Elain suspected she’d be ready for a solo vacation before too long.
Elain had just finished nursing Ellie when she heard a soft knock on the door.
“Come in.”
Lina stuck her head in, a smile on her face. “Ready for dinner?”
“Yes, please.”
She opened the door wider and was carrying a tray of food. Behind her followed Mai, carrying a glass of water and cutlery. They closed the door behind them and Elain wanted to laugh.
“Is this girls-only time?”
“Something like that,” Lina said, helping Elain get settled with her food while Mai set the glass on the bedside table for her where it wouldn’t spill.
Once the other two women were sitting on the end of the bed, they stared at her.
“What?” Elain asked.
“Any questions?” Lina asked.
“Huh?”
Mai smiled. “Specifically regarding tips and tricks on how to ask your men to back the hell off without hurting their feelings?”
Elain chuckled. “Is it that obvious?”
“Girlfriend, we can feel you,” Lina said. “You’re like a velvety porcupine right now. Believe me, that’s a weird enough freaking mental image, much less being able to feel your energy.”
“How’d you keep the guys out of here, anyway?”
“They’re tied up in the dining room,” Lina snarked. “Mom’s holding a shotgun on them.”
Mai rolled her eyes. “We asked them for some alone time with you.”
“Ah. You Seer Says’d them.”
“Maaaybe.” Mai’s sly smile made Elain chuckle again.
“We thought it’d be easier than, ‘Mommy Says’,” Lina said. “I went through it with Jan and Rick. I also had Zack and Kael, whom you know I love to death, but it was literally like having four husbands and new daddies there for a while, right fricking on top of me and practically smothering me with love. So I can only imagine how overwhelmed you are right now, even with only three of them.”
“They’ll want to treat you like fine china,” Mai said. “Especially Brodey.” She rubbed her hands up and down her arms. She wore shorts and a tank top, but Elain spotted the gooseflesh rippling her arms. “He loves you crazy deep. In a good way. That’s not a bad thing. Unfortunately, you’re a very independent Alpha wolf on your own. That’s where the conflict will happen.”
“Don’t I know it,” Elain muttered as she picked at her food.
Mai and Lina exchanged a glance, and together they asked, “What happened?”
Elain knew she didn’t have to worry about her friends spilling the beans, so she told them about the talk she’d had with Brodey in the hospital. “I mean, I feel so badly for him and there’s not a lot I can do to make this go away. It is what it is. I can’t just quit being a Seer or in the Triad. It’s kind of a lifetime job. I thought he’d be the one who’d really get it. If anything, I figured it’d be Ain going uber-protective and Brodey and Cail trying to reason him down.”
Lina had been nibbling at the cuticle on her right thumb. “Ain’s the reasonable one right now because he’s on the mega-Clan Council. He sees the big picture.” Her voice softened. “You realize there’s stuff they all know and talk about that they haven’t told us yet, right? The mega-Clan Council?”
“Huh?”
“Blackie and the others. They’re holding back some info.”
“Why would they do that?”
“Because you were about to pop out a burrito, plus you added Connor to the brood. We’re going to need a trip to Maine fairly soon so we can hash it out with them.”
Elain thought about popping up to Maine right then to have it out with Blackie and thought better of it. She was sore, exhausted, and not sure if she could contain her emotions at that moment due to the post-pregnancy hormones flowing through her veins.
The last thing she wanted to do was be all bitchy and accidentally blow Blackie up or something.
Then, it hit Elain. “Oh. I think I know what the big thing is.”
Both women scowled. “What?” they asked.
“Rodolfo Abernathy’s dead.”
“What?” they exclaimed.
Elain waved them down. “Shh!”
“You didn’t think to tell us that?” Lina asked.
“Sorry. With all the excitement with adopting Connor and all of that, it slipped my mind.”
The two women exchanged a dubious glance.
