Chapter 516: The Moment of Birth
The low whine of each Gatling gun faded as the bodies of fallen vampires filled the hallway. Nikolai froze while watching the beautiful scene. “Well, I guess we weren’t needed.” He mumbled before spreading his senses out further.
‘There’s no more on the eastern side?’
He could sense the aura and state of hundreds of people, but none of them held an aggressive or negative feeling towards him like the Sanguis or Vespera attackers.
“I think we should head to the west wing, Leona.”
“Are you sure?” She looked around, waving her right hand as the maids fanned out, vaulting over the short walls and counters to take point. “What if there are more enemies hidden somewhere inside?”
Bzzzt!
Suddenly, her right ear buzzed, and she tapped the communication device.
“Captain Leona speaking.” Her face became sharp for a moment before a gasp, and then Nikolai watched her cheeks become red and her face brighten. “Understood!” She met Nikolai’s gaze and smiled at him. “We’ll be right there.”
“What’s the matter?”
Leona took a deep breath and turned back, lowering her hand from the comms with a blush on her cheeks. Her tail swished for a moment, tapping the wall as she showed a crack in her professional atmosphere. Then, taking a deep breath to stabilise herself, she turned to Nikolai and spoke with a charming smile.
“It’s Nikita.”
“What about her?!” Nikolai snapped back.
Kumiko’s ears flickered as she watched the two, her clones following the maids to ensure no enemies remained.
“She’s gone into labour, Nikolai.” Leona’s bright voice echoed in the hallway, while Nikolai’s eyes widened as he looked back at her.
The words didn’t register at first. The echo of distant gunfire, the thick scent of blood and death as he gripped his Eagle tight. All of it vanished the moment she told him about Nikita. Nikolai blinked, then again and exhaled a long, shaking breath as his lips trembled into a wide grin.
“Alright…. already…. she’s going to give birth?”
“Already,” Leona confirmed, a grin tugging at her lips. “And from what the medical wing reports, things are progressing rapidly.”
Nikolai’s heart pounded faster with an excitement he couldn’t describe. The noise echoed in his ears louder than any explosion outside. His senses that once scouted enemy signatures seconds before now twisted and became erratic, searching for her, for Nikita.
The moment he detected a familiar beloved presence deep within the mansion, he could feel it, almost as if he reached out, and then he could touch them. The faint, but powerful aura of Nikita faded, and beneath her aura, the cute, tiny flickers of his three daughters… that pumped harder as they tried to enter the world.
His throat became sore as if small needles pricked the walls. ‘My children…’
“Master?” Leona’s voice grounded him. “Do we continue to the west wing?”
“We’re done here,” Nikolai interrupted, holstering his gun with one smooth motion. “If the east is secure, then the west can wait. My place is with her.”
The maids glanced at each other but said nothing. One by one, they snapped fresh magazines into their submachine guns and fell into formation behind their Patriarch.
“I will leave a team here.” Leona picked out several individuals just in case.
“I’ll leave my clones to assist you, but the rest are coming with you. Nikolai.”
Kumiko also thought it best to keep people in the west to avoid any further damage or danger. It wasn’t a normal assault; they truly wanted to destroy or damage the Volkov compound with this attack.
“Let’ go.”
Nikolai focused on Nikita and the surroundings.
He could sense several aggressive and dangerous signals pushing closer to her. “We need to hurry.” The mission had shifted from defending to wiping out all intruders that put his wife and children in danger, and being beside her when she needed him.
“Leona,” Nikolai said as he rushed forward, his stride faster than before, the tension in his body replaced by a sudden urgency. “Tell the medical team to prepare everything they have. I don’t care what’s happening outside. Nothing touches that room.”
“Of course, darling anything for you.” She whispered, to avoid the others hearing her, with an excited blush on her face.
They pushed through the hallways and courtyard as if sprinting, reaching the eastern wing of the compound in less than four minutes.
***
The western mansion became completely different from what Nikolai remembered before he left for his mission. Because of all the pregnant women, he approved Nagisa and Selene’s mothers’ requests to build a maternity ward.
The heavy steel doors leading into the maternity wing slid open with a hiss, and a wave of heat and frantic activity crashed over Nikolai the moment he stepped inside. He covered his nose at first, the thick scent of antiseptic and ammonia sharp in the air, but there was no danger.
“Patriarch!” A young nurse in white scrubs bowed quickly as she rushed past with an armful of supplies. “The Lady is stable, but the contractions are coming faster now. The doctors say it could be hours or even minutes.”
