My stomach growled as he pulled the potatoes from the oven.
Jet made a face. “It’s a good thing you just gave birth. It’s the only way I’d sit down and eat fish.”
Di arched an eyebrow. “We have a few steaks on the grill.”
Jet breathed a sigh of relief. “Hallelujah.”
Luke clapped him on the back. “That was at my request. You’re not the only one who prefers meat.”
I wonder if our daughter will prefer meat too. I tried to brush off those concerns as I moved to the table.
“Lena and I will get the steaks.” Flint grabbed the serving platter and tongs from the counter. His chestnut hair had golden streaks through it, as it often did during the summer months. My sister followed him to the patio door that lined the large living area in the open design. Smoke rose from the grill outside.
Everyone else began to find seats at the table. I sat down tenderly on my chair. I was still sore, but someone had thought to put a cushion on the chair where I usually sat.
I glanced at Di and mouthed, Thank you.
She merely nodded subtly in return.
An hour later, dinner was done, and my eyes began to droop. Even though it was only eight in the evening, I could barely keep my eyes open.
“You should get some rest,” Father said as he began collecting the empty dinner plates while everyone else chipped in to clean up. Chairs squeaked against the floor as people stood.
Luke pulled my chair back to help me up. “Come, my love. The babes won’t let you sleep long.”
Just as the words left his mouth, a cry sounded from the nursery. To most of the others, the sound was faint, but my enhanced hearing immediately revved up.
A second sound reached my ears—a mewling sound that was of a different pitch. With a furrowed brow, I gripped Luke’s hand.
“Did you hear that?”
He frowned. “Yeah.”
Susannah came to my side. Similar to Luke and Edgar, she also carried additional abilities. “I heard it too. It almost sounds like—”
I ran from the room, a slice of pain filling my lower abdomen at the sudden movement. Placing a hand on my lower belly, I didn’t slow.
Luke was at my side as pounding footsteps filled the hall behind us.
I raced into the nursery and to the crib. My eyes widened when I stared down into the crib.
“Oh my God . . .” I brought a hand to my mouth as Luke’s breath sucked in.
The rest of our family piled into the room behind us. Everyone surrounded the crib as gasps and shocked expressions filled their faces.
“Jacinda!” Lena cried. “She . . . your daughter . . .”
Tears filled my eyes as I gazed down at the two newborns in the crib. Both were awake and peered up at us as they wiggled and squirmed. Our son still wore his onesie, but our daughter was naked.
Fur no longer covered her skin, and her little legs kicked, but her limbs were no longer that of a wolf pup.
They were human.
My eyes drank in the sight of her perfect little cheeks and ten fingers and toes. Beside her brother, she looked thinner and paler, but she still appeared healthy. “Oh, Luke! Look! She’s human! She can transform!” Elation coursed through me.
Jet scratched his head and peered into the crib. “So you didn’t give birth to a puppy?”
“She did!” Lena replied. My sister’s long dark-red curls draped around her shoulders as she leaned over the crib.
“Our girl . . .” Luke’s eyes glowed as he reached into the crib for our daughter. She cried again.
“She must be cold!” I crowded to his side as he brought her to his chest. With a deft movement, he ripped his shirt off. He managed to do it while holding her in his large palm before transferring her to his free hand.
She mewled again and shivered.
Luke brought her to his bare chest and wrapped her in his arms. Her distraught cries stopped as Luke’s immense heat warmed her. Her little mouth soon began opening and closing. She latched onto his skin and began to suck.
“Have you thought of names?” Mica asked as everyone crowded closer.
“We have.” I eyed Luke. He nodded at me to continue. “Our son’s name is Conroy Luke Fielding, and we’ve named our daughter Emerald Galena Fielding, but we’ll call her Emma.”
Father’s hazel eyes misted. “You named him after me? And you’ve given both of them my last name, and you named your daughter similar to how I named all of you girls?”
I gripped his hand tightly. “Yes.”
Lena beamed. “That’s perfect. Those names are absolutely perfect! And you named her middle name after me!”
