Chapter 108
NADIA.
“What time are Bella and Trent coming?” I asked Ellie for the nth time, and she giggled again, as she did earlier.
“I don’t know. Why don’t you believe me?”
“She’s your twin. I’m sure she tells you everything.” I answered her. We were all planning to visit the cemetery today, but we hadn’t heard from Bella and Trent about whether they were already on their way.
“Well, not anymore. We don’t talk about sex and stuff, and I think that’s what Bella and Trent have been doing mostly these days.” Her eyes were squinting as she laughed heartily the moment she saw her brother’s head snap up to look at her with an annoyed expression on his face.
We were eating lunch. Only the three of us were around since Sebastian and Jenny were eating lunch with their mothers. Dominic was out somewhere for work and Dawson was on the training grounds.
After Zahra and Leandro’s deaths, the twins moved out of Atlanta and transferred directly to the territory, where they were initiated into the pack.
Ellie decided she would drop out of the university, but Bella wanted to pursue her degree. She was willing to transfer to the university in the neutral city so she wouldn’t need to be far away from her mate, which made Trent extremely happy.
Bella eventually switched packs and was living at the Green Valley Pack with Trent, who had taken over as the pack’s Beta.
Ellie, however, remained with us, and Dawson was the one who moved in.
“What?” Ellie asked Riley as she continued to giggle. “Don’t tell me you’re still not used to having your baby sister talk about sex? We’re wolves. We’re hormonal.”
Riley glared at her before shaking his head as he continued eating.
My mate has lived up to the expectation of being the big brother to the twins, but he was trying to tone it down since he understood they were adults and mated already.
However, from time to time, he would snap at his sisters whenever they talked too much about their mates. Especially when it comes to sex.
“And besides, it’s as if you’re not hormonal yourself.” Ellie wasn’t done teasing her brother. “Tell me, Nadia, isn’t it difficult to have sex with a stomach as big as that? Because you guys seemed to do it like everywhere, at any time of the day.”
It was my turn to be flabbergasted at her question.
I was already in my ninth month of pregnancy and the baby could pop out at any time.
And yes, we were having too much sex. It was because Genevieve, my OB-GYN, advised it would help to induce labor.
And of course, sex was never boring with Riley. So we were just taking advantage of it.
“Ellie!” I exclaimed and turned my head to ask for help from my mate, but he was chuckling as he ate his food.
“This is my house, Ellie. I do as I please,” Riley replied before winking at me.
“See, that’s the point. You two can talk freely about your sexcapades and you glare at me when I open my mouth about it. I thought we have equal rights here?” She smiled at her brother.
“Equal rights on what?” Dawson appeared from the entryway and went in to kiss Ellie before sitting in his place. Ellie immediately placed food on her mate’s plate and was about to answer him when Riley cut her off.
“On food. Equal rights to food.” Riley responded before changing the subject. “How did the training go?”
Many things had happened in the last few months, and soon, there would be big changes in the ranks within our pack.
Dawson was currently handling half of the Elites under the guidance of Gamma Sebastian until he was ready to fully take over as the new Gamma of the Silver Moon Pack. While Sebastian will be officially appointed as Beta after Dominic takes over his own pack.
This was why my Luna Ceremony had been postponed. Aside from the reality that we were still grieving for our loss, we wanted to wait until I gave birth and the changes in the pack’s ranked wolves had been finalized.
“It went well, like usual. You have some fucking strong warriors out there, and I doubt if I can handle…”
“You can.” Riley cut him off. “You’re an Adams, Dawson. It runs in your blood to lead. And I don’t want to hear you refer to the warriors as my men. They are your men now. Suck it up.”
“Thanks, Alpha.” He nodded his head before turning his attention to Ellie, who was looking lovingly at him.
Ellie cupped Dawson’s cheeks before she smiled warmly. “You’re doing well, love. You’re making me too proud.”
Dawson leaned in and pecked her lips before he responded to her words. “And you’re making me proud too! You’re doing great with your training. Jenny told me you’re moving faster now.”
After they moved into the pack, Riley had the twins start defense training, and in no time, they were both excelling at it.
