“Eric!” I snapped when he didn’t do it. “Come on.”
He hissed and took my hand, gingerly pressing it to his side. I didn’t miss the way he winced in pain even at the slightest touch.
Sweat ran in rivulets down my brow, and every passing moment sent another ripple of agony through my body, but still I shut my eyes and focused on Eric’s wound. I gritted my teeth as I felt inside him. He’d broken a rib. It pulsed angrily. He must have been in so much pain.
As intense discomfort raged through us both, I poured my energy into him. Clear magic ran like ethereal water into his body, a powerful current of vitality that sank into his bones and muscles. Eric moaned, but whether it was from pain or relief I didn’t know. I just focused on putting that broken rib back together.
Another pang of pain. My baby slipped further out of me. Gasps came from all around.
“Fuck!” I snapped.
Eric winced as I momentarily lapsed my focus. I was sweating and panting heavily from pain and exertion. Adrenaline coursed through my blood like fire.
“Come on, Matheson!” Ramsay said.
Colton stepped to human form and grabbed my arm as it to channel his strength into it. “We believe in you!”
The bone shifted. I hissed through gritted teeth. The baby crowned.
“God-fucking-damnit!” I snarled.
“I feel it,” Eric said in awe in between breaths. “Matheson, you’re doing it.”
“You can do it, my love,” Noro added softly.
All their love poured into me. Surrounded by all four of my mates, soaking up their love and affection, two things happened at once.
One, Eric’s bone snapped together, whole again and cured of its splinter.
And second, my baby slipped entirely out of my body and into my mother’s waiting hands.
Everyone seemed to go silent for a moment before the cry of a newborn split the air. The whole crowd--humans, wolves and gryphons--waited, unmoving, barely daring to breathe.
“It’s a healthy baby boy,” Mom announced with the brightest smile I’d ever seen on her face.
To my surprise, people actually cheered. I saw Tholan smile for the first time. Bastian and Torin were laughing and holding each other. Where the area had been chaotic just moments ago, now it was full of real joy.
Everything was overwhelming for a while. Mom and Dad both had tears in their eyes as they congratulated me. The Madame was there, too, the corners of her eyes crinkled as she smiled at me.
But most important of all, my four mates were kissing me. All at once. They were like a pack of puppies and I had to laugh and wave them aside.
“Okay, okay,” I said with a tired grin. “We can make out later. I want to see my baby.”
Mom brought him over. Maybe it was just my imagination, but he seemed to be glowing with a golden aura.
“Here,” she murmured, handing him to me. Since I hadn’t expected to give birth in the middle of the mountains, there was no proper supplies, but she had wrapped him up in Dad’s shirt that he thoughtfully donated.
When I took my son in my arms, the world seemed to stop. In that moment, there was only us. Me and him, and his fathers. Their soft gasps came from around me as they peered over to see him properly.
Their son.
I knew instantly there was something magical about him. He had one silver eye and one gold, as if each one came from Colton and Noro respectively. His hair was dark, but with a red tint. Not quite as bright as Ramsay’s, and not as dark as Eric’s or mine--almost like the deep red-purple of a sunset, or autumn leaves.
He was magnificent.
“Oh,” Ramsay said. “I can’t believe him. He’s so… small.”
“He’s smaller than some of the fish I’ve seen in the lake,” Colton murmured.
