Lycan Prince’s Secret Baby (Moonlit Forbidden Love #1)

Chapter 25

Leah

Lina’s piercing cry ricocheted through my dream, and I bolted awake. The room was steeped in shadows, the night’s cloak still thick outside. A sliver of moonlight slipped through the heavy, earthy-toned curtains. I yawned, stretching as I went to my daughter.

“Hey, little one,” I cooed, scooping her up and quickly returning to the nest of my blankets. These days, Lina smelled like pine and wildflowers from the fragrant waters symbolizing mine and Kyle’s essences so frequently bathing her skin. I eased my breast out of my top, waiting for her to take my teat, but Lina didn’t stop crying. I checked to see if she needed changing, but the Uruk, the moss liner of her diaper, was dry.

I tried again, but she clearly wasn’t hungry, and her cries escalated. The wind outside howled furiously, flakes of snow dancing madly against the window. I wondered if its violence might be the culprit to her distress.

“It’s okay, darling,” I assured her. “ Aaka’s here.” I used the shortened goddess’s word for mother. In this moment, the weight of my Aakaga’s love felt heavy. Fierceness gripped my heart as I wanted to know what had upset her. She hadn’t suffered from any of the feverish nightmares that had first plagued her from her Warring Wolves condition for weeks. Since Kyle and I had started guarding her in our wolf forms, paired with the infusion of spirit we gave her daily, her symptoms had all but disappeared.

But I frowned as I laid the back of my palm on her brow. It was warm.

I began her lullaby, hoping that the familiar melody would soothe her. As worry thrummed through me, I sang to push away the tide of panic that was likely conjured more from the past than now.

Outside, the storm screeched, and my anxiety thickened. I turned on the bedside lamp, hoping the glow would chase away the shadow of unease growing in my mind. But the pale yellow walls seemed washed out, almost sickly. I got up as I rocked Lina in my arms, trying to find the comfort the lullaby usually evoked.

The chill of anxiety crawled deeper, penetrating my bones. I walked her over to my writing desk, glancing down at the treasures yesterday’s delivery had brought. I forced a smile. There lay kulvich, its tear drop-like flowers so delicate, and palliks. The cottony type buds were perfect for lining pillows and meant to bring good dreams. I determined to put some into Lina’s bassinet later today. She’d probably had a nightmare, that was all. Kyle had managed to obtain these obscure Shadow Moon herbs shipped out here from Alexis.

Lina’s cries grew more piercing, and I held her tighter. Her cry squeezed my heart, reawakening the dread from the first few days of her illness when she’d burned up with fever and nightmares.

My gaze went over to the herbs again as I sought to calm the rising tide of panic. I’d laid them out last night, hoping I’d get to do some sketching later today.

I will.

I was looking forward to reading up on kulvich’s properties, having never come across it.

Lina’s cries seemed as frantic as the winds roaring through the frozen valley outside, and it took everything in me to keep singing and rocking her.

My voice faltered. Each cry from Lina echoed the storm outside, and as I pressed her tighter to me, a flurry of emotion cascaded through me, threatening to swallow me whole. But then, Lina’s cries cut off, her form went limp in my arms, and the worst moment of my life replayed itself again.

In a moment, I was tearing down the hall. I burst into the witch’s room. “Lyvia! Lyvia!”

Her amber eyes snapped open, glowing like sikin stones in the dark.

“Lina’s unconscious again!” I yelled.

Lyvia’s hands took Lina, laying her down on the bed. Lyvia’s hands swept over her prostrate form, her words a low murmur as she investigated.

Even as she focused, Lyvia instructed, “Get Kyle, now.”

Of course. Kyle.

I spun on my heel, charging down the staircase. Each footfall on the creaking wood echoed my anxiety, coiling the suspense tighter around my heart.

Why is Kyle on the first floor?

He should have been put in a room next to Lina and me. Dread juddered through me, nausea spinning through me as I contemplated what our daughter might lose if we weren’t in time to help her.

I threw myself into his room. “Kyle! Kyle!” I threw myself onto his bed.

Kyle’s eyes blinked to life, confusion and sleep heavy in his voice. “Leah?”

“Hurry, it’s Lina,” I demanded, pulling him up.

In a moment, he was surging after me, following my hurried steps as we tore up the four flights of stairs. As we both hurtled into Lyvia’s bedroom, my heart stampeded with terror.

