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8

• here!" Ander didn't open the front door so much as he smashed it open and tumbled inside like a lunatic.

Rufio and Hezzi were already there. Hezzi was pacing up and down in front of the fireplace, and Rufio was relaxing by the open window, contentedly puffing away on a brand new calabash pipe and blowing the smoke outside. He turned his head at Ander's unceremonious entry and tipped his pipe in his direction. "Hey there, my boy. Didn't expect to see you till morning."

"Where's -" That word had no sooner left Ander's mouth than he got his answer in the form of a bloodcurdling shriek from the downstairs bedroom.

The one they've been turning into a nursery.

"Oh gods, Mother! It feels like I'm pushing a watermelon out of me!"

"You won't even manage a cantaloupe with that attitude! Now shut up, grit your teeth, and push!"

"Oh gods! Forget the watermelon! It's a freaking house! It's a house inside of me!"

"If you've got enough energy to talk such nonsense, how about you use that energy to push instead!?"

Ander couldn't believe it. He fully expected the birth to be over by now, but... "H-How long has she...?"

"Hmm..." Rufio contemplated the question, rubbing his chin and puffing away on his pipe. "Maybe 'bout... fourteen hours or so?"

Fourteen hours. Those two words were like the swish and thud of a coffin lid slamming shut in Ander's mind. He simply couldn't comprehend how anyone could go through something like childbirth for fourteen hours straight and come out of it unscathed.

Or at all...

He made for the door at the end of the room, but it didn't feel like he was walking in real life. It felt more like he was walking in a dream, and that door would never come closer, no matter how fast he walked. It was all just an illusion. It wasn't really there. This couldn't really be happening. This was all just some weird kind of fantasy. This stuff happened to other Wolves, not him. To even think he was actually here, moving through a house on top of a hill towards a door that would open up to his mate giving birth to his child was so preposterous he couldn't even -

He was there. In front of the door. A slab of wood. Attached to the wall by hinges. It had a doorknob. It was real.

Ander reached for it, still feeling like he was having the weirdest dream of his life.

"Yes, a house, Mother! A three storey house with four bedrooms and a wine cellar! Oh gods!"

Rufio took him by the shoulder, gently but firmly. "I wouldn't go in there if I were you." Thick plumes of bluish smoke rose from the bowl of his pipe and bent around his face. "Childbirth can be messy even under the best of circumstances. Believe me, I know."

Another bloodcurdling scream filled the house, piercing walls and shredding eardrums. It made every hair on Ander's body stand on end. "I have to! She needs me!" He shrugged off Rufio's grip and grabbed the doorknob, fighting through all the terrible visions and thoughts trying to force their way into his mind, all the flashes of blood, pain, and death, of screams in the night, of rain pouring down in the dark, of shadows moving through the trees, gaining, gaining...

He wouldn't allow any of those things to happen to her. It didn't matter that he was completely powerless, he had to do something, even if it only meant being there.

Ander twisted the knob, just as desperate to open this door in the real world as he was to slam shut the imaginary one in his head. But he had barely begun to push when he was met with sudden resistance. "What?" He pushed a little harder, opening the door just a crack, and Layla's face suddenly appeared like a ghost straight out of a horror story, a deep frown wrinkling her brow and an alarming drop of blood on her cheek.

"No menfolk!" she yelled. "You wait outside!" And before Ander even knew what was happening, she slammed the door in his face, leaving him standing there like a naughty child while Kiana screamed bloody murder just on the other side.

"What the hell?" He reached for the doorknob again, but just as his fingers curled around it, he heard the unmistakable click of a latch sliding home.

Ander took a step back, incredulous. "What!?" He jiggled the knob anyway, but sure enough, it was locked. "What was the point of even calling me back here!? Hey! Layla!" He pounded the door with his fist. "Open up right now, or I swear I'll break it down! You know I will!"

"Is that Ander out there!?" Kiana's voice was haggard and worn, broken up by many gasps for breath.

"Yes! It's me!" Ander shouted and pressed his ear up against the door. He could hear someone whispering something in hushed, soothing tones, and then -

"I don't care! I want to see him! You open that damn door right now, Layla!"

