A Cold Wind Blows (Forgotten series, #3)

Chapter 21

A week later

I wasn't entirely sure how to feel with the situation I had gotten myself into. I was so used to condemning mates, refusing the very thought of them that I was sorely under prepared for actually dealing with the male the moon had bound me too. He insisted on talking to me for at least twenty minutes every school day. I hadn't wanted to have anything to do with him and so having that much interaction with the large male, irritated me greatly. My only consolation was that his focus was on the children and not me. He wanted to know about them, birthdays, favourite foods, colors, and animals. So many various things that it made my head spin but I answered every one of his questions with feigned disinterest.

I never would have thought it but the irritation only came from me. My wolf tolerated his presence and his questions. She didn't like sharing her pups but for some reason she didn't mind him around them. At first she had watched him with an intense focus, looking for any signs of him being anything but kind towards the boys but after few days her focus lessened as he showed nothing but a rather childlike joy at being the center of their attentions. Now she only reacted to him when he mentioned Nina. We still didn't want him around the small life.

She was two months old and it was hard to believe that we had been taking care of her and the boys for so long. Everything felt like a haze of sleep deprivation mixed in with pain. I was still tired but she was growing very well, the doctor had come to visit with Uriel a few days ago. I hadn't really been willing to let the man touch her but Uriel had managed to calm me down enough to allow the doctor to do his check up. He said she was in the twentieth percentile for her growth and that she would be prone to getting sick.

I nearly attacked him after her said that if she did get sick, to not bring her to the infirmary because he would not help her. The weak would die and the strong would live. Uriel had to restrain me from tearing the doctor's throat out at his insinuation that she was weak. He at least had the grace to look terrified as he scrambled out of the house at Uriel's barking order to leave. It had taken him a long while to get me to stop pacing and testing his reflexes when I lunged for the door to go after the male.

Uriel had explained that there was little they could do for small infants on the mountain when they caught illnesses. That is wasn't the doctor saying she was weak, it was him saying that it was a general rule on the mountain. I still didn't believe him and I still disliked the doctor.

I reached over and smoothed my fingers down Nina's cheek. We were laying on the floor together, she was doing tummy time and I was simply too tired to try and clean. Alpha Thorn had the boys outside, even Caden had decided to play with him. There was a faint pang in my chest that the thought that he was no longer relying solely on me.

I had known there would be a time when he would start pulling away from me but I was so used to his presence being my little shadow that now it was temporarily gone, I missed him being underfoot. Nina lifted her head off her blanket and looked around. She spotted me and gave me a smile. I felt the corners of my mouth turn upwards in response. She cooed at me and I reached out, letting her grab onto my hand. Her head fell forward and she started to lick at my hand, chewing on it. I ignored how she was coating it in drool. It made her happy to use my hand as a chew toy, so I would be a chew toy.

I closed my eyes and pressed my unoccupied hand to my face, breathing deeply and carefully. I could hear them playing outside, their laughter made my mouth twitch. They sounded happy. Even Lander did. His laughter was sporadic but he was allowing himself to be a child, to play. He needed that. Nina stopped chewing on my hand and let out a razzing sound that had a chuckle bubbling up in my throat.

"Someone is talking a lot, aren't they?" I rolled over onto my stomach, my eyes opening as I lay face to face with her. Uriel had told me she needed to be engaged, that speaking to her, responding to her chatter would help her with her vocal development.