CHAPTER 212: MY LITTLE MIRACLE

[ Old world – The Cave’s Threshold ]

Kieran stumbled into the open hollow, claws gouging deep grooves into the dirt.

His breath tore ragged through his chest, blood dripping from his muzzle in thick ropes, his ribs screaming with every staggered step.

"Autumn..." His voice cracked inside him. It was half snarl, half plea. He wanted it to be her and didn’t want it to be her blood at the same time. "Please, just answer me... please..."

The air stank of iron...of death.

It was too suffocating.

His heart seized with every inhale, the rejection’s agony feeding into the scent that was tearing his world apart.

And the fact that she was probably bleeding to her death...

His eyes darted wildly over the jagged walls, across the stone floor slick with scarlet. Claw marks streaked the rock. Wolf fur...Autumn’s wolf no doubt...clung to the cracks in the ground.

He froze, chest heaving, ears flicking for even the faintest sound of her heartbeat.

" AUTUMN?" No answer.

Then softer. " Where are you?" His voice rasped as his wolf’s desperate whine bled out of him. "Don’t do this to me."

But there was nothing. Just blood.

Too much blood.

His vision swam, the walls seemed to close in. "No..." He shook his head violently, stumbling forward, slipping in her blood as his claws scrambled for something to hold onto. "No, no, no. Am I too late? I can’t be too late... Goddess, no!"

A sharp nudge at his flank made him jolt.

Cerbs!!

The hound was by his side again, hackles bristling, his enormous frame crouched low as he sniffed at something tucked against the shadows. His massive head turned back, silver eyes piercing Kieran’s. He wagged his tail once, but it wasn’t joy...it was insistence. A demand. "Look."

Kieran’s throat closed.

His wolf ears perked, heart thundering as he staggered closer, his eyes following the hound’s motion.

And then... he saw it. ’Noticed it’ would be the right word... because he had been feeling that little bundle all along.

Small. Fragile. Wrapped in the mess of a bloodied cloth that was half soaked through.

It was the very scent that had pulled him there but with the overwhelming scent of Autumn’s blood, he had completely overlooked the little babe.

For a moment, his brain refused to understand.

His chest stopped. His legs buckled.

His whisper cracked as he fell to his knees, claws scraping stone. "No, that’s not... Is that...my baby? "

The rest of the cave ceased to exist as his eyes locked onto the bundle.

The words barely left his lips when the shift started... he was shifting back to his human form but then...

Kieran froze as the tiny pup...so fragile, slicked with blood and half hidden by torn cloth...began to shimmer.

Bones popped softly, sinew stretched, fur retracting in thin wisps as if pulled into the skin.

The pup’s body twisted and lengthened, impossibly small limbs unfurling into the fragile arms and legs of a newborn child.

Kieran’s breath caught.He could not believe the miracle that he was witnessing... a newborn shifting...?!

His throat locked.

His bloodied body staggered backward an inch as if struck by lightning. "Goddess... oh..."

And then the newborn baby girl, barely larger than his two hands, let out a whimper.

Just barely. The tiniest twitch of its mouth and nose.

Kieran’s heart detonated inside his chest. His eyes went wide, his bloodied arms trembling as they reached forward. "Goddess... oh fuck... oh no....what do I do...she is...so tiny..."

He hovered, afraid to touch. Afraid he might break what was already so impossibly delicate.

And then the baby kicked up towards the sky and then let out a louder cry. A shrill cry that shook Kieran’s insides... with overwhelming joy.

His claws retracted. His fingers trembled,his arms shaking uncontrollably as he tried to lift the baby...to touch her.

Finally with great courage...he scooped the tiny body up into his palms.

It was so small. So impossibly small. His breath hitched, tears stinging his eyes as he kissed her...his lips parted in a silent cry... his eyes searching again for her mother... but... Autumn was nowhere in sight...

"Oh, Autumn..." His voice broke, his chest collapsing around the words. "Our baby..."

The pup lay on him, slick with blood and afterbirth, its little chest barely fluttering as he nuzzled it with his nose.

Kieran’s hands shook violently as he pressed the pup closer against his chest, curling his arms over it protectively, his whole body trembling like a storm.

He bowed his head until his forehead pressed against the tiny creature, his tears dripping down onto its bloodied fur. " My baby girl. My princess... "

He rocked back and forth, his voice unraveling. "I wasn’t there. I wasn’t there for your mother. I couldn’t protect her...where is she? Where did she go?!"

Cerbs pressed closer, sitting so near his massive body touched Kieran’s shoulder, releasing a low rumble as if urging him to do something about it..

Kieran looked down again at the pup, his tears falling harder. "I am your father,sweetheart.Remember my scent?" His whisper cracked. "And I promise I will find your mum... don’t you worry."

But then the little baby cried again. Louder this time wriggling in Kieran’s grip.

Kieran looked helplessly at Cerbs. " What’s wrong with her? Is she... is she in pain? "

The Hound looked away, reluctantly, as if too annoyed at Kieran’s ignorance.

Kieran froze, sucking in a sharp, ragged breath. His bloodied fingers brushed over the pup’s chest.

The pup let out another tiny, weak sound...then coughed, sputtered.

Kieran pressed it tighter to his chest, rocking as tears drenched his face. " It’s ok...it’s ok baby...I’m here...don’t be afraid..."

He kissed the pup’s bloodied head, whispering into its ear. "I will never let you go. Do you hear me? I will never let you go."

Unable to take it anymore, Cerbs bit Kieran’s trousers lightly.

" Ouch! Cerbs... Why would you do that... "

Cerbs let out a deep rumble and then barked and snapped at Kieran’s face. His gaze looked into the Alpha’s, " Stupid Alpha! The baby is hungry. It needs milk. Stop with your over dramatic promises and get her food, you idiot! "