Double chapter day to make up for missing yesterday and not leave you hanging. Ersilia is gone, and Khalid will get answers from Bert on why angels got involved.
The aftermath of Ersilia’s death has been an interesting one. None of us had expected her to get aid from another species, least of all angels. Khalid and Mushin assured us they’d get answers from their angel hostage and let us know what they find. I still can’t believe angels would work with a witch to kidnap a baby. I admit my knowledge about their species is limited, but I don’t know; I thought they would be good guys. Kidnapping is not a good guy thing. As much as I want to understand why they were involved, I don’t want to. I want to chalk it up to a small group of stupid angels caught up in Ersilia’s bullshit. Maybe the idea of a child of prophecy that would cleanse the wicked was appealing to them. I don’t want to guess at who or what they consider wicked and in need of cleansing. I had more important things to worry about, like Alexander and his mental health. He hadn’t admitted it, but I knew something was off. He’s acting like everything is fine now that Ersilia is dead. A
The sun wasn’t even up, and Delilah was peacefully asleep in our bed. I should still be in bed with her. Instead, I’m in the bathroom splashing cold water on my face after another nightmare. It’s been the same nightmare since I killed Ersilia. I haven’t told Delilah about it, and I probably should. Lucius thinks I should. Hell, even Giosuè says I should and has offered to have her attend a session so I could tell her in a ‘safe space.’ There’s no such thing as a ‘safe space’ to tell your mate that you have a recurring dream of the burning disconnected skull of a witch telling you that it’s not over and that they will come for the blue moon child. If it has me freaked out, how will Delilah handle it? Today’s finally the scheduled day for Delilah’s cesarian. I don’t want to say or do anything that will cause her unnecessary stress. And I consider the threat of a ghost in a nightmare against our future child unnecessary stress. Maybe after she’s had time to recover, I’ll bring up these
André POV I was so excited and nervous about today. I was awake BEFORE Darren. Scary, I know. I don’t know who was more freaked out about me being out of bed making coffee before his alarm, Darren or me. Lando was weirded out and a tad concerned when he came downstairs, ready to join Darren on their daddy-son run to see me awake. I shooed them off for their run, promising I was fine, excited to meet the babies, and practicing waking up early for feedings. While my excitement about the babies was more than believable, neither thought I was serious about the practice part. Darren and I already had our schedule for handlining and caring for quadruplets. We knew from speaking with multiple doctors on the hospital staff that as they will be born at 30 weeks, our babies will spend about a month in the NICU to continue development before they can come home with us. So, we have already decided to take paternity leave from our Alpha and Aleph duties to bond with and care for our heirs. We i
Delilah POV The surgery itself took about an hour. Alexander was in scrubs, holding my hand the whole time. I was glad they had the curtain over my midsection so I didn’t witness them cutting me to retrieve the babies. Alexander’s attention bounced like a tennis ball between my face and the surgery. I started to cry each time Doctor Damiani announced one of the babies was out. I know I’ve said I haven’t felt anything maternal for them, and I hold to that. But when I heard the first wail from baby A, I felt a tug in my heart. And it continued as each baby made their presence in the room known. They sounded healthy, at least. “They’re perfect,” Alexander assured me as he kissed my forehead or tried to kiss it, but he had a surgical mask on, which was a little weird. “Do you want to see them?” a nurse asked. “No. The honor of meeting them first belongs to their parents. Bring them to Alpha André and Aleph Darren.” I shook my head. I wanted to see them. I desperately wanted to see th
The first month after the heirs were born was hard on Delilah. Not physically. She recovered from surgery nicely. The recovery time only took a little over a week between her natural werewolf healing and having me. The delivery, especially giving herself space from the heirs, has taken an emotional toll. As a result, she’s spent a lot of time crying in my arms and having therapy sessions with Giosuè. I’ve seen the heirs once since they were born, but Delilah couldn’t bring herself to see them then. I offered to show her their pictures, but she refused. She wasn’t in a good place to connect with them as an extended family member rather than the woman who carried them in her womb. No one tried to push her to meet them. I would probably go off on anyone who dared. I’ve had my therapy sessions, too. And yes, one included Delilah, where I told her about the nightmare. She was justifiably freaked out by it. I don’t think there’s anyone who wouldn’t freak out at the head of a dead witch sho
I didn’t know why I was nervous when I went to Alexander’s office at the pack house. We’ve made love plenty of times before I gave birth. So, I shouldn’t feel so damn shy about making love now that I’m not pregnant. That’s even if it’s the making love part that worries me. I made up my mind that we should mark and complete our bond. I thought I’d prepared myself when I walked into his office. I’d had it planned out. We would take the rest of the day off. I’d already talked to Amelia and Gildo, and they were happy to ensure ranked duties were taken care of. From there, we’d take a run. Helia has been itching for me to shift and officially meet Lucius. We’d be going on a run with a destination in mind. Amelia had told me about a small cottage her family owns deep in the forest. She said it would make a perfect getaway for a newly mated couple who wanted to be undisturbed. So, I had it all planned out. We’d make a weekend of it and enjoy being away from everything. I hadn’t planned for
I won’t go into how much I ended up paying Amelia in damages to her little cottage after spending a weekend there. I consider myself lucky that she didn’t keep any family heirlooms there. The furnishings destroyed during mine and Delilah’s mating weren’t antiques or anything she or her brother held dear. All you need to know is it wasn’t cheap. But that was a month ago. A month of being fully mated has been great for us. After Delilah’s heat ended, she finally asked to see the heirs. I don’t know if it’s from her therapy or because we completed our bond, but her emotions about André and Darren’s children leveled out. It was still an emotional visit, especially when she held each of them. That first meeting was a huge step for Delilah. She saw, held, kissed, and whispered sweet words to them. She got to say goodbye to their connection and move forward to the new connection they’ll have. Delilah was already the most selfless person I knew. She became the bravest after seeing her keep h
Since we know about the prophecy, Delilah and I have been cautious in our family planning. Delilah wanted and needed time to recover from fully emotionally being a surrogate. I was more than willing to give her that time. Then, we also wanted time to be just a couple before risking starting our family. We decided we would try to start our family late last year. We were trying to be as thorough in our baby planning as possible. We even checked the upcoming year to identify any blue moons. Given that I’m not the blue moon prophecy child, I knew Ersilia was off the mark in thinking the conception needed to be on a blue moon. So Delilah and I wanted to avoid delivery on a blue moon. We knew there would be a blue moon in August, so we were actively targeting to have our baby either before or after August. We even stopped having unprotected sex when her possible due date could have landed anywhere near the blue moon. And our planning paid off. When we learned Delilah was pregnant and calcu