"You keep that door shut, Layla!" Bethany followed up.

"I want to see Ander right NOOOOOOOOWWW!!" Kiana shrieked with the voice of a thousand demons. Ander had to jerk his head away from the door to keep from going deaf. Even Hezzi, who was standing all the way at the other end of the room, covered his ears with a grimace.

"Oh, fer- Fine! Layla! Open the door, but don't let him in! You got that?"

"Yes, Mother."

Ander stood back. The latch clicked and the door opened just wide enough for Layla to stick her head outside. "Sorry, Ander," she said, "but due to certain... 'developments', I'm afraid I can't let you in just yet. Mother is very adamant about that."

"Ander!" Kiana screamed. "Ander! Aaah, gods! Ander! Where the hell are you!?"

"Let me by!" Ander demanded, but Layla only shook her head, refusing to budge an inch.

"I'm afraid my sister is in no mood for visitors right now."

"Yes I am! You shut your fat whore mouth, bitch!"

"As you can plainly see."

"But she just said -" Ander moved his head left and right and up and down, trying every conceivable angle in order to get a look at his wife through the crack in the door.

She was lying on the bed, drenched in sweat, breathing hard and heavy. Her pregnant belly pushed up against the sheets like a great white hill, moving up and down in a rapid tempo. Bethany hovered over her with a wet rag in her hands and occasionally dabbed her forehead with it, whispering instructions and encouragement.

Kiana saw him and she sat up a little higher, pushing herself up against the pillows with great effort. "Ander!"

"Kiana!"

He started towards her, oblivious of Layla's efforts to push him back outside. She lay into him with all her weight and dug her heels in, but succeeded only in sliding along the polished wooden floors and making tiny squeaking noises with her shoes.

And that's when things got a little weird.

Instead of brightening, Kiana's face darkened, as if a storm cloud had somehow found its way inside their home. Her eyes narrowed beneath a heavily furrowed brow, her lips peeled back into a fearsome snarl, and a low growl - yes, an actual growl- rumbled up from deep inside her throat, loud enough to freeze him dead in his tracks.

"Um... Kiana?" he asked sheepishly. "Are you... feeling all right?"

Bethany rolled her eyes at the ceiling as if to say here we go, and at the same time Kiana let loose another of those demonic shrieks. "YOU DID THIS TO ME!!"

Before Ander could respond, she snatched the wet rag out of her mother's hands and threw it at him! Layla, being a veteran of many a pillow fight with her sister, ducked out of the way immediately, but it never even occurred to Ander that he was suddenly in a situation that required evasive manoeuvres of any kind, and it hit his face with a wet smack, completely obscuring his vision. His ears were still fine, though, and he could hear every scathing insult and remark clear as a bell.

"YOU BASTARD!! YOU PUT THIS THING INSIDE ME!! IT'S ALL YOUR FAULT IT'S SPLITTING ME APART, YOU GIGANTIC WOLVEN PIECE OF HORSE CRAP!!"

Ander slowly pulled the rag off his face, almost too scared to take even the smallest peek at whatever the hell his mate was turning into.

Back in the living room, Rufio was still puffing on his pipe and blowing the smoke out the window. "I warned you," he twittered. "But would you listen? Nooooope. You knew better, didn't you? Nobody ever listens to poor Rufio..."

"Um... Kiana?" Ander ventured. "Maybe, if it's not too much to ask, do you think you could possibly calm down a little?"

"Calm down? CALM DOWN!?" Her eyes were so wide with fury he could see the whites all the way around. "YOU TRY PUSHING A MOUNTAIN OUT OF YOURSELF AND THEN TELL ME TO 'CALM DOWN', YOU ASS!!" She grabbed a candle off the bedside table and hurled it at his head, holder and all. This time he managed to duck out of the way just in time and it shattered against the doorframe, showering his back with a hundred chunks of broken wax. The holder rolled along the floor for a while and then tipped over with a sad little clunk.

"What the hell, Kiana!?" Ander said, shielding himself as best he could against the sudden barrage of items flying at his face with varying degrees lethality. A small vase hit the wall to his left in an explosion of water and freshly picked begonias.