“I’m sorry,” Elain said. “Long story short, the Montalvos got their hands on him and…” She made a slashing gesture along her throat. “Blackie promised Ortega he can make the announcement when we head up there in a couple of weeks for Connor and Ellie’s recognition ceremony and the Clan Council meeting.”
“Why didn’t they tell us?” Mai asked. “And how did you know?”
Elain hated that her friend sounded hurt. “It happened while we were down in Bolivia.”
“Fricking Bolivia,” Lina muttered. “Of course.”
“You know Ortega adopted me as his Clan’s Seer. I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you, but he asked me to keep it quiet.”
“Then why are you telling us now?” Lina muttered.
“Because I don’t want you feeling mad at the others. Please? If there was stuff with the dragons that Uncle Andel asked you to keep secret, Mai and I wouldn’t have our feelings hurt. Or if Mai was approached by the coyotes and asked to keep something secret, would you be hurt?”
Lina’s shoulders slumped a little. “No,” she admitted. “I guess not.”
“It’s not that I was trying to hide it from you. But we have other stuff on our plates. Speaking of, so when are we going to start working on the poofing skills lessons?” Elain asked to divert the conversation, which actually didn’t work so well.
Lina arched an eyebrow at Elain. “Someone else was holding back stuff, too, weren’t they?”
Elain felt her face heat.
Mai burst out laughing. “Honey, it’s okay. I get what you were trying to do, and it’s fine. I appreciate you trying to spare my feelings, but I wish I could have been there to see Dr. Alberto’s face when you appeared out of nowhere. We’re going to put that poor woman in the looney bin at this rate.”
“Why?”
“Stuff I felt from her while we were up there. I could sense her thoughts. She was a little freaked out by Ryan Ausar.”
“I think everyone’s a little freaked out by him when they realize who he is.”
“Word,” Lina said. “Nice guy, though. I swear, I’d love to fix him up with someone. That is one sweetly sad guy.” She pointed at Mai, then Elain. “Hey, either of you come up with a prospect, let me know so I can send her his way.”
Elain thought about what she’d seen in the vision that night when Ryan had appeared to talk to her in the yard. “I think that’s out of our jurisdiction,” she said before cramming another bite of pasta into her mouth so she wouldn’t have to expound on her comment.
Mai reached out and patted Elain’s leg. “Well, anyway. Thank you for being like that, but seriously, I’m okay.”
“Sorry.”
“I wish I had the control you do, though,” Lina said. “I’m still terrified to try long distances. Most of the time when I do, I end up somewhere completely different. I’m scared I’m going to poof myself into a wall or into the middle of the ocean or something. I can reliably get myself across the house, but unless it’s you going all Alpha bitch edicty cray-cray on my ass, I’m terrified.”
“Maybe that’s the problem,” Elain said. “Look how you mastered the fireballs and ice walls and stuff. You need to have that kind of confidence in your abilities to poof.”
Lina focused on her cuticles again. “Yeah, well, eventually.” She sighed. “I’m the world’s suckiest goddess.”
Mai slung an arm around her shoulders. “As far as anyone knows, you’re actually the world’s only goddess, sweetie.”
“You know what I mean.”
“I s
till haven’t figured out how to do it,” Mai said. “It seems like the harder I try to focus and concentrate on it, the worse I do. When I try not to focus or stress about it, like Lina said, the results are unpredictable.”
“And what was the deal with the peanut butter?” Elain asked. “Or did I mishear Lina on the phone?”
The two women exchanged a glance. “Never mind,” they both said.
Elain decided to let it drop. “So let’s plan to start working on building your confidence in that after I’m healed up a little. Both of you. We’re going to need those skills. Mai, maybe you can figure out how you do the lightning bolt thing and teach us. That thing you did at the rock pile.”
“That was cool,” Lina said. “That was like the most bitching thing I’ve ever seen in my life, other than us making the house disappear.” She looked at Mai. “You were freaking kick. Ass.”
