Max’s heart lurched for another reason. He had forgotten her desire to separate the pairs in the chaos of her labor. “When do you plan on going?”
“Soon,” Susie whispered. “He’s knowledge for our people. He’ll remember otherwise.”
“He’ll notice you pregnant with his mate. To say nothing of the spring pair,” Max reminded her. “The Autumn Kings of the past were known for being very wise. You think he won’t recall seeing his mother pregnant over and over again?”
“We’ll figure it out,” Susie huffed.
Max closed his eyes and tried to push aside his resentment for this unborn wolf. Then he stood and shouted, “Maggie, Katrina, stay. Everyone else leave your blessings and clear out!”
Max hated how reminiscent it was of Susie’s birth as every wolf in the room left their blessing for the new Autumn King. They each kissed Susie’s cheeks as Max sat on a chair by the bed with his head in his hands and fought to breathe past the anxiety. The pills weren’t working.
“It’ll be fine.” Adam touched Max’s head as he had done once so long ago. “Gods’ blessing.”
“Thank you,” Max mumbled without looking up. “Pray for her.”
“We’re going to the altar room for the next few hours. We’ll make an offering on your behalf.”
Max took another deep breath and lifted his head to look at Adam and his father standing somberly next to him. If any two wolves understood his anxiety it was them. “Truly, thank you for the blessings. They’re appreciated.”
“Strength is your gift from the Gods.” His father gave him a wan smile. “Use it now.”
Max dropped his head back to his hands and said, “I’ll try.”
****
Katrina was actually a gift from the Gods. After having three male puppies of her own in a relatively short amount of time, she was very efficient in dealing with Susie’s labor. She was far more helpful than the doctors.
Max wished Serena could see her in action. Katrina had come a long way from the playful wolf who cared about nothing but shopping and the next running. She was a mother now and having a human mate forced her to deal with a lot of difficulties. It turned her into a strong-minded, independent wolf who was very determined to ensure that the queen had the easiest labor possible.
Katrina insisted Max sit behind Susie on the bed, allowing him to hold her through the contractions. When the doctors balked, Katrina showed her teeth with a low wolf growl that spoke of a powerful female, one of the few who’d once been able to cater to a king.
“They are a pair. He has to hold her to ease her pain. It’s his job.” Katrina’s voice grew low with the wolf in her. “If you do not like it you can leave and I’ll deliver the new king myself!”
The doctors stopped complaining.
Max made the room icy, but none had anything to say about it except Susie, who complained at one point between the contractions. “He won’t like the cold. He’s more temperate.”
“He’s not here yet.” Max brushed the sweaty hair that had escaped her braids off her temples and kissed her forehead. “I’ll make sure it’s the right temperature when he is.”
Susie nodded. “Promise?”
“On my word as king.”
“Alright.” Susie took a shuddering breath and then gasped and leaned forward. “Oh Gods!”
The magic pulsed off her, knocking the doctors off their feet. Maggie kneeled on the floor to her left, holding Susie’s hand tightly. Katrina was to her right, doing the same thing.
“Go into the pain,” Katrina coached in a soothing voice. “Embrace the burden of it.”
“I don’t like this advice,” Max growled as he held her tightly from behind.
“How many puppies have you had?” Katrina countered. “She needs the pain. It’ll help her appreciate the gift of her son.”
“Wolves,” Max growled under his breath. “This is bullshit.”
“You cannot use that indecent human language. This is a sacred moment.”
Max snarled and showed his teeth. “I can say what I like.”
“Gods, dominant wolf.” Katrina huffed and forced her attention back on Susie. “Listen to my voice, Your Majesty. Go into the pain. Feel it rather than fight it. We go with nature. We do not fight against it. When we go with the trials the Gods gift us with… it eases the transition.”
Max rolled his eyes, but he had to admit some of the tension eased out of Susie’s body as she followed Katrina’s advice. She stopped panting and started taking longer, deeper breaths.
“That’s it, breathe through it,” Katrina coached in a soft voice. “Embrace it.”
Susie nodded and took another deep breath. “Okay.”
“You’re strong,” Maggie urged from her other side.
“She is strong,” Katrina agreed. “You can do this, Your Majesty. Strength is your gift from the Gods.”
Max wasn’t so convinced. It was supposed to be his gift too, but he was feeling more powerless than anything as he held Susie through one contraction after another as they started growing closer and closer together.
Susie was drenched in sweat. They had never bothered to dress her. Katrina was certain she would be more comfortable naked. When a particularly violent contraction passed Susie tossed her head back against Max’s bare chest and took a shuddering breath.
“How much longer?”
“It doesn’t matter,” Max cut in before anyone could look at their watches. “As Katrina says, we’re working with nature. You follow your instincts and forget the rest. If he’s born a beta wolf, all the better for him.”
Susie nodded. She took another shuddering breath and then leaned forward with a gasp of pain. “Gods!”
“Breathe,” Katrina said and then Max saw her look at her watch slyly. “Do you want to push, Your Majesty?”
Max growled, but was stopped from complaining when Susie nodded breathlessly. “I do.”
Max looked to Katrina and then to the doctors, who were also glancing at their watches. He let out a groan he couldn’t hide. “Oh Gods.”
“Move her forward,” one of the doctors urged. “Right up the edge of the bed.”
Max helped her move forward as Katrina and Maggie arranged the pillows behind him to give him support. Susie screamed and Max held her tighter. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head as she spread her legs, letting the doctors check her progress.
“I love you, Susie Bee,” he whispered as he felt tears sting his eyes.
“He’s crowning,” the doctor said.
“Push, Your Majesty!” Katrina demanded in a low, wolf-like voice. “Now!”
“NO!” Max shouted.
