A.N.D. - Wolf Woods

Virginia smiled, enjoying the feel of the sunlight on her closed eyelids as she lay on the grass of Central Park. People nattered quietly around her, barely louder than the wind in the leaves, as a buggy of tourists slowly clop-clopped by on the road. She was home, and she was content. Then a tiny hand patted her on the belly, jolting her awake. She wasn’t in the park, she’d fallen asleep in New Sanctuary’s newly-built town square.

They had lost track of time. There had always been one detail or another, something they were needed to discuss about the house being built for them, some problem Wendell or the wolves needed Wolf to adjudicate, and one day they’d looked down and realized that they had both lost count of the days and weeks. Virginia was huge now, and uncomfortable. It took almost all she had to go up and down the stairs each day; she didn’t have the stamina to take a coach for most of a day and then go through the mirror anymore. The baby was going to have to be born here after all, and she could only hope that Cinderella’s charms would counteract any wierdness this world sent her way.

It seemed like these days that all she was fit for was lying in the square, soaking up the sun like a big lizard all day while Wolf puttered around town keeping an eye on things or telling stories and singing down at the pub. He had quite a reputation as a bard, built on all the songs he’d learned at the Rennfaire. Virginia glanced down at her huge belly. Hopefully, things would change soon.

She wasn’t the only one looking at the lump. “Hello,” Addie said, staring in great concentration at her.

“Hello,” Virginia responded warily. It had been weeks since she’d last seen the little girl from Wolf Haven, but her legendary stubbornness was still the subject for snickers between Wolf and Virginia. “When did you get here?”

Addie shrugged. “Just now. Mommy and Daddy say we’re going to open a new pub here. The people who used to have our place before came back.” Dismissing that as boring, she poked at Virginia’s belly. The baby kicked back.

“Hey, stop that!” Virginia grabbed Addie’s hand before the next poke, sparing another external assault. Internally, a passable imitation of Riverdance started. “Leave me alone!”

“It moves!” Addie was fascinated. “Mommy says you’ve got a baby inside. How? Did you swallow it whole, like the wolf swallowed Red Riding Hood?”

“No, I didn’t swallow it!”

“Then how-”

“Ask your mother!”

“I did. She told me I was too young.” Addie curled up next to her, her chin on her knees, frowning mightily. “Everybody thinks I’m too young for anything fun! Wait until you’re older, Addie, then you can find out about babies. Wait until you’re older, Addie, then you can go to school. Wait until you’re older, Addie, then you can challenge a Wolf. I am older! I just turned six!”

Torn between the itch to smack the brat and an unholy urge to laugh, Virginia coughed and asked, “Do you really want to challenge a Wolf?”

Addie nodded, curls bouncing. “Oh yes! I’m going to be Wolf of Wolves someday.” She frowned again. “But Unca Wolf says I’m too human. So I have to marry a Wolf instead, like you did.” She sighed from the bottom of her toes. “It’s not fair!”

This time, Virginia couldn’t choke back the laugh. Addie glared at her haughtily. “I’m gonna challenge you, you know.”

“Oh, you are?”

“If I want to be Wolf of Wolves and I can’t do it myself, then I have to marry the Wolf of Wolves, and that’s your husband. But everyone says it’s wrong to challenge a woman with a baby.” She poked Virginia again. “When’s it going to come out?”

A good question! “Soon.” Off the little girl’s speculative look, she rapidly added, “You’ll still be too young to challenge me.”

Addie rolled her eyes. “Okay, I’ll wait until I’m seven!” It was clear she was making a great sacrifice. Apparently satisfied, she jumped up and ran off, while Virginia tried to make sense of the whole conversation.

She was still working on it when Wolf arrived, bringing her lunch. “Going to leave me for a younger woman?” she teased.

The groove between his brows deepened, then he got a whiff of her visitor as he sat next to her. “Addie?” he laughed. “I saw her a few minutes ago. She very earnestly informed me that she was going to marry me, but I had wait until she was bigger if I wanted her to swallow a baby.” He smirked at her belly, rubbing it soothingly. “I take it that nobody’s told her how this all works.”

“You can on your wedding night.”

Wolf snorted with amusement in her ear, pulling her to lean against him, his hands roving to massage her neck and back. “I am your mate for life.”

He kissed her, and she kissed him back. Mmmm, that was good! Wolf tried to move back, but she grabbed his head between her hands and kissed him harder. After a jerk of surprise, he melted into her embrace and they necked on the green like a pair of teenagers.

It had been too long! Her advancing pregnancy had a weird effect on Wolf; his once-insatiable libido was draining away more each month. Even during full moons now, he was more concerned with protecting and providing for her than he was in eating or sex. At first she’d been afraid he was cheating on her, but a discreet discussion with a few of the other wolf women had taught her that his behavior was normal. More reassuringly, they told her that it his interest would come back strong as ever a few cycles after the baby was born.

The smell of food, so welcome when he’d arrived, suddenly curdled her stomach. “Take me home,” she whispered into his neck. She felt anxious, excited, itchy, hungry, possibly even a little nauseated. It wasn’t conventional lust, but it would do. After all, she couldn’t expect things to be the same when she was the size of Moby Dick!

The first cramp hit halfway home. It almost hammered Virginia to her knees, but she told Wolf she could walk it off. “It’s false labor. Remember, Dr. Fraiser told us about that. It’s way to early for me to be really having the baby. I’m going to have lots of cramps before it really starts.” And here I am, a dimension away from spinal blocks and pain killers! What was I thinking?

“Does the cub know that?” Wolf whined, but he let her keep walking. The second contraction hit a few minutes later, even harder, and this time she did drop. Wolf caught her before she crashed to the ground. He was saying something to someone, but she couldn’t hear him over the pain.

Suddenly it cleared and she could hear, see, and breathe again. People crowded around to help her rise, and she could hear urgent howling up and down the street.

“Something’s wrong,” she gasped in fear. “It’s not supposed to be like this! This is too fast!”

“You’ll consider that a blessing, dear.” The person gripping her left arm turned out to be the midwife who had been checking in on her every day since she’d come to stay in New Sanctuary.

“No, I’m not in labor, I-I-I- AUUUUGGGH!” Suddenly there was pink-tinged water everywhere and her skirts were soaking, clinging to her legs. Virginia almost vomited from the cramping and humiliation.

“It’s okay, it’s okay, we’re almost home...” Wolf was carrying her now, his cheek pressed firmly against the top of her head. “Hold on Virginia, it’s going to be all right.”

Littlebit was rushing out of the door, opening it wide for them, then running upstairs to their little room. When Wolf carried her in, Virginia just had time to see the new extra sheets spread on the bed before the next cramp took the world away.

“It’s wrong, what’s wrong, what’s happening?” she gasped in fear. Wolf settled her down gently, and she clung to him. He started to climb onto the bed next to her, but the midwife shook her head and started prying Virginia’s fingers loose from his shirt.

“This isn’t for men,” she snapped, lightly slapping Virginia’s hand when she reached for her husband again. “He can’t help you.”

“I want him!” Virginia shouted.

“That’s what got you into this situation,” a strange female voice said, and someone else muttered “Shhh!” Virginia stared wildly over at the door. Great Wolf’s mate was there in her human shape, clutching a huge feather. Next to her was one of the other powerful female Wolfs, also human-shaped, also holding a feather.

“Good, you’re here,” the midwife nodded at them. She turned to Virginia. “They’ll help you, dear, they’ve been through this.” She pointed at Wolf. “You! Out!”

“But-“

“Out!”