Mai blushed. “I guess my emotions took over. I was terrified for Lacey and wanted to save her. That’s sort of ironic when you think about it. Because I’m terrified my emotions might take over and I’ll do something to hurt someone innocent, you know?”
“I know,” Elain said, adding a little reinforcement to her mental barriers against them. “Believe me, I know.”
* * * *
Later that night, when Elain and her three men were snuggled in bed together and Ellie was tucked into her bassinet, Ain spoke up.
“I don’t think I’ve ever been happier in my life than I am right now.”
Cail held up a fist in the dim light, and both Brodey and Ain reached up to fist bump with him.
Elain lay on the outside tonight, on the far right side, so she could easily get out of bed if Ellie awakened. Brodey had taken the far left side, volunteering to handle night feedings for Connor, and had the baby monitor on that side of the bed. Ain lay next to Elain.
“Sorry I scared you guys with the poofing thing,” she said.
Cail chuckled. “You should have seen Bonehead nearly shit a brick when Ryan Ausar transported us to the hospital parking garage.”
“Did not,” Brodey mumbled. “Besides, it was fucking spooky.”
“But at least it saved time,” Elain pointed out. “You made it to our daughter’s birth, and were there where I needed you to be.”
“Yeah, it did that,” Cail agreed. “So does that mean you won’t be needing Ortega’s jet services any longer?” he teased.
“Not so fast,” she said. “That was all a special circumstance. I was under a lot of stress, and extremely scared.”
I need to come up with a loophole dance or something…
“Then promise us you’ll be safe when you do that,” Ain said. “I’d rather you be safe and take normal transportation than to use that power and have an accident.”
Whew! No loophole needed. “I promise I will always practice safe poofing, and I won’t take any unnecessary risks.”
“How’d Mai handle the news?” Cail asked. “I’m guessing that was part of what you three were talking about earlier this evening.”
“She’s okay. She actually thought it was funny that I was trying to spare her feelings. Funny in the good way,” she quickly added. “Once I’m feeling a little steadier, we’re going to try some group practice. Me with the poofy stuff with them, Lina with her fireballs and ice walls, and Mai with the lightning bolts.”
Ain made a sick-sounding noise. “Promise no fireballs or lightning bolts aimed at our balls?”
She kissed him. “No fireballs or lightning at my guys. I promise.” Yay, no loophole needed there, either. “Not at-at you. Maybe if there’s a target behind you or something,” she added.
Just in case.
One never knew what might happen, or what skills might be needed, and she was taking that to heart now.
Chapter Ten
Ellie awoke a little before midnight and started to fuss. After using the “don’t wake up the guys” trick to haul herself out of bed, Elain opted to shut off the nursery baby monitor in their bedroom and take Ellie out of their bedroom and into the nursery to change and nurse her. Connor was awake, too, so she got him changed and moved the rocker over next to his crib, the siderail lowered, so she could hold his bottle with one hand while nursing Ellie with the other.
Multitasking. Who says I can’t do it?
Once Connor was asleep again, and Ellie had finished nursing, Elain sat in the rocker with Ellie in her arms and wished she felt the same aura of peace holding her daughter that she did when holding BettLynn.
Which made her feel like a horrible mother for feeling like that.
At least nowhere in her baby resided an ounce of pain, sorrow.
Rage.
In this life, her baby wasn’t a wolfatrice hybrid with seriously righteous daddy issues. In this life, she was one-hundred-percent wolf. Alpha wolf—no shocker there—and the part of her soul that had once been Mercedes was…safely locked away.
An idea hit Elain.
Elain nestled the baby in her left arm and held out her right hand, palm up. Her phone appeared.
She made a call. When he answered, sounding awake, she smiled. “Hello, Damocles.”
He chuckled. “Congratulations. Ain called Ortega, and he passed the news on to me. How are mother and baby?”
She stood, closed her eyes, and appeared in his living room. “You can see for yourself.”
He turned, thumbing his cell phone off but not approaching.
