Chapter 4: Birth In The Cabin
1472 Words
"Sophie? Is that you?"
Caleb's voice cut through the blizzard.
I froze. My hands tightened over my belly. Mara stepped in front of me, small body shaking but brave.
"Who are you?" Mara shouted at the tall figure in snow. "Go away! This is my house!"
Caleb walked closer. Snow fell on his black hair. His golden eyes glowed. His face was pale, lips blue from cold. He had no coat. Only black shirt and pants. Like he ran out fast.
His eyes looked at me. Really looked. At my face, my bleeding lip, my big coat that was not mine, my hands holding my flat belly.
"Sophie Lane?" he whispered. "The kitchen omega?"
I wanted to run. My legs wanted to run. But I stood. My teeth clacked, but I made my voice hard.
"Alpha Caleb. What do you want? You already rejected me. You already ordered Jessica to erase my body. What more do you want?"
His eyes widened. "What? I never ordered- Jessica said you ran away! She said you left pack because you were ashamed!"
"Liar!" Mara spat. "I heard her! 'Alpha ordered no trace left!' Your pretty fiancée wants her dead!"
Caleb's fists clenched. Snow crunched under his boots as he stepped closer.
"Is it true? Did she try to kill you?" He looked at my bloody dress.
I laughed. A broken, cold laugh.
"Does it matter, Alpha? You rejected me. You let her slap me. You watched me walk into blizzard barefoot. Whether she kills me or snow kills me, what is difference to you?"
His jaw tightened. He reached out his hand to me. "Sophie, you are bleeding... come back, you will die out here-"
"Don't touch me!" I screamed and stepped back. My belly cramped from shouting.
Mara hit his hand with her stick. "Don't touch her! You lost right to touch her when you broke her bond!"
Caleb flinched. His hand stayed in air, then dropped. He looked at my belly again. At how I held it.
"Are you... are you sick? Why do you hold your stomach?"
I stared at him. My mate. My Alpha. Father of my pup. He did not know. He did not smell pup because my White Wolf blood hid it.
"No. I am not sick," I said. "I am leaving. And you will let me leave. Because if you take me back, I will tell whole pack how Alpha's true mate was almost killed by his fiancée while Alpha watched."
His face turned white. True mate. I said true mate.
"You... you are my true mate?" His voice shook now.
"You know I am. Your wolf knows. That is why you followed blood. That is why you are here, not in warm bed with Jessica."
Silence. Wind howled between us.
Then Caleb did something I never thought. He knelt. In snow. One knee down, in front of me, the rejected omega.
"Come back," he said, low voice, only for me. "Please. You will die in human city. You have no one. I will protect you. I will punish Jessica."
I looked down at him kneeling. This was what I wanted for 18 years. Alpha kneeling for me.
But my hands held my belly. My pup kicked inside, like saying: Don't trust him, Mama.
"No," I said. My voice was quiet but clear. "I will never be your servant again. I will never be your pity Luna. I am leaving. And if you are Alpha with honor, you will let me go."
I walked past him. My shoulder brushed his. He smelled like pine. I wanted to cry, but I did not.
Mara followed me, glaring at Caleb.
We walked 20 steps. I waited for him to grab me. To order warriors to catch me.
But he didn't. He just knelt in snow, watching us disappear into blizzard.
I did not look back.
---
Five months later.
Human city. Small house behind Mara's old clinic.
"Sophie! Breathe! Breathe, girl!"
Mara's voice was loud in my ears. Sweat poured down my face. I bit a wooden stick to not scream.
My belly was huge now. Round and tight. Nine months. The pup was coming.
It was midnight. Rain hit roof hard. No doctor. No hospital. Only me and Mara in small cabin.
"PUSH! I see head! Black hair! Like his stupid father!" Mara shouted between my legs.
I screamed. The stick fell from mouth.
"AAAAH! It hurts! It hurts, Mara! I can't!"