"HOW'S THIS FOR CALM, HUH!?" She reached for her mother's medical equipment, but luckily for Ander, all the knives and other wickedly sharp instruments clattered to the floor as she pulled back, so the only thing that actually went sailing through the air was the tray they had rested upon, which struck him right in the shoulder with a hollow clang.

"You just had to come in here," Bethany said, shaking her head and clicking her tongue. "Just had to witness the miracle of childbirth in all its glory, didn't you?"

"Well how was I supposed to know she'd react like this!?"

"WHAT ABOUT THIS!? CALM ENOUGH FOR YOU!?" She pulled open the little drawer built into the bedside table, reached in with both hands, and started pulling out random knickknacks and throwing them without even checking to see what they were.

"Kiana, you - Ow! You can't - Ow! This can't be good for you or the - Ow! The baby! Ow!" Ander couldn't do much other than turn his head and cover his face as he was pelted with all manner of half-finished carvings. An owl that still only had one wing. A squirrel with an unworked lump of wood for a tail. A mouse nibbling on something that might one day take on the shape of a piece of cheese. "Ow! Bethany, do something!"

Bethany leaned back and crossed her arms. "For your information, I have been doing this since before you were born. I know exactly how to handle this kind of situation."

"OR HOW ABOUT THIS!?"

The victim this time was an innocent little oakwood tortoise with a honeycomb shell, barely a week old. It bounced off the wall and went skidding across the floor, its legs straight up in the air.

"When dealing with a hysterical vixen in labour," Bethany said, speaking calmly despite the raging storm her daughter had turned into, "the best thing you can do is wait until she runs out of steam. Or ammunition, in this case."

Kiana pawed blindly for more stuff to throw, but the drawer was empty.

"See?" Bethany smiled knowingly. "Nothing to worry about."

And that was when Kiana pulled the whole drawer loose and lifted it above her head, panting and heaving and shooting sparks from her eyes.

"I SHOULD HAVE LET MATEO SHOOT YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH!!"

"Oh!" Bethany jumped up and tried to grab the drawer, but it was already too late for that. Kiana hurled it with all the strength she could muster, which, as it turned out, was quite a lot. Ander barely managed to jump out of the way in time and the drawer went sailing through the open door and smashed to pieces right in the middle of the living room floor.

Hezzi jumped about a foot in the air and came back down with his fists up and his tail tucked between his legs. "What the hell was that!?"

Rufio leaned in past the doorframe, but only far enough for the tip of his muzzle to enter the line of fire. "If ever there was a time to flee for your life, son, now would be it."

Ander would have done just that, would have done it gladly, but he had to look back one last time, and that changed everything.

Kiana wasn't so much sitting up against the headboard as she was partially collapsed against it. Her head was tilted back at an uncomfortable angle, exposing the white of her throat, and every time she swallowed, Ander saw the delicate shadows of the muscles moving up and down. Her hair was plastered to her forehead. Her legs were tangled up in a mess of pillows and sheets. She struggled for every breath, gasping and moaning and gritting her teeth. The smell coming off of her permeated the room. It was the smell of sweat, blood, and unbearable pain. And one other thing... something Ander had never smelled before.

It was the scent of their child about to be born.

Ander curled his fingers around the doorknob and began to pull it shut. "Sorry, Rufio, but I'm needed here."

Rufio nodded. "I figured you'd say something like that. Good luck, son."

Ander nodded back, but just as he was about to close it completely, Rufio stuck his foot between the door and the jamb.

"Just one last word of advice," he said, peeking in through the crack. "No matter how bad it gets, no matter how hard she screams, no matter how much she begs, do not, I repeat, do not take her by the -"

"Eeeeerraaaah!!" Kiana screamed, drowning out the last bit of his advice.

"I'm sorry, Rufio! I have to go!" Ander said.

"But if you -"

Ander closed the door the rest of the way, thinning the crack until Rufio's oddly desperate-looking eye vanished completely, leaving only a swirl of pipe smoke behind.

Ander turned around to find Layla and Bethany untangling the sheets around Kiana's legs and tossing some of the extraneous pillows into a corner. Kiana, meanwhile, was slowly whipping her head from side to side as if in absolute denial of this whole sordid mess. The tendons in her neck stood out like cords, and her claws kept scratching at everything within reach; the mattress, the sheets, the headboard, the bedposts.

