All the while, I just stood there, gaping at her, because what the actual fuck was happening here?
My mouth dropped open, and I had no choice but to stare at her, gawk in fact, as I wondered what the hell she was doing.
Then, of course, I scented it.
A fox.
And the rabbits here were defenseless. Two parent rabbits, four little tiny…hell, whatever they called baby rabbits.
Innocent.
Defenseless.
And the rabbits were unaware of our presence, never mind the fox’s, so they were, in a word, screwed.
My mouth tensed, but I didn’t say anything, because to be honest, I was curious. So curious as to whether or not she could actually use that bow and arrow.
The sight of her standing like that, legs planted, her arms positioned in a way that looked like she knew what she was doing—when I decidedly didn’t—had me rocking a boner, I wouldn’t lie.
Jesus, with no clothes on and like some kind of Amazonian? Her hair fluttering in the soft breeze, but otherwise completely still so nothing could scent her out?
A man’s wet dream, and she belonged to me.
I watched as she pulled her right arm back, then carefully, with a measure that told me this wasn’t the first time she’d used a bow, released the string. The shaft sailed through the air, and the fox shrieked, which prompted the rabbits to hop away as fast as they could with their little legs.
My wolf twitched at the sight of dinner disappearing, but I wasn’t about to chide Sabina, was I? Not when she’d gone all Lara Croft on me to save the rabbits from the fox.
It was quite clear to me that my mate was going to have severe issues with predators preying on…you guessed it…prey. Even if it was a facepalm moment, I wasn’t about to try to educate her as to the ways of the natural world and the rhythm of ecosystems. Dumbass, I most certainly wasn’t.
Even though I was impressed because she’d speared the fox straight through the belly, I asked, “Where did you learn to shoot like that?”
She sniffed. “I worked in carnivals for over twelve years, Ethan. You pick up a lot of random stuff.” Her tone was absentminded as her head tipped this way and that, cocking to the side like she was waiting to hear something.
It was quite a freaky sight, but again, a turn-on.
Just call me a pervert.
I’d accept it.
Everything she did was sexy.
Of course, that was when I knew my hormones were acting for me, and I needed to wake the fuck up.
“Wolves,” I rumbled, my head whipping to the side to catch her glance as she nodded at me, a calm about her that surprised me.
I thought she’d be scared, might run screaming for the hills. But she didn’t.
If anything, she regained that strange stillness that put me on edge while making me wonder what she was sensing that I couldn’t.
Her omega senses were definitely on the rampage today, especially if my alpha ones weren’t picking up on things.
Of course, I was cockblocked.
By myself.
So wrapped up in her that I was being a dumbass.
Shameful, really. My only defense was that after an adulthood of following the rules, I just wanted to live a little.
And if you couldn’t live a little when you’d just claimed your mate, when you’d taken a staycation in some other goddamn realm, then when the hell could you?
Still, it seemed like I’d gotten my wish.
Playtime was over, and our challenge was around the corner.
She’d already explained to me that she believed we were being tested, and seeing the difference in her, seeing how she’d changed from the time we’d entered the circle to this strong creature standing beside me, I had to admit, it was for the better.
I was impressed as hell, but also in awe of her. She was special, and she didn’t even know it.
They said that, every now and then, an omega would come along and change her pack for the better.
Usually, she was a gift from the Mother after too many years of lackluster alphas and omegas, who weren’t up to par.
I’d just never thought that such a creature would be my mate.
I placed a hand on her shoulder and asked, “Can you sense something I can’t?” I paused to listen. “What is it? Thirty of them?”
She tipped her head to the side, her eyes closed. “Yes. I can hear their heartbeats.”
I grunted. “That’s a large pack.”
“I don’t think they mean any harm.”
The insane thing was, I agreed. They weren’t prowling toward us, trying to be sneaky. If anything, they were just traveling toward us.
Coming nearer and nearer.
The question was, why?
Why were they doing that?
I rubbed my chin, uncertain as to whether I should shift or not. I wasn’t getting a dangerous vibe from them, but thirty wolves? No way could I protect her from that number unless we started to hurry away—
“We need to get out of here.” I grabbed her arm and tugged her forward, but she dragged me back, refusing to move another inch.
“No. We need to stay. This is important.”
“How do you know that? I can’t hold off a pack that large. You know I can’t.”
“They’re not here to cause us harm,” she countered, and she sounded so sure that I almost wanted to believe her.
“They must be seeking vengeance.”
“Animals don’t do that,” she said on a huff.
I snorted. “You’d be surprised what animals do when backed into a corner, sweetheart. You’ve taken over this land, your mate killed some of their pack, and so did you—with bullets. Wolves aren’t stupid. They’re far smarter than you could ever realize, because the Mother gives them those talents.
“Are you really sure you want to run up against that?”
“I don’t think we have a choice.”
She sounded resigned and—damn, this pissed me off the most—saddened by the prospect.
Did she know something she wasn’t telling me?
Did she expect all this to go wrong?
I thought I’d lose my mind if that was the fucking truth.
