Chapter 35
POV: Kiera?
Heat.
It overcame my entire body.
It felt as if flames were licking my insides, and engulfing my body.
I hadn’t yet given birth, and I felt weaker by each minute as time went on.
I groaned, rolling over to my side, my eyes fluttering from closed to halfway open but never truly opening.
I saw Mia’s figure at my side, hovering in the distance.
“Mia,” I moaned, calling her towards me.
Mia came closer in an instant, bending down to eye level and grasping my hand in hers. “Yes, Luna?”
“Mia,” I rasped out, eyes fluttering back closed. “How many hours has it been?”
Mia’s brow furrowed as her grip tightened around my hand.
But instead of strength inside of me, I only felt weaker.
Her face paled but her grip never weakened. “It’s been 23 hours since you went into labor.”
“23 hours,” I croaked out, gasping for air as I did. “I feel so weak. I feel so weak, Mia..”
I looked at her with half lidded eyes, my breathing unsteady and uneven. “Hold on, Luna. Hold on.”
Mia dropped my hand and ran over to a bucket of water nearby, dousing the rag in water, then rushing back over to me and running it tenderly over my forehead, removing my sweat and pushing back my baby hairs from my forehead.
Her voice was constant but shaky. “You will be alright, Luna. Just keep pushing. Don’t give up, Luna.”
Her words repeated inside my head. Don’t give up, Luna.
But I felt like I was giving up—without even trying. My body was weakening—it was in pain, my fever was rising, and I could barely even open my eyes. It had been 23 hours of pushing—of groaning in pain—of writhing in my own sweat and discomfort.
“But…” the words fell on my lips.
“But nothing, Luna,” Mia said firmly, running the cloth over my chest and pressing her hand to my swollen stomach. She positioned herself between my legs to look at the baby’s progress. “You will make it through this,” her voice shook as she said the words. “You will make it through this, Kiera. You are strong.”
“But I’m human,” I cried out, as the pain crept through me again. “My body…my body…could it reject the baby?”
Mia didn’t respond.
And that only made the fever burn hotter.
My eyes began to flutter shut. I was too weak to try to keep them open. The pain was swallowing my energy.
“Kiera!” I heard Mia yell somewhere nearby, but I couldn’t see her.
All I could see was darkness.
I couldn’t force myself to open my eyes.
“Kiera!” A voice echoed.
A light flashed.
But my eyes were still closed.
I was dreaming. Or maybe I was dying. I didn’t know. I couldn’t tell.
“Kiera!” I heard Mia call again.
But all I saw was light—then a valley, a valley so green that it looked endless—and at the edge of the valley was a wolf, but not just one wolf—three wolves.
One was larger, a brown wolf—that so closely resembled Cain’s wolf. Then beside him was another wolf, its hair was so light that it almost looked white, and beside that wolf was a much smaller wolf—one so small that it looked like a baby—a pup? Its hair was a golden color—a mixture of brown and white morphing into a very distinct color.
Then I heard the door open and noises around me.
And I felt him, even if I couldn’t see him. I felt him beside me, stroking my head, holding my hand.
Cain.
I felt his hand squeeze mine, and I heard his voice in echoes, as if the entire valley sounded of him. “Kiera, baby, please Kiera, wake up. Wake up.”
But every time I tried to open my eyes, and look into his—I failed.
Because I couldn’t get out of the valley.
Cain’s voice sounded again. I could hear the pain in his tone. “Kiera, baby. Please.”
And it all shifted.
The light disappeared in the valley as the skies grew dark grey—almost black.
And the three wolves in the distance disappeared.
I searched the valley for any sign of them but came up empty. They were gone.
A fog rolled in the distance, thick and all encompassing, swallowing up everything in its path.
That’s when I heard it.
A voice that carried within the wind—it was high pitched, yet soft at the same time. It wasn’t familiar, but somehow it brought comfort to me at the same time.
“Mate to Alpha of the Colorado pack,” the voice boomed, surrounding me in every direction. But I could not see who the voice belonged to.
Then I heard it again, somehow louder this time. “Your human body is dying. But do not worry, your son, he will live.”
I stood frozen in that valley, my hands shaking.
“He will be the legitimate heir and will become Alpha one day. Do not worry, child. But the pack will not speak of him in their legends. They will speak of you.”
But as soon as I went to answer, the sky returned to blue and the fog cleared.
And in the valley, the three wolves reappeared.
This is it, I thought.
I am dying.