Bonus 1

Clay’s P.O.V

“You have to calm down.” Riley told me as he placed a hand on my shoulders. “If you keep pacing like this, you’ll create a crater.”

I gave him a nervous smile, not in the mood for jokes or laughter.

Flora’s water had broken this morning at the crack of dawn and she had been in pain ever since. Mercy had told me that since she was birthing twins, the birth might be a difficult process. But now that I could hear Flora’s screams from outside the room, I wanted to break down the doors and reach for my mate, to erase the cause of her pain.

Only, this time…the cause of her pain was our children.

Twin births were very rare in wolves and the fact that we had only found out after six months of her pregnancy, it was a risk in itself.

“Yeah…” I took a seat outside the birthing room, just so Riley and Dorothy wouldn’t worry, but I was extremely restless and nervous. Malachi on the other hand, looked extremely calm as he leaned on the opposite wall, making me feel even more nervous about the childbirth.

Emma, Daphne and Ezra, along with the healer were inside the room, helping Flora, but it wasn’t the first time that I wanted to go inside the room, stand next to Flora and tell her everything was going to be alright.

“It’s best if you do not enter.” Malachi told me as he took a seat next to me. “It’s best this way.”

“Why?” I asked, a bit rudely. But I wasn’t in any mind to apologize when he had been the one to drag me back countless times as I tried to enter.

Malachi gave me a laugh and a clap on the back as he shook his head. “Trust me, I had been there during Ezra’s childbirth and I had panicked at almost everything. I remember fainting as soon as I saw our child’s head.”

I looked at Malachi with wide eyes. Malachi fainted? And a child’s head…coming out of…

A shiver ran down my spine and I closed my eyes to avoid imagining the scenario. No. I don’t think I had it in me to witness that. Even the thought of seeing a child come out of Flora was stressing me out to the point where I too felt light-headed.

A sudden cry of a child coming from the room brought me back to the present and I stood up from the chair, along with everyone else.

The cries continued for several minutes before it went quiet, while I stood with teeth-gritting control, my hands balled into fists by my side. They were here. My children…Flora’s children…

I shifted from foot to foot when no one came out of the room immediately. My heart was beating so fast that I thought it might burst out of my chest and I could feel perspiration bead my forehead.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity later, the door to the birthing room opened and Ezra came out with slow, measured steps, holding two bundles in each arm.

“Clay…come hold your daughters.” She urged with a radiant smile.

“Daughters…” I whispered, feeling my heart about to burst out of my chest.

Flora and I had opted not to know the gender of our children until childbirth, but deep in my heart, I had always wanted to have a daughter. Now I had two precious miracles that Flora and I created together.

Ezra handed me my children with extreme stealth and I held my precious treasures in each arm, scared out of my life at how delicate and tiny they were, almost weightless in my arms. I looked down at their precious faces for the first time, one at a time and found my heart expanding to make even more space to love my daughters.

On my right hand, was my daughter with dark copper hair and she was looking up at me with her blue eyes filled with curiosity, as if she wanted answers for everything she saw. On my left hand, my daughter had golden hair and her eyes were closed as she slept peacefully, snuggled up in the swaddles that kept them warm. They looked the same, except for the hair and the eyes. They truly were twins.

Looking at them, I felt fiercely protective and I knew that I would never let anything happen to them, ever. I would be their shield, their guide and their protector. I would be everything they would ever need me to be. If they ever asked, I would lay the world at their feet and anyone who dared to make a single tear fall from their eyes, would pay with their life.

I didn’t know if every father felt this way about their daughter, but my daughters would always have me by their side. Always.

I felt my eyes haze over with tears and I blinked them back immediately. Looking up at Ezra, I asked in a hoarse voice if I could go see Flora, my voice thick with emotions.

“Yes.” She gave me a warm smile. “I’ll ask the others to give you some privacy.”

A couple minutes later, everyone came out of the room and I was finally allowed to go in. Entering the room, I shut the door with my leg to give us privacy. Everyone else could wait; this was my time with my family.

Flora was lying peacefully on the bed, drenched in perspiration. There were blood stains on her arms, but I had a feeling she was alright now. Mercy had been here for a reason.

“Hey,” she opened tired eyes as soon as she saw me coming and held out her hand.

Carefully, I placed my golden haired daughter on her chest and Flora wrapped her arms around our baby immediately.

“Thank you.” I wiped the sweat from her forehead and tucked her wet hair behind her ears. “Thank you.”

“No,” she shook her head, a small smile on her lips. “We made them together. Our daughters are a part of both of us.”

“Yes,” I rubbed my thumb on my baby’s forehead and the sleepy baby made a tiny noise that sounded like a protest.

“Then I guess we don’t have to choose anymore.” Flora gave me her warmest smile, taking away all my worries with it. “Cyrene and Celena.”

“Yes.” I looked down at my daughter, her hair a dark copper and her eyes a beautiful blue. “Cyrene, my little huntress.”

“And Celena, my moon.” Flora kissed our daughter’s forehead.

“I have a feeling they are going to give us a lot of trouble growing up.” Looking down at the mischievous eyes, I could already tell Cyrene would be the biggest troublemaker. Her eyes were too curious, too energetic, and she only set foot into this world a few minutes ago.

“Oh, I’m betting on it.” Flora laughed. “And I’m looking forward to it.”

“Yes.”

Finally, my family was complete. Flora and I were happy and proud parents of two daughters. Life was finally giving us the happiness we deserved, the happiness that was hard earned.

And no matter what happens, we would all move forward, together.