BirthStone (2 page)

“Jasmine…”

“You see it, you know I’m right. Just go…go,
and let the nurses take care of our wolf-babies, and don’t you dare
call them pups. They are babies, half-human, so that makes them
babies,” she screamed. She covered her face as her chest expanded
before releasing a huge sob.

Everything inside her ached. Worse, she was
cold. The kind of cold that stops you from placing one foot in
front of the other without Herculean effort. And she was plumb out
of effort.

“I’m not losing my mind,” she whimpered.

Each word she uttered contained a price tag
and payment was in the currency of energy dollars. Her eyelids
lowered as her breathing slowed. The darkness wooed her like her
favorite treat. Eventually she would get up, apologize to her
lover, talk to her sons, and kiss her babies. But not right now,
now all she wanted was rest. Her bones ached along with her
head.

She wanted to play in the park she had been
daydreaming about earlier, the sun had felt nice…warm. Warmth was
good. She snuggled deeper beneath the comforter, covering her head.
Darkness welcomed her. It hid her. No one could see her
shortcomings, not even Silas, who thought he saw everything.

Silas’ stomach clenched in agony as his mate
wiggled beneath the covers. Initially, he'd gave her the benefit of
the doubt. She'd said she was tired, so he left her alone. In
hindsight, that may have been a mistake. Earlier, when he entered
the room, his heart had stopped and then slammed in his chest at
the sight of her lying so still on the bed. He’d stumbled before he
heard her light breathing. It had been the most precious sound
imaginable.

She had shuttered their link to the point he
couldn’t gauge her true condition. The idea that he was losing her
played on a constant loop in the back of his mind. The possibility
of her not being in his life paralyzed him. He hadn’t been able to
oversee his Alphas or competently perform his everyday duties as La
Patron. Each day that she remained in bed filled him with impotent
dread. He couldn’t shake the dark loneliness that dogged him
without her. Every thought, every action led him back to their
suite where he waited for his mate to complete her requested
respite and then rise. Not wanting anyone to know of his
debilitating fear of her death, her request for privacy became
his.

He welcomed her outburst, although it made
little sense. It proved his sweet bitch was still with him. But,
something kept her fire banked. For a moment he'd thought she
smiled, there had been a flash of sparkle in her otherwise dull
eyes, but then it was gone. He may have been projecting his desire
to see his interest reflected in her eyes and that was what he’d
seen. This whole listless, disinterested thing puzzled him.

What had happened to his mate? She had been
fine after the pups had been born and even after living through the
most recent spate of attacks, but then she had simply stopped
getting out of bed in the mornings. Now she spouted ridiculous
comments regarding everything from motherhood to being a good mate
to being a good person.

It was if a switch had flipped and his
loving, confident woman had disappeared and someone else now
resided in her body. His resolve was firmly in place. Not knowing
anything about this weird behavior ended today, the doctor would
tell him what was wrong with his mate…or else.

Silas had talked to the twins, Tyrese and
Tyrone, about taking her shopping or out to a restaurant since it
had been a common theme of her infrequent rants. Tyrese completely
shut down when Tyrone mentioned the previous bombings and refused
to entertain the idea of his mom in a public place. Despite her
requests, all of them agreed that exposing her to the type of
danger a shopping expedition would produce was sheer insanity. They
all agreed an angry Jasmine could be dealt with; the alternative
did not bear thought.

Stretching out behind her on top of the
covers, he lay on his back, aching to hold her. He hadn’t missed
her drawing away from his touch earlier. Instead of thinking about
the pain of her rejection, he covered his eyes with his arm and
focused on her getting better. It took a day longer than he'd
anticipated to locate Dr. Ross. Jasmine’s new doctor had been out
of town and just returned today. He glanced at the clock, it was
ten minutes before the doctor was to arrive.
Good
. Bottom
line, he wanted his mate back. And he wanted her now. A light
tapping on the door signaled the doctor’s arrival. Silas slid off
the bed and headed to the living area. Tyrese, Tyrone and Rose, his
mate, stood next to a strange female.

“I’m Dr. Ross. I’ve been Jasmine’s
gynecologist since the birth of her babies.”

Pleasantly surprised, Silas shook the
human’s hand. “When Jasmine said Dr. Ross…nice to meet you.” He
shut up before his tiredness caused him to say something stupid. As
La Patron, he knew better than most that women were more than
capable of doing most things. In this instance, he and his wolf
were happy Dr. Ross was female. “She’s in there.” He pointed to the
bedroom door.

Dr. Ross held up her hand, halting him.
“First, can you tell me what’s wrong? Are there symptoms?”

Silas glanced at the concerned faces of his
new family members as he told the doctor everything he knew. For a
moment he thought about sugar coating his mate’s failings to ease
the bad diagnosis. But he preferred to know the truth. In fact, he
stiffened his commitment to get Jasmine the best care possible to
help her through this illness.

When he finished, the doctor smiled.

Silas frowned at her response, rethinking
the whole female doctors are just as qualified as male doctors
thing. No male would smile at a personality disorder in the woman
he loved.

“I will check Jasmine just to be sure, but I
will say it sounds as if she’s experiencing a bad case of
postpartum depression.” The doctor typed on a large tablet as she
continued. “Half the women who give birth experience this in some
form. It’s not uncommon. If it’s what I think it is, and that’s
based solely on what you’ve told me, I will prescribe an
anti-depressant for her. It might help if she talked to a therapist
as well. I can give you a list of qualified doctors.”