Flint put his arm around my sister and squeezed. His dark eyes twinkled. “They obviously have good taste.”
“Yeah, Jace. It seems really fitting.” Jet crossed his arms, his large biceps bulging as he smiled pleasantly.
“They’re beautiful babies.” Edgar dropped his hand into the crib. Little Conroy’s fist encircled the tip of Edgar’s finger.
Everyone else murmured their agreement. Raven even looked close to tears. His orange eyes swirled as brightly as embers.
Only Emma didn’t seem impressed. She howled and latched back on to Luke, sucking urgently on his chest as her fists balled and punched him.
“Ah . . .” Jasper commented. “I think she’s confused. Unless Luke has more powers that we’re unaware of, I’m pretty sure she can’t feed from him.”
Luke stepped closer to my side. “My love? She’s hungry.” Luke guided me to the chair. My hands shook when he handed me Emma. She howled again as I reached for the hem of my shirt. She was so perfect that I never wanted to look away.
“I think this is where we leave.” Jet cleared his throat and steered our family out of the room. Only Susannah and Lena remained after everyone else filed out.
Susannah came to my side as I lifted my shirt. “Do you mind if I stay?” She beamed down at Emma. “She’s so . . . perfect!”
“Yes, she is, and of course you can stay.” I brought Emma to my breast. They felt heavy and full. Already, they’d swelled to nearly double their usual size.
Emma readily latched on before sucking greedily.
“She’s also hungry!” Lena commented. My sister kneeled at my other side as Luke lifted little Conroy from the crib.
Our boy cried, a lungful of air filling his chest before he wailed loudly enough to wake the dead.
“Can I feed them both at the same time?” I asked worriedly. “Or does Conroy need to wait?”
Di appeared in the doorway and closed the door behind her. She strode to Luke’s side and held out her arms. “May I?”
After Luke gave her our son, Di brought Conroy to me and helped arrange the babies. “According to the textbooks I’ve read and the pictures I’ve studied, you can feed both at once,” Di explained. “There are a few positions to try. You’ll have to decide which one’s easiest.”
It took some finagling, but Di helped me latch both newborns on after propping a pillow beneath them. Both of my little angels sucked greedily. I sighed when the full feeling in my breasts finally began to subside.
Luke’s eyes glowed brighter as a contented growl came from his throat. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you more beautiful.”
Happiness filled me as I stared down at them. “Look at our little babies!” My earlier fears over Emma never being able to transform from her wolf form vanished.
“They’re as perfect as their mother.” Luke kneeled at my side. Susannah scooted over to give him room.
I trailed a finger along Conroy’s cheek. “He’s going to be as big as—” I gasped when sharp pain suddenly raced up from my nipple on Emma’s side.
She bit me!
My eyes widened in horror as our daughter began writhing and mewling in my arms. Hair sprouted from her arms and legs as her tiny body convulsed. Sharp cries filled the room—a mixture of human and animal.
Conroy continued suckling, none the wiser
for what was happening right beside him.
Terror filled my chest at the sound of Emma’s bones snapping and muscles stretching. Needle-like tiny teeth elongated from her gums as a snout formed. A painful yelp emitted from her mouth. The sounds made my blood run cold.
“Luke!” I cried, but as soon as the words left my mouth, the transformation finished. Once again, a furry little bundle lay in my arms. Emma’s little wolf tongue poked out as she lapped at my breast. She was obviously still hungry, but as a wolf, I couldn’t feed her.
The room was silent as Di, Luke, Susannah, and Lena looked on.
Di swallowed and said shakily, “So the good news is that we know she can transform into a human, so she should be able to transform back.”
The second those words finished flowing from Di’s lips, Emma’s body began convulsing again.
I tightened my grip around her as bones snapped, muscles ripped, and cries of pain left her little mouth. I gripped my mate’s hand tightly. “Luke! What do we do?”
Luke’s golden eyes glowed brightly as worry swam in his gaze. He reached for Emma and held her gently to me when my grip loosened. It kept our daughter from falling to the floor as I struggled to hold both babies while little Conroy still fed.
