جميع فصول : الفصل -الفصل 287

BENJAMIN'S POVThe baby was coming.At least that was the first thought that hit me the second Alice stopped talking in the middle of her sentence.She had been telling me why Lucian's drawing needed a second moon when her fingers suddenly closed tight around the edge of the kitchen table. The color left her face. She took a careful breath in through her nose, like she was trying not to make any noise.I was next to her before I even finished asking the question. "What is it?""Nothing. Just a tightening." She rubbed the curve of her belly. "It's happened a few times today. Benjamin, don't look at me like that.""A few times? What do you mean? Are you in pain?" My wolf started pacing hard under my skin."Not exactly." She pressed her hand against her lower back. "It's starting to ease up. Morwen said to call her if they got regular or if they got painful.""Then we're calling her from the clinic. Get the hospital bag. Right now."I ran up the stairs two at a time, yanked open the ward

BENJAMIN'S POVI held our daughter carefully, the same way I would hold anything that mattered more than my own life. Morwen had wrapped her in a soft white blanket, and she looked small and pink with her face all scrunched up like she was already complaining. One dark piece of hair lay flat on her head. I have stood in front of armed rogues without feeling fear, but when this tiny girl looked at me, every word I had planned to say just left my mind."Benjamin?" Morwen asked while she checked the monitor next to Alice's bed. "How are you doing?""I don't know," I said. "I thought I would know what to say. I spent months thinking about this moment and planning every single thing I wanted to tell her the first time she looked at me. Now she is looking at me and I cannot remember any of it."I swallowed slowly because I was afraid even that small movement might bother her. Her little hand still held onto my finger with a grip that felt too strong for someone so small, and my chest felt t

ALICE'S POVLuna Kane had one important mission for her first birthday.Destroy the cake.She'd spent the whole morning trying to eat the decorations. She sat in Benjamin's arms, glaring at the pink-and-white cake like a wolf about to hunt."Don't let her near it until everyone's here," I warned. "She's your daughter, so distract her."Benjamin eyed her fingers, already stretching toward the frosting. "I think she's picked her target. What am I supposed to distract her with?""Your face usually works."He drew back, offended. "You wound me, Alice.""Good. You'll survive."He leaned over and kissed me, catching the corner of my lips just as I tried to dodge. Luna protested at once, slapping his chest with her little palm, then grabbing his nose. I gripped the counter to stay upright. She had an opinion about everything and no respect for anybody's personal space."Happy birthday, little wolf," I whispered, kissing her soft cheek. "A year ago, I was lying in a clinic bed watching your d