After I was done, Seth would never see the sunlight again.
Chapter Two
Labor hadn’t been easy. I hadn’t expected it to be, of course; they wouldn’t call it “labor” otherwise. Still, I hadn’t been expecting how much I would hurt, both during and after. My body was still recovering.
I had gone into labor, my water breaking, in the middle of the night. I had woken Jasper up and he had jumped out of bed immediately, ready to move. He sent Bridget to my room to help me get comfortable in bed while he went to find one of the servants to send into town to get the doctor. By the time Jasper returned to my room, Bridget had changed my bedlinens, helped me into a new nightgown, and had me propped up in bed drinking tea. Jasper’s eyes were wide; I was calmer than he was for once. He couldn’t stop checking on me, asking if there was anything he could do, and I assured him that I was all right.
My contractions didn’t start for several hours, giving the doctor plenty of time to get here. The sun was just starting to slip over the horizon when he arrived about an hour later. Dr. Brighton lived in the neighboring town, where most of his practice was situated. Jasper greeted him breathlessly; I greeted him with a smile. The poor man looked exhausted, and who could blame him? He did his examination, determining that yes, my water had broken, but I was still a long way from delivery, which was disappointing. He offered to give me something for pain, but I declined. I wasn’t in pain yet.
The pain didn’t start until a few hours later. I had been expecting the muscle spasms in my lower abdomen, similar to menstrual cramps, but instead, the pain started in my lower back and radiated up my spine. It was the most excruciating thing I had ever felt. On the bright side, my recently sprained ankle had been all but forgotten. On the other hand, the pain was almost paralyzing. Dr. Brighton encouraged me to get up and walk around, claiming that would help the pain. Jasper took my arm and we walked the hallways, but I could only make it so far before the pain forced me to stop. Jasper ended up carrying me back to the bedroom. His eyes were full of worry, seeing me in so much pain, but Dr. Brighton assured him that it was all normal.
He and Jasper got into an argument. Jasper insisted Dr. Brighton do something about the pain, and Dr. Brighton told him there wasn’t much he could do. I yelled at them both to stuff it.
Dr. Brighton did several examinations throughout the day, but it wasn’t until almost ten o’clock that night that he declared I was almost ready to begin pushing. Jasper took my hand on one side, and Annabelle, who had arrived as soon as she’d heard I was in labor, took my other hand. Bridget waited, ready to do anything that was asked of her.
I pushed for about a half an hour, which Dr. Brighton said was on the shorter side. I couldn’t imagine. The pain was like being ripped apart from the inside, mainly in my lower back, but stretching in a band across my stomach. I cried at the pain. I didn’t think I could go through with it. Bridget was constantly grabbing fresh compresses for my head, and Dr. Brighton gave me sniffs of ether to help. Several times I didn’t think I would make it, and Dr. Brighton had to remind me that it would all be worth it.
He had been right, of course. I had known this little baby for a week, and now I couldn’t imagine my life without him. He was my everything.
Lowell Arthur Wolfric had been just shy of six pounds at birth, a bit small, but not too small to be concerned. They had placed him on my chest immediately after he began crying. He was covered in all the unsavory things that came with being birthed, but I didn’t care. To me, he was beautiful.
After he was cleaned up and had his first feeding, Jasper got to hold him for the first time. The look on his face could only be described as pure love. I had seen it on his face a handful of times when he looked at me. He was completely enamored with this baby. Of course, I knew that already. Even before the baby was born he had fought tooth and nail to keep him safe. I couldn’t believe how much our little family had been through to get Lowell here. Now our lives were irreversibly changed.
For the most part, I slept while the baby slept. I was lucky. I couldn’t imagine how difficult it would be if I had more than one child, or if I had a job to get back to or housework to get done. But I was a duchess, which meant that my only job right now was to stay curled up in bed with my little man. My sole focus for the near future was to make sure that both the baby and I were happy and well–rested. Granted, I could only feel so well–rested when I had to wake up every few hours to feed the baby, but it was nice to know that when he was done eating I could simply fall back to sleep.
