Page 48 of Mating Mia
“The mate bond,” Kane murmurs, understanding in his voice. "It never fully severed."
“Tell him where to find me,” she says urgently as fresh tears spill down her face. “Tell him I’ve never stopped loving him. Not for one day.”
The sound of crashing underbrush announces Jace’s return before he bursts into the clearing, arms full of baby supplies from the car. His hair is wild, his chest heaving from the sprint through the forest.
“I got everything!” he announces triumphantly, then stops short at the tableau before him.
“We won’t need anything except for the blanket. We need to get to the hospital,” says Finn.
“Oh,” Jace says, blinking at Sarah. "You must be Mia’s mom. I can tell by the eyes."
Despite everything, a laugh bubbles up from my chest. Trust Jace to cut through the tension with his perfect blend of observation and nonchalance.
“Yes,” Sarah says, a small smile curving her lips.
"Jace," he introduces himself with a slight bow that somehow doesn't look ridiculous despite the armful of baby supplies.
“We need to get Mia to the hospital,” Kane reminds everyone, his practical nature asserting itself. “The baby, too.”
I look at my mother, memorizing every detail of her face. The tiny scar above her right eyebrow. The laugh lines around her eyes. The fullness of her lips, identical to mine.
Kane helps Jace lay out a clean blanket, and they work together to wrap our baby properly. Finn produces a small emergency kit from his pocket and ties off the umbilical cord, handling it with surprising competence.
“Military training,” he explains when he catches my questioning glance. “Field medicine.”
Sarah stands, reluctance in every line of her body.
“I need to go back across,” she says, glancing nervously at the forest. “The longer I stay on this side, the greater the risk.”
“We’ll bring her back,” Kane promises, addressing Sarah directly for the first time. “As soon as they’re both cleared by doctors. You have my word as alpha.”
She studies him for a moment, then nods, apparently satisfied by what she sees in his eyes. Leaning down, she presses a kiss to my forehead, then to my son’s.
“I love you,” she whispers. “Both of you. More than you could ever know.”
Before I can respond, she’s moving away, graceful despite her haste.
At the edge of the waterfall, she turns back once, raising her hand in farewell before slipping behind the curtain of falling water and disappearing from sight.
I stare after her, feeling as though a piece of my heart has vanished with her. But the warm weight of my son against mychest reminds me that I’ve given birth and I need to take care of us.
“Ready?” Jace asks, crouching beside me with a soft blanket to wrap around my shoulders.
I nod, allowing him to bundle me up while Kane secures the baby in a makeshift sling across my chest. With gentle efficiency, Jace slides his arms beneath me and lifts me as if I weigh nothing, cradling me against his chest.
“You did such an amazing job,” he murmurs as he adjusts his grip. “Bringing our son into the world like a total badass. In the middle of the woods, no less.”
I smile weakly, nestling my head against his shoulder. “Not exactly what I had planned when we set out this morning.”
Jace takes off, moving with the supernatural agility that marks him as alpha.
Despite his speed, his stride is smooth, jarring me as little as possible as he navigates the forest path. The baby sleeps against my chest, exhausted from the work of being born.
“I can’t believe I found her,” I whisper, watching the trees blur past. “After all this time. And on the same day our son was born.”
“I agree it’s pretty wild,” says Jace. “But deep down, I knew you’d find her eventually. Especially since Liam told us she was still alive.”
By the time we reach the hospital parking lot, I’m drifting in and out of consciousness, the adrenaline of birth and reunion giving way to bone-deep exhaustion. Jace shouts for help, and suddenly we’re surrounded by medical staff.
