Wolf Tales 12 (33 page)

At the time, Logan had exchanged a less-than-encouraging look with Adam—neither of them thought they’d be able to repair the damage. Jake’s burns had been so horrible—deep and ugly, beyond anything either healer had dealt with before—but they’d gone in with the idea of fixing as much as they could.

After so many years working together on various members of the pack, he and Logan had developed an unexpected, almost preternatural symbiosis—an ability to function as a single unit, drawing on one another for strength. Often Liana joined them, but her advanced pregnancy made that feel a little too risky, so it had been just the two of them—and wounds unlike anything either man had ever experienced.

With the help of an ever-changing team of packmates selflessly handling Jake’s pain, they’d achieved more than they’d dreamed possible.

He’d been horribly disfigured with burns that could have killed an average man. Now, though, he slept soundly. Shannon lay beside Jake on the mattress where they’d moved him, holding tightly to his hand even in sleep. All seemed perfectly okay . . . so what had awakened him?

Sitting up, he realized Shannon watched him with eyes half open.
Is anything wrong? Do you need any help?

He shook his head.
No. You must be exhausted. Go back to sleep, but call if you need me, if Jake feels pain when he wakes up. I’m going to check on Liana.

Shannon nodded and closed her eyes. Adam slipped on a pair of sweats and padded silently to the tunnel leading to the main cavern. All was quiet. Even the babies slept soundly.

Battery-powered lamps burned low, throwing just enough light to keep him from tripping over anyone. He detoured to the small cavern set aside as a privy, used the rather rudimentary facilities, and washed his hands and face in a clear waterfall that dropped from the level above into a shallow pool. Feeling more alert now, he cast his thoughts about for Liana.

She was either sleeping soundly or blocking him. Knowing his hardheaded wife, he was almost positive she blocked him.

Which made him equally certain she was in labor.

The last time she’d contacted him, he’d sensed she was being evasive, but he was just getting ready to start working on Jake, and they’d kept their communication brief. Now, though, he wondered at the sense that maybe she wasn’t telling him everything that was going on. Sometimes he got so caught up in a project—in this case, healing Jake—that everything else was pushed to the side.

Had he inadvertently pushed his mate aside when she needed him every bit as much as Jake? Shit. He could be such an ass.

His anxiety spiked. Where the hell was Liana? He splashed more water over his tangled hair and finger-combed it back from his face. Then he reentered the main cavern and checked the pallet where their children slept soundly.

Liana’d chosen a spot near a wall beside Mei and Oliver in case she went into labor and they needed someone close to keep an eye on Eve Elizabeth and Jace—all the kids slept together in a tangle of arms and legs, teddy bears, favorite blankies and dolls. Mei and Oliver’s four-year-old Leo blocked nine-month-old Emeline on one side while three-year-old Jace fenced her in on the other. Eve Elizabeth had taken up her spot at the foot of the bed, acting as the gateway to keep Emeline corralled against the cavern wall.

Now that she was walking, everyone had taken up “Emeline patrol.” Adam stood there a moment, watching the kids. They grew so damned fast, and his two were getting easier by the day—yet he and Liana were doing it again. So why did the thought of a new baby in the pack—his new baby—make him smile like an idiot?

Never in his wildest dreams had Adam ever imagined being a father. But then he’d never imagined life with a woman like Liana. She completed something in him that had always been missing, even when he’d been mated to Eve.

Funny, how things turned out. His first mate now their Goddess, their first Goddess now his mate. How the hell had he ever gotten so lucky? Why had two such amazing women chosen him?

And where the hell was Liana? He yawned and gazed about the shadowed cavern, but there was no sign of her. Anton, for some reason, slept on the far side of the pond with Lily curled up beside him, but they looked like they were sound asleep, and he didn’t see any point in disturbing them.

He wandered past all the sprawled, sleeping bodies, but Liana wasn’t anywhere in the main cavern. He glanced once again at Anton and Lily—Anton always knew how to find everyone whether they were blocking him or not. Before he could make up his mind whether or not to intrude, he noticed a dim light coming from a tunnel leading to one of the smaller chambers.