What if…?

Roman hovered at the foot of Lyvia’s bed, worry etched into his features. His bedroom was on the third floor, but I must have woken him with my hurried steps. I heard other stirrings of creaking floorboards and muffled voices about the house now. But I only had eyes for Lina.

“Lyvia? What’s happening?” I begged.

Lyvia’s incantation, usually a welcome addition, now scraped the air a little too sharply as her hands wove over the air around Lina.

“Amaraq Tuk. Igaluk, Maguruk. Auk Agaktuk. Anuyaut Aliuktuk. Tumaksrugaa .”

I told myself that it was the darkness and the thunderous wind prowling around the house that was making her tone seem urgent and sharp. But dread had its claws firmly through me, and as my friend didn’t respond but continued with her chanting, I started to shake.

Roman’s strong arms came around me, and he hauled me to his side. I clung to him, feeling as if I were going to be swept away.

The witch’s chant played over Lina’s unconscious form again and again.

Then, suddenly, Lina’s breath deepened. Tears pricked my eyes as I sensed her breathing steadying just like last time with Lyvia’s careful administrations.

“The dissonance in her blood has peaked again,” Lyvia said.

“But our infusions—” I said.

“And our wolves guarding her—” Kyle blurted out, too.

“Have helped her,” the witch said, “but the dissonance is flaring again. The spirit of one side of her is threatening to suffocate the other.” Lyvia’s golden skin was like sunlight amidst night’s heavy veil.

“Oh goddess, please don’t rob her of her wolf,” I uttered, tears stinging my eyes. “I’ll do anything!”

Lyvia’s quick eyes seemed to glow as she zeroed in on me, then turned her gaze to Kyle. “There is something—a ritual I can try. I’ve never performed it, but I know the theory. It will require your combined strength, Leah and Kyle. I can plumb the depths of your wolves and take as much as I can, magnifying it with Igaluk’s divine words.

“But I can’t pretend this won’t hurt both your bodies and your minds. This is taking more than should ever be taken from your wolves. The pain, both physical and mental, could be excruciating,” Lyvia warned.

My body vibrated with determination. “Do it,” I uttered without hesitation.

Kyle affirmed. “Yes, do it.”

His fierce voice had my eyes turning to him for the first time. His emerald stare brushed mine fiercely, too. I realized he was only wearing a pair of boxers. As we held each other’s stare, I felt the weight of everything we had endured, and for once, it felt like a promise, a promise that we could get through this challenge, too.

“Ensure Lina’s safety above anything else,” I urged the witch.

“Lina needs her parents’ psychic energy,” Lyvia continued, her voice commanding, “Roman, you’ll have to wait outside.”

I knew from the concern edging his serious features that he wanted to stay with me and Lina and, that if he thought I’d listen, he’d have urged caution. But he knew better than anyone that when it came to my protectiveness as a mother, there was nothing I wouldn’t do. Whatever it took, I’d do it for my daughter.

As Roman stepped outside, I felt the quiet settle around me—a hush amidst the fear. The magic of my wolf stirred beneath my skin, ready and waiting. She, too, was ready to give all to our little wolf.

Silvery sikin crystals began to glow about the room as Lyvia sent her magic into them. The room was bathed in moonlight, too. Lyvia added other crystals in a circle around where Kyle and I stood at the foot of the bed while Lyvia kept Lina on the bed by her.

As the ceremony began, she lit a sage stick, cleansing the room of stagnant energy. Once again, as I waited, I met Kyle’s green gaze. “She’ll be alright, Leah,” he assured me, his gaze holding me firmly.

I nodded, determination firing through me as I felt myself becoming stronger beneath the intensity of his stare as if he were gifting me some of his strength.

As usual, Lyvia instructed Kyle and me to call on our wolves’ spirits.

Our emerald and cerulean auras that had become like muscle memory were soon threading through our minds, answering immediately, and winding into Lina’s form.

Lyvia’s incantation became even sharper though as she began to chant,

“Amaraq Tuk. Igaluk, Maguruk. Auk Agaktuk. Anuyaut Aliuktuk. Tumaksrugaa . Talim Auk Taktak .”

My arms prickled with a strange sensation as if I were being pricked by devil clubs and nettles. I clenched my fists, realizing that the ritual was taking effect and that Lyvia’s warning about it causing physical and mental pain clearly hadn’t been empty.