Nikolai’s steps slowed for the first time since the alarm.
All the feral fury that had driven him through gunfire and bloodshed melted away, replaced by something that seeped deeper into his chest: a sense of anticipation, fear and awe.
“Guide me to her.”
“O-Of course!”
He pushed open the final door.
The room beyond was bright, warm and cosy, a stark contrast to the chaos elsewhere. Nikita lay on the bed, her snow-white hair plastered to her forehead with sweat. Tubes and monitors hummed around her, but her trembling hands clutched the sheets as if she were holding the earth itself in place.
“N-Nikolai…” Her voice was like a breath and a groan mixed. The moment their eyes met, she seemed to regain her colour and drive. His entire body became light, and his steps were woozy with relief. “You’re finally here… bastard.”
Unlike human pregnancies, werewolf females gave birth much faster once in labour, but this also made them weaker and more susceptible to complications.
His body trembled. “I promised I would be.” He was beside her in three strides, taking her hand gently in his and kissing the back of her knuckles before brushing the hair from her face. “I’m not leaving, don’t worry. I’m here.”
The room buzzed with tension and emotion while Midwives barked instructions, a heart monitor beeped rapidly as the air grew heavier. The presence of three new lives growing ever stronger.
Their little hearts pulsing and fighting as if demanding to be born.
“Push on the next contraction, Lady Nikita!” A doctor called out.
Nikita struggled to nod before gritting her teeth as she squeezed Nikolai’s hand with all her strength. Crack! The bones in his hands creaked, yet he didn’t feel the pain. Instead, he focused on his wife. He pushed his aura into her body, soothing the sore and torn muscles to help her recovery.
“Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck it hurts, you idiot… why did I let you do this to me!” Nikita’s sharp native tongue echoed as the doctors and Midwife blushed as she swore, calling Nikolai all the names under the sun with each groan and painful push. “I’m going to kill you!” She threatened as the first child’s head crowned. “Bastard!”
‘This is it.’ He thought, tightening his grip and leaning close so she could hear him over the chaos. “I’m here, don’t worry. Call me all the names in the world.”
“D-Don’t act cool… you cheating…. man slut….!”
Nikita’s cry echoed through the chamber in a feral and powerful growl like an actual beast. The sound carried her pain, strength, and the desire to push forward and give birth. Nikolai’s heart thundered in his chest, every beat matching the rhythm of her breathing as she bit down with every ounce of will she possessed.
“Good, good, one more push!” the doctor urged, voice steady but tense. The scent of blood and life filled the room as the monitors spiked and the nurses moved swiftly, as if they’d done this a million times.
“Ngh…. You fucking push!”
Nikolai brushed the damp strands of hair from her face, his lips trembling as he whispered, “You’re doing perfectly… I’m so proud of you.”
“Stop copying that stupid book you read!” Nikita opened her mouth wide and bit Nikolai’s neck, her fangs sinking into his flesh as she growled. Her body half transformed into her werewolf form, as she screamed into his neck.
“It’s coming!”
She bit deep enough to draw blood, his flesh tearing, and yet he didn’t complain. Instead, he hugged her tightly.
Then a shrill, high-pitched cry split the air.
Time froze for Nikolai.
His eyes snapped to the nurse and the small creature with fluffy ears and a tail in her arms… the aura coming from her body fierce and violent like her mother.
A nurse caught the first newborn in careful hands, her voice breaking into a smile.
“A healthy girl!”
Thin black hair, barely open, cute golden eyes…
Nikita sobbed with joy and maybe pain, her body shaking from exhaustion, but her spirit ignited the moment the baby’s cry echoed. But for her it wasn’t over… Another contraction struck almost immediately, and another cry followed, then a third, smaller but no less fierce.
Three wails, three tiny, beautiful cries that distorted the chaos and filled the room with warmth and peace.
Nikolai’s neck poured with blood, his eyes looking at the three small girls and tears he didn’t even know he had dripped down his cheeks, unable to clear his blurred vision after kissing Nikita’s forehead.
“You’ve done well. They’re here. Look, our daughters.”
“Ehehe… there’s one that looks like you.” Nikita’s delirious giggled echoed as she smiled at them. It was the most beautiful thing Nikolai had ever seen as she took the babies from the nurse and hugged them to her transformed chest.
“Welcome home… my little wolves.”