The Human's Alpha

Chapter 44

Liam

I heard the first snap and then Lily's strangled scream.

I hadn't been sleeping. I couldn't. I was too anxious. So I laid there for the past couple of hours holding her in my arms, staring at her and peppering her with greedy kisses just praying she would stay with me.

"Fuck that hurts." Lily grits between clenched teeth.

"I wish I could tell you it was going to get better, sweetheart." I say as I pull the blankets off of her. Looks like her leg went first.

Not uncommon, but it usually starts with fingers and toes. I haven't seen a lot of shifts, but the fingers and toes snapping into unnatural positions always creeps me out the most.

I mind link the doctor, then carry Lily outside. She's still wearing one of my t-shirts and I'm going to leave it on her for as long as I can. Her face is set in a grimace of pain as I lay her on the blanketed ground.

"Here, baby." I say as I shove a straw in her face.

She's going to get annoyed with me forcing water down her, but she's going to sweat like crazy and I don't need her getting dehydrated on me.

"Really, Liam? More water? I thought I was turning into a werewolf not a whale." I have to chuckle at that.

"Nah, baby. You'd be a shark if anything." She huffs before taking a decent enough swallow of water to appease me and then I hear another few cracks.

Ah, there go the fingers.

She makes like she's going to look down at her hand, so I grip her chin firmly and force her eyes to meet mine.

"Don't look, baby. Trust me." She nods and lays down, so I adjust the pillow under her head.

"This is gonna suck ass, Lily, but I just need you to get through the next few hours and then I'll never let you feel pain again." She snorts and looks at me with more mischief than I thought possible in her situation.

"Sure, until I have our pups." She says.

My wolf's ears perk up at the mention of pups and I can't stop the shit eating grin on my face.

"Pups? You wanna have pups with me?" She narrows her eyes at me and another crack rings out, toes this time and she screams before meeting my eyes again.

"Obviously, you idiot." She says between clenched teeth. My heart warms at the thought, her belly big with our little one.

"When?" I ask a little too excitedly. She scoffs and shakes her head.

"Please let my body go through one life altering change at a time." My wolf backs off, feeling a little guilty, as do I.

"Of course, love. You just got me a little excited there." I say and offer her more water.

"Can't wait to practice though." She says before a louder crack occurs. Her entire arm is bent at an awkward angle, forcing her onto her back.

She begins to sob and I run my fingers through her hair in a pathetic attempt to soothe her.

"I'm fine." She says, but I think she's trying to convince herself more than me.

I look at the watch on my wrist, the one she gave me for Christmas. We're barely half an hour into this and my resolve to stay strong for her is breaking.

A series of three more cracks and a pop. Her ankles and wrists are moving into her paws. The thought thrills me. I won't deny my wolf has been excited for the past two weeks at the prospect of running with his mate, but her horrified screams are drowning out any sense of joy that may otherwise be possible.