47
~Arian Storm~
My eyes closely watched my daughter's every little movement in the incubator. She had so many similarities to her beautiful mom.
She couldn't take her eyes off our little miracle either.
My gaze slid to Lou.
Her eyes literally shone and you could not tell from her alert, excited appearance that she had just had a life-threatening operation. she was strong So much stronger than I could ever be. Maybe not physically, but mentally.
How glad I am to have her now.
Our way here was difficult and shadowed by a lot of despair, but still we are standing here next to our very own puppy.
And I wouldn't give my little family back for anything in the world.
How stupid I was that I wanted to throw it all away at first. Out of fear. Because nothing more was hidden behind pure egoism and the striving for strength.
I was afraid.
Fear I encountered yesterday when I almost lost her life. When I told Linus of my decision to put Mathilda first, they took Lou to the operating room and I thought I'd never see her again.
That was hell.
But she survived and showed me her will to live and to want to get to know our puppy. She was so incredibly strong...
And after hours of waiting and uncertainty, a message finally came from the OR.
Lou was alive and my daughter was fine too.
A daughter. When I was told that, I didn't care. I didn't care that I would have liked to have had a son to secure the alpha succession. I didn't give a fuck. All that mattered was that both were alive. And they were.
Only the present mattered now.
At some point Lou noticed that I was looking at her and returned my gaze. She gave me an overjoyed smile and tears of joy welled up in her eyes again.
She was happy and so was I.
So damn happy.
"I love you both so much, dammit." With that, I gently pulled Lou off the chair to hug her from behind and continue to give my attention to the little worm in the incubator.
This moment should ideally last forever, but after what felt like hours in which we just stood there with Lou supported by me, I noticed that she was running out of strength.
Of course, she had an exhausting operation behind her. She should rest.
"Come on Lou, let's take you back." I whispered into her ear from behind and kissed her shortly afterwards.
"What? No!" she immediately protested when I wanted to take her back. "I want to stay here."
"I know. But you need to rest so you can come back here tomorrow. You also need rest, my angel." With that, I lifted her up again in bridal style and made my way back to her room.
"But I have to take care of Mathilda." She still fought in my grip, which caused her visible pain from her fresh surgical scar, because she kept wrinkling her eyebrows in agony."Don't worry, I'll take care of her." I tried to calm her down.
"Promise?" She looked up at me with wide eyes.
"Yes, I promise." I assured her.
With that, I brought her back to her own bed and laid her down gently. To make her comfortable, I pulled the covers up over her chest and gave her a loving kiss on the forehead.
"I love you," I told her. So much had happened by now that I felt the need to tell her how I felt over and over again. It just felt so right.
All these detours we made were maybe unnecessary, but somehow I needed all of it so that my feelings for her could just grow even more. And through the mate connection, I felt that she felt exactly the same as I did.
But a new love had grown up in both of us. A very young but profound one dedicated solely to our little daughter.
"I love you too." You could clearly hear Lou's voice how exhausted she was. She was tired and you could tell when she fell into a deep sleep shortly afterwards.
I kissed her again, only this time on the top of her head. I pulled her duvet up a bit more so that she was warm too.
Afterwards, to keep my promise, I went back to my daughter's isolation room, where she was still sleeping peacefully.
For a long time I guarded her every single breath. I still can't believe myself that I was the one who fathered this little creature. A very special creature with heartbeat and soul.
A wonder of this world.
"Arian?" My beta hooked into the mindlink to contact me. "Would you like to come out for a moment? Anna and I are at the door."
Although I didn't want to do anything other than watch Mathilda being there, my head turned to the pane in front of which the two were really standing. Anna immediately waved at me with a smile.
I nodded to them and, glancing at Mathilda again to make sure she was still breathing, I made my way out the door, where I then began removing all of this protective clothing.
"Congratulations, Arian." Seb pulled me into a brotherly hug. "And you're a dad yourself." He let go of me and grinned.
I nodded proudly and happily. Who could blame me? Because now I could proudly say that this little beauty is my daughter.
"Well you soon too." I slipped out so that Seb looked confused at me and then at his mate.
"Wha-?" he wanted to ask, but Anna, who was frantically working on a neutral facial expression, interrupted him by changing the subject.
"How is Lou?" Anna immediately inquired about her friend. "We just got word yesterday that you gave birth to a healthy baby daughter, but nothing on how Lou is doing."
"Don't worry, she's fine under the circumstances." I smiled again when I thought of my strong mate who, despite the pain, only wanted to see her puppy. When it came to Mathilda, she didn't care.
"Oh thank the goddess. I thought... When Seb told me what happened, I almost freaked out." Anna really was much more relaxed. "So and now I want to get to know the little alpha daughter!"
Anna grabbed a smock and a hood. Faster than I could see, she entered the room, which made me growl loudly. My protective instinct almost went berserk when the she-wolf, a stranger to Mathilda, stood next to the incubator.
Without my own protective clothing, I wanted to enter the room and pull her away from my still much too weak and small puppy, but Seb grabbed my arm and growled at me as well.
"Leave her!" he blurted out warningly, for which I wanted to smack him.
Who is he that he wants to give me orders?
Nevertheless, I noticed that his own protective instinct was playing on the wheel and let it stay with a swallow. I knew why.
I had to calm my wolf down. Anna doesn't hurt her...
Just as I'd calmed down a little, the next female wolf in protective gear pushed past me. What was going on here? What does everyone want from my puppy?
A short time later, Zara was standing next to Anna in the room and they both looked down at the newborn puppy in love.
"Sorry Aryan. Unfortunately I couldn't stop her when she found out that Lou had her puppy. I'm glad I even managed to hold her back for at least a few hours." Alex appeared next to me and Sebastian and patted me on the shoulder.
"As long as they don't bring illnesses to my little one..." I grumbled dissatisfied.
Why were women so excited about strangers' babies? I know my daughter is and will be beautiful, but she doesn't need to be stared at like an animal at the zoo.
At least it was only Zara and Anna, but I certainly won't let the boys near them!
"So what do you mean I'm going to be a dad soon too?" Seb asked again while I swallowed nervously.
The girls are gonna kill me like this.
"Just like I said," I said way too calmly and in a lower voice than normal. If Anna complains to my mate, I'm so dead.
"Like me? Fuck!" my beta stammered. When I turned my head to him and raised an eyebrow questioningly, he started beaming. "Great! Anna is pregnant?"
I nodded.
"Dude, I'm going to be a father." He said happily and couldn't hold back his beaming grin.
"What did I miss?" Alex cut in, glancing between us questioningly.
I just smiled and shook my head. My eyes fell on Luan, who had just walked through the ward door.
When he saw us he stopped and a small sincere smile played around his lips.
I haven't seen him smile honestly in a long time.
It was just like old times, only with the difference that my daughter is lying in the incubator behind the pane. If Luan's mate were still here and mine fully rested and recovered, everything would be perfect.
