*Isla*
“Where’s Maddox?” I wheeze, my body still trembling from the force of the fall. I’m not hurt, by some miracle destined by the Goddess, but my mind is reeling and chest tightening with panic as the warrior who caught me hurries inside the castle, Ben at our side. “And Poppy? Mystica? Antony–”
“I’m going to find everyone, okay?” Ben pants. I turn my head to look at him, watching as he picks twigs and leaves out of his hair and clothes. No one had caught Ben. He’d fallen on his side in a thicket of roses, which softened his landing, but still, nothing about the last hour had been easy.
All around us, the sound of battle was taking place. The forest had been full of wolves, more than I’d ever seen in my life. And all of this over Maddox choosing me instead of a high-born daughter of one of the Alphas who were supposed to be his allies.
But he has the diamond. If we make it through the night…. If we can just make it through the night….
I wince, pushing back the pain ripping over my belly. Oh, Goddess. Where is he? I don’t want to have this baby without him, especially in the middle of a full blown battle.
Warriors rush around us as Ben pulls open the door to the castle, showering us in golden light.
The thankful gasp that leaves my throat is immediately torn from my mouth, replaced by a shocked cry.
“Oh, my Goddess. Let me down!”
Warriors are laid out in the foyer, maids and servants rushing around to give them aid. Some are resting, but most are very, very hurt.
“We need to get you into bed, Isla, the baby–” Ben says.
“I can help them, please!”
“No!” Ben erupts, taking me from the warrior’s arms before my feet have a chance to touch the floor. He clutches me to his chest, hurrying out of the foyer before I can protest. “Please, Isla. You’re in labor. If anything were to happen to you and the baby–” He pauses, glancing around wildly as people rush past him carrying towels and medical supplies.
My chest tightens at the severe look on my brother’s face. He looks down at me, silently begging me to understand the words he’s struggling to say.
“Please,” he whispers. “You cannot help, not in your state.”
“I need to try. I’ll be okay.”
Ben’s chest trembles with the exhausted, strained breath he takes before relenting and setting me on my feet.
Mystica said labor might take a while–hours, perhaps. I have time. I have to push through the pain to save those I can, with my powers.
“Find Maddox,” I tell Ben, gripping his arm. “Find Poppy, please, Ben.”
“I will.”
“Promise me,” I beg, just as a wave of warriors comes through the front doors, a fresh group of injured and exhausted men, some in their wolf forms. I suck in my breath, letting go of Ben’s arm as I start forward into the fray of activity. I’m filthy, my clothes tarnished and wet, but no one protests when I kneel in front of the first warrior I see who’s bleeding badly from a massive wound to his abdomen.
“Watch her closely, get her into bed the second she finishes up,” Ben says somewhere behind me. A hear a maid's response, her soft-spoken reply drowned out by the pained groans and cries of the injured warriors.
“I need supplies,” I say to a different maid, a young woman who must be new to the castle. Her doe-like eyes meet mine, soft and blue and glassy with terror. “I need rags, bowls, anything to catch–” I blink, tears rolling down my cheeks as I look around the room. I cup my hands under my jaw, catching a few tears.
Will it be enough? How am I supposed to heal them all with just a few tears?
A servant rushes by holding a huge pot of what smells like broth, a metal ladle clanging as he searches for a surface to put it down on. I rise to my feet, clutching the young maid’s shoulder for support as I stand.
“Magic Tear Soup it is,” I say to myself.
“What?” the maid croaks, her brow furrowed in confusion.
* * *
I tear a length of fabric between my shaking hands, sweat coating my brow as a trio of maids holds down a young warrior who had his leg nearly torn from his body. He’d been in his wolf form when it happened, and had been brought to the castle as such, only to shift back while I was trying to force some of the magic soup down his throat.
I’d been fighting him for twenty minutes, but he was incredibly strong, and panicking.
I didn’t recognize the man. He was very young, likely barely past his twenty-first birthday. He didn’t yet know how to fully control his powers, and as the adrenaline ebbed, the pain ripping through his body took hold.
“Do not shift back,” I command frantically, grunting in frustration as I tied tight bandages around his mangled leg. “Do not shift; do you hear me? I know it hurts.”
He’s biting down on his lip so hard it draws blood. I look to one of the maids, silently commanding her to keep him pinned to the ground until I can find other warriors to stand guard over him. He’ll ruin his leg forever if he shifts now, which I know is all he wants to do, possibly to run from the pain and right into the panic terrorizing his fevered mind. Somehow, we manage to calm him enough to get him to swallow the soup, and immediately my tears began to work their magic.
I feel a hand on my shoulder and nearly scream, but Antony squeezes hard as I meet his golden eyes.
“Oh, thank the Goddess,” I cry, shakily rising to my feet and throwing my arms around him. A choked cry escapes my throat as an exhausted looking Poppy throws her arms around the two of us.
“Why aren’t you upstairs?” Antony demands, holding me at arms length.
