiled over at me too.

“My brother has spoken, and it just so happens that I agree with him. You can tell her now, if you’d like, or we can wait a bit. The choice is yours. You are the ruler of your people, after all.”

I glanced back at the building where the baby’s mother still rested after her ordeal of giving birth. “I think we’ll wait just a little while, to be sure, but thank you both for agreeing with me.”

“You never have to thank us for doing the right thing, Jess,” Evan told me as he leaned in and kissed my cheek as well. Then he walked past us to go stand beside the woman I knew was destined to be his.

Over the next two weeks, Mikael and I kept mostly to ourselves, trying to relax a bit, before the bottom dropped out again. Maybe, it was just me thinking like that, but I’d come to equate happiness with impending doom. This was exactly why I had wanted to get that degree in psychology. I wanted to help all the other freaked out werewolves, who had issues like I did. Our life was one filled with amazingly magical abilities, and a lifespan most humans would kill to possess, but it wasn’t without its down sides too. Just like humans, we could be cruel to one another.

“I think we should go check on Sierra and the baby today. She’s growing quite attached to him.” I smiled thinking about how amazing it would have been to see Jack there, holding a baby with Sierra. It was something they had both wanted and sacrificed in order to be with one another. For her, because the accident left her with little choice; and for him because he couldn’t live without her. I had envied that kind of love.

“I will take you over there, if you want to go.” Mikael had walked up and wrapped his arms around me until his hands came to rest on the middle of my belly. I wonder if people envied mine and Mikael’s love the way I used to wish for Jack and Sierra’s. I leaned back into his chest and looked up at the blissful smile on Mikael’s face. It didn’t matter then, if anyone wanted a love like ours. The truth was, I couldn’t live without it now. I couldn’t live without him, and soon we were going to have a little extra person added to the mix. That was the truly incredible part.

“Can I admit something to you, and not have you laugh at me?”

“No promises, but I’ll try.”

“After seeing what Tatianna went through, I’m scared to death to have this baby.” I shivered a little under the weight of the admission.

“You’re not alone there. I can’t wait to hold him one day, but I worry about losing you in the process.”

“Her,” I said with absolute confidence.

“What? You’re so confident?”

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