I held his hand the whole time and tried to do the deep breathing thing too, but I was nervous. Probably even more nervous than him, because he was doped up. I had to resist the urge to get up and do something; it was hard for me to sit here, motionless. My wolf was spurring me into action.
"That feels funny," mumbled Kade.
"What?" I said, instantly perking up.
"They're poking my insides. I can tell. Feels like I'm a box they're rummaging around in." He laughed.
I was unnerved by this statement, but he seemed to be happy, in whatever headspace he was in. I relaxed a little and tried not to look at the shadows on the other side of the screen. The very thought of a surgery happening just a few feet away from me made me feel a little queasy. It was absurd, considering I was a wolf. I was normally comfortable with blood and guts.
"We're almost done," said a nurse. "In fact, I'm wrapping up your baby girl now."
A girl, I thought. Wow. We were going to have a little lady all our own in just a minute. The nurse stepped out from behind the curtain and produced a swaddled bundle, handing it to Kade. I leaned over to get a glimpse of her face.
"She's beautiful," whispered Kade.
"And she's perfectly healthy," said the nurse.
"Thank goodness," I said, breathing a sigh of relief.
Dr. Paylor stepped forward to see us, beaming. "Isn't she lovely?"
"And she's ours," said Kade, still in a dreamlike state.
The baby had her eyes shut tight, her wrinkly face pink and tender. A lock of satiny, platinum blonde hair slipped out from under the cloth.
"What will we name her?" I asked.
"Gosh," said Kade. "I hadn't thought about that."
"I know, me too. I had been caught up in all the excitement and completely forgot to consider names." I shook my head. "And now she's finally here."
"How about Zoey?" asked Kade.
"Zoey?"
"You don't like it?" he asked, turning to me. He smiled serenely.
"I do, it just seems a little random," I said. "Zoey."
"It's not that random. It's the name my mom would have given me if I were a girl. I always liked it." Kade turned back to the baby. Her little face scrunched up and she opened her toothless mouth, yawning.
"Zoey it is," I said. "Zoey Sorrel. It sounds good."
Kade just smiled dopily.
Within an hour, we were back at Kade's penthouse. I was glad to see that he had managed to acquire some supplies beyond just a crib, despite how reclusive he had been in the days leading up to the arrival of Zoey. We settled her in her new room, standing over her, Kade leaning against me.
"I wasn't able to paint the walls or add wallpaper," he said sadly. "But I bought some plants and green furniture."
"I'm sure it'll be just fine." I gave him a reassuring squeeze. He was referring to the old shifter tradition of surrounding the baby with natural things in its first few months. Typically, parents would paint the walls green or use nature-themed wallpaper to create a forest-like space.
Kade was fine with me sleeping over that night. And the next. The days and nights stretched into weeks, as we were besieged with nightly cries for food or diaper changes. Zoey took up all our time, but we didn't mind. Baby shifters developed faster than humans, so we didn't have to suffer through this for long.
But eventually, what seemed like the ‘real world' caught up to us. Kade started getting calls from the other band members asking where the hell he was, and Michael and representatives from the record label hounded him about progress on the next album. But we were almost ready to share Zoey with the world.
"You what?" cried Michael, his voice distorted by speakerphone.
"We adopted a baby girl," said Kade calmly. "Her name is Zoey."
"Why? Why now?" Michael was incredulous.
"Xander and I want to be together, and now that the tour's over, we want to start a family. That's why I've been MIA recently. We were busy with the adoption. Now that it's done, I can work on the album in earnest."
Michael was irritated, but there wasn't much he could do about it. "Okay. Fine. Will you be meeting up with the band soon?"
"I've already made a date with them for this weekend," said Kade. "And I have new material for them as well."
"Excellent. Okay. Just be sure to get in touch with Tess as soon as possible so she can figure out a way to get this news to the public. She's going to want a photographer to come in."
"No pictures of Zoey," said Kade sternly. "I want my privacy."
Michael grumbled. "That's actually not a bad idea. Fine."
"Did you want to ask me anything else?"
"No," said Michael. "Congrats, by the way."
"Thanks, Michael. I'll talk to you later."
He hung up, placing the phone down and taking Zoey from me. She had been sleeping through the entire conversation. In fact, she slept a remarkable amount, almost like a cat.
"She's going to grow fast, you know that," I said, still gazing at her.
"Yeah. But then she's going to be a little wolf pup. We can take her out places, actually have fun with her. It's going to be a blast."
"I can't wait for her first transformation," I said. One day, our little girl would transform into a wolf for the first time. She'd get to enjoy what generations of shifters had enjoyed-the power and freedom of being a wild creature.
"Me neither," said Kade. "By the way, I was thinking of moving out of my penthouse."
"Really?"
"I like it, but it isn't the right place to raise a child. It's too far up and too secluded from the world. It works for me, but she needs a backyard. She needs a space that's more kid-friendly." He smiled down at her.
"My apartment isn't any good either," I said. "It's way too small."
"I was thinking we could look at places together," said Kade. "Find a nice house in one of the more residential neighborhoods. We could buy it."
"Yeah. I like that idea," I said, gathering him in my arms. We were like Russian nesting dolls-Zoey in Kade's arms and him in mine.
"And we ought to think about getting married, too," said Kade. "I mean, we're fated mates. We can't not get married."
I hesitated.
"Unless you'd rather not?" he said, concern spreading over his face. "Are you one of those folks who doesn't want to get married?"
"No, I do," I said, sadness pinging my heart. "I guess I just feel like this has all happened so fast. Just six months ago, I hadn't even known you."
"Yeah, I get that," said Kade. "Well, let's focus on a house first. Zoey actually needs that."
I relaxed. "I'm looking forward to it."
7
Kade
Zoey ran down the corridor stark naked, giggling madly. I almost burst out laughing myself, watching her little feet patter into the living room. I immediately scooped her up and wrapped her in a towel. "Got you!" I said, kissing her on the forehead. She babbled in response.
She couldn't talk well yet, but I was still able to understand much of what she said-part of the strangeness that was being a parent.
"You guys ready for lunch?" Xander's voice rang out from the kitchen. "Your grilled cheeses are going to get cold."
"No!" yelled Zoey.
"That's what you get for causing trouble," I said, shaking my head. "Your grilled cheese gets cold."
I quickly helped her dry off and dress up. It was still amazing to me how much she had grown in three months; it was stark, compared to how slow humans were. She was a fully developed little person, whereas, at this age, a human would barely be crawling. And next, she'd start to talk, expressing her own thoughts and ideas. It was mind-boggling.
I led her to the kitchen, where I installed her in a chair with her sandwich. I loved this house. It had been absolutely perfect. House hunting hadn't been that difficult, thanks to the wealth I had gained from royalties, but we still had had to look at a lot of different places. It had been hard to decide.
The one feature that really sold this one was the proximity to what would become Zoey's school when she turned one year old. She was going to attend the premier shifter preschool, after which she would attend the best shifter elementary school in the city. I had it all planned out.
I also loved the neighborhood. There were a lot of other shifter parents we had befriended. They were mostly a little older than me and Xander, which also meant that they weren't fans of Ignis Lupus. They had heard of me, but they weren't star-struck. It was a huge relief.
The kitchen was on the first floor, and it opened out into the backyard, which was big for a house in the city, especially one in a neighborhood so close to downtown. There were several beautiful trees, and plenty of room for Zoey to run around, when she became a little more stable on her feet. It also had tall hedges that afforded us privacy, which was crucial for shifters who wanted to enjoy their wolf forms at home.