As the hair receded from Emma’s skin and her little body finished changing for the second time, she was human once more. Not even two minutes had passed, and she’d transformed twice.
I’d seen Luke transform, but it hadn’t been bad. He would grunt and groan, but the pain seemed bearable. Not like this. The pitiful cries that had left Emma’s mouth caused tears to stream down my cheeks.
I sobbed in relief when my daughter’s sharp cries finally quieted. She panted at my breast, but instead of feeding eagerly as her brother still was, she shuddered and closed her eyes.
“She’s exhausted,” I whispered. “Is she okay?”
Closing her eyes, Emma cuddled into me. Within seconds, she was asleep.
“She . . . um.” Di cleared her throat before saying in a shaky voice, “She appears to be.”
“Did she really just transform twice? In less than a few minutes?” Susannah shook her head in disbelief, her long dark hair swaying. “Do you know how hard that is?”
I didn’t know how to respond, but Luke nodded. “That’s incredibly taxing. For me to shift that quickly would leave me weak, at least for a while.”
“Me too,” Susannah agreed.
More tears filled my eyes. They trailed silently down my skin.
Since Emma’s body felt cool, I pulled the blanket that had been lying across the chair and covered her.
Little Conroy unlatched from my breast and leaned back into the crook of my elbow. He fell asleep too, a drop of milk on his plump cheek. He smiled peacefully, unlike his sister, who’d fallen asleep from terror and exhaustion with an empty tummy.
What are we going to do? The reality of our situation welled up inside me. Our daughter could transform, but she couldn’t control her transformations—and from her horrendous cries during the process, the transformations caused her unbearable pain.
We needed to help her.
But I didn’t know how.
CHAPTER SEVEN
It soon became apparent that our daughter’s transformations were entirely unpredictable and completely out of control.
“She still hasn’t fed.” I gripped Luke’s hand tightly as we stared down at our sleeping children. We’d moved the crib into our bedroom so we could keep a closer eye on Emma. Six hours had passed since that horrendous moment when I’d held both babies in my arms while Emma transformed. She’d already transformed between human and wolf a dozen times since then. Each time, it had rendered her exhausted, and she’d immediately fallen asleep.
Nothing we’d tried stopped her changes. I’d asked Luke to try to communicate with her in wolf form, hoping that maybe in her animal form she would be able to understand things she couldn’t as a human, but Luke had tried and failed. Even as a wolf, her mind was still too young, too immature, to understand anything other than basic survival needs.
I gripped the crib rail tighter, the smooth wood squeaking under my palm. The rest of the house was quiet and dark. Outside, the moon was full and the sky black. Everyone had stayed in Father’s home, occupying the numerous guest rooms, but they’d all gone to sleep hours ago.
Waves of exhaustion rolled through me. It had to be close to two in the morning, but I still hadn’t slept. I couldn’t. My daughter was suffering, and she still hadn’t fed properly.
I leaned against Luke’s side, taking comfort in his firm embrace. “And the pain she feels when she transforms. Oh, Luke, it eats at my heart! What are we going to do?”
His arms locked around me as he ran a hand soothingly through my hair. “We’ll try a bottle again next time she wakes. Perhaps you’ll only be able to breastfeed Conroy, and that’s okay. We’ll just have to do whatever works.”
“Just as long as she eats.”
In the moonlight, our babies couldn’t look more different. It was obvious that Conroy had received the majority of the nutrition in utero. He was chubby-cheeked with rosy skin, whereas Emma was thinner and paler. Perhaps her abrupt growth from embryo to fetus had taken an incredible amount of energy. That growth had obviously concentrated on forming her bones and muscles versus padding her with much-needed fat.
“Does she look thinner than she did a few hours ago?” I peered down at her in the dimly lit room.
Luke’s chest rumbled when he replied, “I thought I was seeing things, but she does look smaller.” He rubbed his cheeks, the sound of his palms running over his stubbly cheeks like sandpaper. “It takes an incredible amount of energy to transform. It’s why I’m so hungry after I do it. Maybe it’s making her lose weight.”
