Chapter Four: A New Beginning
1190 Words
The snow had stopped falling by morning, but the air was still bitter and dry. I sat by the fire, wrapped in a thick blanket Elias had laid over me before disappearing into the woods again. He said he needed to reinforce the perimeter.
Ever since the episode in the forest, he’d been more alert—more protective.
So had I.
I rubbed my hand over my belly as I listened to the soft thud of twin heartbeats on the monitor beside me.
They were safe. For now.
But I could feel it—something was changing. Not just my body. My entire world.
And deep down, I knew…
They were coming soon.
⸻
Later that day, Elias returned with fresh herbs, roots, and berries. He set them down on the table and gave me a look I’d come to know well.
Worried. Watchful. Always reading me like an open book.
“You’re quieter today,” he said.
“I’m always quiet.”
“Not like this.”
I sighed and looked away, chewing on my lower lip. “I feel different.”
He paused. “Different how?”
“I don’t know. Like… like my body’s preparing. Like it’s trying to tell me something.”
He walked over and gently touched my wrist, checking my pulse. Then his hand moved to my swollen stomach, fingers light and careful.
“They’ve dropped lower,” he murmured. “Your body’s getting ready. It won’t be long now.”
I exhaled shakily. “I’m not ready.”
“No mother ever is.”
“I’m not even twenty.”
“You’re stronger than most people twice your age, Serena.”
I looked up at him, my eyes burning. “But I’m alone. I don’t know what I’m doing. What if I mess everything up?”
“You won’t,” Elias said firmly. “You’ve already done the hardest thing—you chose to protect them, even when it meant walking away from everything.”
My throat tightened.
I hadn’t cried since the day I left.
But now, as Elias sat beside me and gently rested his palm over mine, I felt the dam c***k.
“I loved him,” I whispered. “Even after everything. Even now, I still…”
“It’s okay to love someone who broke you,” Elias said quietly. “It doesn’t mean you have to go back to him.”
I stared at the fire, tears slipping silently down my cheeks.
“I just wanted to be enough,” I said.
“You are.”
⸻
That night, the pain returned.
Not the dull ache from before.
Real pain.
Crushing, searing, bone-deep.
It started just before midnight—waves of heat that wrapped around my lower back and squeezed until I couldn’t breathe.
I woke up gasping, hands clutching the blankets.
“Elias!” I cried out.
He was there in seconds.
One look at me, and he knew.
“It’s time.”
⸻
The hours that followed were a blur of pain, sweat, and screams.
Elias had prepared everything—hot water, towels, herbs to dull the edge—but nothing could have truly prepared me for the fire ripping through my body.
I had never shifted. Never felt the bond between wolf and human. But in that moment, I felt something ancient awaken inside me.
Not a full shift—just a spark. A sliver of my wolf, pushing through.
Guiding me.
“You can do this,” Elias said, his hands steady, his voice calm. “They’re almost here.”
I screamed again, body arching as another contraction tore through me.
“I can’t—”
“Yes, you can!”
Tears streamed down my face as I bore down with everything I had.
And then—
A cry.
Sharp. Loud. Beautiful.
A baby.
My baby.
Elias wrapped the tiny form in a blanket and handed it to me, eyes shining.
“It’s a girl,” he said softly.
My hands trembled as I pulled her close, heart thudding wildly.
She was perfect.
Tiny, pink, and so warm against my chest.
I didn’t even have time to catch my breath before another contraction hit.
The second was harder.
He came out quieter, more hesitant, but alive.
A boy.
Elias handed him to me, too.
And suddenly, the pain faded.
There was only silence—and then soft cries filling the room.
Two babies.
Two perfect souls.
My twins.
⸻
I didn’t sleep that night. I couldn’t.
I just stared at them, tears slipping quietly down my cheeks.
The girl had my nose and soft black curls already forming. The boy looked more like Damon—same sharp jaw, same high cheekbones.
But when I held them… they were only mine.
Mine to protect.
Mine to love.
I named the girl Lina, after my mother.
The boy I named Cael, for strength.
They were so small. So breakable. But I had never felt more powerful in my life.
⸻
The next few days passed in a haze of sleepless nights and quiet bonding. Elias helped with everything — feeding, cleaning, swaddling — and never once made me feel like a burden.
He treated the twins like they were sacred.
“Do you have children?” I asked him once, while he was rocking Cael to sleep.
He froze for a second. Just a second.
“No,” he said. “But once… I almost did.”
I didn’t press.
Everyone had scars. His weren’t for me to open.
⸻
On the sixth day after the twins’ birth, I stepped outside for the first time.
It was cold, but the snow had melted enough for the ground to show again. The trees were bare, but the sunlight filtered through them like golden threads.
I stood there, holding Lina to my chest while Cael slept inside with Elias.
“I’ll keep you safe,” I whispered. “No matter what.”
My chest ached when I thought about Crescent Moon Pack.
About Damon.
Would he have cared if he’d known?
Would he even believe they were his?
Or would he take them away from me the moment he saw them?
My mate had chosen another.
But that didn’t mean I would give him the right to claim these children.
Not after what he did.
⸻
That night, I sat with Elias by the fire, the twins sleeping beside us.
“They’ll come looking for me eventually,” I said quietly.
“Yes,” he admitted. “But by then, you’ll be strong enough to stand.”
I turned to him. “What if I never am?”
“You will be,” Elias said. “You already are.”
We sat in silence for a while, and then he added, “You don’t have to do it alone anymore, Serena. Not while I’m here.”
Something in his tone made my chest warm.
I met his eyes—and for the first time since I left Damon, I felt something stir deep in my chest.
Not a bond.
Not a spark.
Just… peace.
Maybe that was enough.
- Writer
