Chapter Seven – Iduna
They hadn't gotten far from the rest stop when Iduna started feeling new contractions. She breathed through them, trying not to let her pain show as she tried to call her mother's cellphone again. They didn't have time to waste on false labor! And that’s what this was. It had to be.
"There's still no answer."
Stephen squeezed her hand again. There were a lot of possible reasons why her parents weren't answering their phones, and not all of them had to be bad.
A particularly fierce pain shot through her belly. Iduna hunched over, crying out.
"Is it the baby?"
"No." Iduna shook her head. "It's false labor. It'll be over in a few minutes."
They were passing through a town at this time. Stephen glanced worriedly at her and shook his head. "No. We are going to the hospital. Just to be sure."
"We can't take the time!"
"Iduna, I know that you are very smart. But once in a while, you have to listen to other people. Now is one of those times. You can't know for sure that this is false labor. So we are going to the hospital. And you need rest. I know it's important to get to Victoria, but you're exhausted. So I'll drop you off at the hospital, and then I'll rent a new car… that cop has this license plate. I'll get a motel room and come back for you. We won't get to Victoria until one in the morning at this rate, anyway. That's too early to do anything."
Worry creased his brow. His plan made sense. Iduna couldn’t deny that she was tired. Her shoulders slumped, but she nodded her consent. The health of her baby was also something she had to take into consideration.
She just hoped that it wouldn't end up being a plan they came to regret.
***
The car Stephen rented was nice. The hotel room was nice as well. At any other time, Iduna might have been thrilled to stay here. It wasn't like she didn't have luxury back home, but there was something about hotels that awoke the kid in her. Elevators and ice machines were just like an amusement park to her.
The circumstances were all wrong, though. She was dilated three centimeters. That didn't mean that the baby was going to be born anytime soon, but it did mean that she was in the early onset of labor.
Her nerves churned as she laid in the bed, trying to keep herself still and quiet, so as to fall asleep and convince Stephen that they could get back onto the road as soon as it was morning. She could hear his breathing beside her, the warmth of his body next to hers. Her mind was a mess. She couldn’t get it to shut up.
She knew so many things, but she didn't know what the future held. And that terrified her. She wanted his arms around her. She wanted to give herself to him, fully and truly, more than she had ever given any person before.
Sex can encourage labor, she thought, but then realized she didn't care. She wanted Stephen to not only have his arms around her, but she wanted to fully be in sync with him. She wanted to be close to him, to be one in body and soul. Her mind made up, she rolled over and turned on the light.
Stephen blinked, pushing himself to his elbow.
"I didn't think you were sleeping," Iduna said.
"What's the matter?"
Iduna looked at her mate. She knew this was what she wanted, and so there was no reason to talk about it. Was there? Or was it best to discuss what they wanted first, so as to avoid disappointment? Was it instinctual? Her mind started to spin out of control. She pressed her hands to her temples.
"Iduna?" Stephen moved closer, cupping her face with his hands. "Iduna, talk to me."
"I want to make love." She meant to say it firmly, but it came out a whisper.
Stephen's hands caressed her shoulders. "I do, too."
She looked up at her mate and was overwhelmed by a rush of love that took over her at just seeing the tenderness in his eyes. Cupping her face in his hands, he kissed her.
His hands traced down her neck to wrap around her waist. Iduna sighed as her Bear hummed in satisfaction, feeling a tug deep inside her, drawing her closer to her mate. His touch was experienced and oh so gentle, far gentler than the fevered lovemaking that she had thought this would be. Every move was deliberate. Every kiss like a prayer. He stroked her back softly, then still moving with infinite care, he undressed her.
Iduna had imagined what her first time would be like. She imagined lust, she imagined a desperation to be one together. She imagined tearing off each other's clothes and going at it like animals. The images had always left her feeling a little disgusted rather than aroused, but as Stephen's gaze swept down her naked body, she felt only warmth. Love and desire flowed into every inch of her body.
Her core tightened with desire, as his hands moved over her skin, ghosting along her body. It left a pleasant tingling in its wake. He bent and pressed a kiss to her baby bump.
"This was the only way we would have been together. It's why I was so desperate to have a child, why I chose to go with AI. Somehow my Bear and your Wolf knew each other all this time, and they knew what had to happen to bring us together." She stroked her fingers through his graying hair and let her head fall back. "Logic can't explain this."
Stephen chuckled and pressed another kiss to her mouth. "I love you."
"I love you, too."
She laid down as Stephen began to undress, the warmth inside her building as she watched him take off his clothes. He was a beautiful specimen, firm but yielding, toned but not hard. And when he laid over her, she wrapped her legs around him, wanting him so bad it hurt.
He didn't take her at once, rather readying her while he gazed into her eyes and kissed her, being so gentle that it consumed her. Everything in that moment was between her and him, and the dizzying feelings of warmth and protection that he created in her. It stung a little when they finally became one, but Iduna didn't mind the little pain. She healed quickly enough. Stephen set just the right pace, not too fast. Her Bear roared in triumph and she could hear his Wolf singing in reply.
Stephen kissed her. "I love you!"
Iduna could only hold him tighter, letting the blissful ocean take her away. Her eyes slid shut. In that moment, she felt completed like she never had before.