The Secret

LORELAI

My scream pierced the walls of the mansion as the contractions came back with a fierceness I wasn’t ready for.

I clutched to the magic so tightly inside me, my will over it keeping it helping me, but it wasn’t enough to beat Mother Nature.

“Sweetie, you need to call the alphas back,” Mom whispered, placing a wet cloth over my face, dabbing and wiping away the sweat, but I shook my head, breathing hard.

“No, I can’t. She’s still there. She’s still taking the magic.”

“That’s not important right now. She will be doing that whether they are here with you or not, and I’m afraid the herbs have done what they can. You need the alphas,” she said.

I winced, curling into her, groaning into her as she held and rocked me. I didn’t want to fail, I didn’t want them to leave early and have it ruin everything, but I needed them to be with me.

Could I be that selfish? Ask them to abandon a psychotic witch to take the border down just because I didn’t want to birth without them?

Cain knocked and came in the room then, his eyes glancing toward me. They went wide as Beenie avoided watching me at all.

“Vaughn is healed enough, we’ll go take over at the border,” Cain said sternly, and I frowned.

“You can stop her?” I asked, and he shrugged.

“We’re going to try. She won’t expect my magic, and I think I can get her away from the border long enough to get you through this,” he said.

I closed my eyes, opening the link long enough to feel my alphas. I didn’t want to distract them with the pain ricocheting through my stomach, but I had to call them back.

As soon as the link was open, I felt the chaos. The border was halfway down. Adrenna had her claws in it, using her black sand to fight back every single attack.

The alphas were attacking, ripping her from the border just for her to float back to it. I felt her claws in the border like they were in me and cried out, her magic tainting the stuff in me.

~“Come back,”~ I said in the link, my head voice just as breathy and strained.

Brax’s shadows stopped fighting, and he stared at the other two. “We leave and that border comes down,” he said.

“It’s coming down whether you are here or not, Alphas. Go and enjoy the last few moments of peace I will grant you. I want you to know true happiness before I rip it from you.” Adrenna chuckled, and I shuddered.

~“Cain and Beenie are coming to cover the pack,”~ I said, tears falling as the ache came again, and I knew it was going to get worse.

It did, tightening and tightening until I had to block them out again to get through it.

Cain grabbed my hand then. I clutched it and peered up at him.

“She may be able to manipulate that border magic, Luna, but remember that you can too. It’s about will and who can convince it to do theirs.

“Just because she is trying to siphon it doesn’t mean it will stay with her. Pull on your side, don’t just hold what you’ve got. Take more, take as much as you need.

“It knows you and your intentions. You have the advantage, and the balance will listen,” he said.

I felt my magic, that glowing purple border magic that felt heavy inside me, and touched it with my shadows.

I didn’t fight it, I caressed it. It molded to me. I sucked in a breath and looked up at Cain.

He nodded once. “We’ll do what we can. Good luck, Luna,” he said, then kissed my forehead and left the room with Beenie.

Vaughn came in then, carrying more water and herbs that Mom had sent Ryleigh to get. He looked tired but healed, and my chest lightened.

“Vaughn,” I breathed, and he nodded.

“I’m sorry I let her take me. I had no idea that magic could exist,” he murmured, and I shook my head.

“No, it’s not your fault, it’s hers.”

“All the same, I am going to make it up to you all. I’m heading to the border with Cain and Beenie,” he said. “I’ll fight for the wolves.”

“No, I just got you back!” Ryleigh cried, grabbing his arm, but he smiled, kissing her tenderly before holding her cheek.

“I must fix what I broke. I’ll come back, I promise,” he said, and Ryleigh’s tears fell, but she just nodded.

I wanted to argue, to say that he didn’t have to prove anything, but he was already running off after Cain. And another pain was piercing me.

I clenched my jaw and my eyes shut, leaning into Mom until it passed, then felt my magic again. It was more agreeable now, my shadows less hostile. Like just thinking of it as less poisonous was all it needed.

Maybe it did.

I wrapped my shadows around the magic inside me and tugged it like a rope, gasping when more of it filled me. My eyes flung open, and Galen rushed over. He knelt down by the bed.

“Your eyes are glowing, Luna.”

He smirked, and I saw the purple reflection in his eyes. I smiled and pulled harder. More magic came with it. And with it, the pain lessened.

I opened the link and found my alphas. They were running.

~“You okay, mate?”~ Kai asked, and I smiled, pushing some of the magic through him.

He laughed. ~“That’s my little human,”~ he said, the pride in him warming me.

~“We’re on our way, beautiful. Concentrate on that magic, she’ll feel you taking it soon,”~ Derik said, and I nodded, slowing down the amount I was pulling in at my end.

~“If I am taking from it and she is taking from it, won’t it run out? The border will come down?”~ I asked, and all of my alphas were silent.

~“Not necessarily. Your will is to keep the border. It will keep the magic in the border strong against her siphon, especially while it is answering to you. She will feel resistance the more she takes, and she’ll get nasty, Spitfire. Be careful,”~ Brax warned.

