Page 31 of Whispers of Fate

Insidetheinfirmary,Rydersat me on the bed, and before I could warn him off it, he’d once again threatened to murder everyone inside the room. Then he started pacing, and he hadn’t stopped since. His hair was a mess from being yanked while he fought to keep his sanity. Every contraction sent him into an uproar of terror, which caused everyone who lingered on the other side of the curtains endless amusement.

“Ryder,” I whispered between bouts of agonizing pain, smiling weakly as he paused, wide golden eyes colliding with mine.

“Is it time?” he snapped before he turned to bellow out more profanity and orders. “Tell me what you need, and it’s done. I’ll slaughter the pricks, all of them, for not easing the pain.”

I snorted before rolling my eyes. “Right now, I need you to calm the fuck down and sit beside me. They can’t stop the pain any more than you can. Threatening them with torture and death will not make this go faster.” I paused as the next contraction began, rolling through me until I gasped and expelled a soft cry of discomfort. “They can’t prevent the pain. It’s what happens when you’re trying to push out a babe,” I informed through gritted teeth.

“They could at least fucking do something!” he snarled, collapsing onto the single chair left in the room.

He’d smashed the others hours ago, along with anything else that wasn’t in use.

“Do you have any idea what can go wrong? I do, remember? Last time, I watched Ristan cutting you open to reach in and remove our children. I watched you fucking die! Fuck, I wish Eliran were here,” he muttered, grasping my hand and holding it against his lips.

“I wish he was, too, because he’d have told you to get your shit under control. He also wouldn’t be hiding beneath the exam table because you threatened to skin him and eat him alive if he didn’t do something like any one of his protégés currently are.” His eyes narrowed, and he chuckled before kissing my knuckles again. “Plus, I’m fine and not dying. I’m a goddess, remember?”

His dark head bobbed before he watched my face tightening to endure the next contraction. Pressure built in my bottom, and I groaned. I slipped my free hand between my thighs and blanched. When I tried to prop myself up, I ended up whimpering and arching instead because the strongest contraction yet shot through me.

Ryder released my hand and rose, helping me sit up. I exhaled slowly, breathing in through my nose as the lancing pain that stabbed through me, shooting around my center. Spasms started, and I shuddered from the intensity of pain that lingered while pushing against my pelvis.

“Fucking hell,” I cried through gritted teeth, urging my body to press against the ache and strain the pressure created.

“They’re getting closer together,” he reported, pacing aimlessly beside my bed without letting go of my hand. Every single noise I made had him driving his focus from me to the curtain separating us from the crowd of people waiting for the babe to be born. He stabbed his fingers through his mane and drove the air out from his lungs noisily.

The next contraction drifted to the end of the one before it, and I bore down, growling with the need to drive the babe out to end the agony. Fluid gushed from my body, drenching the bed, but I continued pushing and bearing down. Finally, a lull in contractions provided time to slip my fingers over my entrance, identifying the soft skull of the babe crowning, ready to be brought into the world.

“Ryder,” I murmured, not wishing the healers to overhear my words. “I need the blanket and incubator to be closer to the bed.” His eyes widened, and he started toward the curtain to snap orders, but I tugged him back.

“What?” he asked with horror on his face.

“Stop, it isn’t time for them right now. This is us, right? We’re a team, and right now, I only want you inside this room. Push the incubator closer and come sit with me.” I gritted my teeth through the next contraction, struggling to delay until he’d finished grabbing the items I asked for.

“You’ve lost your damn mind, woman. No. Absolutely not happening. That’s not how you do this. There’s a chain of events to make this go smoothly. You push, I stand here ripping my hair out, and they catch. End of fucking chain.”

“One, fuck your chain. Two, get the damn incubator, and blankets ready. Three, if it goes sideways, you can scream, and they will be here in seconds to help if you don’t scare them to death.”

“It can’t go sideways. That’s not possible. Is it?” His lips opened, and then closed as a look of horror mixed with confusion.

“I’m not talking about the baby going sideways,” I snorted through the tensing of my abdomen and the shooting pain firing up my spine. “I mean if anything goes wrong.”

Ryder shoved his fingers through his hair, eyeing me, and then slid his whiskey-colored stare to the items set aside. He exhaled before dropping his head. His entire profile was the mirror image of agony, and fear grasping him in their clutches.

“Look at me, Ryder,” I pleaded, watching those intense eyes open only after he’d lifted his dark raven colored head. “I’m not weak or hurt this time. I won’t leave this world that easily. I won’t leave you, my beast. I promise you, we can do this together. You and I? We can handle anything this world throws at us. This is a cakewalk.”

Once he had, I smirked at the consternation on his face. Ryder never lost control or panicked. He got violent. He got unruly. He lost his shit for a few moments, and then he reined it in, and handled business. He held out the blanket, and I shook my head while he glided his concern to my knees, which were parted and lifted.

The next contraction blasted through me, compelling me to lift from the bed and grip both knees, bearing down hard as I felt the head crowning. The tumult of pain persisted, and still, I withheld asking for aid. Perspiration saturated my hair, plastering strands against my forehead and neck. Before I had a chance to recuperate from one contraction, the next was rioting through me, and I pushed with all I had left in me.

I howled, struggling through the pain as I pushed until I felt the babe slip free. I breathed harshly, reaching for him. Ryder’s hands encompassed mine. My eyes lifted, finding him watching the babe slowly making his way out. Golden eyes glanced at me as I bore down, growling as I shook violently.

“You’re doing well, Pet. Keep going, sweet girl.” He smiled and the stress and fear lessened as I pushed again. “That’s it, you can do this. I know you can. One more time,” he coached while adjusting to be able to catch the babe if my hold slipped.

My hands released, letting him replace them, so I could grab the rails of the bed. I groaned as another wave of pain worked through me, endlessly battering against my stomach and spine until Ryder’s eyes sparkled, and he held up the babe.

Ryder set our son on my breasts before I rested back against the pile of pillows. When he issued a lusty, unhappy wail at being evicted from my body, I smiled. My body continued contracting, which wasn’t anything compared to moments ago, and all the while, Ryder looked on in shock, opening his mouth before snapping it closed.

“I can’t believe we just did that. What the fuck? That was . . . amazing and terrifying at the same time,” Ryder whispered, gaping at the babe I held against my naked chest and smiled up at him.

“Shhh,” I fussed, cradling the babe, who moved his arms and legs angrily while furiously whimpering.

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