Chapter Fourteen ~ The Miracle

Marik's point of view

"Did she purr, or am I just overtired?" Liviana asked me in a hushed whisper, while placing the baby into her basket.

"She definitely purred. Where is her mother?"

"She's dead."

"Yes, I gathered as much. I mean where's the body?" I snapped at her.

I didn't mean to, but I was in pain, and this was the last thing I needed right now. I walked over to the bucket of water by the tub and splashed some water onto my face. I rubbed it around my nose, loosening the blood and dirt that had blocked it up. I then blew out each nostril, clearing as much of it as I could, before heading back over to the baby and taking a deep sniff. I growled lightly when a familiar scent hit my nose.

"What? What's wrong?" Livi asked in a panic.

"She smells like a Lycan," Liv gasped in shock. "It's faint, but it's there. She's a half breed or part breed, but definitely not a full Lycan. Where's her mother's body?"

"Wait here, I'll fetch my mother to keep an eye on the baby, then I'll show you where we put her."

Before I had a chance to respond Liv sprinted out of the hut, leaving me with the mutt. I looked down at the basket and growled again. I couldn't believe that I hadn't smelled it right away. How could I let a Lycan infiltrate my home? I sat on the bed beside the basket while I waited for Liv to return, and I couldn't help but keep peering into the basket. All sorts of thoughts ran through my mind, inciting a bombardment of different emotions. I thought of how easy it would be to snap the infant's neck, so that she didn't grow into a hideous monster, but when her beautiful blue eyes fluttered open and stared up at me, my heart melted.

When she began to whimper, I couldn't stop myself from picking her up to comfort her. She was just so tiny and innocent, and there was a strange connection between us. I felt the overwhelming need to protect her and keep her safe. I cursed my human feelings. Year's back I wouldn't have thought twice about killing her, but now I couldn't bring myself to harm a single hair on her beautiful head. I didn't know if I'd become soft in my time here on Earth, or if there was some higher power at work, but either way, I knew our future was going be a whole heap of complicated crap from here on out.

Livi returned with Ana and they both cooed over the sight of me holding and comforting the baby. I glanced up at them and rolled my eyes, before standing up, ready to hand the baby to Ana. Once she had taken the baby, I followed behind Liviana as she led me out of the hut, and into the village. We finally reached the medical hut and Livi held up the door covering for me to enter. Once inside we were greeted by the doctor, and Livi explained to her what was going on. She was shocked but proceeded to help us. She uncovered the mother of the baby then exited the hut, allowing us to conduct our research.

I stood above the young woman's corpse and took in a deep sniff. She didn't smell like a Lycan, just a regular human, but there was a faint whiff of a Lycan scent. I couldn't be sure if it was the baby's scent on me and Livi though, or even from the woman carrying the baby girl. I rubbed my chin and sighed, while Livi stood opposite me and peered down at the deceased young woman.

"What's wrong, Marik? Is she a Lycan?"

"No, she's human. Not a hint of Lycan in her. Although, I can smell a slight..." I said as I turned around to see who was entering the hut.

My eyes shot open and nostrils flared as a new scent flew up my nose. I pointed towards the doctor and asked, "What is that?"

She was holding a bundled up blanket and I watched as Livi rushed over to her. I followed over and joined the women.

The doctor sighed softly and said, "I was going to bring him to you in the morning, but now seems like a good a time as any."

"A new baby?" Livi asked with excitement.

"Not exactly. It's the baby boy from this morning," she replied as she lifted the blanket from the face of a gorgeous little boy.

Livi instantly took the baby from the doctor and stroked his face like she had with the baby girl earlier, and as I scammed the newborn, I noticed that he held a remarkable resemblance to the little girl we had back in our hut, although he had brown hair, but the same piercing blue eyes.

"How is this even possible? I thought he was dead," Livi blurted out.

"That's the thing, he was. But when I was washing him in a warm bath, preparing him for burial, he sprung to life. Almost stopped my heart, I was so shocked. I've never seen anything like it in my life. He's a miracle."

I could hardly believe what I was hearing. My first thought went to the spell that I'd had the witches cast a few years back, it had seemed to mess up the human's bodies somehow and made them extremely fertile. There were a few other strange things happening too, but this situation would only make sense if the young woman was a member of our tribe when she fell pregnant. After seeing the woman's corpse, I knew that she was one of the women that had arrived here a little while ago. I needed to talk to the witches and see if they'd ever heard of anything like this before.

"We'll take care of him, doctor, he can join his sister as another one of our children. We will raise and love them both, like they were our very own blood."

