Ashira’s POV
Have you ever felt waking up with a feathery feeling? I can feel like my body was flying in the air as if I don’t weight at all. It’s… so light. I feel so light.
“It’s been three days. Why isn’t she waking up?”
Aiden? Why is his voice so hoarse and tired? Did Nick stopped helping him out with the pack works and he was loaded with the job?
I can feel a familiar warmth on my palm. I know this hand. I know every inch and warmth of this big hands. Suddenly, I feel like my hand was micro-sized in between his.
“Have we been tricked?” That’s Seth. Tricked of what?
Hey, why can’t I open my eyes? I feel light but too lazy to even open my eyelids?
‘No. Please no. Come back to me, baby.’ I sweat that was Aiden’s voice reaching me through our portal. I have heard that same words from him, sometimes I heard him said how much I meant to him and how much he loves me. But most of the time, he say those words.
Am I not allowed to sleep? What’s wrong with him?
‘Welcome back to you.’
I was then placed on my core, its too bright but I can see my wolf despite being camouflage by her fur. Did she just welcomed me? Why?
‘Welcome back?’
‘Hmp!’ she looked like I did something bad and she’s not happy with it. What did I do wrong?
‘Are you in your bitch attitude again? You were idle for quite some time, what’s wrong with you?’
Actually, what’s wrong with everybody?
‘I was busy taking care of your puppy! Stuck here babysitting is not a good experience specially with your pup’s grumpy wolf!’
Pup? Oh, right! I was pregnant! Wait, if I’m with Aiden right now then… he saved me from Elon! Oh my God! He saved us!
‘Ashira… be with me…’
It was Aiden, reaching out again. Am I out for too long after he saved me? He seems too worried. Oh, God I need to wake up!
Seth’s POV
“This is bad. If this continues, Aiden will die before Ashira even woke up.” I shook my head. Ava thought that the pan she was holding is good enough to hit my head. “Aw! Hon! My head is not a freaking stone!”
“That’s what you get for spouting nonsense, you idiot!” Oh, I can see my mate’s nose flaring with anger.
“What can I say? He hasn’t eat anything, he put water in his mouth but give it to the unconscious Ashira. If we got enemy right now, they would’ve attacked because of how vulnerable our Alpha is.”
It’s true. Aiden haven’t left Ash’s side since the day we saw them at their spot few days ago. I can’t forget the shock I felt seeing her covered in blood but what I feared more is that it was Aiden’s blood all over her body.
And it’s a lot.
I never saw him bled that much even at the battles our pack had. Never. I can only wonder what happened since he didn’t say much about what happened.
Nick told me what he planned. I’m not against it, even I wanted Ashira to be back because I know how she and the whole Elon’s disaster affected Aiden. Also, I know that the pup inside Ashira will be strong enough without the stealer’s gift.
“Are you scared that Ash will-”
“No. Don’t say it. She’ll wake up, not now but soon. As long as she’s breathing, we have a reason to hope. What concerns me was Aiden. It seems like he is the once who’s scared.”
“Do you think that King tricked him, though?”
I felt silent. Nobody knows the King. No one know what kind of ruler he is but if he did tricked Aiden then there is no way we could take a revenge.
“I just hope for the better.”
Ava sighed and hugged me, I hugged her back tightly. “Okay, I need to finish cooking now. You go upstairs and look after Alpha Aiden.”
“Duty calls.” I grinned.
I do pray everything goes well.
I entered Aiden’s room and saw the same scene. Him, holding Ashira’s hands with both of his. He never took his eyes off her, he haven’t sleep even for a bit. I don’t know how strong he is to hold on but I know he is physically fatigued. Or even mentally.
I tried talking to him about rest but he remained by her side, awake, guarded.
“Hey, Ava’s cooking something. You want anything?” I asked. I waited for a moment but no response from him.
I sighed.
“Man, you’re a handful.” I whined. I decided to sit on the chair behind him and watched as Ash lay on the bed, peacefully sleeping.
‘Hey, wake up on your slumber now, sleeping beauty. Your knight will be dead before you know it.’ I said through her portal. I’ve been talking like this to her but it seems her mind is still at rest.
