Fang Chronicles: Zenya's Story (33 page)

Esta and McDonald came instantly alert when the bedroom door opened and fell in behind their alpha and his mate. Others looked up when they crossed the great room and word spread quickly.

They traveled slowly. Zenya stopped once and let out a low growl while Nicolas waited patiently. As a smart mate, he didn’t say it out loud, but he was glad beastkind birth was usually easier than human birth.

Laura opened the door within sixty seconds of their knock. She stood back and let Nicolas and Zenya inside. Esta, for the first time in weeks, changed to human and took up her post beside McDonald outside the door.

Laura made Zenya as comfortable as possible, but five minutes later there was another knock.

“Is it the baby?” demanded Talya excitedly.

Zenya spoke into the young cat’s mind. “Come in for a minute.”

Talya ran to Zenya and put her arm around her neck. “Will you let me be the first babysitter?”

“Yes, but I have a feeling you’ll be sorry you asked.”

“Never.”

“I’ll remind…” Zenya couldn’t finish. This was her third pain since entering the cabin.

“It’s time for you to leave, Talya. We’ll let everyone know as soon as the child is born.”

“I think it’s a girl.” Talya said as she walked out.

“I think it’s a boy,” Zenya managed to say between clenched teeth.

The door closed and Nicolas turned to his mate. He could feel her pain, and he opened the power of his alpha and let it surround her.

“Thank you. That feels wonderful.”

“It’s the very least I can do.”

This brought on an explanation to Laura, who mentally cataloged everything by habit. Zenya knew this going in and it didn’t bother her.

The pains came quickly after that. Zenya got up once, walked around the room, then circled the clean blankets before settling back down.

“She’s pushing,” Nicolas said. His line to Zenya through his power let him feel some of her pain. He tried to touch her head, but her growl was no longer low and he pulled his hand away quickly. Thirteen minutes later a baby lion arrived and made the Northeast pack a clan of twenty-five.

Zenya immediately licked her child, cleaning the sack from his body and then nudged him toward his father. Nicolas picked up the small mewling cub in wonder. Zenya’s large tongue licked his hand.

“I love you,” He said into her mind. The emotion in his voice evident.

“No estrogen.”

“Thank you.” He turned to the doctor and handed the baby over. “Be quick. We don’t want to upset my mate.”

Zenya snorted. Her tired voice flowed into his mind. “I will shut my eyes and rest. Wake me when she finishes and I will feed our son.”

Laura weighed, measured, and drew blood from the cub. Zenya startled awake at the call of distress from the small newborn. Laura handed over the baby and left the new family alone. She gave the news of the baby’s birth and gender to the waiting clan. Vorlyk was vigilantly standing by. The clan settled in, allowing a short time for Nicolas and Zenya to greet their child.

Inside the cabin, Zenya nursed her cub for the first time. Nicolas shifted and used his more sensitive wolf nose to scent the baby. “He smells very different from other cats or even wolves.”

“He is both, even if his body shows him as cat.”

“He will be strong and perfect like his mother.”

“He will be spoiled and imperfect like his father.”

Nicolas licked his son’s fur, transferring his own scent over the baby. They gave the newborn thirty minutes to eat and then Zenya shifted for the first time in weeks. Nicolas shifted, pulled on clothes, and handed several items to his mate after admiring her perfect body. She would shift to cat in order to feed their child for the first two weeks. Then the beastkind baby would shift to human and decide its own feeding habits. After that, he would cause the same ruckus as the two young ones they already chased. The children were siblings in every way but blood. Twenty-two aunts and uncles would raise them.

The Northeast Clan would survive.

Chapter Forty-six

Samson called a few days later and left word that he and his men discovered another camp filled with dead women and children. There was no evidence of a vampire. Several men’s bodies lay among the dead females. It gave them hope that maybe some of the male cats had different views than Raykon, though it angered them that death was their reward for harboring the females. There was no sign of the most-wanted beastkind in the Americas, and the three North American clans didn’t let down their guard. From intel acquired through their network, Raykon and Amelia faced their own troubles with the number of vampires running loose in their jungle.

 The cub’s eyes opened on day three. They were brown like his father’s. They talked about his name, but didn’t settle on only one. Nicolas would give the official decision at the naming ceremony when the baby was one month old. The very next step was the transformation to human. Laura would leave directly after this next miracle.

When the baby was nine days old, he lay between his mother and father in the adult’s large bed. He rolled to his mother for milk, but her voice softly chided, “You ate ten minutes ago you little devil. You can wait.” His little butt wiggled and he crouched unstably on the soft bed. Both his parents jerked when the lion cub became that of a wolf.

“Well I’ll be damned.” Nicolas couldn’t hold back the words. “He’s both of us.”

The baby growled with his new vocal cords and both parents laughed. A few minutes later Zenya left the bed and sent Troy for Dr. Stevens.