Sending out a quest for his mate, he headed toward the tunnel. His anxiety grew the closer he got—the sense that all was not well. By the time he reached the tunnel he was running. He ducked to get through the opening and raced down the short, narrow passage that quickly opened up into a small chamber. A candle burned on a stone ledge against one wall.

Liana knelt in the center, wearing a nightgown but bent over on hands and knees, lungs heaving, panting her way through what had to be a serious contraction. So intent was she on her labor, she didn’t appear to notice he’d entered the chamber.

Adam was positive his heart stopped beating as he slid to his knees beside her and grabbed her shoulders. “What the fuck are you doing in here? Why didn’t you call me?”

She gasped for air, took another deep breath, slowly expelled it, and glared at him when the contraction finally ended. “Don’t curse at me, Adam Wolf. You were busy with Jake. He needs you. I’m okay. I’ve done this before.”

“Not by yourself, you haven’t. Damn it, Liana.” His voice broke on her name. He sat back on his butt on the dirt floor and drew her into his arms. “I love you. We got you pregnant together, we have this baby together. Don’t lock me out.”

“I’m sorry.” She took a couple of deep breaths. “My water broke about the time they brought Jake in. I knew he needed you and it would be hours before I went into serious labor. I didn’t want to distract you.”

“This is our baby. You are my wife. You’re supposed to distract me for things like this.” Damn. His heart thudded against his ribs. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to cry or curse.

She leaned her head against his chest. “Adam, I’m so sorry. All I could think of was that I didn’t want to worry you. I guess I didn’t think. How’s Jake?”

Adam pulled her closer. His heart rate finally settled down to some semblance of normal. “Jake is fine. I think Logan and I repaired the damage enough that he won’t even have much scarring. He’s sleeping comfortably now.” He sighed and hugged her closer. “I’ve been sleeping, too. While you’ve been in here doing this all by yourself, I’ve been asleep. I’m the one who’s sorry.” He kissed the top of her head. “How far apart are your contractions?”

“Between five and eight minutes. Please, don’t feel bad. If you’ll recall, I stayed this way for hours with Jace.” She nuzzled his neck and her arms went around his waist.

“You had others helping you with the pain. There’s no need to hurt, sweetheart.”

She shook her head slowly against his chest. “Everyone’s exhausted. The children are frightened by the fire. Mei’s watching ours, but I can’t ask anyone to leave their kids. It’s all been too traumatic.” Her breath sort of jerked and her body tensed.

“Stop blocking me.” Adam cupped her face in his hands and forced her to look at him. “I can’t help you if you block me. Let me in.”

She nodded and immediately began to pant.

Adam’s mind flooded with pain, with the tightening of her womb, the powerful clench of muscle, and he did as he’d watched the women do for one another—he took her pain into himself. Bit back a startled cry as agony coursed from his belly to his balls, as his muscles cramped and strained under unfamiliar impulses.

Liana’s breathing evened out and she gazed at him, wide-eyed. “Adam, no.” She touched his face as he worked through the pain of her contraction and then took a deep, shuddering breath.

“You don’t have to do that. I’ve heard it’s harder for men—you don’t have a womb to transfer the pain, so it affects nerves that aren’t equipped to handle it. I’ll be okay. Women have been doing this for millions of years.”

“You’re not doing this by yourself. And that was no five to eight minutes. More like two. Do you have any blankets in here, anything clean to lie on? I want to examine you.”

“That bag has blankets and some towels.” She wouldn’t look his way.

He stared at her. Felt anger boiling just beneath the surface. “You were planning to go through delivery by yourself? Risk your life and our child’s? Liana, why?”

“What did you expect me to do?”

She was crying, damn it all. He didn’t want to make her cry.

Sobbing harder, she said, “Jake needed you. He was dying. I may not be a goddess anymore, but I can feel when someone’s life force is fading, and his was almost gone. Adam, I will be okay. The baby is strong, I’m strong. If I needed help, I could call anyone to me and they would come. But I couldn’t call you. Not then. Jake needed you more.”

He bowed his head and held her close. “You can always call me, Liana. I’m your mate. Your husband. The father of this baby. I need you to call me.” He looked at her, gently cupped her face, used his thumbs to brush away the tears, and forced her to look at him. “I need for you to need me as much as I need you. I love you so much it hurts. I know I don’t say it enough, and I probably don’t show you often enough, but I love you. I will always need you.”

