Talia followed Yasmin through winding passages while wondering what the witch was up to. Yasmin was secretive and she seemed nervous which made Talia nervous as well.
Eventually, they emerged outside. It was a warm night without any wind, and only crickets disturbed the silence.
Seeing that Yasmin hesitated, Talia decided to start the conversation. "I assume this is urgent." She turned to look in the direction from where they came. "Or you just don't want Axel to know about it."
"I plead guilty," Yasmin said.
"Guilty of what?"
"I watched a drama with lawyers. That's what humans say when they admit to their crimes," Yasmin explained.
Talia was alerted. "What crimes?"
None yet, Yasmin thought. "I don't want Axel to know about this. Can you keep a secret?"
"I can try," Talia said reluctantly. "If it's something that jeopardizes the pack or…"
"No, no. This is about me."
Talia paused. "Axel won't like it if I keep something about you from him. Can't he sense your emotions?"
Yasmin rolled her eyes. "Whatever I feel, he says it's because of the pregnancy and it's normal. But it's not normal."
"What is not normal?"
Yasmin tightened her blouse to show her nearly flat belly. There was a small bulge in the lower region, but it could be easily mistaken for bloating.
"This!" Yasmin exclaimed. "I am pregnant since forever and there is no progress."
Talia realized what this was about. Considering that werewolf pregnancy lasts five months, Yasmin should be way into it, or maybe even with kids on her hands, yet she didn't look pregnant. Witches said that energies flow differently here and that even though time passes faster, the creatures are maturing at a speed comparable to the human realm.
Talia tried to calculate how far along was Yasmin, but she didn't know much about pregnancies anyway so she gave up.
"What do the healers say?" Talia asked.
"They say that everything is normal and that I shouldn't worry. Talia, maybe for you was just a few weeks, but for me was months. MONTHS!" Yasmin's voice was rising. "I am not allowed to eat or drink half of the things I like and there is no end to it. At this rate, I will give birth to my babies in another hundred years, assuming they are growing."
"Please, calm down. You might upset the babies."
"Maybe I should upset them and remind them that they should develop, grow, and get out!"
"OK. OK." Talia said while waving her hands. Telling Yasmin to calm down only caused her to be more upset. "I assume you are here because you think I can help."
Yasmin put her palms on her belly. "They say that mother's intuition is the best guide when raising children." She looked at Talia expectantly. "My intuition is telling me you can help."
"How?"
"Hear me out first," Yasmin started cautiously. "You told me I'm pregnant, and if you didn't, I wouldn't know. After that, I went to numerous checkups and everyone said that things were fine, that timelines can't be predicted because I'm not human and I'm not a she-wolf either. No one of these people saw a witch and a werewolf have a child, and these are twins, so it's bound they will be special but… I don't feel them, Talia. I call for energies and they wash over me, but somehow, avoid my stomach, like my children are not compatible. But then, during the ceremony at the Coven, when you and Damon were in the fountain, I felt it… I felt the energies, and I felt my babies move. They grew. I thought it was a coincidence, or maybe you kick-started the process, but after that, there was nothing… until now."
Talia looked at Yasmin and her brows were coming closer together as she understood where Yasmin was going with this. "Are you saying that you felt your babies growing during today's ceremony?"
Yasmin nodded. "Towards the end, when you were glowing. I felt it. I called for energies, and they flew freely without avoiding my stomach. It's because of you. You have some power to connect the missing pieces and help my babies grow."
Talia puffed her cheeks. It was difficult to believe she had baby-growing powers.
'Does this make sense, Lis?' Talia asked her wolf.
'I don't know. If we can predict heat and detect pregnancy, maybe we can grow babies also.'
Talia didn't miss the sarcasm in Liseli's tone. 'You could have said you don't know.'
'I said that first,' Liseli responded matter-of-factly.
Talia decided to focus on Yasmin. "What do you expect me to do?"
"Use your energies on me. Help me to establish the connection so that my babies can grow."
"What if I harm you?"
Yasmin shook her head. "That's not likely. It happened twice and…"
"What if I harm your babies? Do you think I will be able to live with it? What will I tell Axel?"
"He doesn't need to know."
"But I will know!" Talia snapped. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to… it's just… a lot of things happened."
Yasmin pressed her lips into a line. "I heard that your guard died while protecting you. I am sorry about it. But people live and die. It's the will of nature. We can't change that."
"You speak about the will of nature, yet you want to do experiments on your unborn children."
Yasmin looked down at her belly and smiled. "That's not how I see it."
"How do you see it?"
"When it happened the first time, at the fountain, I wanted to ask you to do it again, but I was reluctant to do so. As you said, I didn't want to risk endangering my babies. But many days passed, months, and my pregnancy was stagnant. Today, during the ceremony, I felt it again. I believe that this was nature reminding me of what should be done. The first time it might be a coincidence, but when it happens twice, it carries a different message."
Yasmin looked at Talia pleadingly. "Please, Talia. Help me."
Talia was not sure what to think about it. Channeling some energies wouldn't require much effort, but she was uncomfortable with sneaking around.
"One condition," Talia said. "I want Axel to be present. He is the father, and both of you are parents. It's not fair that you do this behind his back."
Yasmin bit her lower lip nervously. "If he agrees, will you do it?"
"Yes."
Talia and Yasmin were returning to the cafeteria when two familiar voices reached them from the side hallway…
"What do you mean you lost it?", the female asked.
"I told you. It was broken and I threw it away," the male responded.
"That was priceless! You don't throw it away!"
"You gave it to me so easily, how was I supposed to know it was priceless?"
"You are lying!"
There were some grunting sounds like people struggling, and Talia rushed to see what was going on. Yasmin was right behind her.
Talia took a turn and paused to see Keith and Cassandra wrestling. Keith was above Cassandra whose body was bent at an awkward angle as she was gripping his thigh and pulling it up to get him off balance.
"What's going on here?" Talia asked.
Keith and Cassandra froze. His arm was around her neck and her mouth was open like she was about to bite him. After a second of an awkward pause, they released each other and stepped away.
"Well?" Talia asked. "Will you tell me what's going on?"
