Vivianna
Icouldn’t help it, I barked out a disbelieving laugh. “You’re my what? I hate to break it to you, but I have seven mates and none of them are you.”
Jason just smiled at me with smug assuredness.
“As we speak, my brother has a group of our men lying in wait to kill your mates. Once they are gone then we don’t have to worry about them anymore.
See, as an alpha you have the ability to take as many mates as you want, of course you will mourn those you have lost, but you are not so weak it will kill you.
I guess that comes from being a Restorer. ”
I couldn’t tell if I had lost too much blood and couldn’t understand him or if he was just spouting a load of bullshit.
I can smell it from here, that’s a load of crap.
God, I can’t tell you how good it is to have you back in my brain. Don’t ever do that to me again or so help me god I will find some way to punish you.
We need to work on your people skills. You can’t just tell them you missed them and then threaten their life in the next sentence. They’re going to think you’re crazy... or a major bitch.
Jason, seeing that I wasn’t paying him much attention, took a few steps closer and squatted in front of me. “Little queen, we can do this the easy way or the hard way. Since you have a child attached to your tit, I suggest you be smart and do as you’re told.”
Wow, and I thought his brother was a dick.
Real charmers aren’t they, but if he thinks he can lay a hand on my babies then he won’t live for much longer.
“I can see the fight in your eyes, but know this, your daughter is now the key to this all. You are not quite as important as you once were, so I have less of a problem letting you die here and now,” Jason explained. “Now, while I still have the illusion of patience— get up.”
Behind his words I could feel him trying to use his alpha power. He might be strong, but I was stronger, even if it was by a hair.
“No,” I growled. “We will wait until my daughter is done feeding and then, only then will I get up off this floor. Keep pushing me and I will give into my wolf’s desire to rip your throat out.”
Heat flashed through his eyes at the thought of me fighting against him.
He wasn’t like his brother, who craved to dominate people and control them.
No Jason wanted the fight, a spirited prey that he could conquer and make summit to his will through physical force.
In my opinion, I would say he might be the more brutal out of the two brothers, but Vadik played the long game, trapping his prey until they had nowhere else to go but where he told them to.
“Fine, they tell me the first meal for a baby is the most important,” before I could react his hand was around my jaw. “Don’t you even think about pulling some stunt and letting yourself die. We decide when we’re done with you.”
Fuck, how is he that fast? I didn’t even sense him moving until it was already too late.
We are in the lion’s den and the only way out is to be scarier than they are. Think we can do that?
Fuck yeah, we can we are a mom now and nothing is scarier than a mother protecting her young.
“Can we at least help you back to the bed?” Dr. Faulk asked, twitching with the need to help me.
Nodding my agreement, one of the nurses came up to me with a blanket and reached for my lifeless daughter, forcing the pain to once again become overwhelming.
Reluctantly, I let the nurse take her and wrap her little body up all snug before placing her in a bed of her own beside the gurney.
While that happened, another nurse came up to me and helped me to my feet so I didn’t slip on the blood all around me.
Now that I was standing, I felt how light headed I was now that the adrenalin was dissipating.
The little one still attached to me let out a little growl of irritation at being jostled around, but never let go of my nipple.
“She is drinking well, that is a very good sign,” The nurse murmured as she guided me back over to the bed that had already been stripped and fresh sheets put on it.
They packed gauze around the incision so it would slow down the bleeding some. Another IV was put in and they started transfusing blood for me slowly, so I didn’t just bleed it out all over again.
“Do you have names for them?” one nurse asked as she looked down at my daughter in the bassinet.
Looking down at the wrinkly bald head of my daughter I stroked my thumb against her cheek. “This little one will be named Hope and her sister’s name is Violet.”
“Those are perfect names Dama, very fitting and just as lovely as they are,” she commented soothingly. “They are very blessed to have such a strong mother.”
Jason scoffed at this drawing our attention. “What you call strong, I just see as stubborn and strong willed. A woman who is too selfish to do what it takes to survive in this world. “
“You live a life having everything decided for you, unable to live your own life and tell me how you would feel when someone tries to do it again. So sorry not sorry for being ‘hard-to-handle’,” I mocked, snarling at him.
“Now, leave me the fuck alone or this will take longer, I’m not feeling that helpful. ”
“You will come to heel little queen, you have no one coming for you if they even knew where you were. Traveling halfway around the world sure makes things more challenging to locate,” Jason smirked as he gave me a wink and headed out the door.
A growl filled my chest but when Hope started to squirm and fuss I cut it off and looked down to find her asleep with a little trail of milk seeping out of the side of her mouth.