I sighed. No response, too.
“Have we been tricked?” I asked carefully. I thought he will finally speak to me if I trigger something but still, he is quiet.
I sighed.
I watched as Aiden suffered silently. What is he thinking right now? Does he think he deserves this? Is he hoping like us? Is he praying? Is he talking to her? Is he losing hope? Is he giving up?
No, the last one is far from being possible.
“Baby… I’m here.”
I jumped from where I was dozing off with my own thoughts when I heard him speak.
Baby? I looked at Ashira and her eyes are open!
SHE’S AWAKE!
“Can you hear me? Look at me, baby, please…” Aiden begged.
I can’t imagine Aiden pleading like this. I’ve been with him for so long and he never sounded so… helpless.
“Aiden… W-What’s wrong?…”
Aiden was stunned for a moment. He was unable to speak upon hearing Ash’s voice. I looked at his back, I can’t see his expression…
He suddenly moved and hugged Ashira tight.
He embraced her and…
Aiden cried.
He is almost screaming his cries as he held his mate in a tight embrace. He didn’t mind my presence, its as if I am not in this room or… he simply don’t care.
I never seen Aiden cried.
Just now.
Ashira’s POV
“Ahhh!” my eyes watered from the way Aiden is crying.
It sounded… painful.
The cry I hear when someone dies, the agony when someone broke your heart. It’s the same. But why is he like this?
I encircled my arms around him and embraced him as tight as I could. What’s wrong? Why is he like this.
My eyes started to pool tears and I’m sobbing hard, getting absorbed by his emotions despite the confusion inside me. Did I put him into so much pain that he breakdown like this? What happened?
He continued crying while his face is buried on my neck. I tried consoling him, calming him by caressing his back but he doesn’t stop. He won’t stop. He can’t. He whined like a hurt animal and I can feel the pain he have from the emotions that slipping through our link.
I can’t stop myself but join him. He was hurt, pained but happy.
Damn, what just happened?
“Aiden, what’s wrong? Look at me, please…” I whispered between my sobs. I held his face and made him look at me. I was stunned for a second.
His eyes are so sad. Oh my, what happened for him to be like this?
I grabbed his face with both of my hand and kissed him on the lips. His lips are trembling, he is happy but there’s something else he hold inside that I can’t put into words.
His arms snaked on my waist and pulled me closer to him as he kiss me back. We are kissing without our tongues, its a deep smack but its just enough.
It feels enough.
“What’s wrong? Why are you crying like this?” I asked when I break the contact of our lips.
I pressed my forehead to his and wiped the tears off his eyes and cheeks. He is still sobbing but not like earlier.
But the feeling that I can’t explain is still there. It’s drowning him and he seems unaware that its slipping to me.
“Y-You’re here. You are here. With me.” he whispered and tears started pooling down his eyes again.
“Shh, baby, what’s wrong? I never left you. I’m always here. I will always be with you.”
Is it that bad to sleep now? Or am I not asleep?
I wanted to pry for answers and explanation but I know this is not the right time. Aiden is still sinking in this drowning feeling and even if I can feel half of it, I can’t swam myself up.
Oh, Aiden… what happened to you? To me? To us?
He hugged me once more and as I had him in my arms, I felt everything he was feeling right now.
He thought I won’t come back, and he is grateful to heavens that I’m here. It confuses me but I can still feel it so bad.
“Don’t leave me again…” he whispered and kisses me again. I never thought of leaving you…
“I won’t. I will never.”
“You’re back… you’re back.”
He kept repeating those words over and over like he couldn’t believe it. I looked at Seth who is quietly walking out of the room.
I guess I didn’t just fell asleep.
***
It’s been two days since I woke up. Two days since I witnessed my mate cried so hard and looking back, I never thought he will be okay. He never left my side since. He holds my hand, and never let go if it in everything that I do. May it be eating, bathing, anything.
“You always look at me.” I said.
We are sitting here at our spot. The sun is shining bright and the day is wonderful that I asked him to take me here. I feel like its been too long since I’ve been here so I enjoyed the greenery.
