I sat down next to her holding my hand still, careful not to smudge the small design I had gotten.

“Tomorrow we become sisters,” she told me. I smiled.

“I always wanted a sister,” I shared with her.

“Me too! Instead I got eleven brothers!”

I laughed. I remembered Diya telling me over our video chat once, that she was a midwife in India. Now that Kai had told me about Max and losing his mate and child, I was interested in werewolf birthing.

“Hey Diya, is the werewolf birthing process more dangerous than human birthing?”

Diya’s face became serious. “Yes and No. Human births can have all sorts of defects. Heart defects, lung defects, limb abnormalities. A werewolf pup is immune to these defects. They learn to shift at about 35 weeks gestation. When they shift, they set off the uterus and most mothers go into early labor. Werewolf pups are bigger than normal babies but the mothers aren’t. If they shift during labor the chord can become compressed or the placenta can tear. There are a lot of complications.”

“Why don’t you just do a cesarean section and cut them all out?” I didn’t know much about birth but I knew that a c-section would be better that placenta tearing or chord compression due to a lengthy labor.

“We tried it back in the 18th century. The women kept healing too fast. The babies were stuck halfway out of their mothers’ stomach and the women’s abdomens were starting to heal closed. The babies suffocated. Also, pain medication doesn’t work on werewolves. We metabolize it too fast.”

Jesus Christ. My head was spinning. “Emma.” I breathed.

“Will be fine,” she told me. “I’m taking over her care when I get home with you guys. I have delivered thirty-six healthy pups and Emma’s baby will be my thirty-seventh.”

I swallowed. I wanted to ask her how many she had lost but this was a wedding. So I smiled.

***

I was trying to battle my jet lag. I lay in the hotel room bed as Kai entered the bathroom to get ready for the wedding. I heard the shower turn on and my eye lids began to droop. He poked his head out. “I feel like we should be good to the environment and shower together, ya know, to save water.”

A genuine laugh left my lips and I was suddenly awake. I gave him a smoldering look. “Well, if it’s for the environment.” I jumped off the bed and began undressing. I loved that I felt no pressure to go all the way with him. We hadn’t talked about it but I think we had decided to wait until our mating ceremony night before we did it.

I wore a bright teal sari and Kai stared me down in the elevator. The hotel lobby was decked out in red and white flowers. A large sign read, ‘Diya weds Trent’ in gold lettering. I whistled.

“This is fancy,” I told Kai.

“My father has been waiting his entire life to marry off his only daughter. There will be no expense spared tonight.”

Wow, I knew from Indian culture that the woman’s family was expected to pay for the wedding. I couldn’t afford a fancy wedding like this.

“What’s bothering you?” he asked me, reading my mental anxiety.

“Our wedding won’t be this fancy. I can’t afford much,” I told him tugging at a wrinkle in the sari.

“I wouldn’t want a wedding this big but we can afford this because my money is your money. We will have whatever wedding you want.”

“No, I know the culture expects the woman to pay for the wedding and I can assure you from my bank account, we cannot have this fancy of a wedding. I feel bad taking your money.”

“It’s OUR money, not mine. I will add you to all of the accounts when we get home. Don’t bother arguing this.” He gave me a kiss then and shut me up. We took our seats. How did I feel about him sharing his money with me?

‘Don’t analyze this money thing. Pay attention. Our wedding will be similar.’ He patted my thigh and stood. “I need to enter with my family to show support for my sister.”

I looked up then and saw Trent in the doorway. He looked handsome. He wore a bright orange Indian top that went to his knees. Max stood next to him.

“Hang on.” I caught Kai’s arm. “Trent has no living family? Who will walk in with him?”

Kai shrugged. “Max.”

I shook my head. That wouldn’t do. I walked over to two of the nicer girls from Diya’s henna party. “Hey girls, Trent doesn’t have any family to walk in with him. Would you like to join me and stand with him?”

One of the girls, a submissive wolf, Tara was her name, had a short black bob and almond-colored eyes. A big teal jeweled bindi stuck between her eyes. Her skin was light brown and she glanced at Max who stood with Trent.

“Sure.” She stood and followed me with one other girl.

We approached Trent who looked nervous.

“Hey, Aurora, I think I’m going to faint. They say the groom is supposed to come in first and with a big song and dance and lots of cheering.”

I looked at the girls. “I think we can manage that. We’re here for you.” We moved to step behind him, near Max.

“Thank you,” Trent whispered, as I passed. I smiled. I put my arm on Max’s shoulder to tell him how nice he cleaned up, when my other hand brushed Tara’s finger. My knees buckled and a vision took me.

It showed Max holding a beautiful woman with long red hair. Her body was limp in his arms and he was sobbing into her chest. Blood soaked the bed sheets he held her over. Kai stood frozen in the doorway. ‘Oh God. Why am I being shown this? This was Max’s wife. Their poor baby.’