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Fiona snuggled into him contentedly, feeling safe and warm in his embrace.
Being with him hadn't meant that she had to give up her freedom. Just the opposite, in fact. She had never felt more alive and independent than when she was with him.
Fiona smiled at the thought as she let herself drift off to a deep sleep, knowing that she was safe and secure in the arms of the man she loved.
TWENTY-FOUR
CALLUM
SIX MONTHS LATER
"How much longer?" Callum asked.
"The baby will come when the baby comes," replied the midwife, using the same answer and exasperated tone she used the last time he’d asked.
She was a wizened, old woman with long iron-gray hair held in a tight bun and wearing a set of pink scrubs. In all of Callum’s memories, she looked exactly the same. He had no idea how old the woman was, but she had been the midwife for the pack since before he was born.
She stood on the other side of Fiona’s hospital bed. Fiona squeezed Callum’s hand tightly when he asked the question. She looked up at him with a mock glare, then grunted as another contraction hit. The tips of his fingers reddened as she squeezed through the contraction.
Callum growled until both women glared at him. There was little else in the world he hated more than hearing Fiona in pain. That he had no power to end her distress only made it worse. If she hadn’t held his hand so firmly, he'd have been pacing the room like the caged predator he was.
They had been there for hours. Callum had woken when Fiona flinched in his arms and gave a whimper as the first contractions racked her. He’d carried her to the lodge’s medical wing, running the whole way as she sleepily objected.
Thankfully, the midwife had chosen to remain close as the due date approached. Callum had banged on her door, only to have to wait for her to get up and answer. Had he not been carrying Fiona at the time, he might have gone big, bad wolf and knocked the door down.
When the old woman finally cracked the door, she pushed her thick glasses up her nose and stared between him and his pregnant mate in his arms, frowning.
“It will be some time yet, I suspect,” she said at the time. “Come back in the morning. Well, later in the morning, technically.”
Callum hadn’t accepted that. After insisting they go to the birthing room right then and there, the midwife sighed but followed orders. Not even Fiona could convince him it wasn’t time. As the hours ticked by, he realized they were both correct, but when it came to Fiona and their child, the heir to the Silver Claw pack, he would take no chances.
“The birthing room is women’s work,” the midwife said. “Maybe you could distract yourself with your duties? Leave the birthing to me and Fiona, of course.”
At those words, Fiona strengthened her hold on Callum’s hand. The midwife might want him out of the way, but not his mate. Even if he were inclined to leave, that fact would have kept him right there.
"The most important duty I have is to my mate and our child," he replied.
"I miss the old days," the midwife said, shaking her head and clicking her tongue. "If I remember right, your father celebrated your impending birth with his men. He stumbled in, reeking ofscotch and smoking a fat cigar, to meet his newborn son and heir for the first time after all the hard work was done. Back then, fathers knew their place."
"His place is with me," Fiona said as fierce as a she wolf before blinking at the midwife. "You handled Callum’s birth? What was he like as a baby?"
"Oh, yes, I did," the midwife replied, chuckling. "He didn’t want to be born. His poor mother labored for nearly an entire day. Then, when he finally decided to come out, he screamed and screamed. Quite a set of lungs on that one."
The two women laughed while Callum glared. As Alpha, he’d grown used to being in command. The wolves in his pack followed his orders to the letter. His closest subordinates knew him well enough to gauge his emotions with a glance. If he’d fixed any of them with his current glare, they’d have immediately gone silent and averted their eyes.
That didn’t work on Fiona. As much as he might have wished it did when his mate wouldn’t listen to his well-reasoned arguments, they were partners … equals. In the end, that was what he wanted and what he needed most, not a subordinate. The midwife was too old to care to kowtow to anyone, even the pack Alpha.
"An entire day?" Fiona groaned, and not from another contraction.
"Don’t worry, dear. I think you are almost there," the midwife said, patting her hand. "Your child isn’t scared to come into the world, unlike some."
"I wasn’t scared," Callum said.
It was such a stupid statement that he found himself joining Fiona and the midwife when they laughed at him. The midwife winked. She’d brought his birth up for that very reason … to distract Fiona from the contractions. With her experience, it didn’t surprise him how good she was at her job.
"I wasn’t scared." Fiona deepened her voice, mimicking Callum’s as best she could.
That took her back to laughter, but a contraction hit her and turned the giggles into a groan. The midwife hobbled to the end of the bed and peeked under the sheet. She popped her head out, nodding.