But Susie listened to Katrina instead of Max and pushed hard. He tilted Susie’s head back, looking at her face, which was flushed with agony. Her eyes were squeezed tightly shut.
“There’s his head,” the doctor said breathlessly.
“Now!” Katrina pleaded. “The time is right now!”
Susie screamed when she pushed a second time, her entire body shaking with the effort. Magic vibrated the windows. The doctors, who were kneeling at the foot of the bed, must have been knocked back from the force of it, but Max only had eyes for Susie. He studied her intently when her screaming stopped with a sudden sob of relief.
Katrina screeched. “Gods be blessed! Look at how big he is!”
Susie opened her eyes, her chest heaving with wolf-like pants of exhaustion. She fought his hold on her chin and looked down. Then a wide, bright smile lit up her face.
“Oh Gods!” Susie panted. “I did it.”
“You did?” Max was every bit as breathless as Susie.
Just then a loud screaming broke his stunned silence. Max blinked and looked down to see the largest male newborn he had ever laid eyes on fighting the doctor’s hold as he flailed.
The cheers from the other side of the door answered Max’s next question and he raised the temperature in the room without thinking about it.
“He’s king.” Katrina was crying and she leaned over and kissed Susie’s cheek. “You’ve blessed us with autumn. He’ll guard knowledge for our people. That’s such an amazing gift.”
Max noticed she forgot about death, but it didn’t matter so much when the gravity of the situation hit him in the chest. Susie was healthy and delighted. She lived to see her son.
It was a blessing and Max let out a broken sob in gratitude. “Oh, Sue. I’m so proud of you.”
“I’m proud of you too. You did good, Honeywell.” Susie turned in his arms and they shared a quick kiss that was salty with the tang of tears as they both cried. Then she reached out to the baby. “Oh please, let me hold him. Give him to me. He needs his mom.”
While the doctor’s cut the cord, Katrina jumped up and ran to the door. She flung it open and threw up her arms. “He’s king!”
The cheers were deafening and Max only barely caught sight of the wolves peering in as the doctor’s handed Susie her puppy. She cradled him to her as her body shook with sobs. “Oh, Maxwell, look at what you gave me.”
“Yeah, look at that.” Max studied the baby over her shoulder. “His hair is black.”
“Like his father,” Susie agreed as she touched his hair. Her finger rested over the spot of white in the sticky, inky strands. “But, look, he’ll have a streak of white hair. How unusual?”
Max leaned in closer as the baby finally stopped bawling and curled into Susie’s embrace. When he blinked up at them, Max laughed. “Yellow eyes.”
Susie laughed with him. “Perfect for autumn.”
“A streaked black wolf with yellow eyes.” Max shook his head as he grinned. “He’ll have a hard time blending in with humans. Are you sure you want to leave?”
“We’ll manage.” Susie turned around to give him a smile as her icy eyes filled with more tears. Then she turned back to her new puppy. “He’s beautiful. So big.”
“Gods, no wonder your back was hurting.”
“He must be eleven pounds at least,” Maggie said in awe as she leaned over from the side of the bed and studied the new king. “I’ve never seen such a big baby.”
“A powerful king,” Susie said proudly as she studied his fingers and then his toes. “I’m so happy right now.”
“Me too.” Max nodded as he breathed another sigh of relief. “Truly happy.”
Max wrapped an arm around her and kissed the top of her head once more as he reveled in the joy of knowing they had made it past the equinox safely. Susie was reluctant to give him up, but Maggie finally got the puppy free of her arms to bathe him.
The doctors made quick work of cleaning Susie. She recovered quickly from the birth and was able to scoot back on the bed by herself. Katrina helped her put on a nightgown and then the room was flooded with wolves who were jubilant with the birth of the new king.
“A name?” Katrina pressed when Maggie handed the baby back to Susie, with his black hair gleaming and his face still red from screaming through his first bath.
Susie held him close, her gaze on him once more despite the crowd in the room. “Xavier,” she said as she touched his cheek softly. “King Xavier Douglas Wellington The First.”
“A good name for a black wolf.” Max’s father clapped Max on the shoulder. “I like it.”
“It is.” Max smiled at him. “Today is a good day. The Gods have blessed us.”
“They have,” Adam agreed as he handed Max a glass of whiskey. Then he clinked Max’s glass with another one he had in his hand. “A toast to King Xavier. May the Gods guide him well.”
“I’ll drink to that.” Max took a long swig, letting the burn of whiskey wash away the last of his tension. “And Gods’ blessings that this drama is finally over.”
Adam and Max drank to his second toast.
“That’s what you think.” His father laughed and leaned in, whispering in Max’s ear, “It’s not the end of the road, Maxwell. It’s the beginning. The journey’s just started for you.”
Kele Moon
A freckle faced, redhead born and raised in Hawaii, Kele Moon has always been a bit of a sore thumb and has come to enjoy the novelty of it. She thrives off pushing the envelope and finding ways to make the impossible work in her story telling. With a mad passion for romance, she adores the art of falling in love. The only rules she believes in is that, in love there are no rules and true love knows no bounds.
So obsessed is she with the beauty of romance and the novelty of creating it she’s lost in her own wonder world most of the time. Thankfully she married her own dark, handsome, brooding hero who had infinite patience for her airy ways and attempts to keep her grounded. When she leaves her keys in the refrigerator or her cell phone in the oven he’s usually there to save her from herself. The two of them now reside in Florida with their three beautiful children who make their lives both fun and challenging in equal parts–They wouldn’t have it any other way.
Other Titles by Kele Moon
AGE OF ALPHAS - BOOK 2 - MARCH 20, 2014
AGE OF ALPHAS - BOOK 3 - JUNE 21, 2014