For his part, Jasper had rarely left us. He was just as taken with Lowell as I was. He loved to cradle him and hold him against his chest. When Lowell was in his arms, Jasper couldn’t look at anything else. A new life had infused the castle, and Jasper was happier than I had ever seen him before. He was a man of heavy duties, but this responsibility had lent him wings. I knew he had wanted to be a father for a long time—he’d needed to be a father—and now he finally had a son. He didn’t mind looking after Lowell so I could sleep, and that helped tremendously. What would it be like if I didn’t have him by my side, if he had to go back to work just like every other man out there? Instead, Jasper had been able to send a message to Prince Edward and told him that he would be unable to make any trips to London in the next few weeks. I wasn’t used to having Jasper home or by my side so much. I adored it.
I still couldn’t believe how lucky I was to have been reunited with him. We had been childhood friends, and though I didn’t remember much of my childhood, Jasper had told me that he had never forgotten about me. Even as we grew older and the years that we spent apart grew longer, I had always been in the back of his mind. It seemed fantastic, and probably it was an exaggeration, but it was a sweet thought. I wasn’t going to protest merely because it seemed fantastic. I’d let him keep the fantasy going, and if he wanted to tell our children when they were older, who was I to disagree?
Our children were already going to have plenty to learn. It wasn’t just the hair or the lashes that Lowell had inherited from his father. He had inherited the same curse or mutation or whatever that all the men in the Wolfric family, and indeed, most of the men in the duchy of Faolancaster had. A mutation that would utterly change his life forever. I was lucky that I still had several years before it took hold.
Lowell, as the firstborn son, would inherit his father’s title along with his father’s mutation. When Jasper passed away, it would be Lowell taking up his mantel, and not just as the Duke of Faolancaster. Lowell would be in charge of not just the people of Faolancaster, but of everyone in England with this curse. This power put Jasper on almost equal footing with the Queen of England, considering the royal family were carriers of the curse as well. It made him one of the most powerful men in the world. It was an incredible amount of pressure on Jasper. I had seen the toll it had taken, constant trips away from home, constant mediating between men. He always seemed spread a bit thin, juggling both his positions.
I looked down at my peacefully sleeping baby. I didn’t want all that pressure on him. Yes, it was far down the road, but my heart still broke to think of my little baby taking on the same burdens as his father did. There was nothing I could do; I had gotten pregnant before I realized the full importance of the child I was carrying. Still, as his mother, I wanted to do everything I could to shelter him from the difficulties he would face.
I worked to push the thoughts from my head. That wasn’t for years to come, and while I had perfectly good reasons to be concerned, worrying now would do no good. Lowell wouldn’t take his father’s place for years yet.
Instead, I worked to focus on the present, the small bundle curled in the crook of my arm. I traced his nose, his lips, and his cheeks with the pad of my finger. He didn’t stir, and the grip he had on my other finger had relaxed. He was deep in sleep, dreaming about whatever it is that nestled little babies dream about. I kissed the top of his head, and Lowell broke into a sleepy smile. My heart swelled as I pulled him
closer. My sweet, beautiful baby. I was so utterly in love.
Even now, it seemed so incredible to me. A year ago, my life had been so radically different, and now I was in a huge, beautiful house with a gorgeous, loving husband and a sweet baby. I had a hard time believing that this wasn’t a dream. I had to pinch myself to believe that this was my life.
Someday, we would tell Lowell the long story of how hard Jasper and I fought to bring him into the world.
It was a tale that began over two decades ago. I was just a baby, and Jasper was only a few years old. My father had been employed as the doctor at Wolf’s Peak, but when my mother was killed by a wolf, we left and moved to a neighboring city. When my father died of a terrible disease, we had been left penniless. I hadn’t even had enough to pay for his funeral, but Jasper, who long respected my father, stepped up to give my father the funeral my father deserved. At the funeral, Jasper and I were reunited for the first time since childhood. Only two weeks later we were married.
