by Jade Royal
“But what about the whole sex thing? I was still connected to Kyra, and she still got me in a sexually compromising position.” Selena paused and looked through the book again.
“Were you sleeping?” she asked.
“Yes.”
“That’s it! Your brain is least in your control when you’re asleep. That’s why she did it while you were sleeping.” Jaxson couldn’t believe the explanation for it all. He knew she was feeling some type of way because he didn’t want her, but this shit was too much.
“What are you going to do?” Selena asked Kellan.
“I’m not sure,” he sighed. He crossed his arms and paced, trying to come up with a solution.
“Ouch, the fuck?” He stopped walking and held his stomach. A searing pain shot through him that also affected Bliss. He growled as his wolf threatened to surface at the pain. Selena’s hand began to glow.
“Kyra,” Kellan growled.
“It’s Kyra!” Jaxson leaped over the island and bolted towards his bedroom. The door was open even though that’s not how he left it. Inside the room, Mira was on top of Kyra glaring down at her. Kyra was crying even though no sounds were coming out of her mouth. The stench of blood filled Jaxson’s nose.
“What’d you do?!” Jaxson screamed. He knocked Mira off of Kyra’s body, not even caring that she was a female. Mira fell to the ground and tried to crawl away quickly. Gemma caught her and stepped on her neck, not allowing her to escape. Kyra came out of whatever trance she was in and screamed out. She grabbed her stomach and writhed in pain as she cried.
“Baby, stop, stop let me see what’s wrong,” Jaxson said trying to look at her stomach. But her stomach wasn’t the problem. It was still flat and flawless. The scent of blood was still potent. Jaxson realized that the scent of Kyra’s pregnancy was slowly vaporizing. His breath was knocked out of him when he saw the blood coating her thighs and coming from her underwear.
“No,” he gasped.
“NO!” Kyra cried uncontrollably.
“YOU BITCH!” She sobbed.
“She did something to our pup. Why? Why’d you have to do this to me?!” Jaxson couldn’t stop the tears from his own eyes as he looked at the blood between her legs. Selena rushed over to the bed.
“Shit,” she cursed.
“Can you stop this?” Jaxson asked. “Please stop this!”
“I can try Jax. I promise you I’ll do whatever I can.”
“Bliss, you and Rita get the pups out of here,” Kellan ordered. Gemma picked Mira up off the ground and held her tightly, passing her off to Tristan to hold. Mira watched the scene unfold in front of her and only then did her anger finally dissipate, and she realized just what she had done.
“Oh my god,” Mira could feel her lungs closing as she panicked from her actions. She’d let her emotions get too far away from her. This was unforgivable.
“Someone go fill the bathtub with water!” Selena ordered. “Kellan I need you by my side.” Gemma hurried to get the water in the bathtub running while everyone else did the tasks Kellan ordered them to. Kellan went by Selena’s side.
“Feed her some healing energy,” Selena told Kellan. “I’d ask you to do it Jaxson but since you’re not true mates you and her don’t have a connecting bond.” Kellan took hold of Kyra’s hand and began feeding her healing energy. Selena worked quickly, clawing off Kyra’s clothes. All Kyra could do was cry hysterically. Jaxson held her other hand and tried to convince her that everything would be alright, but he too was an emotional mess himself.
“If she kills my pup Kellan I want her dead,” Jaxson threatened.
“No time for that right now,” Selena said.
“IS THAT WATER READY?”
“It’s ready,” Gemma said popping her head from the bathroom.
“Carry her inside the bathroom and put her in the tub,” Selena ordered no one in particular. Jaxson was the one to scoop her into his arms and carry her to the bathtub.
“Gemma, I have a large trunk in my room. Grab the three glass bottles you’ll find in there. Hurry.” Gemma ran out of the bathroom.
“Alright Kyra, I need you to relax. I know it hurts, but I need you to be calm and to open yourself up. Got it.” Kyra nodded, sniffling. She tried to stop her tears from pouring out of her eyes. She just couldn’t lose her pup.
Gemma returned with the three glass bottles. It looked to be crushed up herbs or something of that nature. Selena dumped half of the contents of each bottle into the water.
