Pike
A brick of ice-cold panic slams into me, making it harder than ever to breathe. Leaving the cottage isn’t an option since this is the only place where we are safe from Alpha Emma. Still, I know nothing about delivering babies to the world, and Cinder...she...she probably isn’t carrying only one hybrid baby in there - she is too huge!
My mind races through possibilities, scenarios, and worst-case outcomes, not one of them favorable. There’s no doctor here, no midwife to guide me—just me and Cinder and the rapidly approaching arrival of our child... or children.
I gulp hard, my breaths coming in harsh, jagged intakes as I rush back to Cinder’s side. Her knuckles have turned white from clutching the edges of the bed cover. She looks up at me, her eyes wide and glassy with pain.
“Pike