I swallowed. ~“Run fast,”~ I said, locking them out as my stomach tightened again, the pain still harsh as I curled in and pulled at my magic, trying to help dull it.

I knew it was almost time. There was too much pressure there, too much ache.

I wanted to push, but I had to hold back, and since my body was letting me forget it for a few seconds at a time, I fell back into the magic, whispering to it like it did to me.

I told it to keep the border up, to filter through me and back into the border, and it was.

Until Adrenna found me in the magic. I heard her piercing scream in my ear and gasped, holding my head as it screeched through my brain.

“Lorelai?” Mom asked, holding me tighter against her.

“Adrenna caught her taking the magic,” Galen whispered, putting a drink to my lips.

I trusted him enough to take a sip. It was minty and cold, but when I swallowed it down, it made my head clear. I nodded in thanks, not trusting my voice.

The wind outside picked up, the door slamming against the wall as it swung.

Ryleigh rushed to shut and lock it up as I went deep inside me, gripping my magic and pulling it away from Adrenna, who was feral on the other end.

She was strong, gripping it just as hard. I wrestled her like a tug-of-war, the pressure on my body making the pain so damn strong.

Tears rolled down my cheeks as I arched off the bed, and the urge to push grew strong, making my legs shake.

“Sweetie, you’ve got to have this baby now,” Mom said, but her voice was far away.

I shook my head. “No, I have to wait for my alphas. I have to hold on,” I bit, curling back into a fetal position, sweat and tears mixing on the bed linen.

My white dress was soaked, clinging to my body as I fought Adrenna’s will. The magic was at a stalemate, half stuck in me, half in her. But I wasn’t letting go, and neither was she.

And then my alphas were there, close enough, and Brax’s shadows were pushing inside me, caressing my body, helping me grip the magic.

I cried out and yanked the magic. She released for a second, the surprise in my extra strength catching her off guard enough for me to take a breather.

My alphas burst in the room and they came to me, kissing and touching until I was pulling enough magic in that Adrenna finally released her claws from the barrier.

“I have to push!” I screamed out as the pressure came to an intense peak in my body.

I kept my eyes closed as the others organized themselves around me.

Brax leaned behind me, pulling me up on him, Derik at one leg, Kai at the other, both of them holding my hands as Brax pressed the wet cloth to my head.

Mom came over and had me sip some herbs. The pain lessened slightly, but it wasn’t the pain that had me crushing my alphas’ hands, arching off Brax, it was the pressure.

I pushed, I couldn’t help it, screaming as the pain that came with it tore through my body.

“Take deep breaths, Lorelai. Fall back on the magic and your shadows, they’re going to help,” Galen said.

“I’m trying!” I snapped, and he nodded, eyeing my alphas, who looked between one another with that look that I knew meant I was missing something.

“Spitfire, you’ve got to calm down. Your heart is racing,” Brax whispered against my ear, his shadows caressing inside my body, rolling over the ache and pressure.

I closed my eyes and leaned against him, waiting for the next push. “I can’t help it,” I breathed.

“You have to, beautiful. Stress the little guy out and he’s going to think he needs to shift.

“That extra magic you’re taking on is making him stronger than your body,” Derik explained in a patronizing way that I knew was because I was a little testy, but the pain was unbearable.

I shook all over, the pressure coming back, and I pushed again. And again.

I tried to keep my heart as steady as I could, but it was one of the hardest things I’d ever had to do.

I couldn’t breathe; my chest was tight. My alphas’ strength was feeding mine, but it was waning, my body was too, and I was pretty sure I was going to die.

I had pushed all of my energy through my veins and I was running on empty.

So many cold cloths, herbs, and minutes later and my body still hadn’t done what it needed to.

“I can’t,” I whimpered, and Kai clutched my hand tighter.

“You’re a fucking winter born, Little Human. Maybe a human couldn’t do this, but you’re not human, are you?”

He eyed me, challenging me with that smirk that made me addicted to him. I narrowed my eyes on him, but I felt the spark of life he pushed through me and used it to get through the next contraction.

Galen monitored me, but he was starting to whisper with my mother, frowns on their faces.

I was about to call them out on it, determined to push until my body broke just to get this baby out, but then I felt her.

Adrenna’s claws latched into the border magic and yanked. I cried out and lurched forward, the control slipping. I fumbled for it and grabbed it before it left my body, yanking it back.

“She’s back,” I breathed, my hands clenching in my alphas’.

“She knows you’re close, that means she thinks you’re weak, Spitfire. Show her that you’re not,” Brax said against me, and I clenched my eyes shut, yanking hard on the magic, pulling it back to me as she fought me.

The urge to push consumed me, but I was pulling the magic at the same time.

“Push, Lorelai, you need to keep going,” Galen urged, and I did, I pushed like my life depended on it, because it did.

I screamed as the pressure filled my body and mind, my shadows and existence stretched so damn thin between the birth and the mental fight I was having with magic.

“You’re not going to win!” I screamed, hauling as much magic with me as I could as a feral urge tore my body apart and I was pushing, burning, pushing, aching, and crying, my son falling from my body.

