Page 23 of Take Two (Valleywood: Season Three)
Chapter 23
Phobos
“Are you sure about this?” I trusted my mate with my life, but this was… out there. Especially for him.
He speared me with a sharp glare from where he was doubled over, hands braced on his knees. “Are you seriously going to question me on this? Now of all times?”
“Nope. Not even a little. No questions here.” I shook my head hard enough that my hair flopped over my forehead. I didn’t have a death wish. Whatever Declan wanted, he got. He was literally about to push a whole human being out of his body. “You are so wise, my love. Have I ever told you that? And handsome and kind and—”
“Enough with the ass-kissing,” he snapped, straightening up as the contraction passed. He blew out a long breath, and when he was no longer being squeezed so hard, his expression shifted to being a little sheepish. “Sorry about that. I’m not myself today.”
While I wasn’t sure who else he would be—or why he thought I would ever want anyone else—I did my best to try and be understanding. “You don’t have to apologize. I’m sure you’ve conferred with your wolf, and if you tell me this is safe, then I will 100% respect your decision.”
“Right…” His gaze skittered away from mine, and he quickly turned and started hiking away from where I’d parked the car, headed into the woods.
I knew that look. It was his guilty look, like when he’d accidentally munched his way through an entire case of snack-size chip bags in one sitting.
Narrowing my eyes, I grabbed the bag out of the trunk then started walking along behind him. It was much easier to keep up with him now that I had my powers back. No more puffing and wheezing up the incline from lack of cardio in my workout schedule. It also didn’t hurt that he was waddling. “Declan,” I called after him. “You did check in with your wolf, right?”
He pretended he didn’t hear me, which was such utter bullshit. That shifter could hear a pin drop from a mile away.
“Declan…” I drawled again, now catching up with him.
He rounded on me, eyes blazing with a strange mix of manic fear. “My beast thinks it’s a terrible idea too, okay? He would much prefer I be in a nice cushy hospital right now, instead of the middle of the forest far from any emergency medical attention. Is that what you want to hear? Are you happy now?”
“Hey, shh,” I soothed, drawing him gently into my arms, his round stomach between us, and rubbed a hand over his back in slow circles. He dropped his head to my chest and started sobbing, his tears soaking into my shirt. “Tell me what’s going on.”
Declan turned his tear-filled eyes up to me. “I just… wanted to be closer to my roots, you know? I was so mad at my father for trying to control me that I turned my back on everything to move to the city. No family, no pack. And then I met you, and I figured, sure, we can start our own pack, but something was still missing. I guess I thought this would… fix it. My ancestors have been doing this for generations, but now that I’m out here, I’m starting to realize this was a stupid idea. I mean, my dad died in childbirth. What the fuck was I thinking?!” He dug his fingers into my shirt, tugging desperately.
My heart ached for him. I’d had no idea he was going through this whole identity crisis. He and his dad had been slowly working toward building some kind of relationship, but I figured there would always be this rift between them. A gap that could only have been filled by a childhood shared.
“Hey, look up,” I coaxed, tipping his gaze up with a finger under his chin. “What do you see?”
“What?” Declan sniffled, his eyes bloodshot and puffy, but he did as I asked. “Um, trees? Sky?”
“Mm-hm. I love the way the leaves are changing color, all red and gold. And what do you hear?”
He heaved a shuddery breath then quietened down to listen. “The wind, a few sparrows, a squirrel.” He’d already begun to calm down, but I wasn’t quite done.
“What do you smell?”
Declan drew in another long, slow breath, parsing the scents from the air. “Rich soil, rain falling over the ridge, a doe about a hundred yards off to the east.”
“Good. Now tell me, do you want to give birth out here in the woods, or do you want to be in a hospital?”
He shook his head, his lower lip trembling. “I-It’s too late for the hospital anyway. Ready or not, this baby is coming.”
Cradling his cheeks in my palms, I said, “Look who you’re talking to. I can fly you straight to a hospital in under five minutes—if that’s what you want.”
He blinked a few times, and I recognized the inward shift to his gaze when I knew he was having a conversation with his wolf. Finally, he said, “Can we try here, and if anything goes wrong, you can get us to the hospital?”
“Absolutely.” I didn’t tell him that I already had Dr. Banner, a friend of mine at the hospital who specialized in shifter births, on standby in case we needed him.
While Declan panted his way through another contraction, I quickly unloaded the massive bag I’d packed for the occasion. There was a sleeping bag, pillows, and blankets to wrap the baby in, plus some ice packs, water bottles, and a cooler of food. I hadn’t known how long this would take, but I was starting to bet we wouldn’t have time for a snack, let alone the entire meal I’d prepared.
I helped Declan undress then tried to make him comfortable, lying down, walking, crouching, but as the contractions quickly intensified, until they were practically overlapping on top of each other, there was simply no comfort to be found.
“I-I think I need to push,” he said, his face scrunched in doubt as he made another pass of the little clearing where we’d set up.
“You think?” I asked, outwardly calm, even as every instinct I had was screaming to fly my mate to the hospital right this second.
Declan, usually so careful with his appearance, was the most disheveled I’d ever seen him. His sweaty hair hung over his face, his beard matted down on one side from all the rolling around he’d done. But in my mind, he’d never been more beautiful. He chewed on his lower lip for a second before nodding. “Yeah, definitely time to push.”
He flapped a hand at me. “Help,” he asked, and although I had no idea what kind of help he needed, I took his hand, and he lowered himself to his knees on the sleeping bag. He let out a guttural moan, and I quickly dropped down behind him, holding my hands out as if the baby would just fall out into them.
Unfortunately, it was nothing quite so simple or easy. It was not over with one push, nor a dozen. Declan’s back bowed with the effort, and I offered him words of praise and encouragement.
“I can see the head,” I gasped, enthralled by the magic of childbirth. It might not have been magic in the godly sense, flying or super strength or speed, but I thought this was even better.
Declan bore down, and our child was brought into this world. I’d done some research beforehand, because I’d needed to know everything before even attempting this, but nothing could’ve prepared me for what happened next.
I held our daughter in my hands, so tiny, so perfect, so…
Declan, exhausted, had collapsed onto the sleeping bag, but he lifted his head off the pillow to gawk. “Um… is she—?”
“Glowing? Yeah, she totally is.”
“Is that normal?” Declan asked, his voice tight as if deciding whether or not he needed to panic.
“Totally, goddesses glow all the time when they’re born,” I assured him, even though I had no idea if that was true or not. Pretty sure not. Luckily, the initial brilliance began to fade. It was safe to say that our beautiful baby girl had a little bit of her alpha daddy’s DNA, but I swore I caught a bit of a shifter’s flicker in her eyes too.
I had no idea what kind of incredible things our daughter would achieve, but I was so excited to find out. I pressed a kiss to her forehead before placing her carefully on Declan’s chest for her first feed.
“Our perfect little Apate,” I whispered lovingly.
“Oh, you were serious about the name? I thought it was a joke!” We both knew better than to toy with the goddess’s deal a second time.