And although there were no more threats at the moment, Riley was still not relaxed about the security within the territory and the forest connecting our territory with the other packs.
The last thing he wanted was a surprise from other enemies, especially with my labor just around the corner.
Everything had been going well, except for the part where we lost Zahra and Leandro.
My father, Theodore, and his mate, Laura, had been initiated into the pack.
Laura was among a few humans living within the territory, and from the looks of it, she was thriving here.
Although it was hard for her to leave the human territory, she wanted to support my father when he told her that he wanted to be present for me for the rest of his life.
And I couldn’t be more thankful for her.
I might have lost my mother and Zahra, but I still had Laura.
I smiled as I looked at the future Gamma couple before I felt a hand holding mine on the top of the table and my gaze was drawn to my mate. Riley mouthed, ‘I love you,’ to which I replied with the same words.
He turned his head toward Dawson and was about to say something when a screeching pain crossed my stomach. My grip on his hand tightened as I panted through my mouth.
“Riley!” I gasped for air and the next thing I knew, Riley was carrying me in his arms out of the dining room toward the packhouse grounds.
RILEY.
Today was supposed to be just an ordinary day, except Nadia started having contractions. I have prepared for this moment over and over in my head, advising myself not to panic. And I thought I did well, except we were all in the car without a car key. Without her nursery bag.
Dawson had to rush into my office to get the key, and Ellie had to go to Nadia’s office for her hospital bag before we were able to drive to the labor infirmary.
Nadia wanted to have a home birth, but I went against it. It’s not that I didn’t want to honor her request, but I was afraid something might go wrong.
I didn’t tell her my fears, but I’ve been carrying them since the moment Genevieve, her doctor, talked with us about her labor plan. There was nothing wrong with Nadia’s pregnancy. In fact, Genevieve said she was impressed with how easy it was for Nadia. And that was what scared me the most.
Veronica, Nadia’s mother, died during childbirth. Although I had no idea why she died or what she went through for her labor to end that way, I didn’t want to take any risk.
I would be lost if Nadia did not come out of this alive.
So I opted for hospital care. In the end, Nadia agreed after I explained that I wanted to make sure that medical care was within reach in case it was needed for our pup.
I knew I lied, but I didn’t want to add anything to her worries. I was okay carrying my own fears alone.
But I prayed to the Goddess every day that she would keep an eye on my mate—keep her and our pup safe and healthy. After all of my losses, losing Nadia would never be an option for me.
“Don’t drive too fast. I’m okay. The pain disappeared.”
“It will come back soon, depending on how near you are to giving birth.” It was Ellie. And instead of calming me, it just added to my nervousness. I wanted to be at the hospital soon before another contraction came.
Everything happened fast after that. Nadia was already in labor and I felt fucking useless in the delivery room.
I was trying my best not to let my Alpha aura out so that everyone could do their function well, but seeing Nadia in pain was making me and Hunter restless.
Sweat formed on my forehead as I clutched her hand tighter. The moment the pain subsided, I kneeled beside her bed and wiped the sweat off her face. “Baby, you’re blocking your walls. I can’t feel anything from you. Open it.”
She shook her head. “No. It’s too painful…”
“Let me take it then. Let me help you. We’ve talked about this.”
“I can handle this.”
“I know you can. But please, let me ease a bit of the pain.”
“Aaah!” She bit her bottom lip as the pain came, and Genevieve told her to push again. And then I felt it. Nadia lowered her walls and the surge of physical pain came rushing in.
It was something I wasn’t prepared for. I was used to the pain of cuts, bruises, and burns. But never from internal pain. This was almost similar to the silver that was burning my body from the inside when I almost died in Caspian’s territory.
Sweat formed all over my body, but I was doing my best not to flinch. Nadia was giving me half the pain, and she was doing so well in controlling her pain.
I asked for this. I couldn’t let her down.
Her grip on me tightened as her eyes locked with mine. She was pushing but she was checking if I was alright. Even in her own pain, Nadia would always look after me.
I smiled as I sent her a mindlink. ‘I’m okay. It’s nothing that an Alpha can’t handle.’
But fuck this! I wondered how long it would be before my pup would come out because the pain building inside me wasn’t funny at all.