Ignoring the therapy, his thoughts lodged
firmly on the depression. “So she is depressed because she had my
babies?” Being depressed because you gave birth? He had never heard
of anything like that, not in his world. Bitches recovered fast
after birth and went on to take care of their pups.

“No, no, this is not personal,” she said
quickly, her face a mask of concern. “It’s a collection of things.
Fast drops in her hormone levels after the birth, any kind of
extraordinary challenges she’s gone through recently, plus just
taking care of four babies. That does a lot to your body and in
some women, their minds. It’s not you, her body is going through
all types of changes and this is a by-product.”

The doctor’s answers rolled around Silas’
mind for a moment. He had no idea about the hormone stuff.
Extraordinary challenges? Jasmine had been dropped down a cavern
and gone into labor, plus she had been thrust into a world she'd
had no idea existed and was now mated to him, La Patron of the wolf
nation for the North American continent. He had thought she was
handling the challenges well, obviously he had been wrong.

“How long until she’s back to normal?”
Tyrone asked the question that had been on the tip of Silas’
tongue.

“A week, a month, or a day, although that’s
rare. The answer is I don’t know and can’t give a specific time.
The medicine will work, and a lot depends on her. From what I
remember, I don’t see her allowing her condition to keep her down
long. The good news is, she will get better, postpartum depression
is curable.” She smiled. “Now, I’d like to see Jasmine.”

Chapter 2

“Obviously asking and allowing you an option
was the wrong thing to do. As your Alpha, I order you to return to
West Virginia, to the compound. I have need of you. Be here within
the next forty-eight hours. Is that understood?” Silas growled into
the receiver. Frustrated that it had come to this point, he waited
for the only acceptable answer.

“
Yes, Sir.”

Silas leaned back in his chair, the creak of
the leather familiar and comforting as he exhaled. His tense gaze
relaxed as it welcomed the sunrise, signaling a new day of
confrontations.

It had taken a week of medication and some
heartfelt conversations, but Jasmine had fought her demons and won.
Once again she ruled his den with an air of fairness and confidence
few could resist. Her tigress had returned to his bed and he
couldn’t be happier with the marks she had scored on his back.
Despite his fast healing capabilities, a slight sting remained from
their play last night.

Her return to normalcy signaled his return
to a desk full of work that had accumulated while he had tended his
mate. He needed assistance to catch up and had no qualms ordering
his former assistant to change his personal plans and hasten across
the world to his side. He tapped his finger on his desk, the wood
solid beneath it. Three separate stacks of paper filled with
reports and supporting documents waited for his attention. He had
been working on them the past three hours, but it seemed
longer.

“Good, do I need to make arrangements or
will you handle them yourself?” The answer to this question would
determine how much damage control would be required later.

“I believe I am capable of making my own
arrangements. Will I stay in the compound or should I reserve a
room in town?” Jacques said.

Silas gritted his teeth. The man refused to
give an inch. That was the danger in allowing someone to get too
close, they knew just how to push your buttons without taking it
too far. Normally, this back and forth wouldn’t bother him, but
these were not normal times. “At the compound.”

“Yes, Sir.” Despite the correctness of the
words, the delivery had a mocking quality. “Is there anything in
particular, other than myself, you require I bring with me?”

Silas wiped his face with his palm and
closed his eyes. “Your crystal ball. I would have you tell me where
the next attack will come from and how to prevent loss of lives.
When I close my eyes I hear explosions and see walls covered in
blood. I would have you look into your magic mirror and tell me
that my pups are safe and will live to our age or longer, and that
I will not bury my mate. If you can bring the answers to the
questions and problems that plague me, I would most appreciate it
my friend.”

There was a pause of silence.

“I wish I could, Sir. Perhaps that would
atone for my previous lapse.” This time Silas heard remorse mixed
with sympathy.
“
It seems my ability to sense upcoming events
is broken. Lost on the same battlefield that stole my mind. Truly I
am sorry for that, Sir.” Jacques released a long sigh. “But I will
see you in less than forty-eight hours and offer my assistance in
whatever manner you require.”

The sun seemed brighter as it rose across
the mountains at that declaration. “Your help and presence at this
time is appreciated.” He disconnected the call and continued to
gaze out the window. Jacques had a way of connecting dots and
seeing patterns that amazed him. Over the past few weeks Silas had
been inundated with lots of information, so much that most of it
made little sense. He needed Jacques to process everything so he
could go on the offensive and stop the bastards before more of his
people died.

Each day he prayed to the Goddess to spare
them from another attack. A few weeks ago he experienced what had
to be his personal trek through hell. For five days straight, his
enemies had bombarded him with new technology that threatened to
wipe out his compound and cripple the wolf nation. Deadly
situations had risen daily. Literally, it had come down to a last
stand effort to survive.

That his enemies had breached his facilities
still sent a chill of fear through him. All of his Alphas were on
alert and putting out fires in their back yards. He shared
information with them as it came in, but they were at a
disadvantage in catch up mode. The enemy had new technology he and
his people were just learning about. He needed a break to change
the narrative of this battle.

A quick glance at the clock and he
stood.

“
I’m on my way down, meet me in the
tunnels
.” He sent Tyrone and Tyrese the message through their
links as he left his office.

Silas strode through lower tunnels made of
polished gray concrete walls and reinforced with tons of steel.
Quarry stone gleamed beneath bright lights. The steady sound of
their footfalls echoed in the hall. Tyrone and Tyrese were already
on his heels as he turned the corner to the labs.