I sucked in a breath, then made the move to haul her over my shoulder, no motivation to do a damn thing other than get her the fuck out of here, to protect her with my last breath, but I didn’t have a choice.
When I swirled around, I saw them.
They were nearer than I imagined, and I knew Austin was right. He’d said that the creatures here were more potent, more powerful than those of our land, and he wasn’t wrong, because I hadn’t heard them, hadn’t even sensed them.
It was like something was putting a block on me.
Was it the Mother?
I’d felt her hand on my shoulder when she guided me toward that tree with the disgusting fruits that had saved Sabina’s life. I wasn’t about to complain about her interference then, but now?
Seriously?
Couldn’t she cut us some slack?
My eyes were on the wolves beyond, and I realized that they were a lot bigger than the natural creatures roaming the Earth too.
Not as large as shifters, but in between.
The eyes weren’t hostile, however, and their snouts weren’t hitched up in snarls. If anything, they were just watchful.
Waiting on me to make the first move.
In fact, when I turned around and saw the massive circle that surrounded us, I noticed they were all like that.
They were all just waiting on…
Not me.
Sabina.
My mouth dropped open at the sight, and when I stared at my woman, I saw she didn’t look stressed. Didn’t look anything.
She was just calm.
At peace.
She tipped her head to the side, as watchful as the beasts, then she murmured, “Why are you here?”
We were standing in a clearing amid the forest. There were several hundre
d trees around us, and there were many outcroppings and fallen trunks that acted as interesting levels for different flowers and fauna to live among, but the sight of the wolves around us was a thousand times more majestic than anything I could have imagined.
It was a surreal moment in my life to watch one of the beasts move toward us—a single female. She was large. Overly large. Bigger than the others, and when she wandered forward, I noticed she was pregnant.
I cut Sabina a look, wondering if she knew what was happening because I sure as hell didn’t, and this was my world, not hers. Why she was so at ease with this was beyond me.
She’d mentioned to me that when we’d mated, there’d been like a click in her head where she’d gone from not understanding some things to understanding a lot more.
But I’d never imagined the degree into which that was the truth.
I frowned at the thought, wondered if she was acting on instinct or a knowledge that was denied to anyone not omega, but then my thoughts were dragged from me when the she-wolf waddled forward and flopped onto her belly before releasing a keening sigh as she rolled onto her side.
My eyes widened at that, but even though I froze when all the pack around us stepped forward, I jerked into action a second later, just as Sabina did.
The she-wolf whimpered as we approached, then started panting. I had no idea what was happening, not until I saw her belly contract.
I winced, recognizing that she was in labor, and…
From her size, I had to figure she was the alpha bitch.
A mateless one, now that Austin had killed the alpha male.
I grimaced, even as I stroked a hand over her, and Sabina surprised me further by whispering, “Something’s wrong with her. The birth isn’t going well.”
My eyes widened at that. “She told you?”
She bit her lip and ducked her head before sheepishly whispering, “Yes.”
I frowned, then reached over and grabbed her shoulder. “Don’t ever act cowed before me, my mate. You are granted with gifts that I’ll never understand, and they are a blessing, just as you are my blessing.”
She peeped up at me, then whispered, “It started this morning.”
“Hearing the animals?”
She blew out a breath. “Yes. It’s just impressions though.” Her gaze wandered around the clearing, taking in the circle of concerned wolves. “They’re worried. For her.”
I arched a brow. “That’s clear to see.”
“They like her. They want her to lead. The alpha male was brutal. Spiteful. She is good. Kind. But she is dying. She knows it.”
Horror trickled through me. “How does she know?”
“The pups should have come by now,” she rasped, her hand shaking as she let it drift over the she-wolf’s coat. As she touched her, the bitch’s tension lessened some, but every now and then, the contractions would appear. “She’s been in labor for almost half a day.”
I scowled at that. “She should have given birth by now.” Twelve hours was a long time between the beginning of labor and birthing the pups.
I knew that much. Only because of my time working at a vet clinic in town before we’d been set on the path to enforcing for the pack by Eli.
I’d thought about going to college to study to become a vet, but it had just never worked out.
Still, I knew some things… It was better than nothing, at any rate.
In this instance, I had no means of acting. I figured Dr. Appleby would have taken her temperature, maybe would have given her some meds to encourage the birth while reducing pain, but I had none of those facilities at my—
The hand was back at my shoulder again.
Pushing me forward.
I was me, but I was more.
Touched.
Shaped.
Molded.
A true child guided by its mother as I moved around to the she-wolf’s side and saw the pup was essentially stuck in the vulval entrance. Another wolf nudged me, and I turned to it in surprise. It promised me no harm, but there was a plea in its eyes, a plea that was so poignant, it was like looking at the eyes of another human.
The thought took me aback, as did the nudging of another wolf. A male. Younger than the other. Very young, in fact. But I shifted focus onto the she-wolf once more.
I needed to act. Fast.
This was not how I’d imagined my day going, me sticking my hand carefully inside a she-wolf’s genitals that wasn’t my mate’s, but hell, life was turning weirder every day.