Her watery eyes suddenly landed on him and her lips began to tremble, stuck halfway between a vicious snarl and a barely restrained sob. "Get over here, you gigantic idiot, so I can punch you in your big dumb stupid face!"

Ander went to her. He got down on one knee. He touched her face. She was burning hot.

"Ander..." she moaned. "I don't think I can do this. I don't think I can do this!"

"Yes, you can. I know you can." He kissed her on the forehead, feeling the heat radiating off her like a stove, and ran his hand through her hair.

Evidently not satisfied with that, Kiana pulled his face down so she could kiss him on the lips. It was a kiss unlike any he had experienced before, a kiss of desperate hunger and wanting, and Ander marvelled at the fact that he could love her so much, more and more every day, and not drop dead from the sheer force of it.

"I love you," she whispered. "I'm sorry I called you a son of a bitch and an ass and an idiot and a piece of horse crap... I'm sorry I threw all those things at you... I'm sorry..."

"It's okay, I know you didn't mean it. I love you, too."

"Aww..." Layla clapped her fingertips together in a gesture she reserved for only the cutest of displays of affection. Bethany, on the other hand, rolled her eyes so hard Ander feared they might unscrew themselves and roll right out of their sockets.

"If you two are quite done," she huffed, "we've got a baby to deliver!"

"No!" Kiana said, clutching Ander's face to her chest like a child clutching at a favourite toy. "I am not 'quite done'! I am far from 'quite done'! No delivering just yet! Not yet!"

"I'm sorry, Kiana, but you have no say in the matter. Your babe is coming whether you're ready or not, and..." she lifted the sheets and checked the situation, "... pretty soon at that."

"Oh, gods..." Kiana released him and fell back against the headboard, making it smack against the wall. "Oh gods oh gods oh gods!!"

"What do I do?" Ander asked, caressing Kiana's head and looking around the room, thinking back on Sarah's story and how shocked she had been to learn just how little was actually required for a birth. There was a barf bucket next to Kiana's head, a second bucket filled with cold water and floating rags on the floor, a rather disturbing set of forceps, and a thick leather belt already covered in teeth marks.

"Do?" Bethany repeated. "So you're really going to sit in on this, are you?"

"Yes."

"You do realise things are going to get very, very messy, right?"

"Yes."

"And that Kiana is going to hurl the foulest curses at you? Curses so filthy and vulgar you never would have guessed she even knew such language?"

"I know."

"And threaten you with various types of bodily harm?"

"That's okay."

"And possibly try to throttle you if you come too close?"

"That's perfectly- wait, what?"

"And bite your face?"

"Um..."

"And punch you right in the spot that caused her all this pain in the first place? It happens more often than you'd think."

"Oooh, er..." Ander suddenly found himself wishing he pad paid more attention to whatever Rufio had tried to tell him. "Yes. I'm good with all of that."

"Then you can stay. But!" Bethany brandished a cautionary finger at him. "You do exactly_as I say, _when I say, without any backtalk."

"Yes, I understand," Ander nodded his agreement. "What do I need to do?"

"For now, you just stay right there, out of my way, and try your best to keep Kiana calm. I don't care how you do it, just as long as you do it. Got that?"

"Yes, you can count on me." Ander took Kiana by the hand and kissed it, feeling the frantic beating of her heart pounding through her wrist and against his fingers, near to bursting with a kind of power that must be the sole domain of young women about to become mothers for the very first time, a primal power that radiated outwards in every direction. She looked up at him, smiling gratefully. It was the first real smile he had seen from her since stepping into this room, and suddenly the screaming demon from hell was gone. This was just Kiana, the vixen he married, his mate, his love. "You don't have to worry about anything. I'm right here." He gave her boiling hand a little pat for emphasis. "Right here."

"Thank you," she whispered. "Thank you so much, Ander."

He placed his other hand on top of hers, completely encasing it, letting her know through his touch as well as his words that he was there for her, no matter what, and that he would never let go.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Bethany cautioned.

"Huh? Why?"