But Aiden’s gaze never left mine.
Slowly, his arm that rested on my waist moved up to my shoulder. He pulled me closer. He kissed the top of my head in long seconds then he looked at my eyes again.
“I love you, Ash.” he whispered.
I smiled. “I love you, too.”
He kept being like this every since I woke up two days ago. I don’t remember what happened after I was taken hostage by Elon but Aiden filled me up with details.
He said that Elon has stolen me from him and that the King came to lift the curse. I never remember any of it, but I cared less. All that is important to me now is that I’m back and cured.
He thought I won’t wake up anymore, that I left him for real.
Aiden rested his head on my lap as he lay on the grass, he caress my baby bump and planted kisses on it.
I smiled.
“Oh, it moved.” I said as I felt it. I chuckled when he continued kissing my belly, asking for more movements. I ran my fingers through his hair as he played with our baby.
Aww, I think he can’t wait for our child to be born! He look so cute!
“Did he fell asleep?” Aiden pouted when the baby didn’t moved again, and I laughed from his reaction. He waited but when there’s no response from our child, he closed his eyes and gave my bump a long kiss.
Aww, he looks so daddy-ing.
I continue to caress his hair. He seemed over protected of me lately. I can only imagine the fear he gone through while I’m out of our bond. Though he barely talks about it and ensure me that everything was fine, I know it didn’t.
Still, I didn’t pry for more but I’m itching for stories. Maybe he wanted to put everything behind us and I don’t want him to keep on remembering what happened.
“Aiden…” I called.
He looked up at me. “Hmm?”
“Did it scare you too much?” I bit my lip when I felt that my question has sounded wrong.
He sat up and looked at the river. “Which did?”
Which? Not what? Was the pain that many? That thought made my eyes weary and sad. I never want him to experience all that has happened and I can’t imagine what he has faced.
“W-When I was stolen?” I bit my lip.
I saw him look at me in the side of his eyes but like the usual, he never look me in the eyes when I mention conversation like this.
“Yeah…” he simple answered. He looked at me, watched my face like he will forget how I look any second. “Very.” he smiled weakly and reached his hand up to my cheeks. “I won’t let that happen again.”
I bit my lip. His every word sounded like a blade striking deep into my chest. He is trying to conceal his emotions within him again, though I can feel the shards of it.
“Of course, that won’t happen.” I chuckled. Please get better soon, I’m already here. “Once I give birth to our pup, I won’t be a stealer anymore. And our baby will be gifted.” I looked down to my belly and caress it with my palm ever gently. “I wonder what gift he will be blessed with.” I whisper and smiled in the air.
He remained silent so I looked up to look at him. “Aiden?”
He looked at me as if I pulled him out of deep thoughts. “Well, as long as he is healthy…” he leaned forward, placed his hand above mine that caress my belly and gave me a kiss in the forehead. “Both of you, alive, is enough for me.”
I smiled and nodded my head slowly.
“What should we name him?” Aiden asks, diverting the topic and it excites the hell out of me!
But wait,
“You always address our baby as ‘he’, what if its a girl?”
He frowned and snorted. “I know he’s a boy.” he caress my belly again. “Right, little one?” he even tickles me using his fingers!
“Aiden! I’m the one being tickled!” I laughed, pushing his hand away.
“Oh well, both of you are my little one, anyway.” he smirked.
“No way!” I laughed and he pulled me closer to him, smelling my hair. “Okay, so since its our first child, I’ll give you the right to name him or her.”
“It’s a him. And why don’t we name him together?”
I rolled my eyes. This one wouldn’t give up without a fight. “No, you name him. I’ll name our second child.”
“Hmmm…” he lowered his head and buried his head on my neck. “You haven’t given birth and you’re now thinking of making another one. You are so naughty…” he bit on my skin gently that I gasped from shock!
“Aiden!” I pushed him away and he laughed.
“Okay, I’ll name him, then.”
I looked at him as I waited. He is looking afar, hmmm, he really is thinking about it huh?
“Quillon.” he suddenly spoke after minutes. I was enjoying the movements of the water in the river that I didn’t took note of how long he gave it a thought.
