CHAPTER ONE
Julia
“I’m pregnant.”
Julia saw Damien pause his step, his expression turning from recognition of the words she was saying to a sudden understanding. The trees behind him swayed in the wind, but he remained frozen. What would he say? She could not take her eyes off of his own, blind and scarred, as she waited in that brief second where so much of their future would be decided with his reaction.
His emotions hit her so hard that it took her breath away. She bent over, her hands clasped to her belly which beat newly with life, a gasp coming from her.
It was love, yes, but more than that. The wave of joy and awe coming from Damien had a physical effect on Julia, an ineffable bursting of emotion in her chest. Her love and joy tangled with his, and she was seized by the joyous current and carried up by it.
“Damien!” Julia held her hands out to him and he took them at the touch, turned them, intertwined his fingers in hers and drew her close. The sky overhead was gray with clouds, but the storm which had drenched them a minute earlier was dissipating. Despite the chill of the air and the dampness of her clothes, Julia was warm.
“My love. My mate,” he said.
His eyes glowed brightly behind their blindness, so much that for a moment, he looked directly at Julia as though he could see her, and the Calling between them pulled them yet closer together. She had been able to shift—she had been a wolf, if only for a brief moment. She could do it! Now that she knew the wonder of it, it was as though there was another experience tying her to Damien. Something even stronger that bonded them as one.
“A child,” Dee said, coming forward into the forest clearing. Her voice sounded old for the first time. Julia could see her grandmother’s wrinkled hand shaking as she lifted it to her lips. And, too, for the first time, she could sense Dee’s presence, almost see it shimmering in the air around her. It bent Julia’s vision, rippled the light. Whatever it was, it was beautiful.
“The alpha’s child,” Dee repeated, both hands now touching her mouth as though she were afraid to say the words. Her eyes shimmered—was it her presence Julia sensed or was it tears?
“Our child,” Damien said, but his eyes had left Julia’s and looked blank once again, the light mist drawing close the haze over his irises.
The wind blew through the highest branches of the pines, making them dance. Overhead the clouds wisped apart, and sunlight peeked through from behind the storm. A bird called once, then fell silent.
Julia took Damien’s hands and placed them on her belly.
“Our children,” she said.
Damien’s lips parted, his mouth trying to form words but unable to find them. Dee looked at Julia, her eyes wide under the shock of her white hair.
“Yes,” Julia said to the unspoken question. “We’re going to have twins.”
CHAPTER TWO
Damien
Damien could not believe his ears.
“Twins?” he repeated. His hand caressed Julia’s skin, still damp from the rain. The connection between them had strengthened into a solid bond of understanding as soon as she’d shifted, one that had not been lost even now that she was back in human form. Her peacefulness washed over him, calming him even as his mind struggled to make sense of the words she was speaking. The thunder from the storm sounded again, miles away now and already fading. He could smell the scent of wolf blood on Julia’s body.
“Can you feel them?” Julia asked.
Damien pressed his palms against her skin, tried to find the hint of a being inside of her. It was impossible, he was sure, for she had only been pregnant for weeks at most. And yet he felt something, a change in her own presence as he sensed it. Perhaps that was the first trace he would receive from his child. From his children.
Twins.
A great wonder took hold of him, an awe that he had never felt before, not even when he was a child praying to the gods. The magic here superseded anything he’d known before. He kissed Julia softly, as though even the littlest movement could shatter her. She seemed so fragile now.
“What will we name them?” he asked.
“We’ll see,” Julia said. “We’ll know when they’re born, I think.”
“Your shoulder…” Damien’s fingers had found the injury, and Julia winced as he touched it. The slight pain reverberated through him.
“It’s fine,” Julia said. “Here. Take your knife.”
She handed him the wolfbone blade. Her fingers trembled as they passed the knife to him. He wiped the blood off before sliding it back into its sheath, noticing the chill that had come over her mood.
“I…I killed them,” Julia said. “Those other shifters from this territory. I killed them.”
“It’s alright,” Damien said, pulling her to his chest. The roaring in his ears had subsided somewhat, and he could hear the rest of his pack moving around them.
“There were four of them, and I killed all but one.”
“We’ll find him,” Damien said, realizing as he spoke that that wasn’t what she’d meant.
Julia pulled away as if to speak, but then the other members of the pack crowded around to congratulate her.
“Julia,” Granny Dee said. “Oh, Julia. Children! My own great-grandchildren!”
“I couldn’t catch the wolf,” Kyle said, bounding back into the clearing from the forest. “He was too fast.”
“Kyle, Julia is pregnant!” Katherine’s high voice rang with excitement.