"You can! You walked through blizzard barefoot! You can push one pup out!" Mara wiped my forehead. Her hands shook too. She was scared.
Pain ripped me open. Worse than rejection. Worse than any beating. Like my body split in two.
"I can't! I can't! Caleb! It hurts!" I shouted his name without thinking. Tears and sweat mixed.
"Don't call that boy! Call your pup! Call your wolf!" Mara slapped my thigh. "Sophie White! You are White Wolf Queen! PUSH!"
White Wolf Queen. My wolf.
I closed eyes. Inside chest, small warm light glowed again. My wolf, stronger now after months of training herbs.
We can do it, Mama, small voice said. My wolf's voice, soft but strong. For pup.
I took deep breath. I grabbed sheets with both hands. My knuckles white.
"One more! Big push! NOW!"
I pushed with all life. With all hate for Caleb. With all love for my baby.
"AAAAAAAH!"
Something slid out. Warm and wet. Then...
Silence for one second.
Then...
"WAAAAH! WAAAAH! WAAAAH!"
Loud cry. Strong cry. Angry cry.
Mara laughed, crying. "He is out! He is out! A boy! Look, Sophie, a boy!"
She cut cord with silver knife and put wet, bloody, screaming baby on my chest.
I looked down.
Black hair, wet and curly. Small face red and angry. Golden-brown eyes, just like Caleb's, already open, looking at me. Tiny fists punching air.
My son.
My Leo. I named him Leo in my mind months ago. Leo means lion. Strong.
"Hi, baby," I whispered, voice broken. My hands shook as I touched his tiny cheek. He was warm. So warm.
He stopped crying when I touched him. He looked at me and grabbed my finger with his whole tiny hand.
"Hi, Leo. I am Mama."
He made small sound. "Ah."
I cried. Loud, ugly cry. All pain, all loneliness, all fear came out.
Mara covered us with blanket. She wiped my forehead.
"You did it, Sophie. Alone. No pack, no mate, no help. You gave birth alone in cabin. You are strongest girl I know."
I held Leo tight to my chest. He rooted and found breast by instinct. He latched and sucked. It hurt but felt right.
"I vow," I whispered to him, to myself, to Moon Goddess, while he drank. My voice shook but was steel.
"I vow, Leo, you will never be called weak. You will never be called trash. I will become strong. I will become doctor. I will become someone they cannot step on. I will give you life they cannot take away. I will make your father kneel and beg."
Leo stopped sucking and looked up at me with big golden eyes. Like he understood.
Mara put her hand on my head.
"And I vow, little White Queen, I will teach you everything. Human medicine, wolf medicine, how to use your blood to heal. One day, that pack will beg you to come back. And you will decide if they deserve you."
I nodded, holding Leo.
Outside, rain stopped. Moon came out through window and shone on Leo's black hair. For a second, his hair glowed silver-white at tips, like my blood.
White Wolf and Black Alpha blood mixed.
My son was special. More special than anyone knew.
I kissed his forehead.
"Sleep, my lion. Mama is here. Mama will never leave you."
He yawned, tiny mouth, and slept on my chest, still holding my finger.
Mara cleaned blood and mess quietly, letting me have moment.
I looked at small cabin walls. No luxury, no pack house, no soft bed. Just wood, fire, herbs, and us three.
But for first time since I was five, I felt home.
I was not weak omega anymore. I was mother. I was White Wolf. I was future doctor.
And I would make them all regret the day they left me bleeding in snow.
Mara came back with water to wash Leo, and froze. She pointed at Leo's back.
"Sophie... look... on his back..."
On Leo's tiny perfect back, there was a birthmark. A small silver-white wolf shape, glowing faintly in moonlight.
And next to it, a small black crescent moon, like Caleb's pack mark.
Mara whispered, "This is prophecy mark... the child of White Wolf and Black Wolf... the one who ends curses... Oh Moon Goddess, they will hunt him if they see this..."
- Writer
