Chapter 2: New Life

River

"Push! Just a few more pushes, and he'll be here!"

The sound of his mother's voice coming from inside of the delivery room of the Howling Moon Pack Healing Center helped to calm Alpha River Granite as he waited with his Beta, Allen Stead, who was pacing back and forth along the small hallway outside of the door.

"You can go in, you know," River reminded his friend. "Samantha's your wife. There's nothing in there you haven't seen before."

"Ha!" Allen said, stopping a few feet away with his hands on his hips. "There's plenty in there I haven't seen before. Besides, your mom is doing a great job of keeping Sam calm. If I go in there, I'll just mess it up."

"Allen, she's your wife. She's giving birth to your son." River stood and took the few steps over to his friend. "Get in there!" He opened the door and pushed Allen in at the same time, just as Sam let out a scream of pain.

River stepped away from the door without glancing in, more than happy to let his mother, Patricia, acting Luna, handle this, along with the midwife, Nancy. Those two women were more than qualified to deliver pups. River wouldn't be there at all if the expectant father didn't happen to be his best friend and Beta. This was the sort of responsibility he didn't mind handing over to his mother. When it came to protecting the pack, training, settling land disputes, those sorts of things, he was all over it. But not this. This was the definition of a job for the Luna.

It was too bad he didn't have one. Except for his mother. She was great--but she was ready to pass the duties along, and there simply wasn't anyone to hand it off to.

River's mind automatically went to the alleged curse that had been placed on all of the packs in their territory about twenty years ago, one that said no more strong women would be born of Alpha or Beta until men began to recognize the worth of women. He had no idea if there really was a mage's curse of just bad luck, but so far, not one female had been born in two decades. The only woman who was fit to lead by birthright was Ellie Knight, and she wasn't interested in getting married. She'd made that clear to everyone.

A few minutes after River had forced Allen into the room, a different kind of screaming filled the air, the cries of a newborn baby. A smile came to River's face as he pictured the tiny baby wrapped up in a blanket and laid on the mother's chest. He could imagine Sam, sweaty and out of breath but beaming with love, Allen at her side. He was glad his friend hadn't missed that.Someday, River hoped to have children of his own. But first he had to find a worthy woman, and since that wasn't easily done, he'd put the entire possibility out of his mind, at least for now.

Not long after the baby began to cry, his mother walked out, looking tired but radiating joy.

"It's a boy!" Patricia said, clasping her hands together. "Mama and baby Simpson are both doing well."

River smiled when he realized that Allen had named his son after his later father. Allen had been so close to his dad. It was a horrible tragedy when both Simpson Stead and River's own father, Lake, had been killed in an attack when both boys were young teens. They'd both immediately filled their fathers' shoes, but not a day went by that they didn't talk about the great men who'd been taken too soon.

"Walk with me?" Patricia said, gesturing toward the door that led out of the Healing Center. River was happy to accompany his mother back to her house, especially since it was on the way to his office, where he was headed next.

"You did great in there, Mom. You sure know how to keep the ladies calm." He smiled at her, and his mother's green eyes, nearly the same shade as his own, twinkled. He'd gotten his blond hair from his dad, but his mother's light brown hair wasn't too far from his shade. He had her high cheekbones but the rest of his face was all his dad's. Sculpted jaw, strong nose, determined stare. Almost everyone who knew Lake told River he looked so much like him, which always made him proud.

"Thank you, son," Patricia said, looping her arm through her only child's arm. "I do enjoy serving the women when they are in such difficult, stressful situations. But… as you know… I'm not getting any younger."

"Ah, here it comes," River said, giving a slight chuckle, even though he didn't truly think it was funny. He didn't need his mother to bring up the subject again, especially since the circumstances of the baby being born had been reminder enough for him.

"I'm just saying… it's about time, don't you think? We need to hold a Goddess Moon Ball and find you the Luna you need to help carry on the pack traditions when I'm gone."

"Mother, you know as well as I do that there's simply not a Luna to be had," River reminded her as they passed a pack of pups playing with a ball. They were too busy to notice their leaders walking by as they shouted and kicked the red ball to one another. River smiled, remembering a time when he was so carefree.

"You won't know if you don't try," Patricia reminded him as they reached the small house she kept not far from his own or from the Health Center. She wanted to be ready if anyone needed her, and she always was.

"I'll think about it, Mom," he promised her, not for the first time. River bent to kiss her cheek, and Patricia let out a small sigh of defeat.

"All right," she said. "But if the opportunity presents itself, will you promise me that you will explore it, son? I do believe your wife, your Luna, is out there, waiting for you. And… you're not getting any younger either."

"I'm twenty-six!" he declared.

Patricia shrugged. "I had a three year old when I was your age. I'm just saying."

River shook his head at her and ran a hand through his hair. "If the opportunity presents itself, I will take it," he promised her, not really concerned about that because there couldn't be an opportunity to meet a woman who didn't exist.

"That's all I can ask for," Patricia said with a dreamy sigh before turning around and walking up the steps to her little home.

River laughed at her and shook his head, knowing she would treat Allen's pup like he was her own grandson because she so desperately wanted babies in the family.

River headed to his office to take care of the rest of the day's business, putting thoughts of opportunities to meet Luna's out of his head as he concentrated on the threats of other packs in the area and what he could do to make sure the alliances he had with each of them was as strong as possible. He was lucky to have his mother to handle the Luna business because it took all of his time and effort to handle being the Alpha, and that's what he did best.

He'd given Allen a few days off to stay with his wife and baby, asking one of the Omegas, a younger fellow by the name of Brett, to stand in for him. When he opened his office door, Brett was there, standing near River's desk, his arms folded, a serious expression on his face.

"What's going on?" River asked.

Brett shook his head. "I just heard from the wolves on patrol on our northern border. We have a problem."

River tried not to let his face reveal his emotions, but that wasn't good. The northern border they shared with a pack known as Crying Wolf, and they didn't get that name for being sissies. They were a bunch of howling mad men when they wanted to be. With a deep breath, he walked behind his desk, took a seat, and said, "Tell me everything."