Ivy.
After a wonderful, wonderful evening with Damian, I couldn’t help but find myself in a rather pleasant mood when I woke up the next morning. I took extra care getting myself ready and couldn’t help but notice how large my protruding belly had become. For the first time in a long time, I was happy. I felt absolute contentment with how my life was.
To think I had my reservations about everything before seemed silly now. After last night with Damian and me talking about everything I knew, without a doubt, things were going to be better. I had even taken it upon myself to open up a little bit about myself.
However, there was still far more to discuss, but I didn’t want him worrying about any of that while he was taking care of his problems. Instead, I planned to discuss it with Hale, Talon, and James first.
Then when Damian got back, I would tell him as well.
Today I was a woman on a mission, and with not much time left in my pregnancy, I needed to make haste to make sure that we were all on the same page. Hopefully, they would understand why I have done the things I have done.
As my feet touched the ground from the stairs, I smiled happily, swaying my dress from side to side as I made my way towards the kitchen searching for food. I was ravenous, so ravenous I couldn’t contain myself.
However, Talon and Hale had stocked the freezer and fridge with various things, and my hunger was more easily satisfied.
“You seem to be in an absolutely wonderful mood this morning,” Kate laughed out as she came walking into the kitchen, dripping with sweat and holding a water bottle in her hand. It was quite obvious she had been working out this morning.
“Did you literally just get done with training?”
“Sure did,” she said with a grin. “You know, after you have those babies, you might want to take up training as well.”
Now, I wasn’t the prissy kind of girl, but I also wasn’t the athletic kind of girl either. I did not take interest in anything requiring me to physically exert myself. I was a bookworm; my go to for fun. The idea of running and getting sweaty and working out wasn’t anything that piqued my interest.
“Yeah, I don’t know about that one. I think I might have to take a rain check.”
Kate laughed as the twins walked into the kitchen, staring between the two of us, silence filling the air before Talon furrowed his brows.
“What the hell’s wrong with the two of you?”
“Nothing,” I replied, shaking my head. “Kate was simply trying to express the fact that she thinks I should start working out after I have the babies.”
“I was referring to you doing training. Thank you very much. Everybody needs to know how to defend themselves.”
“Oh well, we don’t have to worry about that, Kate. You see, Ivy doesn’t need to defend herself. She simply eats them,” James retorted as he popped his head into the kitchen, grabbing an apple off the counter and a bottle of water from the fridge.
I couldn’t believe he had gone there with that comment. “Oh my God, that literally happened one time and you guys are never going to let that go, are you?”
Every single one of them shook their heads no. There was no way they were going to let me forget what I did. It had now become an ongoing joke, even though it was not something to joke about.
With a heavy sigh, I ignored their jokes and attempted to climb onto the counter stool. The only problem was, as I tried to lift a foot, a pain ripped through me I had never felt before, and with it, a blood-curdling scream tore from my throat.
This was not labor, no way. My heart raced, and my head felt like it was being split open with every move I tried to make. “Make it stop!”
Kate’s eyes were wide, and panic had set into them all. None of them had the slightest clue what was wrong, but as I dropped to the ground, Talon caught me, and looked over at me with nothing but concern.
“What’s wrong? Is that the babies?” Talon asked as the others towered over me.
“No!” I screamed in pain, trying to push away whatever was hurting me. “It’s burning. My body feels like it’s on fire, and my head is throbbing. Please make it stop.”
Confusion marred their faces. Talon’s eyes were frantic over my body, worried for a moment before he seemed to have a sign of recognition flicker within his eyes.
A sign that made my heart plummet. Deep down, I knew something was wrong.
However, I ignored it. “It’s Damian. Something’s wrong with him. He’s in trouble.”
Talon nodded his head, and as he did, another fitful pain ran through me as I slowly tried to get myself up. The problem, though, was that a puddle of liquid was running down from between my knees puddling on the floor.
“Oh, shit!” Kate screamed as my mother stared on in panic. “Her water broke.”
“What do you mean her water broke?!” James said in panic. “She still has two more weeks, right?
Two weeks? Right now, the only thing I wanted was for the pain to stop radiating through my body. I was concerned about the twins, but something inside me told me they would be okay.
“I need to get upstairs,” I groaned in pain.
