For one second, it looked like he might break through all reason and go inside anyway.
Then Asael stepped closer. "My king, the west side needs you."
Luca also looked at Kian, his face tense. "We’ll protect the inner passage."
Shelia swallowed and forced herself to speak. "Brother, she would want you to go."
That did it.
Kian closed his eyes for one breath. When he opened them again, the king had taken over the man who wanted to stay.
"Asael," he said. "With ."
Asael nodded at once.
"Luca, guard this passage. No one enters without Zyran’s approval. If anyone forces their way in, kill first."
Luca straightened imdiately. "Yes."
Kian looked at Osiris. "You co too."
Osiris looked toward the birth room, then toward the outer corridor. His face twisted with worry and anger. "But Isabella..."
"Will be safer if the enemy never reaches this hall," Kian said coldly.
Osiris’s fire flared. "Then I’ll make sure they don’t."
Valen pressed Ophelia gently toward the wall and said, "Stay here with Shelia. I’ll help keep the inner hall clear."
Ophelia looked like she wanted to protest, but Valen’s eyes were already serious. She could only nod, though her fingers clung to him for one extra breath before letting go.
Kian turned and strode down the corridor.
Asael followed him at once. Osiris followed too, his steps full of heat and barely held rage. The guard ran ahead to guide them, and the sound of their footsteps faded into the noise beyond the palace.
Zyran stayed.
He watched them go with red eyes that looked darker than usual, then turned back toward the birth room door. His hand lifted slightly, and black power gathered around his fingers. It did not spread into the room. It spread along the corridor instead, thin and silent, like a trap waiting under the stone.
"Nothing gets close," he said quietly.
No one argued.
Inside the room, Isabella could feel that sothing had changed outside.
She did not know the full thing, but she knew enough. Beast people were bad at hiding danger from a woman in labor because every sound outside beca sharper when one was trapped inside pain. She heard footsteps running. She heard muffled voices. She heard the kind of movent that did not belong to normal worry.
An attack.
It had to be.
But no one ca in to tell her.
That ant they were hiding it so she would not panic.
Honestly, that was sweet.
It was also annoying.
But another pain rose before she could think too deeply about it.
This one was so strong that her whole body shook. Her hands grabbed at Cyrus, and when her fingers found his arm, she held on with all the strength she had left.
"Cyrus," she cried.
"I’m here," he said imdiately, though his own voice was strained. "I’m here. Hold . Bite if you need to."
She did.
She truly did.
The next wave was so violent that Isabella leaned forward and bit down on his arm before she even fully realized what she was doing. Her teeth sank into his skin, and the taste of him filled her mouth a second later.
Blood.
Cyrus’s blood.
He stiffened at once, but he did not pull away. He did not even make a sound. His jaw tightened, and his pink eyes lowered to where her teeth were pressed into his arm, but all he did was shift closer so she would not have to reach.
The older woman’s eyes widened slightly. "Male..."
"She can bite," Cyrus said through clenched teeth. "Do not stop her."
Isabella’s scream turned into a broken sob against his skin.
She could taste his blood now. Warm, tallic, and strange. At first, it only shocked her. Then sothing moved inside her body.
The change was small at first.
A pulse.
A heated pull.
Then the mating mark on her chest burned.
Isabella froze for half a breath even while the pain continued rolling through her.
Cyrus felt it too.
His eyes widened.
Because the mont his blood touched her tongue, sothing answered inside her. The demonic heat that he had been fighting all day moved differently. It did not rise like a wild fla anymore. It turned toward him. Toward his blood. Toward the bond between them.
His arm was still in her mouth, but his other hand imdiately moved to her stomach. "Isabella?"
She released him with a gasp, blood still faint on her lips. "What was that?"
"I felt it too," he said.
His voice was low and shaken.
The older woman did not understand what they were speaking of, but she saw that Isabella’s breathing had changed and moved quickly. "The next pain is coming. Focus on her now. Whatever it is, use it if it helps."
Cyrus looked like he wanted to split himself into ten pieces.
One part needed to watch the birth.
One part needed to suppress the blood.
One part needed to understand why his own blood had suddenly made the babies respond.
One part wanted to run outside and make sure the attack did not reach her.
But Isabella grabbed his hand again, and that grounded him faster than anything else.
"Don’t go," she whispered, as if she had read his mind.
His face changed instantly.
"I won’t," he said. "I won’t leave you."
He looked toward the door only once.
The noise outside was growing. He could hear shouting now. tal hitting stone. Beast roars. Fire sowhere in the distance. Every instinct in him wanted to know if the danger was close, but Isabella’s hand was in his, her body was shaking, and their children were still trapped between birth and whatever strange bloodline held them back.
He stayed.
He saved his power now, using only small careful touches when the demonic heat rose too high. If the enemy broke through, he would need enough strength to protect the room. If the birth turned worse again, he would need enough strength to keep Isabella alive until the safe delivery power finished what it had promised.
The two won worked faster.
The younger woman changed the damp cloth beneath Isabella and brought more warm water from the pot near the fire. Her hands shook once, but the older woman gave her a look, and she steadied herself at once. They wiped Isabella’s face, helped her shift, and checked her again. The older woman’s face grew more tense each ti.
"She is ready," the woman said. "The body is ready, but the children are resisting."
Isabella almost cried from frustration. "How can unborn babies resist? They have never even paid rent."
The younger woman looked confused.
Cyrus almost laughed and almost broke at the sa ti.
Glimora was still beside the bed.
The little white beast had been calm for a long ti, but now she was trembling. Her ears were pressed low, her eyes were wet and wide, and every ti Isabella cried out, Glimora made a small wounded sound in her throat. She wanted to help. That much was obvious. But she did not know how, so she only pressed her small body against the fur near Isabella’s hip and stayed close enough for Isabella’s fingers to brush her head whenever she had the strength.
Isabella saw her through half-blurred eyes and whispered, "I’m okay, baby."
Glimora did not seem convinced.
The next pain ca.
Isabella pushed when the older woman told her to push. She pushed until her whole body shook. She cried. She scread. She cursed. She clung to Cyrus, then bit his hand this ti when the pain beca too much again. Cyrus let her. His blood touched her tongue again, and the sa strange pull moved through her body. Stronger this ti.
The mating mark on her chest burned hotter.
Cyrus’s breath caught.
The babies moved.
Not downward enough.
But they moved.
Isabella felt it.
She frowned through tears and pain because the feeling was too strange to ignore.
"Cyrus," she gasped. "Your blood..."
He looked at her with wide eyes. "I know."
The older woman looked between them. "What blood?"
Isabella could barely answer.
At that exact mont, a familiar chi sounded in her mind.
Then Bubu appeared in front of her.
The small glowing system floated near the side of the bed with the calm expression of sothing that had absolutely no sense of timing and even less sha. It looked at Isabella directly while she was sweating, crying, bleeding, and one breath away from trying to murder anything that annoyed her.
Isabella stared at it.
If she had enough strength, she would have thrown the nearest clay cup at its glowing face.
Bubu continued brightly.
{Yes. You need his blood. That is what you need.}
User Comments
0 comments from readers