“Hmm?”
“I will name our child ‘Quillon’, is that okay with you?”
I looked at him and watched as his golden-brown eyes shines so bright. He likes the name, huh?
Smiling, I said. “Quillon it is. How did you come up with that name, though?”
He smiled weakly again and looked far away. “It means something. The Guard of the Sword.”
Hmm…
“Oh.” Where did that come from, though? Oh, well. I delegate him the right to name our child so I won’t question his choice.
I looked down to my belly. “Baby Quillon… I can’t wait to see him.”
Aiden pulled me to lean on his chest and snaked his arms around me. “Hmm… Me, too.”
***
“No! Not that theme! I want to have a wild one!” Nick screamed.
Aiden and I are currently seated on the Ancestral living room together with Nick, Seth, Zynia and Ava.
Nick was planning to throw a party to celebrate my comeback and for the baby to be known by the whole pack. Not that they can’t sense I’m pregnant but Nick as he is, he’ll look for any possibility just to throw a party.
“How’s Zeke?” I whispered to Aiden as I let the others argue about the party Nick is fussing about.
I heard that Zeke is now the Alpha of the Ravenous pack and he is the one who killed Elon. Well, he is the rightful ruler of that pack since he got a pure Alpha blood in him. I’m happy for him.
“He was stubborn at first but I guess the pack grew inside him. He’s surprisingly good at ruling and he earned the respect of his people during the short time that he spent in his pack.”
I nodded. “That’s good. But why is Zynia didn’t join him to his pack?” I’m worried that it has to do anything about Zynia’s reputation as a stealer and all the tragedy that happened before might affect her.
“She’ll follow him soon but she wants to wait for you to give birth. Zynia will be your midwife or something.”
I watched as he plays with my fingers using his hands as he explains. I don’t think he ever let go of my hand even once.
Okay, maybe he misses me so much.
“Oh, I see.”
He planted a kiss on my shoulder as he continues to play with my fingers.
“Hey, aren’t you needed to the Hall or something?”
“Nah. Nick can handle it.”
As soon as Nick heard his name, he popped up in front of us, almost startled me.
“Yep! Its not that busy right now so Aiden can rest for a while.” Nick grinned at us and continued his little meeting with Seth and Ava about the party.
Is it just me or did Nick stopped whining? The Nick I knew never stop complaining about the works.
“That was weird.” I voiced out my thoughts. Maybe its not overloaded at the Hall.
Aiden sighed and buried his head on my nape this time. “Don’t mind him.” he sniffed on my hair next. “I’ve missed your scent…”
I blushed when I felt him planting small kisses on my nape. Oh, heck. Can I still undergo a heat even though I’m bulging from this pregnancy?
“Aiden…” I whimpered.
“Tsss…” he hisses, gently biting on my nape that almost made me jump. “You’re easily aroused than before. I can smell it on you…”
My eyes grew large and I looked around, afraid that everybody in the room might smell--Oh, God.
“Okay, I’m getting off of you now because you’re being naughty.” I stood up and walked away from Aiden. He chuckled but he let me go though I didn’t expect him to.
Okay, this is the first time I’m two feet away from him.
I looked back to see how he reacts when I walk away but I quickly regretted my action when Aiden stares as me with those golden-brown eyes that… drowns me.
I think I should go back to his side-
No! Oh, Ashira, here you go again! Don’t be seduced by that man!
Fuck, why am I even fighting myself over this tempting man when I’m a bursting bubble pregnant by his child!
I sighed and closed my eyes. Can I even make love to him when my belly is this big already?
“Luna.”
I jumped when I heard Zynia who I didn’t sense has walked to me already. I looked at Aiden and I saw him smirked from my reaction.
‘Was it entertaining that you can easily took my attention?’ I said through our mind-link. I know he can sense that I’m distracted by those, argh, luscious gaze.
“Hey, Z. What’s up?” I smiled to Zynia which she returned.
‘Very.’ he replied and when I look back to him, I saw how he shook his head with a huge grin on his face.
That sly!