I didn’t learn about the existence of werewolves until several months after the wedding. I was aware that the forests around Wolf’s Peak were thick with wolves; that was part of the estate’s name. In fact, I had even made friends with a wolf, who would come visit me in the gardens. I didn’t find out about the werewolves until Jasper’s brother, Seth, who had not attended the wedding, paid us an unexpected visit. Seth was a wicked man who had attempted to kill me. Jasper confronted him about it, and that’s when I learned the secrets of Wolf’s Peak. The first was that Jasper had married me because he needed a son. It was the rule of the werewolf elders that an alpha had to sire an heir before he turned thirty, and the clock was ticking for Jasper. The second was that werewolves existed in the first place. I saw Seth shift—a horrible, nauseating sight.
Angry, scared, and betrayed, I fled to the woods. My plan had been to run away to the nearest city and then take the train to Ireland or Scotland, somewhere no one would know me. I would raise the baby on my own. The forest was incredibly disorienting, and I began to get flashbacks of my mother’s murder. Then Seth found me.
I thought I was dead. I was sure I was dead, until my wolf, the one I had made friends with, came to my rescue. The wolves fought until Seth almost fatally wounded my wolf. That was when I discovered the wolf was Jasper.
I was left to fight Seth alone, and only survived through sheer, dumb luck. The rest of Jasper’s council found us and brought us back home, but Seth managed to escape. Jasper, like all other werewolves, began healing quickly and revealed everything.
He was the alpha of England, meaning he had control over all the werewolves in the country, including the royal family. He reported to the elders, men from all around the world. Jasper explained that werewolves had enhanced senses and could heal themselves rapidly. He had known I was pregnant before I did, and even knew that the baby was a boy. He continued to explain the traditions of the werewolves, and how lycanthropy was passed on. You could be bitten, but many became werewolves genetically. That meant that our little baby would be a werewolf as well. I was shocked and terrified.
I was held hostage in an old, decrepit castle situated in the middle of a moor. I was cold and injured and almost full–term. That’s how I met Christoph; Seth had threatened his family if Christoph did not watch over me. Christoph ended up being my saving grace. He not only kept me fed and bandaged, but he alerted Jasper’s men to the trap Jasper would be walking into when he came to save me. The men, plus Bridget, arrived at just the right time to save us. As the battle was winding down, the elders arrived and apprehended Seth. Now, he waited for his trial, locked in a cage in Sweden.
I was relieved that Seth was locked away. He didn’t plague my nightmares anymore. He would be out of my life as soon as this horrid trial was over.
I swallowed as I glanced down at Lowell. The trial would not be easy, but I’d have to go through with it in order to protect my precious baby. God, he really did look like his father. I didn’t know if he’d get Jasper’s cheekbones or jawline, but I suspected he would.
We had been through hell and back for our baby, and for our marriage as well. As horrific as the events of the last year had been, I wasn’t sure if I’d have it any other way. I had become a stronger person. If I could still end up the same, sure, I’d be willing to skip over the trauma. Truthfully, though, I didn’t know if my marriage would still be the same if we hadn’t been through everything together.
Somewhere along the way, I had fallen hopelessly in love with Jasper. I wasn’t exactly sure when it had happened. He’d made my heart flutter from the moment I looked into his eyes, but our love story had been building slowly. I didn’t know what had finally pushed me over the edge into the ocean of love, but I was swimming in it now, and I wasn’t planning on heading toward the shore anytime soon.
Jasper, for his part, loved me equally. He had proved that he was willing to go to great lengths to keep me safe. He had been willing to give his life to rescue me from his brother. He could be a bit overbearing, but he was getting better. He was so used to giving orders as a duke and an alpha that I’m not sure he knew what to do with me. My headstrong attitude had proven to be a match for him, and he was slowly accepting that.
Now, despite having his own quarters, he spent most nights he was home in my room. He rarely left my side if he didn’t have to, and when he did, he wasn’t happy about it.
Yes, we’d been through hell, but that would only prepare us for what was to come.
