Chapter 748: Chapter 748: You are sitting there looking handsome and worried while my stomach is trying to betray me

The moment Cyrus said those words, Isabella’s heart seemed to miss one beat.

For a short moment, she only stared at him, and the firelight beside them kept moving over his red hair and tense face as if nothing serious had happened. But something serious had happened. She could hear it in his voice. She could see it in the way his pink eyes had changed. She could feel it in the way his palm remained pressed to her stomach without moving, as if he was trying to hold back whatever was happening inside her by sheer force.

"What do you mean, it may be starting?" Isabella asked carefully.

Her voice sounded calmer than she felt.

That annoyed her a little because her body had clearly decided to be dramatic before she had agreed to anything. One moment, she had been scolding Cyrus for hiding things from her, and the next moment, her stomach was tightening like the children inside had suddenly decided that this was the best time to start moving out.

Cyrus did not answer immediately.

That made her even more nervous.

He lowered his head slightly, and his hand spread wider over her stomach. His warmth passed through the fur and through her clothing, and a faint red glow moved under his palm for a moment, quiet and almost hidden. Isabella felt the strange pressure inside her ease a little, as if something hot and restless had been pressed back down.

Cyrus was suppressing it.

Not the birth itself.

The other thing.

The demon blood.

She understood that now, and that understanding made her chest feel tight in a completely different way.

His face looked frighteningly focused. His breathing had slowed by force, but Isabella could tell that he was panicking underneath it because Cyrus was never this still unless he was trying very hard not to break.

"It is still early," he said, though his voice sounded like he was trying to convince both of them. "The pain is not strong enough yet. The pressure is there, but it is not continuous. I can still calm part of it."

Isabella stared at him. "You sound like you know exactly what is happening."

His jaw tightened slightly. "I know some things."

"Some things?"

"I learned from healers while I was with my master. I watched births before. Beastwomen usually do not need much help unless there is danger, but there are signs before the true birth begins."

Isabella swallowed.

That did not make her feel better.

It should have, maybe, because Cyrus knowing what to do was better than him being completely useless. But it also made the whole thing feel too real. Birth had always been something waiting somewhere in the future, heavy and frightening, but still far enough that she could avoid thinking about it deeply. Now it was sitting in front of her like an uninvited guest who had entered without knocking.

Another tight feeling passed through her stomach.

This one was not sharp, but it was deep. It started low, then wrapped around her middle like a thick hand squeezing from the inside. Her fingers tightened around Cyrus’s hand, and she pressed her lips together because she did not want to make a sound too quickly.

Cyrus’s face changed immediately.

"Breathe," he said softly. "Slowly. Do not hold it in."

Isabella glared at him through the discomfort. "I am trying."

"I know."

"No, you do not know. You are sitting there looking handsome and worried while my stomach is trying to betray me."

His eyes softened for one painful second.

Even now, she could still say things like that.

Even now, when her body was hurting and the children might be coming sooner than expected, she was still Isabella. His Isabella. Sharp-tongued, dramatic, beautiful, and impossible to comfort in the usual way because she would always find something to complain about even if the sky fell.

That thought made his chest ache.

He rubbed his palm slowly over her stomach, and the faint glow under his skin became stronger for a moment. The heat in her body eased again, and the pressure lowered enough that Isabella could breathe out properly.

"There," he said quietly. "Better?"

She nodded after a moment. "A little."

Cyrus did not look relieved.

He looked even more worried.

Because he could suppress the demon blood. He could calm the strange heat. He could ease the pressure when it was still only beginning. But he could not stop the birth once it truly started, and he knew that too clearly. The children were readying themselves. Her body was answering them. It had not reached the final stage yet, but the road had already opened.

Isabella watched his expression and slowly realized something.

"You want to help me give birth," she said.

Cyrus lifted his eyes to hers.

He did not deny it.

Of course he did not.

In this world, that was normal. Males stayed with their females. Males helped with birth. Males cleaned, held, carried, protected, and did whatever needed to be done because females were precious, and children were precious, and no beastman would willingly stand far away while his mate suffered. To them, it was not shameful. It was not strange. It was family.

And Cyrus was her mate.

The father of the children.

So naturally, in his mind, if the birth happened, he would help.

The thought made Isabella feel warm and scared at the same time.

She trusted him. She did. Maybe more than she was willing to admit out loud. But this was not a small fever or a twisted ankle or even a strange pregnancy pain. This was birth. Actual birth. Babies coming out of her body. Blood, pain, fear, and whatever else beast world children liked to bring with them.

She wanted someone experienced.

A woman.

Someone who had seen this many times and would not panic because the mother started screaming.

So Isabella took a breath and said, "Cyrus, I need you to find elderly women for me. Or experienced women. Females who have helped with births before."

Cyrus froze.

His whole body went still.

Then his brows pulled together. "Women?"

"Yes."

"I can help you."

"I know you can."

His hand tightened slightly around hers. "I know what to prepare. I know how to check your breathing. I know how to help with the pressure."

"I know," Isabella said again, softer this time. "But I need women too."

He looked troubled.

Very troubled.