My mouth dropped open at the sight, and when I stared at my woman, I saw she didn’t look stressed. Didn’t look anything.
She was just calm.
At peace.
She tipped her head to the side, as watchful as the beasts, then she murmured, “Why are you here?”
We were standing in a clearing amid the forest. There were several hundred trees around us, and there were many outcroppings and fallen trunks that acted as interesting levels for different flowers and fauna to live among, but the sight of the wolves around us was a thousand times more majestic than anything I could have imagined.
It was a surreal moment in my life to watch one of the beasts move toward us—a single female. She was large. Overly large. Bigger than the others, and when she wandered forward, I noticed she was pregnant.
I cut Sabina a look, wondering if she knew what was happening because I sure as hell didn’t, and this was my world, not hers. Why she was so at ease with this was beyond me.
She’d mentioned to me that when we’d mated, there’d been like a click in her head where she’d gone from not understanding some things to understanding a lot more.
But I’d never imagined the degree into which that was the truth.
I frowned at the thought, wondered if she was acting on instinct or a knowledge that was denied to anyone not omega, but then my thoughts were dragged from me when the she-wolf waddled forward and flopped onto her belly before releasing a keening sigh as she rolled onto her side.
My eyes widened at that, but even though I froze when all the pack around us stepped forward, I jerked into action a second later, just as Sabina did.
The she-wolf whimpered as we approached, then started panting. I had no idea what was happening, not until I saw her belly contract.
I winced, recognizing that she was in labor, and…
From her size, I had to figure she was the alpha bitch.
A mateless one, now that Austin had killed the alpha male.
I grimaced, even as I stroked a hand over her, and Sabina surprised me further by whispering, “Something’s wrong with her. The birth isn’t going well.”
My eyes widened at that. “She told you?”
She bit her lip and ducked her head before sheepishly whispering, “Yes.”
I frowned, then reached over and grabbed her shoulder. “Don’t ever act cowed before me, my mate. You are granted with gifts that I’ll never understand, and they are a blessing, just as you are my blessing.”
She peeped up at me, then whispered, “It started this morning.”
“Hearing the animals?”
She blew out a breath. “Yes. It’s just impressions though.” Her gaze wandered around the clearing, taking in the circle of concerned wolves. “They’re worried. For her.”
I arched a brow. “That’s clear to see.”
“They like her. They want her to lead. The alpha male was brutal. Spiteful. She is good. Kind. But she is dying. She knows it.”
Horror trickled through me. “How does she know?”
“The pups should have come by now,” she rasped, her hand shaking as she let it drift over the she-wolf’s coat. As she touched her, the bitch’s tension lessened some, but every now and then, the contractions would appear. “She’s been in labor for almost half a day.”
I scowled at that. “She should have given birth by now.” Twelve hours was a long time between the beginning of labor and birthing the pups.
I knew that much. Only because of my time working at a vet clinic in town before we’d been set on the path to enforcing for the pack by Eli.
I’d thought about going to college to study to become a vet, but it had just never worked out.
Still, I knew some things… It was better than nothing, at any rate.
In this instance, I had no means of acting. I figured Dr. Appleby would have taken her temperature, maybe would have given her some meds to encourage the birth while reducing pain, but I had none of those facilities at my—
The hand was back at my shoulder again.
Pushing me forward.
I was me, but I was more.
Touched.
Shaped.
Molded.
A true child guided by its mother as I moved around to the she-wolf’s side and saw the pup was essentially stuck in the vulval entrance. Another wolf nudged me, and I turned to it in surprise. It promised me no harm, but there was a plea in its eyes, a plea that was so