“I had to help,” I say, but my voice wavers as a contraction begins to build. It’s been an hour since Ben left me in the foyer. He went outside, right back into battle.
I am losing strength, I can feel it. I’ve been moving non stop since I arrived at the castle and my contractions are closer and closer together, gaining in strength.
“You need to stop, Isla, please!” Poppy ropes her arm around my waist, and I practically fall into her arms, exhausted.
“I haven’t seen Mystica anywhere,” I say, pressing my forehead into her shoulder and crying out from the pain. “I’m waiting for her!”
“Take her upstairs, Poppy. I’ll tell Maddox–”
“Maddox is here?” I say, blinking through tears as I look up at Antony.
Antony nods gravely, his eyes focused on my face. “He’s fine.”
“Come on, Isla, please–”
“The warriors,” I say, swallowing thickly as another group of injured warriors are brought into the foyer.
“You’ve helped so many already,” Poppy smiles, patting my cheeks dry of tears. “Everyone is talking about you. Several of the warriors you saved are already back out in battle. That’s how we found out you made it to the castle safely.”
Poppy begins to lead me away from the foyer, but Antony grabs her wrist, his eyes darkening.
“I love you,” she says to him, giving him a weak smile. “Despite you being a pain in the ass.”
“I love you, too, sassy bitch,” he replies, his voice softer than I’d ever heard it before. I look between them, my chest aching as I watch the two mates exchange some silent conversation.
“I’ll come back,” he says, letting go of her wrist.
“I know you will,” she smiles, but tears well in her eyes.
“Poppy,” I whisper, my heart shattering into pieces as she turns her teared gaze to me. “I am so sorry–”
“You have nothing to be sorry for,” she breathes, steadying me as she guides me down the hallway. “Other than running around healing everyone and using up your strength while in labor. You are insane, Isla!”
“I couldn’t let them suffer,” I pant, leaning my head on her shoulder.
She opens the door to Maddox’s room, and my whole body surrenders to the labor I’d been trying to ignore.
Home. I am home. The familiar smell hits me and envelopes me like a blanket.
But Maddox isn’t here, and the room feels empty and cold without him.
“I need to get you into something clean,” Poppy whispers, helping me pull my tarnished and bloodied clothes off my body. “I can run you a bath–”
“I can’t,” I say through tears, my stomach tightening painfully. “I can’t–”
“Okay, shhh…” Poppy gently pulls a nightgown over my head and shoulders, whispering encouragement as she backs me over to bed and helps me between the sheets. “I know nothing about childbirth, Isla. I don’t know what to do–”
“Just stay with me for a moment, until Maddox gets here,” I beg, clutching her hand. “Tell me what is happening out there. I couldn’t tell–there were so many rumors in the foyer–”
“Maddox led our small forces right into battle,” she says as she runs her fingers through my hair, the strands damp with sweat. “He barreled right in, didn’t hesitate. When Antony and I reached the castle, Maddox and Commander Vember had started to push the enemy forces away from the castle grounds. We waited in the woods until a path to the gate was clear.”
She reaches into her pocket and pulls out a shred of blood stained fabric, placing it in my hands. The fabric falls away and reveals that Diamond of Faith, the stone warm to the touch.
“He told me to give it to you,” she says with a pained smile. “To keep safe until he can come for you. He promised that he would, Isla. He’ll be here.”
“This is not how I wanted our son to be born,” I whimper, clutching the diamond in my palm. “So many people are hurt, Poppy. I am the cause–”
“You are not the cause,” she protests, taking my face between her hands and lowering her head so the tips of our noses are touching. “This war is over power, Isla. These Alphas would be fighting with each other instead of against Maddox if he’d chosen one of their daughters as his Luna, don’t you see? They all hate each other, but now they have a common enemy, one who they underestimated.”
I close my eyes, bringing my knees up to my belly as an earth-bending contraction rips through my body and up my spine.
‘Maddox,’ I say through the mind link, pulling on that tethered thread between us, ‘I can’t hold on much longer.’
‘I’m coming,’ he says to me, his words like a gentle caress. ‘You’re strong, Isla. Be strong for me, be strong for him, our son.’
I whimper, clutching Poppy’s hand.
“Try to rest,” she pleads. “Try to sleep. I know it’s impossible but… you have to try. You’ve done enough. I will go see if anyone needs help and send a few maids up here to stay with you. I will send Maddox straight here when he arrives.”
“Have you seen Seth, or Trinity?” I ask, but Poppy shakes her head. “The tunnels… if the enemy finds a way to get inside–”
“We ran into Ben on our way into the castle. He had guards posted at the mine shaft, and every other known entrance outside the perimeter of the castle. We’re safe here, I promise. They won’t get inside.”
I swallow, doing my best to nod.
“Rest,” she says, running her fingers through my hair.
I close my eyes, tears rolling from my lashes and onto the pillow beneath my head. The world shifts, the room around me going dark as hours of labor, both of childbirth and tending to the wounded, settles into my bones.
Sleep overtakes me, and when I wake, I know it’s time to meet my son.