The first cry shattered the quiet. I froze, my heart pounding, and my palms slick with sweat. Then came the second wail, higher, lighter, and it pulled something deep out of me. Something raw and wild and new.
“They’re here,” Nana Lolita whispered behind her mask, tears shimmering in her eyes.
I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t move, only breathe, and listen. Reule’s hand found mine, trembling just slightly. I glanced up at him, stunned to find tears streaking his cheeks. The Alpha, the feared, the relentless, was now crying like a man who had just seen the stars up close for the first time.
“We have two healthy pups,” the healer announced.
“A boy and a girl.”
The air in the room shifted. Reule let out a strangled sound. I laughed, sobbing, broken, and elated.
The healer brought them to us one by one, swaddled in soft cream blankets. I held our daughter first. She had a full head of thick, dark hair and Reule’s tiny frown.
“She’s judging the world already,” I whispered.
“She’s you,” Reule
