What Now? Ch. 07

"I'd like to see her."

[Madeline spent quite a bit of time with birthing females.]

Sampson grunted and turned back.

They entered an overly warm room that smelled of a laboring female. The whining had increased in pitch. "Sounds like active labor."

Quietly came the reply. ''Yes. For a couple of hours. But she hasn't let me close enough to examine her."

They noticed a male in the corner near her. "Yeah. She accepts Phillip for some reason." He had been focused on his Alpha but briefly glanced their way. Blond. Young. It was strange.

Madeline took a couple of steps forward. "Madam Beta," Sharilyn warned. Ignoring her, Madeline took another step. A low growl came from behind the boxes, punctuated by whines and whimpering.

Lyssa grabbed Madeline's arm. "Careful, Mad. She could do some real damage."

Madeline never blinked, shook off the arm, and continued forward. There was a female here, trying to birth a pup. She needed comfort. She needed help. Their healer was afraid of her. Madeline would go.

Madeline rounded the boxes, listening to the growl and ignoring it. "Easy, Alpha." Sharilyn and Lyssa gaped. Madeline knelt. "I know it hurts and I seen a lot but I can't wait until Erich and I have a pup of our own." Her voice had a bit of a sing song cadence. "I want to help. Let me help you."

[Healer.] Madeline reached out, ran a hand gently over Stephanie's flank.

[You've scared your healer. I've done this before.]

"Madeline?"

"Quiet!" she hissed.

Madeline closed her eyes, listened, scented. She opened her eyes and watched over a couple of contractions. Stephanie was grimacing, grinding her teeth. This was not unexpected, with the pain of the contractions, but there was something unusual to it. Madeline raked through her memories. What was it?

Her hand slid backward, she wanted to see how dilated the Ross Alpha was. The growl increased and Stephanie's head came forward, teeth bared.

"Ok. Ok. But it'll help me help you."

Madeline continued to watch, struggling to grasp a memory. What was it? Who was it? There had been a lot. Evelina had figured it out. It was, it was... Oh, Luna. Lana.

Madeline knew what the problem was. She just had to convince the Ross Alpha. [Alpha, you're fighting the pup. You have to let him come.]

[Too hard.]

[No, it's not. Females do it all the time. Let him come. Let go.]

[Alone.]

[You're not. You have your pack, your Beta. You have Ariel, Lyssa, me.] Another contraction. [C'mon, push him out. You'll kill him. And, maybe you.]

[So hard.]

[Anything worth having is hard. You've done harder things. Survived the rogues. Became a warrior. Became Alpha.] Panting. Whining. Not enough.

What else? Aha! [You let yourself love Calvin Ross. Let his pup come.]

Stephanie stopped breathing for a second. "C'mon, Alpha. C'mon, Stephanie. Do it! Go on!"

The sound of the whining changed and Sharilyn and Lyssa started forward. "C'mon! Push!"

It was five minutes before the pup fully emerged. Squalling. Part of the amniotic sac covered its face. [A caul.] After a couple of seconds of rough breathing, Stephanie turned and began cleaning the pup.

"Congratulations, Alpha Ross. You have a fine son."

She stopped, green eyes looked into violet ones, and she gave a small nod.

Whimpering, the pup used weak legs to work himself over to his mother's teats.

*****

Madeline sat in her mate's lap. Warm. Comfortable. Surrounded by his arms and scent. He'd been meaning to talk to her but it had never seemed the right time. Erich finally realized there would never be a good time and that the conversation was probably gong to be uncomfortable.

Her head fit nicely under his as he cuddled her close. "Blossom, there's something I've been meaning to ask you about."

"Hmm?"

"There have been times, when we've been playing chase," she tensed up in his arms, "you do that. You just freeze. And smell scared. What happened to you, Madeline?" Most females were excited, aroused, when chased and grabbed by the scruff. Madeline didn't react that way. At all.

"Tell me, Blossom."

If it were possible, she seemed to make herself even smaller. He took a deep breath, trying not to growl. "Who hurt you?"

She was breathing a bit more quickly than usual. "Had kindof a boyfriend. First time was... nice enough. OK. Um..."

"It's OK. Tell me."

She burrowed against his chest. Her speech was muffled. "He wanted it. A lot. More than me. I'd try to get away from him but he'd chase me down..." Her breath hitched.

"Sh, sh, sh. You're OK. It stopped, right?"

"And she was OK?" Madeline nodded against his chest, snuffling. [Inhale, Blossom, take in my scent.] She took a deep, hitching breath. [Again.] Another breath. He felt her start to relax. He brushed his lips over the top of her head. [You're mine, Blossom. My mate. Do you know how much I love you?]

She hiccuped and he felt her smile. [You did a good thing for the Ross Alpha today.]

Erich began stroking her body, lightly, working fingers through her hair. [You've got too many clothes on for this heat.] While the den did have air conditioning, the cost kept the temperature higher than was truly comfortable. Madeline was wearing a pink camisole and a navy skirt. She rubbed her thighs together. Erich took hold of a knee and pushed one away from the other and slid his hand up her thigh, pushing material out of the way. His touch was light and she shivered, gasping.

Her scent wafted up as his fingers grazed the edge of her trimmed hair.

Erich twisted her in his arms and dipped his head, capturing a nipple through her camisole as his fingers slipped under the triangle of silk that covered the hair on her mound. She shivered again, gasping.

He sucked strongly, then bit lightly, and she moaned as his fingers slid down to her folds. Luna, she was sopping.

[Mmm. Slippery.]

The tongue next, circling on wet fabric, flicking a tight nub. Fingers stroking warm, wet, swollen folds. A caress of her swollen clit. A throaty grown. A twist of her hips.

The movement made him groan himself as she twisted against his hardened length.

More stroking. More groaning. More nibbling. Her breath stopped as he abruptly plunged two fingers into her waiting depths. She shrieked at the intrusion and bucked against his hand.

Erich curled his fingers, feeling the rippling of her muscles. The soft, spongy patch just inside her entrance. Ah, he worked that patch, flicked her clit.

Her legs started shaking and pressure, with a slight circle, had her breaking again. There were squelching noises as his fingers worked in and out of her depths.

Erich kissed her now and slid his fingers rapidly over her bud of pleasure. He swallowed her soundless shriek as she went suddenly stiff, then slack.

[Blossom?]

Breathing. Heartbeat. OK. He licked her from his fingers. Mmm.

He took her to their bed and stripped her. It had been a while since he'd managed that.

Damn.

He was good.

*****

She needed more.

She'd gotten a bit of the werewolf's blood but had used all of it up in her analyses. She'd had to repeat some tests, unfortunately, because the values were outside of the range of the assays established for human beings.

But she'd found some interesting things.

The enzyme ratios were different; some higher, some lower than those for humans. She'd found a couple whose activity she didn't know yet.

The activity of the natural killer cells was higher and there were more suppressor T cells.

The level of nitrates in the blood was higher than human and the red blood cells were a bit smaller.

It was fascinating.

But she needed more.

FIN