"Because if she -"

Kiana's eyes suddenly bugged out of their sockets and her mouth opened wide, but instead of screaming her lungs out, she grabbed hold of his hand and began to squeeze.

"Whoops, too late."

"Oh!" Ander said, only surprised at first. Her hand was far too dainty to curl entirely around his palm, so her grip had settled over three of his fingers instead. The pressure was much higher than he would have expected from someone in such a haggard condition, and building steadily. Nothing he couldn't handle, though. He was more concerned about her. It seemed like she had tensed every muscle in her body all at once. Even her ears were standing straight up.

"It's okay, Kiana, I'm right here, it's okay," he crooned, caressing her hair. "Everything is going to beeee -"

Her grip was getting tighter and tighter, smooshing his fingers together into a lopsided triangle that protruded from her shaking fist.

"Um, Kiana... I... Ooohkay... Um... seriously, that's..."

Her lips peeled back, showcasing all her teeth, and the most ungodly sound rumbled up from deep inside of her somewhere; a bizarre fusion between groaning and shrieking. She paused to take a breath, and that's when the pressure around Ander's fingers increased yet again.

"Oooooohkay!" He was starting to become a bit concerned for himself now. He could actually feel the bones in there grinding together, and it was not a pleasant sensation in the least. He tried to wiggle his fingers free, but that only made them look like a trio of worms about to be devoured by a ravenous bird. "Kiana, I know this is tough, but I would really appreciate it if you could aaahhaaa-"

It was beginning to feel like a snapping turtle had chomped down on his digits and wouldn't let go. No, scratch that, it felt more like he had gotten his fingers stuck inside the vice in Rufio's smithy and some cruel torturer was slowly spinning the crank.

No matter how bad it gets, no matter how hard she screams, no matter how much she begs, do not, I repeat, do not take her by the -

Hand?

Kiana let loose an ear-splitting shriek, and that was pretty much it. Any hope of escape shattered into a fine powder after that (exactly the same way Ander imagined his bones must be shattering right now), and he sat down heavily on the floor, biting down on his free hand just to keep himself from screaming even louder than Kiana.

"Okay, this is it!" Bethany said, bending down near the foot of the bed. "Layla, get over here! If you pay close attention you might learn something."

"Yay!" Layla practically skipped over to join her mother. The smile was soon wiped from her face, however, the moment Bethany lifted the sheets above Kiana's knees. "Oh..." She straightened back up again with the most horrified look on her face. "Ohh..." Even her fur was several shades greyer now. Or maybe he was on the verge of passing out, and all the colour was slowly bleeding out of the world.

"How are you holding up there, Ander?"

Ander nodded and gave a thumbs up. He tried for a smile, too, but that proved to be too much.

"You're doing fine. Just keep her calm."

"Okay."

The sheets had formed a type of curtain between Kiana's knees, so Ander could only see the tips of Bethany's ears as she... did whatever it was that needed doing down there. If it was any other birth, Ander would have been fascinated, and eager to learn as much as possible. But the fact that this was Kiana next to him, screaming in pain, made it unthinkable.

And the fact that he was physically incapable of leaving this spot might have been a factor as well.

"Okay, I think it's about to start," Bethany said, much to Kiana's distress.

"'START'!? WHAT DO YOU MEAN 'START', YOU OLD BITCH!?"

Ander knew it was coming, but that didn't help. The pain around his fingers exploded, and there was nothing he could do about it except look anywhere and everywhere in an attempt to find something to distract himself from the white hot explosions firing off inside his knuckles, no matter how small or brief. A knot in one of the floorboards. The crib in the corner he had built with James's help. A fly buzzing near the ceiling. A beam of moonlight flowing in through the open window and shattering into beautiful rainbows against the shards of broken glass that used to be a vase and this wasn't working oh bloody hell this wasn't working at all not even a tiny bit -

Ander gripped his knee and bit on his lip and held Kiana's hand and turned his head this way and that, unable to focus on anything for longer than a moment at a time.

Kiana breathed in quick, harsh gasps and grunts. Her pregnant belly rose and fell, rose and fell. Tears stood out in the corners of her eyes and a thin runner of saliva was rolling down her chin.

