Page 18 of Claimed for Eternity

Leaving Xenos there naked and alone killed something inside me. For once I wanted to be the selfish bastard who did what he wanted and let everything else fall to the wayside. Frost in a pickle jar. If it wasn’t for Jarl’s possible connection to our pup, I probably would.

Xenos sprung up, ramrod straight and winced, putting a hand on his back. I froze at the foot of the bed. It was too early for labor pains. It was too early for Braxton-Hicks contractions too.

“She’s yelling!” Xenos said and I fell onto the bed to touch the first part of him I found.

“SHE’S GONNA DIE! THE BABY IS GONNA DIE TOO! ANCESTORS, HAVE MERCY! HAVE MERCY ON US ALL!”Dead Martha wailed.

“Who’s going to die?” I asked, pulling on the pants I discarded early. The sobbing, hysterical woman in the corridor was the cure all for my erection.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

“We hate to disturb guests but we’ve been informed one of you may be a doctor. There is another guest down the hall who---” a woman’s voice called from the other side of the door, speaking in very rapid elven.

“What’s going on?” I opened the door still shirtless.

Xenos pulled the blanket over his lap as the woman panted for breath.

“The village healer is across the way delivering twins. Her mate thought he could handle it but there’s so much blood,” the woman said, holding up her red stained hands for me to see.

“Selfish bastard,”I swore into my thoughts and swerved back into the room to grab my black, leather medicine bag. It’d been ages since I did a field c-section but I stayed in the loop about medical advances in that particular arena just in case it was Xenos who some day needed my hands to know what to do.

“Alpha, what do I do?”Xenos called over our mating link as I followed the hotel worker down the hall.

“Call Moonscale General. We’ll need to airlift the carrier out of here, more likely than not. If she’s an alpha, maybe not but chances are she’s not. Then keep death away. Keep the doors shut.”

“What’s her name?” I asked the hotel worker just outside the door.

The copper smell of blood filled the corridor now. I had meds to slow the bleeding, but we needed to act fast.

“Mercy,” she whispered.

“Hey, Mercy,” I stepped into the room past the alpha elf who guarded the door. I wasn’t sure if he knew the parents to be or was merely another worker here. The elves called SLEEP a B&B because it was cozy, but it functioned like hotels would in some places. “I’m Bartholomew. I’m a doctor for the Nightshade Bears.”

“Help her!” The alpha elf next to her yelled.

She blinked at me as if trying to see me through a haze of lights. I took a deep breath and set to work. Something definitely wasn’t working and I didn’t need heart monitors to know that mama and baby were both in distress. A moment later, Xenos, smelling like hand soap and disinfectant, made his way into the room. He scrubbed my hands quick as we had practiced on a thousand other deliveries. Then he set to work starting the IV while I surveyed the damage. Blood was everywhere. That alone was enough to tell me that it was time to get the baby out of her for both of their sakes.

“Mercy, love, we have to get the baby out, okay? They’re having some trouble coming out on their own.”

“No more pushing,” she shook her head. “Can’t do it. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.”

Her light brown hair was matted to her skin and scalp from sweat and her eyelids dropped over bloodshot eyes. She trembled and I asked her mate if he understood what a c-section was.

“Here? Though?” he asked, dumbfounded, his pheromones turning protective.

“We can either fight about it or I can save them both. That’s up to you,” I said.

“No, it’s not. You’re going to save him. He can fight me instead,” Xenos said, meeting the father to be’s gaze.

“I just…” his words trailed off. “Is it safe?”

“Safer than doing nothing until the ‘copter gets here, yeah,” I nodded.

We did the best job of sanitizing the space we could under the conditions and I set to work. My wolf held his breath, offering his stability to me. His surefootedness on the hunt translated into my steady hands while I operated. Mercy would likely need a blood transfusion at the hospital but there was nothing I could do about that here. A few minutes later, I passedher blue-lipped little boy off to Xenos as I worked on undoing the damage the c-section caused.

Mercy’s mate, whose name I still hadn’t caught, was torn between staying with his mate and rushing to his child’s side. The baby was in obvious distress, but Xenos had handled more babies than anyone I knew. He knew how to coax the spirit to stay and to thrive. He worked to clean out the baby’s airways and gently patted his back until he took his first gasping breath of oxygen. His first wail cut through the room and the alpha holding onto his mate burst into tears right as the ‘copter guys from Moonscale General burst into the room.

The EMTs moved quickly, loading up the mother and child and pulling the sire into the ‘copter out front. As soon as they were safely gone, Xenos hit his butt to the carved elven bench in front of SLEEP and wailed. His worst nightmare was needing an emergency c-section.

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