Derik caught him just as the tension in my head grew so tight, it snapped. I pinged back onto Brax as Adrenna was launched back from the border.

A purple pulse expelled from my body, rolling through everyone and over everything. My eyes shot open, facing my alphas.

“The border broke. It’s gone,” I whispered just as our son started crying.

I held my arms out for him, and Derik handed him over. He was slippery, but I laid him down on my chest and he went quiet, suckling at it, his little eyes scrunched shut.

I smiled. The stress of the magic, the border, the witches, the vampires, everything that had been taking over my life disappeared. His smile took it all and turned it into nothing.

So little and innocent; he was perfect.

“He’s beautiful,” Derik whispered, and I nodded, touching his little nose, playing with his fingers as he snuggled into me.

Kai leaned down and kissed the top of his head. “Like his mom,” he said, winking before kissing my forehead.

Warmth filled me, and I nodded to Galen, who came forward with Mom. She placed a warm knitted blanket on him.

“This is from the women from our village. They each knitted a square for him,” she said, and I smiled, looking at all the squares that made up our village and the Grasslands.

“I need to check you, Lorelai, make sure he didn’t do any other damage on the way out,” Galen said, his eyes softer than I had seen them as they looked at my baby.

I nodded, and Brax helped me sit up against him. He kissed my cheek, his finger running across the baby’s cheek too. As soon as it did, our son’s eyes flicked open.

I gasped, my grasp tightening. They were white.

“Brax,” I whispered, and he froze, seeing what I was seeing.

“What’s wrong?” Derik asked.

“His eyes. They’re white.”

“Winter born,” Galen said, coming to see them. He nodded. “As I recall, Brax’s were the same when he was sent to me all those years ago.”

He smirked, and I looked over my shoulder to Brax. He was looking at our son like he was going to bite him, but instead, the baby grabbed Brax’s finger, his reflexes holding it.

I had settled in with the idea that I wouldn’t know who our son belonged to biologically, that it didn’t matter, and I think so had my alphas, but it was obvious now.

Maybe it wasn’t just the link that had given us the option, maybe it was our shadows. I wasn’t sure, but I did know I was happy.

“He’s mine?” Brax asked, his voice tight with emotion.

I nodded. “I think so,” I said, wincing as pain curled inside my stomach again. I sucked in a breath as our son started crying.

“Lorelai?” Galen asked, and I swallowed hard as more pain climbed through me.

“I’ll take him,” Kai said, and I handed the baby over, squirming and crying as my own tears pierced me.

I clutched Brax’s hand and Derik’s, my body aching, my thighs shaking.

“It hurts.” I grimaced, the pressure in my stomach making me panic.

“Maybe she’s turning?” Derik asked Galen, but he was frowning as he moved between my legs.

“No, we would sense it. And her eyes would turn first,” he murmured.

I tried to hold back the scream as the pressure built. I pushed against it.

“We’re not done here,” Galen whispered, and I sucked in a breath as everyone froze.

“Ryleigh, more blankets,” Mom urged, and she nodded, rushing from the room.

“What? No. I am done,” I said, reaching inside me, checking my shadows. I found them still settled around my stomach with magic.

“I still have magic.” I frowned.

“Whatever you had when the border broke will stay with you. Same for Adrenna,” Kai said, tense and watching Galen.

I couldn’t see what he was doing, but I was still in pain, and I pushed against it again.

“But the pack?” I asked, arching as another contraction tortured me.

“We’ve called them back,” Kai bit, and I opened my eyes to the regret in his.

“They couldn’t defeat her?”

Derik shook his head. “Not once the border broke. She got a boost to her magic too, and the vampires will be crossing soon. Whenever they want from now on.

“I’m sure Silas will give it a bit though. He’ll want the dramatic effect.”

“And what about my brother, where is he?” I demanded, tensing, breathing through another contraction before it became too much and I screamed out again, pushing like it wasn’t freaking me the hell out that I still felt the need to.

Galen looked just as concerned.

“He was fighting with us at the border,” Brax said from behind me. “As much as I hate what he is, he was helping.”

He shook his head, his son still crying, like the more pain I had, he was directly affected.

“Brax, go to him,” I breathed, pushing again.

He helped me through it, rubbing my back before sliding out from behind me. He stood up and went to Kai, taking his son and holding him against his chest.

He hiccuped against Brax, his cries turning to whispers.

“He has shadows,” Brax breathed, his eyes wide, sinking into a seat.

I wanted to answer, to tell him that it was okay, but I couldn’t. I fell back on the pillows, my body forcing me into pushing again, pain and pressure making sure my voice was only used to scream.

Kai and Derik stood on either side of my legs, helping me, holding me.

“I don’t know how it’s possible that none of us sensed this or heard the heartbeat, but this is not the placenta like I was worried about, Lorelai.

“You’re going to have another baby. Are you ready?” Galen asked, and I scoffed, tears rolling down my cheeks.

“Does it matter?”

He smirked and shook his head as my mom knelt down next to me, using her damp cloth to wipe away my tears and sweat as I gave everything I had to the secret baby I never knew existed.