Total pages in book: 136
Estimated words: 128413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128413 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 642(@200wpm)___ 514(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
“My baby.” It came out a rasp at the same time that she remembered the man’s name: Finn. His name was Finn, and he was one of Remi’s people.
Remi, who’d promised her that no one would steal her baby.
“In the incubator,” Finn said with a smile. “I’ll wheel it over so you can see her. She’s tiny but perfect. Strong little lungs, too. Just needs a bit of extra help keeping her body temperature stable—you can still give her cuddles, but we’ll have to time it.”
He vanished on that, but she soon heard the sound of wheels on a hard floor. Turning in that direction, she watched as the clear box of what appeared to be a state-of-the-art incubator neared her bed.
Her eyes teared up. Her little girl was so small, so fragile. “Is she—”
“Totally fine,” the healer assured her. “Enough weeks on her that she was out of the danger zone as soon as I got her over the shock of the birth.”
After locking the incubator’s wheels, he helped Auden struggle up into a seated position, then—with infinite care—removed her baby from the incubator—and from the wires that went out from her tiny body. “Skin-to-skin contact is the best, especially as you won’t be able to hold her for long until she graduates from the incubator.”
Not caring about her modesty, only about her baby, she undid the strings of her loose hospital smock from around her neck, and lowered it off her arms and down her chest. Finn kept his eyes gently averted as he handed Auden her precious baby.
So small and fragile, her eyes closed and her skin delicate beyond bearing, her baby nonetheless curled her hands against her heart and Auden heard a whispered sigh in her mind. “I have you. I’m so sorry it took this long, my baby.” Tears streaked down Auden’s face. “I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
She was barely aware of Finn throwing a soft blanket or shawl around her shoulders that she tugged to wrap around herself and her child. “Mama will never ever let you go.” She pressed the softest of kisses on her baby’s head, which was covered in a tiny knitted cap. Under her hand, she wore a diaper of the same tiny proportions.
Auden didn’t know what color her eyes were. Might be blue like her own, or brown like those of the male genetic donor. Her skin was far paler than Auden’s, which wasn’t a huge surprise. The paternal donor’s skin had been on the other end of the spectrum to Auden’s. But…She frowned, checked her baby’s body, and saw not a single hint of the level of melanin in her own skin.
Her baby’s skin was the color Auden’s mother’s had been—a creamy white.
Odd genetics, she told herself, thinking of an article she’d seen once where a set of twins had come out divided when it came to skin tones, one with skin of ebony, the other with skin of white. As if each parent’s genes had chosen a child in the womb.
None of it mattered, Auden’s love for her child a fierce beat in her soul.
She wanted to see if her girl had tiny black curls or if she’d been born with mere wisps, but she didn’t want her head to get cold, so she left it for now. Something to discover another day.
Today, she just inhaled the sweet, innocent smell of this child she had no memory of conceiving and who she loved beyond compare, and she hugged her close and she listened to her near-imperceptible breathing—and her murmurings inside Auden’s mind. Even so young, her voice was crystalline.
Her baby was a strong, very strong, telepath.
And she loved being cuddled by her mama.
Auden could feel that deep within.
Finn didn’t disturb her as she rocked her baby, wishing she could keep her close always. But time passed all too soon, that tiny body and mind too young to be out of the womb, and she didn’t argue when Finn came to put her back in the incubator.
“We can do another session later in the day,” he told her, as she fixed up her smock. “I don’t know about Psy, but changelings believe skin-to-skin contact to be critical for newborns.”
Auden nodded. “Yes, even under Silence, physical contact with babies was deemed necessary.” Apparently, her race had tried it the other way, and ended up with psychologically damaged children.
“See here.” Finn pointed out a circular section on the clear case of the incubator, then pushed in. His hand went through. “It’s so you can continue to stroke her while she’s in there. It won’t affect the warmth.”
“Oh, I’m so glad. I don’t want her to feel lonely.” She used the backs of her hands to wipe her face. “Was she alone while—”
“No, sweetheart.” A reassuring smile as he finished hooking her baby back to the tubes and wires and closed the door of the incubator. “Tammy—another healer—and I took turns placing her against your skin so she could feel your heartbeat. And I hope you don’t mind, but we let Remi hold her a few times. Cub seems to calm when he’s around—alphas often have that effect.”