The labor began before dawn.
Lila woke to a sharp, unmistakable pull low in her abdomen—deep, insistent, different from pain she’d known before. For one suspended moment, fear tried to rise. Memory followed close behind.
She didn’t let it win.
She pressed a hand to her belly and breathed.
“Alright,” she whispered. “I hear you.”
The bond stirred immediately—soft but alert.
Caleb was awake before the first contraction fully crested.
He didn’t burst into the room.
Didn’t shout for healers.
He simply appeared at her side, already steady, already focused.
“It’s time,” she said quietly.
Caleb nodded once. “I’ll call them.”
The Alpha floor shifted into motion with disciplined speed. Healers arrived. Warm water was drawn. Candles lit. Seren appeared silently at Lila’s other side, groun
