“They’re going to kill me.”
I’d known it was all too good to be true.
The wolves had been waiting for me to grow them a baby, and then they were done with me.
The nurse came back into the room suddenly, wheeling a clear-sided box with a baby inside.
She was barely dressed and so beautiful my heart broke in half, only to fill up with a love I’d never known existed.
“Oh my God.” I let go of Claire’s hands and reached for the box. “She’ll be cold like that, won’t she?”
The baby turned towards my voice and blinked up at me with huge blue eyes.
Oh my God. She’s here.
“Hello, baby, I’m your mama. I can’t believe I missed your birth.” I looked towards Claire. “How many days has it been?”
Claire came close and smiled. “She’s not cold, don’t worry. These humidicribs are kept at a constant ninety-seven degrees, so she’s nice and warm. And she was born only twenty-four hours ago. You haven’t missed much at all, Mama.”
Claire glanced at the door, but I didn’t want to take my eyes off my baby.
“Now, you can touch her through these special little sleeves,” Claire opened up an access point for me.
I placed my hand inside and reached for my baby. I touched her soft skin on her arm and her tiny little hand.
Her fingers wrapped around my finger and I cried, tears slipping down my cheeks.
“How long will she need to stay in here, Claire?”
I’d been four weeks from my due date. How dangerous was that for my baby girl?
“Just a few more days, I think, Celeste. We’ll reassess her each day. Now, I’m going to leave her here with you and I’m going to deal with something in the corridor. Just yell if you need me.”
“Okay.”
I was never going to need anything else, ever again.
I had my little angel.
She’d survived that horrible fall.
We both had.
And now I had to work out a way to survive the next fifty years of my life, because there was no way I was letting the wolves use me a sacrifice now
.
Chapter 11.
Tayte.
It was four o’clock in the morning when Celeste woke up. A single day had passed since that nightmare of her falling down the cliff.
Sam still wouldn’t talk to me and Dane moped around like a puppy with a broken tail.
Our family was falling apart.
Then the door to her hospital room flew open and an angry doctor came at us.