“I know.” She cupped his cheek with her hand. “I love you. I . . . oh . . . oh, Adam.” Her eyes went wide. “You’d better get that blanket ready. Now!”

Anton stirred, vaguely aware of cramped muscles and a dull thudding pain in his head. He lay there, propped uncomfortably against the cavern wall, and catalogued the sensations—the headache, the sense of many bodies around him, the warmth of Lily sleeping beside him.

His mind was filled with something, but he didn’t understand what he was thinking. There was a sense he needed to sort through something, but he wasn’t certain what.

A soft cry caught his attention. He cast out his thoughts in spite of the pain in his skull and heard a long, low moan. Liana? Getting carefully to his feet, he leaned over and picked up his sleeping daughter. Walking quietly around the edge of the pond, he carried her back to the pallet where Mac, Gabe, and Lucia slept beside their mother.

Keisha blinked sleepily and gazed up at him.
Why are you carrying Lily? Is she okay?

He knelt beside her and laid the little girl down beside her brothers and sister.
She’s fine. I was sitting with Liana and Lily joined us. Go back to sleep. It’s barely three in the morning. I’ll call if Liana needs you. Her water broke a few hours ago.

Okay. I’ll get what sleep I can. Helping Adam and Logan with Jake took a lot out of me.
Keisha smoothed Lily’s hair back from her face and lay back on her pallet. Anton stood and searched for the source of the cry he’d heard, then strode quickly across the chamber to one of the smaller rooms.

He moved quickly down the narrow passage, following the dim glow of light. Adam knelt in the middle of the small chamber, barely visible in the light from a single candle. Liana lay on her back, knees raised, fingers twisting the blanket beneath her as she obviously labored.

“Good Goddess, Liana! Adam? Is everything okay?”

Adam didn’t answer, but he nodded as Liana cried out. The soft sound belied the pain she must be in. Anton linked, reached for her pain—and cursed as it brought him to his knees.

“Thank you.” It hardly sounded like Liana. Harsh breaths exploded as another contraction tightened her body.

Anton felt it grab hold of his middle and squeeze. The power of her pain, the shock of how much she endured shattered his concentration. Clamping down on his thoughts, he took what he could and pulled in even more, holding Liana’s agony close as she struggled to push her baby into the world.

The coppery smell of blood was strong, the sour stink of sweat and fear, but Anton recognized Adam’s fear for what it was. His wife was in pain, his child not yet born, and he held the terrible responsibility for their lives in his hands.

Only Liana seemed calm. Linked entirely with her, Anton carefully compartmentalized the excruciating pain and allowed himself this amazing opportunity to take an objective view of the entire birthing process.

He’d never entered a woman’s mind while she labored. Other than connecting with Keisha on a rudimentary level, he’d done his duty as a male and stayed the hell out of the way while the women gathered and did their thing.

Liana needed him right now. It was just the three of them—Adam, Liana, and Anton. Each of them had a job to do . . . but would it hurt anything if he took his job a bit further and experienced this amazing process?

With her pain controlled by Anton, with Adam ready to catch their daughter, Liana let out a huge sigh. “Thank you, Anton. I feel like I can finally concentrate on what I’m supposed to be doing.”

She touched his hand and smiled at him, and Anton thought she had never looked as beautiful as she did at this moment, with her blond hair darkened with perspiration and her face drawn from exhaustion. Even as a goddess, she’d not glowed with this ethereal beauty nor projected such a powerful sense of purpose.

“Get behind me, Anton. Please? Hold me up so I can push.”

He scrambled around behind Liana and raised her shoulders, clasping both her hands in his. Focused solely on holding her pain at bay, he sent it to another place, somewhere else in his mind where it wouldn’t distract either of them from this miracle. Then, without any sense of shame at all, he slipped into an alternate reality, one in which he became Liana.

One that allowed him to celebrate firsthand this miracle of a new life.

Once again her body contracted and a sense of peace filled him, filled Liana. Included Adam in a warm cocoon of love and safety. Oblivious to his surroundings, Anton felt every muscle, every breath, every beat of Liana’s heart, yet all was muted.