The stinging sensation started along my face. I gasped, gritting my jaw as it tore and bristled along my body, flooding it with an uncomfortable heat and pain. Beside me, I sensed Kyle responding similarly. As my eyelids fluttered open for a moment, I noticed his scowl was even deeper than before, and his fists were clenched like mine. Although, his gaze held Lina unwaveringly.

Then, the burrowing sensation came, like thorns swirling through my veins, and I cried out in pain. My knees gave out as the pain lanced through my body. The soft sheepskin rug on the floor was welcome beneath my knees but did nothing to soothe the sensation burrowing into me as if fangs and claws were tearing at my limbs.

But then, as suddenly as the pain had come, it disappeared. I untensed from where I’d curled up on the rug. A beautiful emerald light played around me. For a moment, as I blinked open my eyes, I thought the shimmering light of the Aurora Borealis was spilling through the window. But the night was still silvery from the moon and starlight alone.

I was startled to see Kyle’s clenched fists and forearms straining against the pain I’d been suffering a moment ago.

Amidst the emerald-green light of Kyle’s aura was the scent of pine. My gaze shot to Lina, nestled in the center of Lyvia’s bed, as the witch proceeded to chant. Over Lina, too, the same light shimmered like emeralds in the night. A sweet ripple of warmth rushed through me as I realized Kyle was shielding me and Lina from any pain.

My mouth fell open as I watched sweat beading along Kyle’s forehead. He’d taken all of the pain I had been enduring, as well as his own. Kyle dropped to his knees on the rug beside me, and my arms shot out, gripping his forearm and squeezing it in an act of solidarity now that he’d shielded me from the pain.

My wolf nipped and yowled beneath my skin, hurt at the pain on our mate’s face and touched by the way he’d protected us. I ran my hands along his bare arms and shoulders, wishing I could help as the agony on Kyle’s face etched itself into deep grooves.

As he let out a deep cry of pain and dropped to the floor, my heart stampeded in shock and empathy. I ran my hands through his short, ebony hair and down his neck and back, aching for him to be okay. His sculpted jaw was clenched as if it might break. Veins threaded down his neck as if they were in danger of rupturing.

When I thought I’d scream at the agony etched on Kyle’s face, the pain shadowing his features finally melted away. His body deflated, sinking into the rug.

“Kyle, Kyle?” I called out, my heart thumping madly as I silently begged Igaluk for him to be okay.

“Are they alright?” Kyle asked, his voice distant.

They.

My heart twinged as I realized he was asking about me, too.

A sigh of relief escaped me. He was alright and talking.

“They’re both good, Kyle,” Lyvia assured him, suddenly bending down to us with Lina wrapped in her arms.

“Better than good. Lina’s healed,” she said, smiling brightly.

Once again, Lyvia seemed like the sun as she handed me my daughter, Lina’s little face, calm and composed in a peaceful slumber.

In the moonlight and with Kyle’s pine scent wafting from his sweat-slicked skin, everything felt right with the world. As the emerald hue of Kyle’s aura drifted away, and mine reached out to our daughter, too, I felt warmth and calm sing from her, the gentle hum of her favorite song drifting from her.

“The rhythm of nature will cradle your soul,

In the embrace of the night, you will be whole.”

The final verse seemed to have the ring of prophecy about it, and I clasped her tight to me. Lina was healed.

“She’ll no longer need the energy transfers,” Lyvia continued.

Kyle lay on his back, his chest slowly easing as his breath and heartbeat began to steady. He didn’t open his eyes, and my heart clenched as I looked worriedly at Lyvia.

The witch’s hand swept over Kyle’s brow, and his eyelids fluttered but didn’t open as if he didn’t have the strength. “You’ll be okay, too, Kyle. You just expended an awesome amount of energy. You’ll likely sleep for days.”

A surge of thankfulness went through me, and I let out the breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. The fact that Kyle had taken all of my pain on his shoulders weighed on me.

“How about we put him in my bed so that he can sleep?” Lyvia asked me.

I nodded. “I’ll get Roman to help him up.”

In a moment, Roman had helped Kyle up and into bed. And as Kyle fell into an exhausted slumber, and even as I lingered, allowing Lina’s sleeping form to rest beside Kyle as he fell into a contented sleep, I felt myself letting go of the bond we’d forged over the last month.