“Okay Kyra, hold onto Jaxson tight. Kellan don’t stop feeding her healing energy.” Selena whipped out her glowing hands. She closed her eyes and placed her hands on Kyra’s stomach. Kyra’s wolf eyes came to life as she screamed in pain.
“DO NOT SHIFT!” Selena ordered her, still with her eyes closed. Selena pressed hard into Kyra’s stomach using both her powers and the herbs in the water to help repair the broken egg. She was draining her energy to do just that, but it wasn’t enough. Blood continued to leak from the loss of the pup.
“Come on Kyra, come on,” Selena begged. She looked at Jaxson who’s eyes were glazed over.
“I’m so sorry Jaxson,” Selena said, her bottom lip trembling. She was about to burst in her own tears for not being able to properly heal Kyra.
Mira heard the distress in the bathroom and realized that Selena wasn’t able to undo what Mira had done. Fighting loose from Tristan’s hold, Mira rushed to the bathroom.
“Get the fuck back!” Kellan snapped at her. Mira didn’t listen. She pushed past him and touched Kyra’s stomach in the tub. Selena looked at Mira sharply in disbelief.
“Leave her!” Selena yelled.
“She’s helping!” Everyone froze. With Mira’s combined powers, healing energy ran through Kyra’s body. Mira wasn’t a healer, but she had powers that was able to give life to dead things and currently, the pup was dead. With her power combined with Selena’s the egg stopped deteriorating. Selena reached down deep with her powers stitching back up the fertilized egg. Kyra screamed and thrashed in pain, but Jaxson held her tight as Selena worked. Standing, Selena howled as her whole body glowed. In her head, she saw Kyra’s and Jax’s egg that would become their pup glow a bright hue of white just like Selena’s body. The egg renewed itself and settled in Kyra’s uterus. The water in the bathtub glowed also, calming Kyra’s racing heart. Her screams died out slowly as her pain began to evaporate. The scent of her pregnancy began to permeated the steamy bathroom.
“That’s it,” Selena whispered. Her body slowly dimmed to its normal hue as Kyra went lax in the tub.
“Spoiler alert, your pup may become a healer. I gave it a lot of my healing energy,” Selena said. Kyra burst out into tears again, but these were happy tears. She hugged Jaxson tightly, crying into his shoulder.
“Thank you so much, Selena,” Jaxson said, teary-eyed. Kyra grabbed Selena’s hand and held it even though she hadn’t removed her face from Jaxson’s shoulder. She was still trembling with the fear that she had almost lost her pup. The same pup she never thought she could ever have. Everyone was looking at Mira wondering what the hell had gotten into her.
Jaxson lifted Kyra from the water and carried her back to his bedroom where he cleaned her up and dressed her in one of his t-shirts. Kyra was immediately being pulled to sleep.
“It’s the lavender I added to the water. It was to help her relax.” Selena sat on the bed next to her and continued running her glowing hands over Kyra’s body.
“I’m just doing this to make sure she stays stable,” she informed Jaxson. He smiled at her and nodded. He ran a hand over Kyra’s thigh to show her his comfort.
“What are we going to do with Mira?” Tristan asked yanking on her arm again and holding her tight. When he smelled Kyra’s pregnancy, he held his chest.
“Thank fucking goodness,” he sighed.
“Why’d you help me?” Selena asked her.
“You’re the one that caused this in the first place.”
“I-I d
idn’t mean for any of this to happen. I was thinking irrationally and I-”
“Bullshit!” Jaxson snapped.
“I’ve told you repeatedly I don’t want you! You nearly killed my fucking baby! That’s unforgivable.”
“I read that empaths can’t control themselves,” Selena said.
“They have this great power, but the irony of it all is that once they get so focused on something, they can’t help themselves. Their emotions are irrational, and they don’t know how to control it. What Mira did, it’s out of her control. She just wanted Jaxson too bad, and she felt wronged. She’s a victim of her powers.”
“Victim?” Jaxson scoffed.
“I know it’s hard to feel any remorse but trust me, she’s going through a lot. I’m a victim of my powers too. I can heal everyone but myself.” Selena shrugged. “Sometimes that’s just the way of the world. I’m just thankful that she was able to let go of all that hate and help me keep your pup alive.” Jaxson shook his head and looked down at Kyra, rubbing her thigh softly.