When I managed to get the pup out, I felt the hand grow tighter around me.
It didn’t relent.
Didn’t let go.
The pup wasn’t breathing.
The mother was exhausted.
Sabina looked frozen, like she knew both were dying, and I just couldn’t let that happen.
In my head, a sudden buzzing made itself known to me, and I jerked up, twisted around, and tried to figure out where the fuck it was coming from.
I recognized that noise.
I knew it.
Quickly, I passed the pup to Sabina, and she took it, sorrow etched on her features, but I ignored her, and instead, ran toward the sound.
I ran as fast as I could, totally aware and uncaring that some of the wolves—including the one with eyes that would haunt me forever—followed me as I sped through the trees toward the buzzing.
When I saw it, it came as a real shock. I knew for a fact that we’d been nowhere near the tree that bore the fruit that had saved my woman, but that didn’t matter.
This plane, this forest, it seemed to act of its own accord, which told me this was the right move.
I took a running jump and caught the lowest lying branch before I moved up the tree, crawling up it like a spider monkey. The second I reached a level where there were two fruits, I didn’t wait.
I grabbed them, plucking them both off the tree and ignoring the angry flies as I did so.
Putting the stems in my mouth was not pleasant, considering I knew what was inside these horrific fruits, but I had to get down.
Fast.
Time was running out.
When I plopped to the ground, the wolves yipped and barked, and the one with a streak of silver on its head and the young pup both danced around me as I started the short run back.
It took far less time than it had taken to get there, and when I arrived, I saw there was another pup beside the she-wolf.
Twins.
Mother.
Had to be, didn’t it?
Blowing out a breath at the sight, I almost skidded to a halt over the slick moss as I made it to the she-wolf’s side.
When I dropped the fruit into my palm then tore into it, I watched as the disgusting flesh was revealed to me.
Sabina’s face was proof of just how vile it was to see genuine flesh inside a fruit, like I’d spliced into my leg to reveal torn tissues and sliced fat, but I shoved it in front of the she-wolf.
Either she knew what it was, or the scent of blood in her exhausted state was too tempting to deny.
She snapped it up and ate it with a gusto that I couldn’t fault as I moved over to Sabina and tore into the second one.
I dabbed my finger into the flesh, wanting to laugh when Sabina almost gagged, but I put it to the pup’s tiny mouth. The small creature was more like a ball of goo than a little wolf, but it lapped at my finger.
A miracle in itself, since I knew newborns didn’t seek milk for a little while.
As I refreshed my finger, dabbing more and more blood from the fruit into the tiny pup’s mouth, I heard them.
That buzz that was close to a pneumatic drill in strength.
Quickly glancing over my shoulder, I saw their approach, saw the wolves start to dance out of the way, even as their yips and howls serenaded us at their disgust over the swarm approaching us.
Moving from Sabina, I took the other pup that had been born and placed it against its mother’s belly.
It was stronger
, but still weak, so I did as I had for its sibling and nourished it with a few drops of blood.
When the buzzing grew louder still, I dropped the fruit in front of the mother, letting her snatch it and chomp down on the ‘treat’ before I grabbed the pup and placed it beside its twin.
Then, I got off my ass, dragged Sabina into a standing position, and hauled us both away.
She struggled for a second, but when I hefted her over my shoulder, there wasn’t much she could do.
I let her beat me, let her hands bang against my thighs, even as the buzzing grew to a fever pitch.
When the bright light shone, burning so hotly that it was like a supernova, I had no choice but to close my eyes.
Only, when I opened them, we were no longer in the clearing.
We were in the totem’s circle.
I released a shaky sigh, relieved to be back home, away from that weird ass place, even as I was left wondering what the hell was going on.
When I heard Austin mutter, “What the fuck? Where did they come from?” I quickly peered around the circle.
Unfortunately, even though I’d closed my eyes against the dazzling light, I was still a bit blinded, and I knew Sabina was the same because she rasped, “Austin? What’s wrong?”
My twin muttered, “A she-wolf and her pups, as well as a massive pack of naturals, just plopped into being, babe. That’s what’s wrong.”
My mouth dropped open. “You mean they came with us?”
“You knew about them?” Eli countered, and I glared at him. Even if I was half blind, I still knew where the prick was and where to aim my stare.
“Yes. I knew about them. No, I didn’t realize they’d be coming back with us.”
A cry escaped Sabina, but before I had the chance to freak out, she whispered, “They’re all alive, Ethan!”
My hands were caught and held in hers, and I had to laugh when she bounced up and down, especially when Austin said, “Babe, will you do that for me back in my bedroom at home?”
I grinned, snickering as I told her, “I’m so glad, love.”
“I can’t believe you knew what to do.”
“I didn’t.” I reached up and wiped my eyes with my forearm. “Damn, I’m still a bit blinded. Aren’t you?”
“No. I turned my head into your butt.”
“Aren’t you the lucky one,” Austin teased, making me roll my sore eyes at him.
WOLF CHILD: A PNR RH Romance (The Year of the Wolf Book 1) Page 28