“She…what?”
“Twins!” Katherine said. “Won’t that be something?”
“Twins?” Kyle sounded baffled. Then: “Twins!”
A hand clapped down on Damien’s shoulder.
“Congratulations, old friend,” Jordan said. His voice turned to Julia. “I want to make a full examination when we get home after I take care of Mara.”
“Mara!” Julia turned away from Damien, a sudden concern in her tone. Damien felt guilty for forgetting about Mara in all of the tumult. His mind had been occupied elsewhere, and Julia’s sympathetic voice reminded him that he should be watching out for every member of his pack.
“Is she…”
“She’s breathing, but they drugged her with something. I think she’ll be okay.”
Damien exhaled in relief. Mara was alive. His pack was safe. At least for now.
CHAPTER THREE
Julia
Jordan pressed his hand one last time against Julia’s belly and smiled.
“I can feel them,” Julia said. “Both of them are in there, their presences.”
“That’s quite normal,” Jordan said, leaning back.
“Normal?” Julia raised one eyebrow. “I just found out that I can shift into wolf form. None of this is normal.”
“It’s normal for shifters,” Jordan said, scratching idly at his chin. “You’d have been able to know at the moment of conception, if the witch’s spell hadn’t hidden it from you.”
“She took away so much,” Julia said. She thought of the connection to Damien, how it had grown stronger the instant she had shifted into wolf form, and how she’d been able to sense Dee’s presence, and the babies’. “She took away my senses.”
“Now you have the ability,” Jordan said. “But don’t overuse it. It does take energy to shift, and you have less energy to spare now because a lot of it’s going to your babies.”
“The babies…” Julia murmured. “Will they shift? Inside of me?”
“Oh, lord no!” Jordan said, laughing.
“But what if they do? Will I know? What happens if I shift form again?” Julia asked.
“Babies stay human until they’re a couple years old. That’s when they start to be able to shift,” Jordan explained to Julia. He’d just completed his examination, his stethoscope slung around his neck. “And as for you, you can still shift now, since they’re so little, but it’ll be very uncomfortable to be in wolf form toward the end of the pregnancy, especially with twins.”
“You’re sure there’s no risk right now? I don’t want to hurt them.” Julia was excited to shift again. It was a different world when she was in wolf form, a world in which sounds and scents were just as vibrant and meaningful as lights and colors, a world in which she could sprint faster and jump higher than any human could dream of. It was like having superpowers.
“It’s completely safe now,” Jordan said. “You’ll just be a little more tired than you would have been otherwise.”
Jordan took off his stethoscope and put it back in his black physician’s bag. He’d shaved his thick scruff and looked much younger. Julia knew that he and Damien had been close since they were both pups, but with his glasses and beard, she’d always assumed Jordan was older.
“You look a lot younger when you’re clean shaven,” she said.
“Young? Hardly. Kyle and Katherine are young. I’m solidly in my prime. If you can call it that after my looks have just about gone.” Jordan sniffed.
“No! You look very attractive,” Julia said.
“Why thank you. I’ve tried to convince your mate of that, but he’s still holding out.” Jordan swung his physician’s bag over one shoulder and grinned.
“How is Mara doing?” Julia asked, turning the conversation to a more serious topic.
“She healed up quickly. She’s strong. Already up and walking around.”
“How is that possible?” It boggled Julia’s mind that Mara could already be healed so soon after being tortured. Julia had bumped her hip against the kitchen counter last week and the bruise was still sore.
“The same way that Damien’s eyes have scarred over,” Jordan said. “It’s actually somewhat of a defect in shifter anatomy. It’s a particular kind of healing enzyme. It attacks scar growth inhibitors while swarming around the area of injury. Blood loss is the only real way to die; most wounds heal up instantly.”
“So his eyes are healed up that way?” Julia asked. “But the colors—they shift, they move.”
Jordan nodded “The healing compounds in our body are always moving.”
“I don’t think I’ve ever healed particularly quickly.”
“That’s because you’ve just recently shifted for the first time. Staying in human form...well, it makes you more human. Now that you’ve shifted, you’ll see the wolf side of you more and more.”
“So if I get hurt?” Julia asked.
“You’ll heal quickly from now on.” Jordan nodded.
“I still wouldn’t recommend being tortured!” Mara limped through the doorway, smiling wryly. Dee came in behind her.
“I heard the good news,” Mara said as Julia hugged her tenderly. “Congratulations.”
“Thanks. Are you okay?”
“Yeah,” Mara said with a breezy wave. But then her face darkened. “I’m sorry we couldn’t protect you. When they woke us up, you were already gone.”