Chapter 434 Ezra

Chapter 434 Ezra
Ezra - The Birth Part 2

I hear Kuro before I hear the footsteps.

One long, broken howl tears through the Institute, faint through several floors of stone but unmistakable enough that every thought in my head simply stops.

The councilman speaking across the table keeps talking for perhaps another second.

I don't hear a word.

Because I know that sound.

I've heard Kuro angry.

I've heard him territorial, excited, irritated, hungry.

I've heard the enormous fox make sounds that send fully trained warriors reaching for their weapons.

I've never heard him sound afraid.

My chair crashes backward.

"Ezra?"

I'm already running.

I don't excuse myself.

Don't end the meeting.

Some instinct buried so deeply inside me that it feels older than thought itself is screaming one thing.

Avery.

The council chamber doors slam into the walls when my shadows hit them before I do, and I tear into the corridor at a speed that sends two passing warriors stumbling backward.

Someone is running toward me.

A healer, I think.

Or a guard.

"Lord Verrath—"

I don't stop.

"What happened?"

"Lady Verrath, she—"

That's all I hear.

My shadows explode around me.

They streak along the walls and ceiling as I run, turning the corridor dark, reacting to the terror I can no longer contain.

I left her for an hour.

One fucking hour.

She was in bed.

Luke was with her.

There were healers checking on her.

She was safe.

She was supposed to be safe.

Another howl shakes the halls.

Then I hear her scream.

Even from here.

Even through stone.

Avery.

My heart nearly fucking stops.

I run faster.

Footsteps thunder from another corridor and Damien appears at the intersection ahead, white hair disheveled, silver eyes already glowing, his face transformed into something vicious with panic.

"What the fuck happened?"

"I don't know."

Rowan comes from the opposite direction seconds later.

He doesn't ask.

He must hear her too.

The three of us reach the stairs at almost exactly the same time and take them so quickly I don't remember touching half of them, Damien jumping the last several entirely while Rowan nearly tears the railing from the wall using it to propel himself around the corner.

Another scream.

Higher this time.

Broken.

"Fuck."

Damien reaches the Verrath wing first.

Kuro is howling inside Avery's room.

People are shouting.

Luke's voice rises above them.

Then hers.

I slam through the doorway.

And everything inside me turns to ice.

There are healers everywhere.

Four.

Five.

I don't fucking know.

Luke stands near the bed looking completely panicked, his usual composure gone, his face white as he tries to stay out of the healers' way while refusing to move farther from Avery than necessary.

And Avery—

Gods.

"Avery."

She's curled around her stomach.

Her beautiful face is almost colorless.

Sweat has plastered strands of golden hair to her forehead and neck, her lips are white, and she's shaking so violently that the entire bed moves beneath her.

Her belly—

Her belly is moving.

Not the gentle shifting I've spent months watching beneath my palm.

Not a foot pressing outward.

Something violent.

Something wrong.

The skin seems to distort beneath her nightgown as our children move inside her.

"What the fuck is happening?"

Nobody answers Damien quickly enough.

He grabs the nearest healer by the arm.

"What is happening to my wife?"

"They need to come out."

The room stops.

I stare at her.

"What?"

The healer pulls free and moves back toward Avery.

"The babies. We need to deliver them immediately."

"They're early."

I don't know why I say it.

Of course they're early.

A month.

They're supposed to have another month.

"We know."

"Then why—"

"Her body can't contain them anymore."

Cold spreads through me.

The healer looks at all three of us.

"They're growing too strong."

Avery screams again.

I move.

I don't even realize I've crossed the room until I'm beside her.

Her fingers find mine.

They squeeze so hard they hurt.

Good.

Let them.

Break every fucking bone in my hand.

I don't care.

"I'm here."

Her eyes find me, unfocused and glassy.

"Ez—"

"I know."

I push her wet hair away from her face.

"I'm here, Princess. We're all here."

Damien is on her other side now.

Rowan stands at the foot of the bed, staring at her stomach with absolute horror.

The healer says something behind me.

"Tearing."

My head snaps toward her.

"What?"

"Their magic, their strength—we think they're tearing through muscle. Possibly damaging her internally. We can't wait."

Avery whimpers.

My entire body goes cold.

"Then get them out."

"We're preparing—"

"Now."