Oh, she must be Koit’s kid, that man is the worst at drooling in his sleep.
I’m not even going to spare the time to guess who might be her father. All of them will love this child like their own, even if some of them might not be ready to be fathers.
“Vivianna, please hand over Hope so that we might be able to close you up,” Dr. Faulk directed as he got himself ready. “This time I am able to use a stronger sedative to help with the pain if you would like.”
“No, I don’t need anything, just do what you need to do,” I told him firmly.
Now knowing that Jason was here even if Vadik wasn’t, left me on edge.
Having Hope born and the perfection of health I couldn’t help but let fear creep in that something might happen to her.
I needed to be awake and alert in every way possible.
I’d failed one of my children. I wasn’t going to let it happen again.
I could feel the bite of the scalpel as Dr. Faulk cut away the raw skin that blocked my shifter healing.
He cleaned everything and made sure internally I didn’t harm anything, but that shouldn’t have happened since that could heal fine.
I felt a few stitches go in just to hold it shut for the healing to take place.
One of the nurses opened the flow on the blood so that I would get a faster transfusion.
“As all the sedatives and suppressants we’ve used on you over the past few months wear off, there could be some side effects.
I can’t predict what they will be, but most commonly is fatigue, trouble with your short term memory, and loss of muscle mass.
We tried to do all we could to prevent these from happening, but for how long you were exposed it’s bound to happen.
Oh, and if you try to shift it will hurt, your muscle memory after not shifting for so long will be like going through your first shift all over again.
It’s the price every mother pays to bear a child,” Dr. Faulk informed me as he watched the nurses clean up and bandage my incision.
Now he tells us. Having to go through that once was bad enough but twice, that is just fucked up.
It’s not just twice, if I ever want to have another kid, this will happen again and again.
Looks like we need Bentley to work on fixing that.
I paused a moment before I respond my wolf.
We need to be prepared for the fact that they might be dead.
For any of this to work they have to be out of the picture and Vadik doesn’t like to leave loose ends.
I have Hope to think of now, she is my first. The guys have each other— I have no one but you.
Aren’t you miss Joyful Jen all of a sudden, spreading all your happiness and light around—fuck woman.
If I don’t prepare for this, I don’t think my heart can take another blow like losing Violet. If I just believe that they’re already gone I can keep moving forward for what’s best for my child, instead of lingering on the hope they will come for us.
I get it, doesn’t mean I have to like it.
If I’m being honest— neither do I.
As I was chatting with my wolf, they brought me back to a new room that had two cribs set up. I had to blink back tears as Hope was lowered into one, but Violet was wheeled up next to my bed.
“Take all the time you need. We find that being able to bond and say goodbye is helpful in the long run. Let us know when you’re done and we’ll come get her,” the nurse said, giving my arm a comforting squeeze once she handed Violet over to me.
Once again, I cradled her small little body against my chest so her head laid over my heart and I wept.
This beautiful baby girl would never live a full life alongside her sister.
I let my mind play out what she would look like as the two of them played out in the courtyard of the castle, my mates joining in and watching with pride.
Rik would come up behind me and cradle me as we watched what we all created and brought into the world, whispering how much he loved me and the girls.
They will never meet her...I can tell them about her, describe her to them, but I will be the only one who knows her.
It is better to be remembered by one who will hold you in their heart forever than to be forgotten by everyone.
I knew she was right, but as I pictured more of her could-be life, I lost myself to my grief.
The excitement in her ocean colored eyes, so much like mine, on the first day of school.
Her pure white curls with a hint of purple running through it bounced as she skipped her way inside the building.
Tav, having to hold me back as Hope raced after her, not wanting to be left behind— she was the oldest after all.
Then I imagined them both wearing caps and gowns ready to graduate.
Bentley handing me a tissue as we watched them walk across the stage.
All of their fathers would be trying to get them to take after their footsteps in choosing where they went to college, but in my heart I knew Violet would be a rebel.
She would pick something artistic that brought joy to the world, much to Koit’s approval.
I dreamed of the day she would bring home her mate for us all to meet and Tristan and Orion would threaten and scare the poor man shitless.... but eventually giving their blessing.
Both the girls would be able to have children and soon the castle would be overrun with them, the joyful sounds of their laughter echoing through the halls.
My mates and I would spoil the crap out of them, and they would cry as they left to go back home with their parents.
Soon, I would be surrounded by my mates as we drifted off to sleep chuckling at what outlandish things our grandchildren said or did.
This is the life Violet should have been able to live. Now, she would forever live in my heart, a place where no one could harm her, or take her from me. It was all I had to hold onto as they came and took her away for the last time.