“Of course.” He headed straight past everyone near the bed.
“Rowan?” My mom called after him, but he just kept moving.
“Mom.” I stepped out of the closet, and she relaxed a little. “What’s going on?”
She turned back to Alannah. “The babies are ready.” She looked under the blanket that was draped over Alannah’s legs. “But Mom isn’t.”
I turned to Alannah, and she refused to meet my eyes. “Alannah…”
“No!” she screamed. “He only stays until the babies are born.” She shook her head back and forth. “If I don’t give birth-”
I felt my face tighten. “If you don’t give birth now.” I interrupted her. “Your babies will die, and Ternen will still leave.” Her head snapped to mine, and I saw her wolf flash in her eyes. “What?” I stepped up to the edge of the bed. “You don’t like what I said?”
“Amy…maybe you should be nicer.” Wendy wiped the sweat from Alannah’s face.
“Why should I?” I growled out. Alannah’s wolf let out a warning growl. I leaned over, getting into her face. “Growl all you want, but I am your friend, and I am going to tell you the truth without sugarcoating it.”
Ternen’s voice cracked. “Please, baby.”
“No!” she snapped out. “I can’t lose you again.” She looked at her mate, and her face softened for a second before turning back to me.
I nodded once. “Then you and the babies will die, and you can join him.”
“Amy!” my mother snapped, but I scoffed.
“You don’t want to tell her the truth because she is giving birth, but I don’t have time for this.” I turned to her. “Choose.”
“What?” Confusion bloomed in her face, but another contraction hit and she screamed.
I waited for the contraction to finish before I said what I needed to. “I said fucking choose. Give birth to your twins, spend the next bit with your mate, and then you get to spend the rest of your life with your pups. OR…continue as you are. Your pups arealready dying, I can smell it. Then you lose your pups, your mate, and your life. But you need to fucking choose now.”
“Amy.” Ternen, Wendy and my mom all shouted at the same time.
“I have one pack barely holding it together. I have another barely surviving. Rowan is on his way to bring medicine to save not only half the pack from wolfsbane poisoning but also my father. The council is on its way to eradicate everyone at the pack house, and you are here killing your pups, and yourself, because the Goddess gave you a fucking gift and it’s still not enough.” I snapped out. Alannah’s eyes were wide, and tears were shimmering in them. “I have about tapped out my patience, and I’m sorry, but that’s the fucking truth. You have been here the entire night. With your mate, which is a fucking gift in itself, and still. You are demanding more. More from the Goddess, more from Ternen, from everyone else here. I love you, Alannah, but you are about to make the biggest fucking mistake of your life, and everyone here spent hours coaxing you and you ended up here. I refuse to do that.” She blinked, and the tears flowed down. “So choose. Your pup’s lives, or returning to the Goddess. Because those are the only choices you have. Either way, Ternen is going back to the Goddess.”
“But I need him.” She whined as another contraction hit.
“No, you don’t. Youwanthim. Youlovehim. But you don’tneedhim to raise these babies.” I climbed up to her and wiped her brow. I softened my words. “So what is it going to be? We don’t have any more time.” I smelled the truth. “It’s now or never.”
She looked between me and Ternen. She shuddered once and then nodded. “Let’s have these babies.”
“Good choice.”
I saw everyone in the room release the breath that they were holding. My mom ducked back under the blanket as Alannah’slegs dropped to the sides. She sobbed as another contraction hit. Ternen shuffled over to her left side as I settled next to her on her right. Her hands reached for both of us, and she leaned back into us.
“I’m here, my love.” Ternen leaned over and kissed her sweaty brow. His soft words were meant to comfort her, but I think everyone in the room heard the last part of Alannah’s heart shatter when she let out her next sob.
She turned her head into his shoulder and released everything she had held on to. Her scream ripped through the cabin, and I heard soft, tiny steps coming up the stairs. The door opened, and a wide-eyed Carly stood there for a second. I could still see how tired she was.
“Baby girl, you shouldn’t be here.” I nodded to Wendy, who turned to bring her back downstairs, but she shook her head and came over to the edge of the bed. Her eyes misted over as she walked.
“You are terrified to live without your mate.” Her voice was ancient, and always a little jarring coming from her little face. Alannah barely acknowledged the words. She kept her nose buried in Ternen’s neck, but we all saw her nod. “You worry you cannot do this alone, or that if you get a second chance mate that you would somehow forget your mate here.” Alannah pulled back enough to look into Ternen’s face.
“This will be the last night I see him until I join him with the Goddess. That could be over a hundred years from now.” Tears spilled down her cheeks in a fresh wave. She pulled her hand from mine to cup his face. “What if I forget you?” Her fear spilled from her lips. “What if I don’t tell our pups enough about you? What if I get a second mate and they become their Dad?”
Ternen smiled, but I could see the pain he was trying to hide. “Then when you get to me, I will remind you who I am. We will have forever with the Goddess if we want, or a second lifeif she allows us to come back. I will spend my entire afterlife convincing her to allow me to be your mate again in the next life. I will do the same when our pups join us with the Goddess. And if another man steps in and helps you raise our pups, then I don’t mind sharing the title of Dad.” The tears he was holding back shimmered in his eyes. “I just want you to live well. I want you to love again. I want our pups to know love from both a mother and a father, even if it isn’t me.”
“You won’t forget.” Carly’s ancient voice cut through everything else.