"Ezra—"

"Get them out of her."

Another movement rolls violently through her belly.

Then—

Crack.

The sound is small.

Horribly small.

But every person in the room hears it.

Avery's eyes go wide.

For half a heartbeat she doesn't make a sound.

Then a strangled scream tears out of her.

Damien's face changes.

"What was that?"

One healer's hands glow over Avery's side.

Her expression drains.

"Rib."

No.

No, no—

"Avery?"

Her grip disappears from my hand.

Her eyes roll closed.

Her body goes completely limp.

"Avery."

Nothing.

"Avery!"

I grab her face.

Her head rolls weakly toward me.

"Avery, open your eyes."

Nothing.

Damien roars.

The sound barely resembles anything human.

His canines have descended completely now, silver flooding his eyes until there is almost nothing else left, his claws cutting into his own palms as he turns on the healers.

"GET THEM OUT!"

"Commander—"

"GET THEM OUT OF HER BEFORE I FUCKING DO IT MYSELF!"

The room trembles.

Actually trembles.

Something cracks beneath Damien's boot.

Rowan's voice doesn't come.

His hands do.

Fast.

Violent.

Take it off.

I stare at him.

His eyes are burning.

Not metaphorically.

Gold-red light flickers behind them, fire crawling beneath his skin as his hands move again.

Of course.

The muzzle.

Fuck.

I move immediately.

Damien understands at the same moment.

We reach Rowan together.

For months, we've allowed him more freedom with it. Avery, Damien or I can remove it when he asks, provided he's levelheaded enough to control what comes afterward.

I don't know if any of us are levelheaded now.

I don't care.

If something goes wrong—

If Avery starts bleeding.

If one of the babies doesn't breathe.

If her heart stops.

Rowan's voice may be the only thing in this world capable of changing it.

Damien's hands shake as we release the locks.

Mine don't.

That frightens me more.

I recite the words.

The ancient mechanisms give.

The muzzle falls.

It hits the stone with a heavy metallic crash.

Rowan sucks in a breath.

His jaw clenches as he looks at Avery.

He says nothing.

Not yet.

He's saving his voice.

For her.

For our babies.

For whatever comes next.

"Move," one of the healers orders.

We do.

Barely.

More people rush into the room carrying towels, instruments, bottles of glowing liquid.

Someone pulls a screen around part of the bed.

Someone else starts cutting away Avery's nightgown.

Kuro growls at them until Damien grabs the enormous fox by the scruff.

"They're helping her."

Kuro whines.

"I know."

Damien's voice breaks.

"I fucking know."

The fox lowers himself beside the bed but doesn't take his eyes off Avery.

Neither do I.

I can't.

Her chest is still rising.

That's all I can see.

She's alive.

"Ezra."

A healer stands in front of me.

I realize she's been speaking.

"What?"

"We're going to deliver them now."

"Okay."

"We don't know what will happen."

My stomach drops.

"What does that mean?"

"They're demi-gods developing inside a body that wasn't born demi-god. We've never delivered children under these circumstances, much less three at once."

I stare at her.

"Save her."

Her expression changes.

"And the babies?"

My throat closes.

Gods.

Don't ask me that.

Don't fucking ask me that.

I look down at Avery.

My wife.

My mate.

The woman who walked into a diner and somehow became the center of an immortal life that had existed for more than a century before her.

The mother of my children.

"All of them."

My voice breaks.

"Please."

The healer nods.

"We'll do everything we can."

Damien takes Avery's limp hand.

I take the other.

Rowan stands directly behind us, free of his muzzle, every muscle in his body rigid as he waits for the moment someone might need his voice to perform another miracle.

The healers move around us.

Quickly.

Purposefully.

One places glowing hands over Avery's stomach.

Another checks the babies.

A third looks toward the others and nods.

"Ready?"

My shadows crawl across the floor.

Damien's claws remain buried in his palms.

Fire burns quietly between Rowan's fingers.

Three terrified men who have faced monsters, wars and centuries of bloodshed stand completely fucking helpless around one tiny woman.

I bring Avery's hand to my mouth.

I kiss her knuckles.

"Stay with me, Princess."

Her fingers don't move.

I kiss them again.

"You promised me eternity."

The healer draws a breath.

"Alright."

Everyone moves.

"Let's get these babies out."