We were greeted at the airport byJai, Diya, and the buffest man I had ever seen. He was seriously like a VinDiesel, with hair. Kai embraced the large man lifting him off of his feet. Theman ruffled Kai’s hair and then turned to me. He placed his hands in prayerpose and bowed lightly. “Namaste, Aurora.”
I grinned. “Namaste.”
“I’m Nikhil, welcome to India.”
Kai punched him in the shoulder.“He is my middle brother and my father’s second. He has a weak right hook andmakes horrible chai.”
Jai leaned into my ear. “I’m hisfavorite brother though.”
I laughed as Nikhil retortedsomething about working on his boxing.
I looked over Kai’s shoulder tosee Diya kissing Trent. I smiled. Weddings were fun. Kai cleared his throatloudly and they broke apart.
“You aren’t mated yet. Get overhere,” he scolded Trent. We all laughed.
I took in a deep breath. India.It had a distinct smell. Your clothes smell of spices for weeks after you’veleft. I had missed it. After grabbing our bags, we made our way outside. Theroad was packed with cars, rickshaws and motorbikes. We all piled into twowaiting taxis, I sat in back with Kai and Nikhil.
Nikhil turned to Kai. “We lost afew wolves protecting the water supply from the vampires, but thanks forwarning us.” He tipped his head to me and smiled. I suddenly feltuncomfortable. If I hadn’t had that vision and warned everyone… I shuttered. Ismiled back.
“We didn’t lose any wolves but wehad our own complications.” Kai was leaning into me. I felt safe.
Nikhil placed a hand on Kai’sknee. “I’ve missed you, brother. The pack isn’t the same without you.”
Kai placed his hand over hisbrother’s and gave a deep rumbling laugh. God I loved that laugh. “I’m surefather is glad I’m gone and you made second, so it all worked out.”
Nikhil stared out the window. “Papais becoming obsessed with the vampires attacking us. He doesn’t want to sitidle and wait for another attack. I feel it fair to warn you, this trip isn’tjust about Diya’s wedding. He will want to talk about the next step.”
Kai sighed. “I figured. That’s Papa.Can’t sit still for a single moment. Always moving, never sleeping, alwaysplanning. In some ways it’s good.”
“Sounds exhausting,” I commented.
“It is,” they said in tandem andlaughed.
We only booked a two-day trip toIndia, with two days eaten up for travel. That was being away from the pack andEmma for four days total. After settling into our hotel, I was quickly wrappedinto a sari and taken to Diya’s henna party. It was girls only. I made smalltalk with some of the other girls, surprised to see a few white girls in thepack. I had assumed they would all be Indian. I was careful not to make eyecontact. I felt that my dominating and foreign wolf presence made a few of themore dominant wolves edgy. I stuck to conversing with the submissives. I foundDiya who had an artist working on her feet and another on her hands. Anintricate elephant design was being drawn onto her palm.
I sat down next to her holding myhand still, careful not to smudge the small design I had gotten.
“Tomorrow we become sisters,” shetold me. I smiled.
“I always wanted a sister,” Ishared with her.
“Me too! Instead I got elevenbrothers!”
I laughed. I remembered Diyatelling me over our video chat once, that she was a midwife in India. Now that Kaihad told me about Max and losing his mate and child, I was interested in werewolfbirthing.
“Hey Diya, is the werewolfbirthing process more dangerous than human birthing?”
Diya’s face became serious. “Yesand No. Human births can have all sorts of defects. Heart defects, lungdefects, limb abnormalities. A werewolf pup is immune to these defects. Theylearn to shift at about 35 weeks gestation. When they shift, they set off theuterus and most mothers go into early labor. Werewolf pups are bigger thannormal babies but the mothers aren’t. If they shift during labor the chord canbecome compressed or the placenta can tear. There are a lot of complications.”
“Why don’t you just do a cesareansection and cut them all out?” I didn’t know much about birth but I knew that ac-section would be better that placenta tearing or chord compression due to alengthy labor.
“We tried it back in the 18thcentury. The women kept healing too fast. The babies were stuck halfway out of theirmothers’ stomach and the women’s abdomens were starting to heal closed. Thebabies suffocated. Also, pain medication doesn’t work on werewolves. Wemetabolize it too fast.”
Jesus Christ. My head wasspinning. “Emma.” I breathed.
“Will be fine,” she told me. “I’mtaking over her care when I get home with you guys. I have delivered thirty-sixhealthy pups and Emma’s baby will be my thirty-seventh.”
I swallowed. I wanted to ask herhow many she had lost but this was a wedding. So I smiled.
