I retrieved our daughter instead of Jack, and holding her against my chest and feeling the reassuring thud of her heart, I returned to the main room.
“Atticus, we have to do a direct transfusion, and we need your blood now.” Professor Barclay emerged from behind the screen, his gown and mask splattered in red.
“For once in your life, do the right thing, Atticus.” I let him see our daughter’s face. “If not for Rawling or me, but for our newborn who deserves to know and love the omega father that brought her into this world.”
He sniffed and screwed up his nose. “Human, I bet.”
I couldn’t look at Jack, and I refused to allow my face to give me away.
“Just like her father.”
He did know about my mate’s humanity, but fuck it, I didn’t give a shit about that or that we’d be kicked out of Sombertooth. He had to save Rawling. Maybe I could hold Atticus down and they could take his blood. As much as I wanted that, it wasn’t ethical. For a moment, I wished we lived in older, darker times when an alpha didn’t concern themselves with ethics, but that passed, and no matter how much I despised Atticus’s attitude, I couldn’t do it.
But as a shifter, there was something I could do, something with purpose. I had agency, though there was a chance it wouldn't turn out well for me.
I kissed my daughter’s forehead.
“No matter what happens, your daddy and papa will always love you, and we hold you in our hearts.”
This was the most difficult thing I’d ever done, but I couldn’t leave without giving her the gift of a name. Rawling and I had chosen a boy and girl’s names during the summer.
“I name you Eira because you have great strength and you’re pure of heart like fresh snow. And your wolf will be just like you.”
Despite my heart shattering and the pieces lodging in my chest and affecting my breathing, I gave her to Jack with trembling hands. I sobbed as if I’d given my own life away.
“Rawling wouldn’t want you to do this, Phelan, but I understand that you have to.” Jack’s eyes glistened.
Atticus scoffed and folded his arms. “You wouldn’t dare.”
I ignored him and told Jack that she, along with my folks, were Eira’s guardians.
“I’d give up my life for her,” she whispered.
Just as I was prepared to do.
“His pulse is thready.”
Shit, I wished the professor and the others would shut up. It’d only been a few minutes since Atticus arrived, but it was as though time had slowed and there was only blood, my mate lying still and people shouting.
“Get outside.” I shoved Atticus toward the door. “You’ve spent your life smearing and besmirching everyone you deemed unworthy. Well, now you’re going to test that resolve.”
I glanced over my shoulder at Eira in Jack’s arms and strode out into the throng. My parents recoiled at the blood on me before reaching out to hug me, but there was no time for that. I tossed off my clothes and the crowd parted. Students and staff lined each side of the old narrow corridor as I allowed my wolf to take his fur.
I sensed when Atticus did the same because his scent wafted over me. My beast turned. There wasn’t a sound in the hallway as students clamped their hands on their friends’ shoulders or gripped one another while their mouths fell open.
No one attempted to stop us. No professor threatened to expel us from school or told us to take our disagreement outside. Our scent alone told them blood would be spilled.
My wolf stared at Atticus’s beast, and hackles rose over his back and shoulders. Atticus’s wolf was a mean son of a so-and-so, but mine was stronger. My beast crouched and shifted his weight forward, preparing to lunge at our opponent.
I sent up a quick prayer to the goddess to give me the courage and determination to bloody him enough so that he’d give in and agree to my demand. But I worried that in the heat of a fight, one of our beasts might deal a fatal blow.
And just as my wolf was about to strike, the door to the infirmary opened. Jack appeared without the baby. I stopped breathing, because her coming out suggested one thing, and I couldn’t bear it. If Rawling was dead, I’d rip Atticus’s jugular out and watch with glee as he bled out as my mate had done.
Jack
I couldn’t control the fury within me, I had to do something. But what? I was latent, as Rawling pretended to be. I ground my nails into my palms and closed my eyes. How could I force Atticus to help Rawling when I was as helpless as a human?
Phelan’s wolf was down the hall blocking the doorway. Opposite him, Atticus’s beast was baring his teeth, as on the other side of the door, the professor barked, “If he arrests, we won’t get him back,” and someone pushed a cart over the floor.
