Epilogue
Sienna
“Breathe, Luna.”
I glare at the woman standing at the end of the bed, my fingers tightening around Jayce’s hand as another wave of pain tears through my body.
“I am breathing,” I manage through clenched teeth. “If I weren’t, I’d be dead.”
The midwife doesn’t appear offended. She simply gives me the patient smile of someone who has clearly dealt with enough women during labour.
“Slowly,” she says. “In through your nose and out through your mouth.”
I inhale, attempting to do as she asks, but the pressure in my stomach intensifies; it feels as if my entire body is being torn apart from the inside. A cry escapes me, one hand gripping my stomach, the other fisting the sheets.
Jayce immediately moves closer. “I’ve got you,” he murmurs, his arm wrapping around my shoulders as he sits behind me, helping me through it. “Come on, Darling. Breathe with me.”
I turn my head and frown coldly at him. He isn’t the one trying to push a baby out of his body.
I bite my lip to cut back a cry and rest my head back against his shoulder; his familiar scent is calming as another contraction hits me.
His shirt is already creased from hours of me gripping it, and there are several faint marks of dried blood on his hands where my nails had broken the skin several times, but he hasn’t complained, not even when I nearly broke two of his fingers earlier.
His breath remains even against the side of my face, although I can feel his emotions, restrained but there through the bond. The fear, the concern, and the helpless frustration burning beneath his calm exterior, because during this, he can’t do it for me.
The contractions let up, leaving me trembling and breathless against him.
“I can’t do this,” I whisper. The words leave me before I can stop them.
Jayce’s arm tightens around me, and he reaches up, cupping my face and turning me to face him.
“You are doing it, and you’re doing fucking great,” he whispers, his green eyes burning into mine.
“I’m tired.”
“I know,” he murmurs.
“It hurts,” I whisper.
“I know, Darling, I know, and I fucking hate that I can’t take any of it from you.”
He reaches up, brushing the damp hair from my face before pressing a kiss to my forehead. His lips linger there, and through the bond I feel him trying to give me everything he can: his strength, his calm, the certainty he’s holding onto for both of us.
“I can’t take away the pain, but I can be by your side, holding you through it,” he promises.
I nod as another ache begins low in my back, and I close my eyes, already dreading what is coming.
Jayce’s hand wraps around mine as he settles properly on the bed right behind me, allowing me to lean fully against his chest. His legs are braced on either side of the narrow bed, his arms now wrapping around me as I grip his forearms and try to remember how to breathe.
You got this, Darling. His voice enters my mind, cutting through the pain.
I open my eyes, looking at his reflection in the dark window opposite us. His hair is dishevelled from the number of times he’s dragged his fingers through it, and he looks almost as exhausted as I feel.
We have been here for so many hours… This baby just doesn’t want to come out.
I gasp, and the lights flicker overhead, but Jayce’s aura immediately curls around mine, steadying it before I accidentally destroy the entire room.
Again.
An hour ago, I almost destroyed the windows, but Jayce had managed to shield the room from my chaos.
The midwife had just smiled, as if seeing her Luna’s power was normal.
“That’s it,” she now encourages from somewhere beyond the pain. “You’re doing very well. Let your body work through it.”
I nod, but the pressure has become unbearable, forcing a broken sound from my throat as tears spill down my face. Jayce presses his cheek against mine, whispering words I barely understand, his voice rough but constant.
“You’re alright. I’ve got you. Just a little longer.”
“You said that an hour ago,” I choke out before the pain surges. Jayce kisses the side of my head, holding me firmly. I collapse against him, every part of my body trembling.
The room slowly comes back into focus. The low golden lights. The pale walls of the private birthing suite. The medical equipment arranged nearby, and the chair in the corner where Jayce had refused to sit for more than a few minutes since we arrived.
Beyond the closed door, most of our family is waiting. My parents, Uncle Liam, Jaddati, his grandparents, his siblings, Allie, Heaven, Aunty Ri, Aunty Kiara, Grandpa Al, Azura – they’re all here.
“Can they not just use magic?” Jayce asks the midwife for what must be the fourth time. He already asked me this before…
She gives him the same calm look she gave him the previous three times. “The baby is doing well, and Luna Sienna’s body is progressing naturally. She’s going to be fine.”
His jaw clenches. He doesn’t like the answer, but he nods.
I rest my head back against him, closing my eyes as his hand moves over my stomach. Our son shifts beneath his palm, and the movement sends a different kind of ache through my chest.
