Blackheart

.XVII.

We'd been here for just over a month, our birthdays had come and passed, and my stomach had grown to an astronomical size, and I barely felt the pain of Atto's many betrayals. My one worry remained my friends. I looked up from my book at them.

"You guys do know that you don't have to stay here with me, right?" I said.

"We know," Ilta said.

"But we want to," Calypso finished. I smiled at my friends and rubbed my belly, looked back down into my book when Matteo walked into the library, eyes dark, with Cato, with an equally dark expression. I looked between them when Matteo said something that made my blood run cold.

"Atto is here," he said, "he is looking for you.". My breath picked up, and my mind fogged.

"Where is she!"

I felt a liquid pool between my legs. I looked down, only to see that my water had broken, and the first contraction hit like a speeding truck. The last thing I heard before Nyx made me lose consciousness was Calypso yelling out Matteo’s name and him barging into the room. When I woke up, I was in the hospital, and Tonia was checking my vitals.

“Glad you’re okay, baby girl,” she said. Matteo came up and held my hand as Tonia moves away.

"You scared me, baby," he said. Atto burst through the doors.

"You leave and take my pups with you!" he yelled.

"You watch your tongue, mutt!" Matteo bellowed, "Don't you speak to the Crown Princess in such a way!"

"And who the f**k are you?" Atto asked.

"Her true mate," Matteo responded, a smirk on his face. Atto's face pales as he sniffs the air around Matteo. He smirked wider and kissed my forehead.

"I'll call Tonia for you," he said, "your contractions are about two minutes apart.". That's when it occurred to me that I hadn't felt them since the first one.

"I've been taking it for you," he smiled, "you can have it back if you like."

“No thanks, you can keep them.” He laughed as he walked out of the room.

I had spent, in total, two weeks in labor with my babies.

“Okay Niha, you got to stop pushing for a minute,” Tonia said, “you’ll tear. I just need to make a little incision.”. And she did, after numbing me again. Although the numbing didn’t help much, it made things a little easier, as well as the fact that she kept widening the passage with her hands, making room for the babies’ heads to come out. After two weeks and six hours in labor, the twins were finally born: a sweet little girl and a dazzling baby boy. I held them in my arms as Tonia asked what their names were going to be.

“For the boy, Ori Demitri Aden Blackheart,” I said

“And our daughter shall be Okoye Aphrodite Tika Forde-Blackheart,” Atto said, taking his daughter.

"Just Blackheart," I said, closing my eyes. I was discharged twenty hours later under the instruction that there would be no more s****l activity for the next four months, as I had to give my body time to heal. I laughed at Matteo's expression.

As we left, we ended up running into Calypso, Ilta, Wyatt, and Midnight on our way out.

“We went into labor as soon as you did,” Calypso said. Be it as it may, our children were born within a few hours of each other. “Kalus, meet your aunts, Ororo and Calypso.” Midnight said, showing his son. The baby boy had his mother’s golden brown eyes and fine, heart-shaped, rose-red lips, while he had his father’s nose and midnight black hair.

“What's his full name?” Atto asked.

“Kalus Vincent Rodney,” I said.

“How do you know that?” Wyatt asked. “Because our first time in the labyrinth, we sat discussing baby names,” Calypso replied. We looked over each other’s babies, looking for the contrasts and similarities between them and their parents, before leaving the hospital grounds completely. It had been five months since the birth of the children, and things seemed to be going well enough. I had separated myself from Atto completely, living in the Crown Princess Mansion that was recently built between the castle and Atto's pack. We met Cato’s mate, Asu, and their daughters, Silver and Tika. It was decided that we’d stay together until we took over our grandparents’ positions.

“Luna Ororo.” Rebecca said, bowing to me, “Your brothers wish to seek counsel with you in the hall this very moment.” I looked at her as I picked my son out of the crib. I looked at her over my shoulder and nodded.

“I’ll be there.” I said to her, “But I want you here, guarding the children alongside Blade.”

“Your Highness?” she asked

“You heard her,” Ilta said, walking into the nursery, “we want you here with the kids.”. Rebecca looked up at me with tear-stained eyes. It was hard on her knowing that she could not bear a pup of her own, and it had devastated her for almost three months. I had given her her sister's pup to raise, but she had longed to carry one of her own. I walked out of the nursery after putting Paw Patrol on and handing Ori to Rebecca.

I push the grand door open and step in. On the other end of the hall, Ares, Add, and Phoenix all stood.

“Oh, look, boys, she finally decided to grace us with her presence,” Ares said in a snide tone. I rolled my eyes at him.

“What do you want?” I stated rather than questioned.

“Oh, so it’s a crime to speak to our baby sister now?” he asked. I took note that neither Add nor Phoenix had said anything.

“I didn’t know I was still your little sister. Not after what you three put me through.” I coldly replied.

“Humph. Think you’re so great,” he said, “You know, I tried to get rid of you. From filling Atto’s head with all those things to having drowned you. By the way, I’m still baffled by how you made it out of the water when both your hands were f****d up, but not the point. I even went as far as helping that mutt of a Dark Alpha. But you never seemed to get the point.” he looked at me, our eyes met, and there was nothing but hatred and disgust coming from him. The air became cold, and all of my instincts kicked into high gear. I smelled it before he even pulled it from under his jacket. I yelled. I saw it in slow motion, the movement of his hand as he pulled the gun and aimed it at me; I jumped and spread my wings, the first bullet missing me. I landed and, keeping close to the ground, I ran toward him. I was not only smaller but faster and leaner than he was. We exchanged blow for blow. I had the upper hand as he was not so good at hand-to-hand combat.

“I know you’re immune to silver but is Calypso?". My face paled, I didn't notice she had followed me in, he aimed at her and pulled the trigger. I jumped in front but wasn’t hit. Add had saved me. I stood there, shock registering in my system. Add wasn't immune to silver; none of the triplets were, as far as I knew. As it registered in Ares’s mind that he had shot his brother with a nightshade and wisteria-covered silver bullet, he dropped the gun and froze.

“Add!” Pheonix yelled.

“I-I-I’m sorry, Niha.” Add said, “I’m sorry that I hurt you, that I didn’t protect you...” his words trailed off as his heart stopped and his eyes greyed over. He was gone. My big brother was gone. Tears blurred my vision as I cried. I hated him, not for who he was, but for what he had become. At the end of the day, regardless of what had happened, he was still my brother, the boundary of my powers momentarily breaking as I held onto my brother and cried. Getting up, I walked over to Ares, standing an arm's length away, and I tore his wolf out of him.

“You are no longer worthy of being one of us,” I said in my Luna Queen form, “for your crimes against your family, and your acts of treason, you are banished from our realm and shall forever walk the land of the mortals, never to die.” at those words, I crushed his wolf and sent it back to the heavens, back to our goddess. I gave him immortality and banished him to the mortal realm, with no way back home. That evening, we held a funeral for Add, and for the first time in forever, I cried over a member of my family.

“Don’t worry, my child, the kings and queens of the past are sure to guide him through the gates of the underworld and into the Promised Land among the stars and the moon,” Grangran said. I simply nodded while she wiped away my tears. I took Ori from my grandfather as we went back to the packhouse to discuss my coronation.