Chapter Three
Jasper had never struck me as a particularly religious person. In fact, I had never seen him step foot in a church. He had come to my father’s burial but not funeral service, and we had wed at Wolf’s Peak. One day, I finally asked him about it.
He was quiet for a long time. Finally, he looked at me with his wide, beautiful eyes as he spoke.
“Many in the church hunted our kind in the early days. They believed lycanthropy to be a curse, a result of sin,” he explained. “We’ve been vilified time and time again.”
As a result, he had no wish to christen Lowell, and since it wasn’t something I cared too much about, we didn’t. Still, Jasper wanted to do something to celebrate our new son, I think to take my mind off the impending trial as well. A few weeks after Lowell was born, we had our closest friends over to Wolf’s Peak. I think if Jasper had been in charge, he would have thrown a large party, but I didn’t have the energy to deal with that. I preferred something small, and besides, I didn’t want Lowell to become overwhelmed. We agreed on something simple, and as per usual, Annabelle took the reins and planned the whole thing.
The parlor was covered in white decorations accented with greens and blues and oranges. It was beautiful, as was every party she planned for us. Daisy had created plates of confections, trays of cookies, and little cakes and pastries. They looked fantastic, but I had to remember not to eat too much. If I ate a lot of sugar, there would be a lot of sugar in Lowell’s milk. I was exhausted as it was; I didn’t need a high–strung baby to boot.
Our friends arrived in the early afternoon. Had the weather been nicer, we would have had a garden party, but in March in England, one only goes outside when one has to. We stayed inside, mingling with Jasper’s councilmen and their families.
Jasper had six councilmen. Stephen was his closest confidant and Annabelle’s long–suffering husband. They had a one–and–a–half–year–old little boy named Daniel and another one on the way. We were keeping our fingers crossed that it would be a girl so that we could become in–laws.
Adam was Jasper’s youngest councilman, and Hazel’s fiancé. They had become engaged in September, only four months after Adam had brought her to interview for the position of Jasper’s wife. Their wedding was scheduled for June, and it seemed to be all Hazel could think about lately. Perhaps it should annoy me, but it didn’t. I hadn’t gotten to plan my wedding, so I was living vicariously through her.
Conor was the newest member of the council, taking his place whe
n his uncle Roderick was murdered by Seth. I enjoyed Conor’s company. He was always ready to make us laugh. He and Bridget were almost inseparable these days.
All the councilmen had come to the party, including the impossibly old Lester and perennially cranky Merrill and Peter. Merrill and Peter had brought their wives, but Lester was a widower. Hazel arrived with Adam.
I dressed Lowell in a white robe as Bridget finished closing the buttons on the back of my pale blue gown. I picked the baby up from the bed, cradling him in my arms as Bridget tried to fasten a cameo necklace around my neck. Lowell tried to grab at the lace, but gave up after realizing that it was too far out of his grasp.
“How do I look?” I asked.
“Lovely,” Bridget told me.
I turned to the mirror to check. I scarcely recognized myself. My hair was pulled back from my face, and the dress I wore cost more than a month’s rent at my old home. With the baby in my arms, I seemed like a completely different person. I looked years more mature, more sure and more confident, than I had a year earlier.
I shifted Lowell in my arms and started through the hallway and down the stairs. When I stepped into the parlor, all eyes were on me and my half–asleep baby. Hazel and Annabelle had visited plenty since he was born, and they kept their distance so others could greet him.
I was immediately ambushed by Peter’s wife, Bernadette, and Merrill’s wife, Anne. Anne was quiet and respectful, but Bernadette was pushy, a mass of frizzy red hair in my face as she tried to get a good look at the baby. My body began to tense, my chest tightening as these two women crowded me.
“Now, now,” Jasper said, coming to my rescue, pulling me back. “We don’t want the baby getting overwhelmed. Everyone will get a chance to see him, but let’s go one at a time.”
The Wolf's Cub (The Wolf's Peak Saga Book 3) Page 2
