Page 77 of Stripped

“Really?” I asked. “'Cause you were pretty damn quick to get involved when Axel and Julie killed a couple of vamps.”

“That was entirely different,” he said. “I don't know who you think you are, but I—”

“I'm a human. A human with a video camera and a whole lot of footage to share with all my human friends.” It might have been the stupidest thing I'd ever said. Not only was I lying, but Darius could just make sure to tell the vamps to kill me and his problem would be solved.

“I seriously doubt that,” he said. “Since Julie Jacobs pulled her little stunt, we've hired our own PR team. We'll spin this as vampires putting down rabid, rogue werewolves. Humans will thank the vampires. They'll be heroes.”

“Tell him,” Julie panted. “Tell him our fans will never believe his version of the story and werewolves all over the country will mutiny against the council.”

“Bullshit,” Darius said, obviously having heard Julie. “All humans want is assurance that the vampires and werewolves are no threat to them. The other werewolves will be only too eager to pledge their loyalty to us and avoid having to be put them down as rogue.”

“You don't want humans to know about the possibility of wolves going rogue,” Julie said. “You're bluffing.”

She might be right, but it didn't matter. If all the werewolves in the Mule creek pack were dead, there'd be no one to contradict whatever story the council chose to spin. And I didn't want to give Darius more incentive to kill me and the whole pack. “If you call off the vampires,” I said, “the Mule Creek pack could work with you. Just imagine. They've already got the branding, the fans, and the cachet that the council lacks. You didn't come off too well in that showdown with Julie on that viral video. Think of the possibilities if you team up with the pack. There is so much opportunity you're just throwing away if you let the vamps destroy this pack.”

Julie snorted even though she was mid-contraction. “They won't destroy the pack.”

Darius was silent on the other end of the line, so I pushed ahead. “The pack can sell their blood to the vamps, so you'll still get powerful vampires to keep the others in line, but you'll also get the pack as poster children for the council. Show the world that the Mule Creek pack has forgiven the council, that you're all working together to keep the world safe from threats from the supernatural world.”

“Forgive us?” Darius said. “They should be begging us to forgive them. They violated every council law in the book. They're lucky they've survived our wrath this long.”

I waited, let him blow off some steam. The man wasn't an idiot, he'd see that my offer made sense. Of course, I didn't have the actual authority to make the offer, but he didn't know that.

“It wasn't my idea for the coven to attack the pack,” Darius said with a heavy sigh, “but I'll see what I can do.”

He hung up and Julie shrugged. “There's no telling what he'll do, but at least we tried.”

“All you need to worry about is keeping that baby where it needs to be until Axel and Doc get here.”

She grimaced, a drop of sweat rolling from her hairline and down her face. “That's gonna be pretty hard. The baby's coming. I need to push.”

I felt faint. I couldn't do this. Julie must have seen the crazy in my eyes, because she gripped my hand and squeezed. “You can do this. We can do this together.”

“Okay.” There was no time to search online for a how-to guide to delivering a baby. “Do you think there's any chance there are clean sheets around here?”

She nodded weakly. “In the back. There's a linen closet.”

I hurried to the back of the large room and through a door into what appeared to be a storage room. I found the linen closet and clean sheets. There was no way they were sterile, but clean was better than nothing. I hurried back to find Julie had pushed off her jeans and underwear and was lying back, her legs spread. Her face was pale and she looked utterly panicked. I had to stay calm for her. I could stay calm for her.

Then I looked down and saw what appeared to be the crown of the baby's head. I swallowed hard. I could fall apart after the baby was born.

I slid a sheet under Julie's butt and laid another one over her legs like in the movies. With everything hidden, I could pretend she was just lying down to take a nap.

“I have to push,” Julie said, her voice tight with pain. “Make sure you're ready to catch.”

“I'm here. I've got you. Just relax and push.” I spoke as soothingly as I could as I lifted the sheet and watched as Julie pushed and more of the baby's head appeared. More of the baby's head and some blood. I hoped that was normal.

“Good job,” I said. “I see your baby's head, honey.”

“Really?” she asked, awe in her voice. Awe was better than panic.

“I do. You're doing so good. Are you ready to push again?”

She grunted and pushed and the baby's little face emerged, along with its shoulders.

“The head's out,” I said, managing to keep myself calm, even though there was blood and I was in some sort of shock. “Keep pushing.”

Two more pushes and the baby was out. “It's a little girl,” I said. I wrapped her in a sheet and used one end of it to wipe her little face clear. She let out a wailing cry and Julie gasped, gave one more push and something that looked like an organ passed out of her with more blood. For a moment, I was worried she'd passed something vital, but then I saw the umbilical cord attached to it and I relaxed. It was just the placenta.

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