Chapter 20
Sudden, powerful cramps made me double over in pain. Was something wrong with the baby? It was moving a moment ago. But it was too soon, wasn’t it? I frantically ran through everything I’d learned about pregnancy in werewolves,
Mostly it was the same as for a human. It had to be similar, otherwise I wouldn’t exist. My mother was human, and she’d carried a werewolf baby to term with no problems.
But there were differences. The term was shorter. I knew that. But how much shorter?
Was it enough of a difference that the baby would be moving this much already? How well–formed was Leo’s pup at this moment?
I looked up at Leo as sharp pain ripped through my middle. Was it him? Was the pup somehow reacting to the presence of its father?
That should be ridiculous. How could a baby inside of me feel the presence of its father? But it hadn’t moved before he arrived. Nothing else explained the sudden movements.
Another flutter of movement and a sharp pain nearly drove me to my knees. I felt the blood drain from my face as I fell. Leo caught me before my knees hit the floor.
“You’re as pale as a ghost,” he announced, and that was definitely concern in his voice, “I’m going to take you to the healers.”
No, I couldn’t go to the healers! They would know immediately what was wrong with me. And they would tell Leo. If he learned I was pregnant, the whole plot would unravel and my other’s life would be forfeit.
How could I convince him to let me go wh about the wolves in his pack. Even
I had to calm the pup. That was
rest.
How was I supposed to calm a fetus,
I’d
I almost fainted in his arms, though? Leo just had to be the kind of alpha who actually cared thought were plotting against him.
If I wasn’t pale and fainting, Leo would believe me that I was only tired and he’d let me go
? I didn’t want the pup to stop moving, even though it made me a little nauseous.
Those tiny flutters were the most incredible thing I’d ever felt. But I needed the cramps to stop. I needed to know the pup was okay. And I needed to avoid the healers.
Wait, wasn’t I a healer? My wolf had told me I was, or would be, a powerful healer. If that had been real and not a hallucination.
I needed it to be real.
How did I use my healing powers, though? The wolf had told me I’d come into shift, and I couldn’t shift while I was pregnant with Leo’s pup.
full pow
when we finally met. But that meant I’d have to
Wait, no. The wolf had told me that I’d come into my full powers when I shifted, face had healed.
That meant I had some healing available to me. But how did I access it?
The books all said that healing was mostly focus. I had to want it badly enough, and put everything
healing ability because the scars on my
into the effort. I could do that.
I wanted the pain to stop and I wanted the baby to be all right. It was, in that moment, the only thing I wanted. Surely that was enough.
I focused my mind while my body slumped in Leo’s grip. I held the image of the pup, still barely formed, and I traced the lines of pain through my body.
I found the source of the cramps. I didn’t understand exactly what it was but that didn’t matter. There was tension and I eased it. The baby was upset. All it knew was the warmth and safety of my womb, and the distant love of its father.
Something had disturbed that peace. I closed my eyes and held the feeling of Leo’s arms around me close.
There. It was there, just barely within reach. I didn’t know how to describe it but I felt it. A kind of tingling warmth that wrapped around me and the pup. I fed all of my energy into that warmth and floated within it for as long as I dared.
When I came back to myself the baby was calm again and the pain had faded into a distant ache.