Our son.
For months, I’ve felt him grow inside me. I’ve listened to his heartbeat, watched him move on the scans and spent far too many nights wondering whose eyes he’ll have, whether he’ll inherit Jayce’s control or my stubbornness, and what kind of powers he might possess with our combined blood.
And to think very soon he’s going to be here. A real little person.
Ours to love.
Ours to protect.
I hope I can be a good mother… I whisper through the bond as I turn my head and look at him.
His expression softens as he brushes his thumb along my arm.
“You’re going to be an incredible mother,” he answers without hesitation. “Just like Mom was.”
I look up at him, seeing the shadow of the boy who lost his mother, of the man who still carries that loss no matter how much time has passed.
He looks away for a moment, blinking hard before his gaze returns to mine.
“I can only strive to be as good as Mama Raven,” I say softly as another contraction begins. He doesn’t reply, kissing my shoulder tenderly.
I barely have time to draw a breath before it consumes me. The midwife checks me again before looking up at us.
“It’s time.”
My heart thunders, and Jayce’s arms tighten around me.
We both know what that means. My nerves are sky-high as I continue focusing on my breathing.
The midwife moves to the end of the bed, calmly giving instructions whilst Jayce helps reposition me. He doesn’t move away when he’s asked, remaining beside me with one hand locked around mine and the other supporting my back.
“When the next contraction comes, Luna, I need you to push.”
I nod as the pain builds again.
“Now,” the midwife orders. “Push.”
I push with everything I have, a scream tearing from me as the pressure becomes unbearable.
“Push,” the midwife says.
“I am!” I gasp, drawing on every ounce of strength left inside me. Jayce braces me against him, whispering encouragement through the mind-link when his spoken words are lost beneath the sound of my cries.
That’s it. I’ve got you.
The pressure burns through me.
You’re doing it, Darling.
I push until spots dance across my vision, until I can’t tell where the pain ends and I begin.
Then it eases.
“Again,” the midwife says. “He’s almost here.”
I drag in a shaking breath, my body trembling violently against Jayce’s as he presses kisses against my damp hair, my temple, anywhere he can reach.
“One more,” he murmurs. “Come on. Our baby boy is almost here.”
Our boy.
The final contraction rises, pain tears through me, and my own scream fills the room. Then a cry cuts through the air.
My body falls back against Jayce, exhaustion replacing the pain, leaving me shaking.
I look at the midwife who is holding our little pup. A sob escapes my lips at the sight of him; he’s wriggling in her arms, face scrunched with outrage as he announces his arrival to the entire room.
“He’s here,” I whisper.
Jayce doesn’t answer. I turn my head and see him staring at our son as if the rest of the world has ceased to exist. His heart is thudding, his eyes full of emotion, and so much love that it crashes through the bond like a wave.
The midwife places our son against my chest, and the moment his warm body touches mine, I feel overwhelmed with love.
He’s… so small and yet bigger than I imagined.
He’s chunky with juicy cheeks and pouty little lips.
His dark hair is damp against his head, and his little fists curl near his face as he continues crying.
I wrap both arms around him instinctively, terrified I’ll somehow hold him wrong as I rock him gently, soothing him instantly.
“Hello,” I whisper through my tears. “Hello, little one.”
At my voice, his cries fade entirely, and he looks up at me, eyes wide.
Jayce’s arm closes around both of us. He touches the baby’s back with such tenderness.
“Our son,” he whispers.
I look up at him and smile. “He’s perfect,” I murmur.
Jayce nods, smiling before lowering his head, touching his forehead against mine.
“You did it. Well done; you were incredibly brave and strong.”
“Thanks…” I say with a smile as his lips brush my forehead, his hand remaining protectively over our little boy.
“No, thank you,” he answers.
Our son makes a small sound between us, his fingers opening until they close around the tip of Jayce’s finger.
Jayce freezes, his heart thundering before he smiles softly.
“I’m here,” he whispers, his voice rough with emotion. “I’ve got you.”
The same words he’s spoken to me through every hardship and every fear.
I lean into Jayce, who is once again sitting behind me, his legs on either side of me, his arms around us.
And for a while, we simply stay there. Our little pup starts sucking his hand, and I adjust him, helping him latch onto my breast the way I was shown.
Jayce supports him, and for a while we sit in silence, only his strong, hungry suckling filling the room.
His Alpha aura subtle, but surely there.
He’s going to be a strong one.