Page 84 of His Treasured Mate

“Looks like it.”

“Please?”

She nodded in understanding and took my newborn daughter. The child wailed as Peyton whisked her away with a team of nurses following.

Lily's face filled with pain. I desperately wanted to reach her, but there was some sort of block between our bond. I didn’t understand it. I couldn't feel her pain fully when in labor. It was like magic. Any other time if she got so much as a paper cut, I seemed to feel every second of it, but not this. And even though I'd been able to communicate with her just a moment ago, she was blocking me out of her thoughts now.

I wished I could take her pain away and bear it myself.

“No, you don't,” she said through gritted teeth.

“What?”

“You don't want this pain. It's mine to bear.”

Sam nodded encouragingly as he kept working. I knew it couldn't be good. The baby shouldn’t be stuck in there like this for so long.

“Clear,” Sam finally announced, relief evident on his face. “One big push.”

She grabbed my hand and bared down.

The tiniest baby I'd ever seen shot from her. He was an unnatural shade of blue and didn’t look quite right.

“It's a boy,” I whispered in my shock.

The room was deadly quiet.

“No, no, no,” Sam said as he started clearing the babies mouth and pressing on his little chest with two fingers.

“What's wrong? Thomas, what's wrong?”

I didn’t know how to respond. We'd lost one child to miscarriage and it had nearly destroyed her. We couldn't lose another child.

As panic started to set in, a pitiful little cry sounded and I saw the baby wiggle.

“He's struggling. Nurses, get him into NICU and stabilize him quickly.” The baby wrapped his finger around Sam's and held on. He smiled down at him. “He's strong, a fighter. The next few days will be critical.”

Lily started to cry. “Can I hold him?”

Sam nodded and passed my son to my mate.

My son.

I had a son.

I had an heir.

Lily

Chapter 21

Fourteen agonizing days passed in a blur of machines and humans. I hated every second it. Combine that with the worries and fears of watching my baby struggle all while juggling the demands of his twin sister and life with a newborn, and I was a complete and total mess.

I'd been cleared to return home within twenty-four hours of delivering, but that meant leaving one of my babies behind. Terra was perfect. She was born without any issues at all. The humans couldn't believe it, but she was okay to go home with me.

I refused.

There was no way I was going to leave one of my babies there. I just couldn't. So despite the complaints and the enormous cost, I simply refused to leave as long as he needed to be there.