She arrived, but wasn’t as surprised as the rest of them. “I hoped this would happen. I didn’t say anything because I couldn’t be sure. This child has the DNA of both parents and it was more than possible that the result would be a double shifter.” She picked up the cub by the scruff of his neck and looked into his eyes. “You will be a handful, little guy. Now the bad doctor must poke you again.” She took more measurements and blood. Her finger had a nice set of teeth marks to prove it.

The baby seemed to change to whichever beastkind held it. It didn’t matter that a cat was in human form, the child knew. Four days later his human side finally broke through. Human babies did not have fun when it came to mobility, so two legs was rare. Even five months younger, he terrorized the cat cubs continually. Sierra and Roland stood their ground, but they were now over a year old. It was comical to see them trying to figure out this new entity that was both cat and wolf. Laughter was the main diet of the clan.

“Your little hellion needs a name.” Zenya smiled while shaking her head over their child’s antics.

“Tomorrow night, he will have one.” Nicolas pulled his mate close and kissed her neck.

***

Nine Northwest pack wolves accompanied Emily to the ceremony. Brandt stayed behind with their child for safety. Emily was alpha in her own right, and would perform the official sharing of blood with Zenya and Nicolas’s cub, then the other two cat cubs.

Emily paid a visit to Zenya before the ceremony. They hit it off at Marcus and Amy’s wedding, and the women had no problem making up for lost time.

“Have you heard any word of Mandy?” Zenya questioned her friend.

“No, and I’ve gone from wanting that son of a bitch dead to just wanting my sister back. I still plan to kill him, but I’m worried. Dmitri swears he’s had no word. He barely talks to Brandt and they’ve been friends for centuries. I’m worried something bad happened to them.”

“I’m not sure what Honey was thinking, but I have trouble believing he would hurt your sister. I think it more likely he’d protect her with his life.”

“He’s a dead bear anyway. If she’s okay when we find her I will at least make it quick. If not…” Her voice trailed off and she changed the subject. “It’s possible several more of our pack want to become yours. We’ve had open discussions about the possibilities of our wolves finding their true mates among your cats. My entourage is made up of wolves that want to meet your pack. Will this bother you?”

Zenya laughed. “No, they are asked out by Columbus’s pack almost daily. The one I have the most trouble with is Talya. She’s too young and remains constantly jealous of the she-cats dating.”

“Even up north, I’ve heard she’s a handful.”

“I’m not surprised.”

“Is Columbus’s pack finally accepting you?”

“They seem to be. Having Nicolas’s child helped. I’m still worried about the traitor. It’s impossible for me to believe one of the wolves would help our enemies. I have no idea why he would.”

“You’re convinced it’s a man?”

“Raykon hates women. He would never trust one and his propensity for violence would leave visible scars. It must be a man. We’ve tried drawing him out, but our ideas have failed.”

“He will show his true colors eventually and we will end his life in the worst possible way.”

Zenya loved the fact that Emily had no problem drawing blood or fighting. Her alpha power was so much a part of her, and for a few seconds Zenya wished for more courage and fighting skills.

“I want you just the way you are, my love.” Nicolas’s words appeared in her mind. He was doing it more and more. It seemed to be easiest when she was troubled. He was also nosey and she sent her own message back to that effect.

“You can punish me tonight.”

Her face turned red and Emily laughed. “I hate when Brandt does that.”

***

The naming ceremony was beautiful. Jaime Ivan, twenty-fifth member of the Northeast Clan and first crossbred werewolf/cat, received his given name. For a beastkind child with a hearty set of lungs, he remained quiet when his father, Emily, and Columbus shared his blood. He seemed satisfied when Alana and Nessa cried after one bite from Emily.

That night, Brandt communicated with his mate and she shared the news.

“Brandt received an email from Mandy. She said not to worry, but she wouldn’t be back for awhile. She recited my favorite passage from Jack London’s Call of the Wild, so we know it’s her. At least Honey will have a quick death when I find him.”

The naming ceremony celebration continued into the next day, then Emily and her wolves went home.

The pack took a trip to the new house, still under construction, in their territory a month later. Columbus and Brandt promised the loan of twenty-five wolves each when the house was complete.

Nicolas trained with his pack and knew with the extra wolves they could withstand a normal attack. Vorlyk also became deadlier. He slowly made his way to each wolf in Columbus’s clan and read their memories, but had no success finding the traitor. The alphas decided to keep his gift a secret. Eventually they would find their wolf.

Summer gave way to fall and then winter came to the mountains. Zenya sent Nicolas a message. “Meet me at the small cabin.”

He walked in with flowers.

Zenya made arrangements for the women to watch Jaime, or Ivan the Terrible, which he was better known as, throughout the night.

“What’s the special occasion?” Nicolas would never pass up the opportunity to have alone time with his mate, but he couldn’t help his curiosity.

“I was thinking we could try more wall sex.”

“Already?”