Ander wiped it away, wishing there was more he could do for her (other than sacrificing his fingers). He just felt so useless.

"Haaah... haaah... Aaan... der?" she said, struggling to even get his name out between her gasps for air.

"Yes?" Ander leaned closer.

"If anything happens -"

"Nothing is going to happen. Don't even think about that."

"But if something does happen, I just want you to know..."

"Yes?"

"I want you to know that I..." Her face suddenly twisted into something not of this world. Her eyes went feral and her ears fell flat against her skull. "I HATE YOU, YOU SON OF A BITCH!!" she screamed, showering his face in spittle. "GO DIE IN A HOLE!!"

"Okay, it's starting!" Bethany said. "Layla, get me a rag! No, a dry one!"

"I SHOULD HAVE LET YOU HAVE THOSE GODSDAMNED NIGHTMARES!!" Kiana bellowed at the ceiling. "EVERY LAST ONE!! I SHOULD HAVE LET THEM EAT YOU!!" She wasn't just squeezing on his fingers anymore, but actually twisting them back.

"Kiana!" Ander exclaimed in alarm as she began to force him backwards. "Kiana, seriously, I can't bend that way, I - Kiana!" Ander had to contort his entire body like a coil of rope just to keep her from snapping his fingers. His hand was being pulled back towards his shoulder, his arm was being forced back towards the wall and his back was being forced down to the floor.

"You're doing great, Ander," Bethany said without even looking up.

"It sure as hell doesn't feel that way!" Ander screamed, literally bending over backwards while the love of his life spewed the foulest vitriol at him.

"YOU SACK OF FILTH YOU BASTARD YOU PIECE OF CRAP ONE-EYED SON OF A BITCH BALL OF SLIME GIANT WOLF PIECE OF POND SCUM MAKE ME WALK UP AND DOWN THIS GODDAMN HILL EVERY DAY AND THEN YOU BUILD STAIRS!? STAAAAIIIIRS!!?"

The back of Ander's head bumped against the bedside table. He couldn't bend any further! "Kiana! Kianaaah!" His fingers had gone numb, but he was sure that wouldn't be of much help when they snapped like a bunch of twigs. Maybe, if he was lucky, they would break off completely and he would be free of this hell.

"Oooh! Oooh!" Layla jumped up and down and pointed at something over Bethanny's shoulder. "Is that...?"

"Yup, that is most certainly a nose."

Everything changed in that moment. Kiana's screaming stopped. Even the pressure around Ander's fingers disappeared. He sat up straight, hardly daring to believe he had actually heard what he just thought he heard.

"Did you say...?" Ander couldn't even finish the question.

Bethany peeked over the sheets, a hint of a smile touching the corner of her mouth. "Yes. It's a nose. My little grandchild's nose!" There was a shine in her eyes, and Ander realized she was very close to crying. "Ander, get over here! You have to come see this!"

Ander got to his feet, not even feeling the throb in his fingers anymore. He looked to Kiana, and she gave him a nervous little nod, still breathing in quick, heavy bursts.

He moved towards the foot of the bed, feeling like he didn't have any legs at all, and that he was actually just a head and torso floating through the air.

"Quickly, quickly!" Bethany said and peeled back the sheets a little, giving him a full view.

It really was a nose. A tiny, black, perfect little nose. The same shape as his own.

"It..." Ander didn't even know what to say. He was completely speechless.

"Okay, Kiana, I'm going to need you to push. A good hard one, okay?"

This is the greatest miracle I have ever seen... Ander thought. It's the most beautiful -

And that's when the blood came.

Kiana shrieked like a mountain lion, the baby's muzzle inched forward (Ander could actually see the bottom jaw now) and at the same time a bright splash of blood suddenly seeped out all over the bed, staining the sheets a deep crimson.

"That's normal, that's perfectly normal," Bethany said, not that Ander was in any condition to pay attention to anything anyone might have been saying. The Cora itself could have come crumbling down right on his doorstep in that moment and he wouldn't have noticed.

That's blood that's a lot of blood that's an excessive amount of -

The last thing he heard before his head hit the floor was the disapproving click of Bethany's tongue, and her saying: "Well, there he goes. Just like Rufio."