Chapter 127 Ginny's on Bedrest
Leela crossed the threshold into the warm, bright kitchen, and the exact moment the heavy, comforting scent of Elana’s cooking hit her nose, her body finally registered that the war was over. The last microscopic drop of adrenaline evaporated from her bloodstream, leaving absolutely nothing behind but a hollow void.
The sheer, crushing exhaustion of channeling the Whisper Wind and fighting off the necrotic clay hit her like a runaway freight train. Without a single second of warning, Leela’s legs completely buckled beneath her.
"Fenn!" she gasped, her grip failing as the world tilted.
Fennigan was already moving. He lunged forward, his massive arms wrapping securely around her waist just before her knees hit the terracotta tile. It was a frantic, chaotic scramble—he was suddenly trying to support the dead weight of his collapsing mate while simultaneously keeping a firm, protective grip on the two heavy, deeply sleeping toddlers still clutched tightly to her chest.
"I've got you, I've got you," Fennigan grunted, his boots bracing against the floor as he strained to keep all three of them upright.
But before Damon or Elana could even rush forward to help take the twins, a sharp, terrified gasp echoed from the hallway right behind them.
Ginny had been trailing a few steps behind, her hand pressed tightly to her side. The cramp she had deliberately ignored on the stairs while rushing to save the twins didn't just return; it attacked her. It felt like a hot, serrated blade twisting violently in her lower abdomen, radiating outward to her lower back. Her human body, already stretched to its absolute limits carrying a wildly strong wolf pup born of Damon and Elana's concentrated Alpha bloodline, violently rebelled against the morning's sheer terror, the physical exertion, and the sudden, catastrophic drop in adrenaline.
Ginny didn't just gasp; she let out a whimpering, breathless shriek, her knees hitting the terracotta tiles hard. She doubled over completely, her fingernails digging so fiercely into her pregnant belly that her knuckles turned stark white. Her face drained of all color, turning a sickly, ashen gray as she fought for a breath that simply wouldn't come.
Jax, the pack's usually laid-back and humorous Beta, completely shattered. The absolute, blinding terror of losing his mate and their unborn pup flashed violently across his face.
"Ginny!" Jax roared, sliding to his knees across the tiles to catch her. He didn't hesitate for a single second. He scooped her up effortlessly into his arms, cradling her tightly against his chest as she cried out again—a ragged, agonizing sound that tore through the kitchen. Her fingers twisted desperately into the fabric of his shirt as another wave of severe, punishing cramps seized her uterus, tightening her stomach until it was rock-hard.
"Dad! Call Magda!" Jax yelled, his voice cracking with unfiltered panic as he rushed her toward a downstairs guest room. "Tell her it's the baby! Get her here now!"
The kitchen exploded into frantic action. Damon lunged for the pack phone, his fingers flying across the dial pad, while Elana rushed forward to carefully extract the sleeping twins from Leela and Fennigan's arms so the Alpha could carry his exhausted wife up to their bed.
When Magda, the pack's seasoned healer, finally burst through the doors of the guest room, she immediately took absolute control of the chaos.
Her first, frantic priority was the Beta's mate. Jax hovered over the bed like a terrified, pacing shadow, his hands running anxiously through his hair while Magda worked. She laid her hands flat against Ginny's tight, cramping abdomen, her palms glowing with a soft, diagnostic healing light. Ginny was sobbing softly into the pillows, her body still trembling with the aftershocks of the pain.
After several agonizing, breathless minutes of examination, the healer finally let out a long, heavy sigh of relief, the glowing light fading from her hands.
"The baby is safe, Jax. The heartbeat is strong," Magda announced, her voice steady and reassuring in the tense room.
The words caused the Beta to physically collapse into a chair beside the bed. He buried his face in his hands, his broad shoulders shaking violently with sheer, overwhelming relief. He reached out blindly, tangling his fingers with Ginny's.
Magda turned and pointed a stern, uncompromising finger at Ginny. "But your body has been pushed entirely too far, Ginny. You are human, carrying a pup with the combined Alpha bloodlines of two generations. That alone is a monumental strain. Add in the sheer panic of today, the sprinting up the stairs, and the exposure to that vile dark magic... your uterus is spasming violently in severe distress. You are not losing this pup, but as of this exact second, you are on strict, absolute bedrest until this little prince is born."
Magda leaned closer, her eyes locked onto Ginny's. "You do not lift a finger. You do not stress. You do not clean, and you do not use the stairs until this baby is ready to be born. Understood?"
Ginny, tears of relief streaming down her pale cheeks, nodded fervently, her hand resting protectively over her finally relaxing stomach. She wasn't going to argue.
With the immediate crisis averted and Ginny resting comfortably under Jax's watchful, tear-filled gaze, Magda packed up her bag and moved upstairs to turn her sharp, clinical focus to Leela.
After carefully washing the vile, foul-smelling necrotic clay from Leela’s chest and stomach—revealing the angry, bruised skin where the defensive crimson flowers had burned her—Magda ran her glowing, healing hands over the Luna's womb to check the baby's aura.
"Your elemental core is completely depleted, Luna. You practically emptied yourself to fuel that crystal," Magda scolded gently, pressing a warm, soothing palm against Leela's stomach. "I want you doing absolutely nothing but eating Elana’s heaviest, most calorie-dense meals and sleeping for the next three days. Let your magic slowly refill. The baby is perfectly insulated and unharmed, though..."
Magda paused, a small, knowing smile touching her lips as she listened to the tiny, thrumming lifeforce beneath Leela's skin. She looked up, her eyes flicking between Leela and Fennigan, who was sitting closely on the edge of the mattress holding his mate's hand.
"And by the way," Magda added casually, her smile widening as she packed up her medical bag. "From the deep, steady resonance of this heartbeat... this one is definitely a boy."
Leela’s exhausted green eyes instantly met Fennigan's golden ones. The Alpha let out a wet, breathless laugh, bringing Leela's knuckles to his lips as the name Zephyr hung perfectly, silently between them.