“I can kill you for what you did,” Kellan said to Mira.
“Hell, anyone else would probably already be dead.”
“Just let her go,” Kyra mumbled. Her eyes were barely open, but she spoke clearly. She turned her back towards Mira, seeking Jaxson’s comfort.
“Go Mira. Think of this as your life being spared for helping to repair the damage you have caused. But should you return here I will not spare you.” Mira took that as a God send. Kellan was right; anyone else would be dead. Mira had surrendered her spot in the pack, and that was her loss. She was just happy to walk out of this alive.
Jaxson watched Mira go, relieved to have her away from his woman and baby. He climbed into bed with Kyra and held her tightly.
“She’s gone. It’s just the three of us now,” Jaxson whispered to her. He kissed her cheek then her mouth.
“I love you,” she whispered.
“I love you too,” he said.
Epilogue
“Get outta my face!” Kyra growled at Jaxson mushing him in the face. He smiled at her and grabbed her wrist trying to hold her back from continuing to hit him.
“It’ll be over soon,” Jaxson said to her wiping the sweat from her face. Kyra gritted and put her legs up. Selena was in between Kyra’s legs.
“Breathe Kyra, breathe,” she urged. Kyra nodded frantically and tried to take deep breaths. Selena pressed down on Kyra’s stomach trying to push the pup downwards.
“She’s been in labor for too long,” Selena informed Jaxson.
“Her body can’t handle trying to keep herself and the pup stable. Soon her shifter power is going to run out, and she’s going to be resorted to human.”
“Meaning?” Jaxson asked.
“She’s going to be in a whole lot of pain, and the pup can go into distress. We don’t have human equipment here to deal with a pregnancy going wrong.”
“So what do you suggest?”
“C-section. I cut her open and get your pup out. The faster the pup is out, the faster she can rejuvenate her healing. If the pup won’t move down to be born vaginally, then we gotta just cut her.”
“Kyra, did you hear her? What do you think?” Jaxson asked.
“I’m weak Jaxson. I can’t-I don’t want anything to go wrong.” Jaxson kissed her forehead.
“Okay baby, we’ll make sure nothing goes wrong.” Jaxson nodded at Selena telling her that she could do whatever it took to help both his woman and baby.
Selena rushed into action, going into the table set up in the room and getting supplies for cutting Kyra open. With ice, Aloe Vera, and lidocaine, Selena numbed Kyra’s lower abdomen. Jaxson forced himself not to be queasy when Selena drew a line with a mark across Kyra’s stomach. She began cutting across Kyra’s stomach and into her uterus. Kyra howled in pain, but Jaxson held her down and tried comforting her as best as he could.
“Gemma help me!” Selena urged.
“Bliss keep feeding Kyra healing energy.” With Gemma at her side, Selena dug into Kyra’s stomach and pulled the baby out. Selena clipped the umbilical cord before retrieving the rest of the placenta. She handed the baby to Gemma while she hurried to patch Kyra up. With glowing hands, she began to heal Kyra and ease up on the monstrous pain she just experienced. When her insides closed up, Selena was comfortable in leaving Kyra to heal on her own. She went over to Gemma to check on the baby.
“Is everything okay?” Jaxson asked. Wrapped loosely in a towel, Selena carried their baby to them.
“Everything is perfect,” Selena smiled. She placed the baby on Kyra’s chest just as the baby began crying. Kyra gasped and held her baby girl who was looking for skin to skin comfort.
“Hush my little girl. Your mommy and daddy are here now,” Kyra sang. Jaxson stared in awe at his little baby girl. She was just as he imagined. His little cocoa bean. Her silky hair was a honey brown that resembled strands of hair in her mother’s afro.
While holding their baby, Selena and Gemma cleaned Kyra up and redressed her in a slip before inviting the rest of the pack members into the room to meet the baby.
“She’s so precious!” Bliss beamed.
“What’s her name?” Selena asked.
“Justice,” Jaxson responded. Kyra handed him their baby.
My mother came up with it,” he said.
“Man, all these damn pups around here,” Gemma shook her head.
“I’m getting the fever, Tristan.” Tristan put his arm around his mate and kissed her cheek.