“Well, I think its only a matter of days before you feel the contractions and labor so I wanted to talk to you about it.” Zynia smiled.
Oh. Few days…
I looked at Aiden and from how his eyes watches us, I knew he is listening.
“Sure, uh, let’s head to the kitchen? I want to grab something to eat, too.”
“Of course, let me guide you. You seems so fragile, the baby is too big to bloat your belly that much.”
We started walking towards the kitchen and Zynia held my elbow for support.
I chuckled. “Well, I do ate a lot these days. I’m always hungry.”
“That is given since the child inside your womb is requiring more as it grew, Luna.”
“So tell me, will this hurt or anything? I’m kinda nervous with the thought of giving birth.”
I’ve heard how painful it is but I can’t keep the child inside me forever, can I? I laughed at my own thought.
Zynia smiled at me. “It is painful but you can do it. There’s one way you can give birth to the child that will not be as painful, though. That’s also what I wanted to discuss to you about.”
I frowned. “Which is?”
“You can shift on your wolf, Luna Ashira. That way, it’s less harder and painful than giving birth in your human form.”
My mind wanders to the thought. Giving birth in my wolf form…
‘I’d love that!!!’ my wolf cheers in the back of my head. ‘Since I’m the one taking care of your snob little pup inside you, I want to deliver him!’ and now she sounded commanding.
But I want to do it the normal way…
I don’t know who my biological parents are, and being a wolf, I wanted my pup to remember my face and see me first. I want to experience holding my son right after taking him out to this world.
“If you wanted to shift on your wolf then during the first contraction, you needed to shift immediately and so I need to know which you prefer..” Zynia continued explaining about it and it sounded as if she is convincing me to shift but I cut her words early.
“From how you sound, I already understand that giving birth to my child will be painful,” I said, looking down at my belly as my palm caress it. “But I won’t shift, Z. I want to hold him the moment he breathed the earth’s air…”
‘Bummerrrrrr’ my wolf whines.
Zynia smiled and nodded slowly.
“No.”
Both of us turned our head to the kitchen door. I frowned when I saw Aiden walking closer to us, did he just oppose what I wanted?
He stood beside me, snaking his arms on my waist. “You will give birth on your wolf form, Ashira.” his voice is hard, stern and full of authority. I don’t understand but there is fear in his eyes.
“Aiden.” I sighed. “I’ve already decided.”
He look at me but didn’t speak. I fought his eyes with mine, not breaking the eye contact, showing him my determination with the choice I picked.
“I will leave you both to discuss this matter.” Zynia interrupted and Aiden looked at her first. “If you’ll excuse me, Luna Ashira, Alpha Aiden.”
Both of us nodded and once she exits the kitchen and joined everyone at the living room, I stand in front of Aiden who’s eyes still looking away.
“Aiden, this is not your choice.” I started. He didn’t look at me at first and I saw how his jaw clenches. This really bothers him but I can see he is not angry at me…
He didn’t respond and I know this behavior of him. He don’t want further discussion, he made up his mind and he tries to avoid talking to me about it because he fear that he will change his opposition.
I sighed and raised my hand to held his cheek, urging him to look at me.
“Hey…” Once his eyes met mine, I saw how devastated he feels. There’s something going on in that stubborn head of him again, that’s what I’m sure of. “Something is bothering you. What is it? Tell me…”
Aiden closed his eyes and took a deep sigh. I thought he will still oppose my decision but instead, he reached for my waist and pulled me closer to him. My face is buried on his chiseled chest, and I almost got distracted by his warmth and scent.
Ash, focus.
This heat caused by my pregnancy just heightened than how it already is. Sigh, I feel like a fool.
“Please…” he whispered. My eyes widened from his sudden plead. Why is he like this?
I tried getting out of his embrace, to see his face, but he just hugged me tighter. He don’t want me to see his expression…
“It’s less dangerous to give birth in wolf form. I-I don’t want to take the risk…”
I feel like crying upon hearing those words from him. No, I don’t want him to be like this. I don’t want him scared forever.
Just how can I erase the pain hiding behind your shadow, Aiden?…