The door swung open and for a moment Dmetri couldn’t find his tongue. The woman who answered was stunning with hair the color of wheat and eyes dark like chocolate with little flecks of gold.

She squinted at him as she braced herself on the doorway. She wore a little silk number that barely touched the tops of her legs. Dmetri appreciated the look—a lot—and was about to tell her so when she spoke.

“Are we under attack?”

Stunned, Dmetri pulled back to look up and down the quiet sunny street. “I think not.” She cocked her head at him. “Russian?”

He nodded and allowed his gaze to take in the incredible amount of bare skin she showed. Her arms were tanned and soft looking. She was short for him, but then most women were compared to his 6’3” frame. The silk wasn’t form fitting, which was a damn shame because he wanted to know what her body looked like under it.

She sniffed the air around him and then stood up straight, all traces of sleep gone in an instant. “Vampire.” There was no question in her tone.

Again, he nodded and struggled to remember why he came here. On closer inspection, he realized she wasn’t as stunning as he thought. She was pretty, no doubt about that, but it was a subtle beauty. The longer he looked at her, the more he realized just how pretty she was; she had a look that settled deep inside him. Her nose was pert, chin small and delicate, lips wide and slender. He’d love to see her in paint. The thought shocked him hard enough to make him remember why he was here.

“Vane sent me. His mate’s in labor.”

Her mouth dropped and eyes went wild. “Why the hell didn’t you say so?” She ran into the house and a moment later returned wearing a pair of jeans and a baggy shirt. She didn’t have shoes on. She pushed him to get past and closed the door behind her.

She looked at him when he only stood there. “Well come on!” She raced off towards the alpha’s house. Dmetri followed her. It wasn’t necessary at this point and he really did not intend to be in the same room, or even the same house, while Sarina gave birth, but he found himself following along anyway. She ran with quick steps, her ponytailed hair slapping her back as she moved.

They reached Vane’s house and she barged in without knocking. Curious, he followed after her even though he just told himself he wouldn’t.

A male shout and the woman’s hard voice brought him up the stairs quickly. He entered the bedroom and saw several other females there. Vera, he recognized. The other he scented as a vampire and had red hair; the woman beside her had long chestnut hair. They surrounded Sarina taking turns letting her squeeze the hell out of their hands.

Vane stood erect at the wall, his face a hard mask as he watched his mate.

“When did her water break?” asked the healer. She climbed onto the bed and opened Sarina’s legs to get a look. Dmetri immediately turned around and left the room. He stayed on the other side of the wall so he could listen. He almost laughed, he hadn’t been this curious in a long time.

“About fifteen minutes ago.”

The healer’s voice was calm as she took charge of the situation. She ordered the girls to get supplies, towels, and water.

Chaos reigned. Screams and shouts exploded at frantic intervals.

There was a complication with the birth.

Panic threatened to make Christine’s hands shake, but she controlled it—barely. Sarina was losing blood at an incredible rate. If she couldn’t stop it, she’d die.

Vane drew in hard breaths, his face on the edge of violence. “What’s happening?”

“The baby’s coming but she’s losing a lot of blood.” Somehow her voice didn’t shake when she said it.

“Stop it,” he ordered.

Christine ignored him. “All right Sarina, I want you to push really hard on this one.” Sarina screamed until her face turned red as she pushed. An awful amount of blood came but Christine knew the baby had dropped down and was close. Just a little more.

“Why is she bleeding so much?” Vane shouted.

Christine kept her voice calm. “I think the placenta tore or it’s a clot. I can’t be sure.” Panting, Sarina braced herself then screamed again as she pushed. But Sarina was weakening from the blood loss and the push wasn’t very strong. Christine prayed the baby would come through but it didn’t. She wiped the sweat from her brow and grabbed another towel to soak up the blood.

Vane came towards her, a mad look in his eyes. “You don’t know what you’re doing!” Christine took a deep breath. “Alpha Vane, I think you need to leave the room.” He clamped his mouth shut and came at her. She was so unprepared for it that she did nothing to protect herself as he shoved her away from the bed. She stumbled back but didn’t fall.

“Fuck this; we’re calling the human medics.”

“You can’t do that. Our anatomy is different internally. Their doctors would notice it.

You know that, Vane. Just stop and think.”

It was the wrong thing to say apparently because he roared and took an aggressive step towards her. Her heart kicked up with fear, but then the Russian vampire was in front of her.

“I mean no disrespect,” the vampire said and swung his fist so fast into Vane’s jaw that she barely saw the action. Vane’s head cracked hard to the side.

He slowly, so slowly turned back to glare at Dmetri with violence in his eyes. The alpha was about to pounce, it was in his tense stance, in the vibrancy of his muscles being barely controlled.

Then Sarina panted at him. “Get out, Vane.”

He turned to give her an astonished look. “I will not leave you.” Between erratic breaths she said, “Leave. Fight outside.” Vane shook visibly, and the vampire sighed as if bored. Then he struck Vane across the other cheek with a quick jab. With a roar, Vane exploded at him, tackling him to the floor. The floor shook and books from a shelf clattered to the floor.

“Outside!” Sarina panted.

Then men stumbled out of the room in a flurry of blows and deflections.

Christine ran back to Sarina’s side and joy filled her. “I see the head! Push good and hard, Sarina!”

Over the next several minutes, Sarina’s tired body pushed and pushed until finally the baby’s entire head poked out. Then in a quick rush, the baby came out. Christine caught the little babe in a clean cloth and cut the umbilical cord. With the waiting water in a bowl, she cleaned the baby and checked its eyes, mouth, nose, toes.

The baby’s small wrinkled face brought a big smile to hers. A burst of emotion filled her chest making it tight and hard to breath. Before her eyes could water, she went to Sarina who was so exhausted she was melting into the bed.

“Your baby, my Queen.”

Sarina’s lips trembled as she lifted her heavy arms to take the precious baby. Tears fell from her eyes as she laughed joyously. She coddled the baby in her arms and gazed down into its little face.

“My baby,” she said softly.

Vera, Alison, and Cassie all came forward to sit on the bed and sigh. After a moment, Sarina looked up confused.

“Vane?”

Christine moved to the door. “I’ll get him.”

Downstairs was eerily quiet. Christine made her way through the rooms feeling like she was trespassing going through her alpha’s house alone. In the kitchen, she heard noises out back and peered through the backdoor window. She spotted Vane and the Russian vampire sitting on the back steps talking.

It was rude of her to listen, but she couldn’t help her curiosity. It wouldn’t hurt to listen for just a minute.

“Thanks for getting me out of there. I wasn’t doing anyone any good.”

“No problem, drook. ”

Vane choked; it might have been a laugh if the alpha wasn’t so stressed. He buried his head in his hands. “You have no idea what it feels like.” Dmetri gave him a long, assessing look. “I suppose I don’t.” Christine almost snorted. He sounded like he hated to admit he didn’t know about something. This one must have a hell of an ego on him, not that she really minded that, but...he was so pale.