Lyvia was right about Kyle needing rest. It was another five days before he was up and about again. I’d visited him with Lina over his convalescence so that he could see Lina and enjoy her being in full health. But I began to distance myself now that he was better. I asked Lyvia instead to take Lina to spend time with her father, purposefully withdrawing from Kyle.

I knew that putting space between us and ending spending time together was the only way that I could be strong enough to do what needed doing and cut the mate bond. I would always appreciate what Kyle had done for Lina in the ritual, but it didn’t change things. Our mate bond was still a challenge and something I needed to overcome and finally put in the past where it belonged. Yet, the first few days were harder than I expected. It wasn’t until I was forced to go without that I realized how accustomed I’d grown to being surrounded by Kyle’s pine scent and the intimate touch of his warm hands as he plaited my hair or his wolf pressed against mine.

One evening after just having got Lina to sleep, I settled myself down to catch up on sleep. It was early, but I had a feeling she’d be up again throughout the night so it was likely best to get some shut eye. But it seemed as if my eyes had only just closed when the feel of Kyle’s lips on mine and his musky pine scent enveloped me. The feeling of his hands caressing my breasts and trailing down my body shuddered through me.

Then, I startled awake, heat flushing over my skin. I realized I’d been dreaming about him. Again. This deep want in my soul was conjuring all sorts of fantasies.

“Palliks,” I muttered. The cottony buds had dried out, and although I had intended to fill Lina’s bassinet with them, I thought my need, currently, seemed greater than my daughter’s.

But that wasn’t exactly a bad dream, was it?

Ignoring my own maddening reflection, I went to my desk to get the buds, returning to my pillow and stuffing them in.

“Hey, thought I might find you here,” Roman said as he let himself into my room.

“Well, it is my room,” I grumbled.

“Someone needs her beauty sleep.”

“I’m trying. Lina was up a lot last night,” I complained, focusing on that rather than on sharing the real reason I hadn’t succeeded in catching up on my sleep.

“Oh, I thought you might be avoiding the greenhouse and kitchen again because you were avoiding a certain person,” Roman said.

“It’s not avoiding,” I complained. “It’s re-establishing healthy boundaries.”

“Want a tea?” Roman asked as he went over to the thermos on my writing desk.

Okay, clearly, I’m not getting more sleep.

Roman had that reflective look on his face. I knew he had something on his mind. “Sure.”

As we settled into the window seat with a steaming cup of vanilla, hibiscus, and sigla tea in hand, I felt the comfort of some of my usual routine settling back into my life. Before Kyle had arrived here and came into my life again, Roman, Lyvia, and the rest of the pack had been the only friends and support I’d needed. My life and Lina’s had felt tranquil and safe. With more moments like this, I could find the same peace I’d had before.

But Roman’s voice disturbed the semblance of tranquility almost immediately. “ Nuka , I need to make sure that you’re a hundred percent certain about your decision to sever your bond with Kyle.”

I was startled, and defensiveness made me lean on humor. “Let me guess, Kyle’s impressed you like all the other warriors in the ring with his Shadow Moon moves?”

Roman huffed a laugh. “More like his clear sense of love and protectiveness toward both you and Lina. The pain of that ritual could have damaged him and his wolf for good, but he did it without hesitation.”

The memory of the way Kyle had selflessly acted during the ritual tore through me—his face strained in agony as he’d taken all the pain that ricocheted through my body, sweat bathing his face, his fists clenched as he endured it all for Lina and me.

Defiance flared through me. “So, I’m meant to run into his arms now because of the recklessness he took on?”

Roman’s azure stare watched me discerningly. “No, of course not. But you should be honest with yourself, Leah. If there’s any chance that you feel a similar strength of love for Kyle, then you should consider whether severing such a bond is the right call.”

Roman sighed. “I’m only saying this as I’d hate to see you suffer anything like the sort of pain I have. Being separated from one’s mate when there’s love is its own particular kind of torture. I wouldn’t want you to suffer that pain. If there’s even a chance that there’s love between you both, I want you to think about whether severing your bond is the right decision. Perhaps you could give Kyle and yourself another chance?”

I frowned, my heart hammering at the idea, half afraid to even contemplate it, the other half already thrilling as my dream from earlier replayed itself through my mind.

But before I could answer Roman, a knock sounded on my door. “Apparently, it’s all drop in on Leah night,” I grumbled as I went to the door.