“And she’s already changed from wolf to human, and human to wolf . . . what? Over twelve times?”
“At least that.”
Emma had done a transformation less than thirty minutes before, while she’d slept, but I swore she looked thinner than she had even two hours ago.
After the second change occurred, Di began writing them down and documenting the time in between each one, but she had gone to sleep two hours ago after I insisted she rest. Di had been awake as long as me.
Her notepad sat on the bedside table. Di had asked Luke to write down how often the changes were occurring, but I was pretty sure we’d forgotten to document one or two.
“Should we try to wake her again to feed her?” I whispered.
I loathed the idea of disturbing her, but her thin limbs made fear claw up my throat. If Luke said transforming required a tremendous amount of energy, she would need to feed more than a normal newborn.
“We can try.” Luke picked Emma up and rubbed his fingers across her cheeks.
She didn’t move, but her little chest rose and fell with each breath.
“Let me try.” I took Emma from his arms and moved to the chair. Sitting, I lifted my shirt and brought her lips to a large, taut nipple. Once again, my breasts felt so full. I knew I had the milk her little body craved. She just needed to eat it. “Come on, my little darling.” I rubbed my breast against her mouth.
“Open up, little Emma.” Luke kneeled at my side. He looked as tired as I felt, but I knew he wouldn’t sleep until I did, and I had no intention of sleeping until my daughter’s color improved.
Luke popped a finger into Emma’s mouth and gently pushed it open.
I guided my breast to her mouth, but Emma didn’t respond.
“Di said to put something cold against her if we needed to wake her to feed. I’ll grab an ice pack.” Luke disappeared from my side in a blurred move. Not even five seconds passed before he returned.
“Oh, Luke. That’s cruel!” I wailed as he brought the ice pack to her chest.
He covered my hand with his. “I know it will startle her, but she needs to eat, my love. Look.” He lifted her tiny limb.
My breath sucked in. The bones around her
wrist poked out.
How did she get so thin so fast?
But I knew the answer. The transformations. Emma was nothing like a normal human baby.
My heart pounded when Luke placed the ice pack against Emma’s tiny body. She woke with a startled wail. Tears pooled in my eyes, but I quickly stuffed my breast into her mouth, hoping she would eat.
She latched on.
Joy burst inside me when she sucked readily. “Yes! That’s it, my beautiful girl. Drink, little one!”
Emma drank while I kneaded my skin to encourage the milk to flow. My heart rate slowed as her little throat swallowed.
I grinned. “She’s drinking!”
“She is.” Happiness radiated in Luke’s words, and a peaceful feeling slid through me as I reached for his hand.
Cradling Emma to my chest, I leaned down to croon to her.
A convulsion wracked her body.
My eyes widened in horror. “No!”
Her tiny cry filled the room when she pulled back from my breast, her mouth open in a silent wail. The sickening sound of her body transforming came next.
“No!” I cried again. “No! No!” I gripped Emma tighter as the agony of the change took over her body.
Emma wailed, her little limbs flailing as she succumbed, powerless, to the demands the transformation required.
Tears poured down my cheeks as my darling daughter once again became a wolf pup. Little whimpers emitted from Emma’s mouth as she curled into a furry ball, as if cocooning herself could shield her from the pains of this world.
“Get the bottle!” I cried to Luke.
He raced from the room and returned shaking a bottle vigorously with the newly mixed formula. Dropping to his knees, he brought the bottle with the long nipple to Emma’s tiny snout.
But already she was asleep.
Once again, we tried to coax her awake to eat, but even using the ice pack didn’t work. Emma was completely exhausted, and no amount of effort on our part could provide the much-needed nutrition our little girl’s body demanded.
~ ~ ~
Emma transformed twenty-five times in the next twelve hours. Dark circles lined my eyes. I hadn’t slept in thirty-six hours, yet I couldn’t. Not when my daughter was dying before my very eyes.
The Complete Lost Children Series Page 94