“No, you need to get to the hospital,” my mother snapped as she looked at the guys, gesturing for them to get me up.
“No!” I growled as my gaze turned towards her. “It’s not safe. Get me upstairs now.”
My outburst took aback my mother. Never once had I ever spoken to her like that, but right now, something inside me was telling me to be careful. Telling me I had to stay here and not leave.
Something was wrong, and if Damian was in trouble, that meant someone had gotten to him. The last thing I needed to do was put myself at risk my leaving the safety of my home. The goddess told me to listen to my instincts, and that was what I was doing.
“James, go run her a bath,” Kate said quickly before turning her gaze to Talon and Hale. “Can you guys carry her up there? I’ll grab some towels and herbs.”
“Kate, you can’t be serious?” my mother gasped as everyone around me started moving and preparing to take me upstairs to have these children.
“Yes!” Kate snapped, glaring at my mother. “We aren’t human if you haven’t noticed. A she-wolf knows what she can handle, and if Ivy wants to have the babies here, then so be it. She knows more about what is going on than we do. So you can help or move.”
Kate wasn’t wrong about all of this. My mother had no clue, and nodding her head, she turned to me with a frown. “What can I do?”
Another scream of pain, and I groaned out, trying to push it away. “Get me, Priscilla.”
Time seemed to fly by, and before I knew it, I was naked in the large tub in my bathroom, screaming pain once more, but now from the labor I was going through.
My children were coming, and there was no stopping them.
A wave of power seemed to creep through me, and as the pain ran through my veins, I knew what was to come. Like a door that had been locked for so long, it was finally wearing thin. Finally breaking.
“Did you find, Damian?” I gasped as my eyes darted to Talon. “He needs us.”
“You need to worry about the labor you’re in, Ivy. Damian will be fine.”
“No, he won’t!” I growled. “Where is he?!”
Screaming again, the crown of the child’s head pressed down on me. Gripping James’ hand in one, and Hales in the other, I pushed with everything I had.
“That’s it!” Priscilla yelled. “Keep pushing, Ivy. I can see the head.”
Breathing through it, I pushed harder, and within in a moment the first of my children push free of me. “Oh, my god. It’s a boy!” Kate cried out as I panted with exhaustion.
Reaching down, Priscilla held up the cord, allowing James to cut it. The child pulled from the water and wrapped within a blanket as Kate and my mother cleaned him until he cried. He was huge… bigger than I would have expected, and a smile crossed me seeing him.
“That future Alpha of our pack,” Talon said proudly as tears slowly fell down his cheeks.
Kate didn’t hesitate to hand the child to Talon, and before I could say anything else, I felt the contractions start again.
This was it. One more to go, and with my son now born, I felt a surge of power coursing through me making my heart race. Something was about to happen, and I wasn’t sure what it was, but I had to worry about my daughter now. Taking a deep breath, I screamed through it and pushed the small babe from my body until she was free.
My daughter… blood of my blood, laid between my legs.
Without hesitation, I pulled her up to me with the cord in view for Hale to take care of. She was much smaller than her brother, but as she cried, so did I.
I had done it. I had given birth to my children, and even though one of my mates wasn’t here, the situation was perfect. “I did it.” Everyone was looking at me.
“You did, sweetie,” James whispered in my ear as he kissed the side of my head. “You did it, and they are beautiful.”
“I can’t believe it,” I whispered as I kissed the top of my daughter’s head.
Talon moved towards me and handed me my son so I could hold them both while Priscilla took care of cleaning me up and draining the water.
“You still have to decide their names, Luna,” she hummed with a smile, and I knew she was right.
For a long time, I considered our children’s names, and while the guys have been helpful in giving suggestions, none were ones I wanted to stick with. I wanted to wait until my children were born to give them their names.
I never understood how you could pick someone’s name before actually laying eyes on them. What if the name you picked no longer matched them?
Staring down at my children, I was quiet as I stared between the two of them. My son was strong already and looked just like his father. Even though they didn’t want to know who the father was, I could tell.
Dark hair and a strong unwillingness to cry, it almost brought tears to my eyes to know and not tell them. They didn’t want to know.
As for my daughter, she was petite and gentle. Nestled into my chest, she suckled gently while her brother slept.
“Pollux and Castor,” I breathed as I stared at them.
Those were my children’s names, and I knew they would live up to them.