“Took the words right out of my mouth,” Tristan said.
“Umm…” Jaxson was looking down at his little girl who was glowing in his hands.
“Why is my pup glowing like a Christmas tree?” Selena gasped and clapped her hands.
“She’s a healer!! I knew it! I knew she would be!”
“Well, is she going to stop glowing?” Jaxson asked.
“For the first year it’ll just be random glowing, and then after that, it’s instinctive glowing. Like how my hands glow anytime someone is hurt. Once she starts glowing, you’ll know someone around her is feeling pain.” Jaxson put her tiny body up against his cheek so she could learn his scent. Just like her mother, his pup smelled like hot chocolate with an added scent of candy canes.
“She’s so precious,” Jaxson smiled looking down at her. He really couldn’t believe he had created such a thing. He got into the bed next to Kyra and placed the baby back in her arms so she could breastfeed. He wrapped his arms around the both of them and held them close. Man, this was the life.
***
“Kingston get back here!” Kellan shouted at his son who was laughing hysterically and running away from his father. His tail was poking out of his pants and Kellan was trying to get him to return back, but Kingston loved the tail too much.
“Woof, woof!” Kingston barked trying to crawl on all fours. Kellan grabbed him up.
“In due time my boy. But right now you have a party to enjoy don’t you?” Kellan let his wolf eyes glow at his son and force him to shift back. After he’d turned 1, he was constantly changing whether it was his tail, or having paws. His favorite thing was going on runs with Kellan and riding Kellan’s wolf.
“Come cut this cake I’m hungry!” Bliss wailed. She was round again with their second pup, and the woman was always hungry.
Inside the lounge was filled with close family and friends to celebrate Kingston’s first birthday. With Kingston in his arms, Kellan went over to his mate and kissed her on the mouth softly.
“Besides hungry, how’s my girl?” Kellan asked her.
“Happy,” Bliss replied with a smile.
“Momma, momma, cake, cake!” Kingston clapped his hands as he looked at his large tropical rainforest themed cake. Everyone gathered around the cake to sing him happy birthday. Looking at the faces of his friends and family, Kellan was secretly wishing that his parents were here to see his mate and his son. Even though he was sad about that he was so very
happy about where he was in that moment.
“No Riley! My cake!” Kellan snapped from his thoughts as Kingston was trying to bat Riley’s fingers from dipping into his cake.
“Aye, that’s a girl. Be nice and don’t hit. You can share it with her you know.” Kellan warned his son. Riley’s bottom lip was trembling, pretense of her crying.
“Sowwie Riley. Want some?” Kingston dipped his fingers in the cake and fed it to Riley who happily ate from his fingers.
“Isn’t he charming?” Rita laughed.
“Just like his daddy,” Bliss said. She rubbed her belly.
“That was nice of you Kingston,” Bliss said to her son, wiping cake from his lips. Kingston laughed and tried to feed his mother some of the cake.
“You’re going to be nice to girls, right?” Bliss asked.
“Yes,” Kingston nodded.
“Tell your daddy why,” Bliss coaxed.
“Baby sister, baby sister!” He jumped up and down in Kellan’s arms, pointing to Bliss’s stomach. Kellan looked at his mate sharply. She was smiling brightly as everyone else was snickering and laughing at the look on his face.
“Wow Bliss, I can’t believe it,” Kellan smiled. He hugged her and Kingston at the same time even though Kingston was interested in eating cake and only cake at the moment.
“Now, it’s this the last one?” Bliss asked.
“We got our boy and now we gonna have our girl.”
“Lady please, I told you I was going to keep filling your belly with pups.” Kellan shrugged.
“It’s an alpha thing.”
“Alpha thing my ass,” Bliss chuckled.
“Lucky thing I love you,” she said, kissing him.
“I love you too sweetie. I do of course thank you for being my mate, my partner, and the mother to my children.”
“Yeah well, you did save me,” she smiled.
“It’s the least I can do.”
“You saved me too,” Kellan admitted.
“You saved me too.”
“None of that lovey dovey shit over the cake,” Rita scolded Bliss and Kellan. Kellan rolled his eyes at Rita with a smile on his face. He cut three slices of cake and went off with his mate and pup.