Livi gazed up at me with the soppiest smile I'd ever seen. I'd clearly just made the right decision. Regardless of what was happening, or what the children were, she was desperate to be a mother, and I couldn't deny her the chance to love and care for these children. They would be beyond lucky to have her as their mother, and as my children, they would have my full support and protection. Which if they were Lycan children, they would need sooner or later. If the tribe found out that we had Lycan babies in the village, there would be a riot.

I needed to think of a plan, enlist the help of the witches somehow, and fast. Once these babies began to grow, who knows when they would have their first shift. I remember shifting as young as five years old, and my mother told me that she could shift from three years old. I had no idea what age Lycans down here began shifting, or what age a mixed breed would shift. I needed to keep them and our family safe, so I knew I had to keep it to myself for now. The less that Liviana knew, the better. The women were chatting away, but I needed to get home and rest, so that my body could heal itself. Now more than ever I needed to be at my best physically.

If these were Lycan babies, I didn't know if the local Lycan's would be able to smell them. If they could, would they want to kill them? Kidnap them? What if their father is a local Lycan, what then? I doubted it, because I remembered the woman telling us how far she had to travel to get here. But what if the father had been tracking her? I couldn't rule anything out. I sounded paranoid, but for some reason, I felt like I was meant to protect these babies, meant to love them, and care for them. I couldn't explain it.

"We should be getting him back to his sister," I said softly, trying to hint at leaving, without raising suspicion.

"Of course," Livi turned and replied to me. She then turned back to the doctor and said, "I managed to gather some milk from the mom's, but I don't think its enough for them both."

"Ah, yes. I sent one of my student doctors out in search of more. I had a crazy idea, but it worked. We actually managed to source quite a lot from the pregnant women. I think we will have more than enough for both of them and more orphaned babies," she replied with a beaming grin as she wandered over to a large wooden box.

She opened up the wooden box, and inside were large chunks of ice. In with the ice were bottles and bottles of milk, some white, some a weird see-through sort of off white. Both ladies smiled from ear to ear, and I guessed that they were happy with themselves. Livi walked over to the doctor and began discussing milk and expression or something, and I tuned out. I stretched my arms above my head and let out the loudest yawn I could. Livi clearly knew it was fake because she shot her head around and rolled her eyes at me, but it worked and she said her goodbyes.

We made our way back to our home and while we walked in the beautiful spring night, I couldn't help but admire the amazing woman that strolled beside me. She was cooing over the baby, and he couldn't take his eyes off her. You could tell that the poor boy was exhausted, but he was so fascinated by Livi that he couldn't let himself drift off. I wished that this had happened in different circumstances. The threat of being out at night with the Lycan's prowling around, scared the hell out of me. Not because I couldn't fend off an attack, but because there were so damn many of them. They'd even began hunting in pairs. Sure I could kill one, even in this exhausted and beaten state, but two or more would be almost impossible.

We entered the hut and Ana was in the middle of feeding the baby girl. She looked over at Livi and asked,
"Another one?"

"Yes, you'll never believe it, mother. This is her twin brother," Livi replied.

Her mother gasped, then asked,
"I thought you said he was stillborn?"

"Oh, he was. It's a miracle."

She wandered over to the bed and sat down beside her mom and began explaining how he'd risen from the dead. They were sat there with a baby each, and deep in conversation. They were so preoccupied they didn't even acknowledge me at all. I smiled and made my way over to the cooking pot, and dished myself up some stew. I sat down at the table and began to eat. I didn't have the energy for a bath, that would have to wait until the morning. I was so.exhausted, and I was surprised I hadn't fallen asleep in my bowl. I managed to finish it, and placed it into the wash bucket. I glanced over at the ladies, and they were both now feeding the babies and still talking up a storm, so I decided to leave them to it.

"I'm headed to bed, my love."

"Oh, dear. Do you want me to leave?" Ana said in a panic, while standing up.

"No, no. You stay, keep Livi company. I'm sure she could use all the help she can get with those two. Besides, I'm exhausted, I'll be falling straight to sleep, I'm certain of it."

"Oh, well only if you're sure."

I strolled over to them and leaned down to kiss Livi good night. I then kissed the little boys head, and finally the little girls, before replying, "Stay as long as you like Ana. Our home is your home."

She looked over at her daughter and smiled with a shrug of her shoulders. I walked away then glanced back at Livi. Ana was talking to the baby boy while holding the baby girl, and Livi mouthed the words, 'I love you' to me. I mouthed them back, then headed to bed. I knew that tomorrow was going to be a busy day. I just hoped to the Gods that the witches could give me some answers, and a plan to keep my new family safe from the Lycan's and the tribe.