Page 176 of As The Shifter World Turns

Baby. My wolf was telling me it was time.

Yeah. Soon.

Arriving at the hospital I was put in a wheelchair. There were examinations and voices and the beeping of machines. And pain. Ryder’s hand was in mine and he breathed with me through the contractions. My mate fed me ice chips and I lost track of time, not knowing if it was day or night. Faces peered at me as I whimpered, begging for them to get the baby out.

“Time to push, Ivor.”

“Haven’t I been doing that?” There’d been so much pain, I thought I must have given birth. With my energy drained and Ryder holding me up, I pushed with each contraction until I thought I was being split in two.

“Make it stop,” I yelled.

“One more push,” Dr. Grey insisted.

I was wrong. Now I was being divided in half.

But through the tears, frustration, pain, and Ryder’s voice telling me to keep going, our baby’s cry rang out and my eyes snapped open.

“She’s here, Ivor,” my mate gushed as he cut the cord and a midwife placed a squirmy, slippery bundle on my chest.

I inhaled her scent, committing it to memory, just as she knew mine from being inside me for nine months. Ryder nuzzled our daughter and kissed my sweaty brow and when we were taken to my room, I did my best to feed our little one. She wasn’t interested and the nurse told me not to worry but to try again soon.

I’d read a lot about feeding and spoken to Archer so I understood I had to persevere, but she wouldn’t latch on and as the hours passed I grew frantic.

“Ryder,” I shrieked. My mate was sitting in a chair, his head lolling forward but he leaped up on hearing my voice.

“What is it? You hungry?”

I’d been stuffing my face since the birth and in addition to the hospital food, my mate had ordered Thai food.

“Look at Dyani.” We’d only decided on her name since we laid eyes on her and her long legs told me even if she wasn’t a deer, I imagined her leaping over a hedge and running through the woods. “Does her skin look blue to you?”

“I’m sure she’s fine,” he said but when he leaned over, he turned his head and caught my eye. There was uncertainty and fear etched on his face.

“I’m right, aren’t I?”

He nodded and pushed the buzzer. The nurse arrived and then the doctor. He checked the chart and asked about Dyani’s feeding, and then he took mydaughter from my arms and I’d never felt so empty as I sobbed and Ryder held me.

With each passing second, the bubble of fear in my belly was growing and getting ready to choke me. “What’s wrong?” But I didn’t want to hear the answer. Or I did but I needed them to say I was imagining it. All newborns were kinda blue and lethargic. It was completely normal.

Dr. Grey furrowed his brow and I was tempted to unleash my wolf and rip that freaking frown off his face. Without making any demands, I held out my arms. I didn’t need words to communicate, “Give me my baby.”

The doctor stood beside the bed and I held my breath, determined not to take another mouthful of oxygen until I knew my daughter was okay.

“The baby may be hypoglycemic,” he suggested.

“What? How?” Though it made sense as she hadn't drunk anything since she was born. But I was a dad, a new dad and I wasn’t about making sense. I wanted action.

But Ryder beat me to it, his hand clamped in mine, both palms bathed in sweat. “Fix it.” My poor mate. It wasn’t a question but a command.

“We’ll do a stick test.”

I hugged Dyani to my chest, not wanting anyone to touch her, and definitely not sticking a needle in her. Tears spilled over my cheeks and dropped onto the baby blanket, as Ryder stammered, “H-How do y-you d-do that?”

“In the heel. It’s the best way of taking a blood sample from a baby.”

“But it’ll hurt,” I blubbered.

“It’s very quick and we need to get this sorted. Hypoglycemia is easily treated but we can’t wait,” the doctor explained.

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