Val's answer was as out of character for him as his presence here. "I don't know nothing about birthing puppies, Miss Scarlett, but I can cleave the head off a Daimon without breaking a sweat."
"All right, you can both stay." Vane crouched down beside his sister and nuzzled her snout with his face while the she-wolf panted and whined. "Don't worry, baby. I'm not going to leave you."
Ash sat down by her side and held his hand out for her to sniff him. "I'm a friend, Anya," he said gently. "I know you're in pain, but we're going to stay with you and help you deliver your young."
She looked up at Vane who made wolf noises back to her.
A loud curse sounded.
"Vane!" Fang shouted. "We got gators moving in all over the place."
Ash smiled. "It's okay. They're with me. They won't attack you unless you hit them."
Fang cocked his head in doubt. "You sure? They don't look friendly to me."
"Positive."
The last of the Katagaria pack moved out, except for two. Ash had seen them both before, but he didn't know them. . . .
No, not entirely true. Since he could see into their minds and hearts, he knew instantly that the blond one was Vane and Fang's brother. A brother neither of them knew they had.
The dark-haired wolf was a friend. Liam.
Fang narrowed his gaze at them as they joined the brothers. "What are you doing?"
Fury shrugged. "Wolves don't fight alone."
"Since when do you give a shit?"
Fury glanced quickly to Anya and Ash felt not only his pain, but his longing to be counted among their siblings. It was so raw and deep that it brought an ache to his own chest.
It was also a pain he could more than relate to.
"You two need a level head to help fight." Fury indicated him and Liam. "That's us."
Vane looked up. "Leave them alone, Fang. If they want to stay, let them. The more we have to help protect Anya, the better."
Fang stepped back while the other two wolves gave them distance. They went to stand off to the side with Val and the gators while Ash, Fang, and Vane were huddled over Anya.
The quiet stillness of the swamp was broken only by Anya's pants and whines.
As they waited, Ash felt the grief in Vane's eyes. He remembered a time when he'd listened to his own sister's screams as she birthed her baby. There was nothing more disturbing.
But all that faded when the first cries of the baby were heard. Then the focus became one of joy at the new life that had been created.
"She'll be fine," Val assured the brothers as he noticed their discomfort as well. "We'll get her through this."
"No," Vane said, shaking his head. "All we can hope for is to save her puppies. As soon as the last one leaves her body, she'll die."
Val frowned at him. "Don't be so fatalistic."
A muscle worked in Vane's jaw. "I'm not, Dark-Hunter. She was claimed by her mate. They bonded their life forces. Had she not been pregnant and carrying new life when he died, she'd have died with him. As soon as the puppies are born, she'll be off to join him on the other side."
Ash's stomach drew tight in sympathetic grief as he heard the pain in Vane's voice. He knew how much Anya meant to both of her brothers. He also knew what was about to happen and though he wanted to change it, he knew he couldn't. Fate was what it was and in trying to avert it, he could worsen the outcome for all of them. "I'm sorry, Vane."
"Thanks." Vane brushed his hand through his sister's white coat.
Fang sat off to the side, his gaze haunted as he remained silent. How rare for him not to be making offhand and even asinine comments. That told Ash more than anything just how upset Fang was.