Cassie waddled through the hallway, struggling to keep from panting as she lugged the weight of what the pack doctor was predicting to be a ten-pound-pup around with her.

Karliah’s mother was convinced it was a girl, so convinced she had everyone else convinced. It had been so infectious that Cassie and Karliah themselves had yet to come up with any boy’s names. They had their girl name chosen, agreed and solidified in their hearts: Caia, the goddess of fire and women. It was also the perfect blend of their own names. Apparently, her mother’s intuition came from the way Cassie lugged her hefty load around, something about her walk was ‘telling’ Mrs Stone that the younger Mrs Stone was carrying a gorgeous girl. Although Karliah didn’t hesitate to poke fun at her mother’s intuition given that she hadn’t predicted her ‘first-born son’ actually being a daughter. To which her mother replied that she had needed to see Karliah’s walk before she knew she was girl. It’s all in the walk.

For now though, they had taken to calling the baby ‘pebble’ until its birth.

When she finally reached her wife’s office she knocked a funky tune on the door and popped it open with her hip. She hadn’t spent nearly enough time being a pest to Karliah lately. And, Cassie firmly believed, it was her right as a heavily pregnant woman to be allowed to irritate her soul mate to her heart’s content. At the end of the day, she was going to be pushing a living being out of her body and nothing she could do to annoy Karliah could rival that.

Luckily Karliah seemed to silently agree with this view as she never ordered Cassie to cease her silliness or to leave her alone. Part of Cassie wondered if she liked it, an excuse to have her near and to stroke her belly and get out of doing work.

As expected, Karliah was bent stiffly over laptop when Cassie entered. She slowly dragged her eyes from the screen to take in her visitor and a grin cracked across her face upon laying her gaze on Cassie.

“Sweetness, are you okay?” She asked tiredly, the strain and stress of leading her pack alongside her father already weighing heavily on her shoulders.

“Yeah, I just missed you.” Cassie simpered with her bottom lip out, “Have you eaten your lunch?”

“Not yet but I had a protein bar at midday to tide me over.”

Cassie hummed disapprovingly, it was now two in the afternoon.

“What about you?”

“I’ve barely stopped eating today.” Cassie admitted with an awkward laugh, “I think our little pebble is going through a major growth spurt today, I don’t know if I’ve ever been so hungry in my life!”

Karliah laughed, “That’s great to hear!”

“And now that I’m finally full, I need cuddles!”

“That sounds like my area of expertise, c’mere.” She put her arms out for Cassie to dive into and the smaller woman approached with a wide smile, she would have skipped if she weren’t lugging around so much extra weight.

Cassie heard her water break before she felt it, the sound of a splatter on the hardwood floors beneath her stopping her in her tracks, drawing her attention down and then back up to her mate.

The pair stared at each other for a moment in pure shock.

Fortunately, Karliah was much quicker to regain control of her senses, she jumped out of her seat and ran to Cassie’s side, “It’s time, sweetness, she’s ready to come out.” she said gently.

Cassie nodded slowly, her expression dazed, and reached for Karliah’s hand.

“Let’s go.” She said softly, a meek smile sat below round green eyes sparkling with anticipation.

~

Karliah’s mother had been correct.

Cassie gave birth to a hefty baby girl that night, just under ten pounds and with a small wisp of hair on the crown of her head. Karliah cried more than Cassie did upon sight of their baby girl. Both mother and baby left the medical wing healthy and happy.

Welcome to the world, Caia, daughter of Alpha Karliah and Alpha Female Cassie Stone. May you grow into your alphahood with both great strength and wisdom.