“It’s all right,” Elain said. “You can come see her.”
She struggled not to cry when she saw the tears building in his eyes, brimming over as he slowly walked forward until he was looking down into the baby’s face.
She blamed it on the absolute soup of Alpha wolf post-pregnancy hormones raging through her.
“She’s gorgeous,” he whispered.
A thought crossed her mind, making her frown. “If you think for one moment that—”
He vigorously shook his head. “No. There’s no mate pull. She’s not my Mercedes any longer. She’s just a beautiful, innocent baby.” He let out a sigh. “Goddess bless her, may she never know even a fraction of the darkness we’ve had to deal with. She’s earned the peace.”
They stood there for a few long, quiet moments. “Would you like to hold her?”
“May I?”
“I wouldn’t have offered.”
He carefully took her from Elain, his tears freely falling now onto the baby blanket swaddling her. “What did you name her?”
“Ellie Sulwen,” she said. “After their mother and their youngest sister.”
“It’s beautiful. It suits her.”
“Promise me something, Damocles.”
“Anything.”
“The kids in this mega-Clan are sacrosanct, in my mind. We will kill and die for them. That includes you and yours. If I ever hear a rumor that one of the children of this mega-Clan was injured or killed due to someone’s deliberate actions, and you didn’t do everything possible to help, including putting yourself in the line of fire, you’ll wish you had as good a stay in Ortega’s little fun room as Rodolfo did.”
“I swear it,” he hoarsely whispered.
“And not just our kids. Kids in general. You might have to help me do things in the future. We’ll need to protect the kids. All of the kids. It’s time this bullshit stops now, and that means we protect the kids. Show them things can be done a better way.”
“Cockatrice?”
She nodded. “Just pray we can keep Lina’s visions from coming true.”
“I hope you’re right.” He finally handed the baby back to her. “Thank you for this.”
Elain studied him for a long moment before she quietly spoke. “I want to hate you. I want to despise you with every cell in my body. This power I have, it’s a blessing and a curse. Because as much as I want to hate you, as easy as it would be to hate you, it means that I can see your heart and soul. I can see that you apologized to Kael’s sister before you slit her throat. I can see the
things you saw and heard Lenny and Edgar say while you were with them. What they’d planned to do to her regardless, and that you couldn’t have stopped them.”
She stared down into her baby’s face. “I can also see how much you loved your One. How losing him broke your heart. How kind and good you were to your first mate, and how much you loved her and your children. How you grieved for all of them. How much you loved Mercedes, and how much you love Colleen. I don’t excuse you for killing Charles and Ellie, or for indirectly causing my mother’s death by chasing my parents. The people you murdered in Brussels, Bertholde, Kael’s sister, and who knows who else.”
Elain stared into his eyes. “But compared to Rodolfo, you’re a friggin’ angel.” She didn’t blink. “I also know for a fact that Bertholde wanted to die. Was ready to die when you murdered her. While Lina and her guys would gladly kill you for that deed alone, much less the other shit you’ve pulled, I can see she basically committed a shifter version of suicide by cop. In your case, suicide by creep. At least it’s almost a karmic wash, despite your intentions in the matter.”
He frowned. “She…wanted to die?”
“Her mates were killed by cockatrice hundreds of years ago. It nearly drove her insane at the time. Multiply the grief you feel by two, and several hundred years. She was ready to let go. Believe it or not, Baba Yaga tried to get her not to go to Yellowstone.”
He scrubbed at his face with his hands. “Bloody hell,” he muttered.
“So we’re never going to be besties, you and I,” Elain said. “I’m never naming you the godfather of any of my kids. I’ll be doing good to keep your existence a secret from most of my family and friends, meaning you’re going to be an incredible pain in my freaking ass for the next several decades, at least. You are, however, a shifter with a lot of years left in you. You have the potential to make up for a lifetime of screwing things up.”
A sad smile curved his lips. “May we live in interesting times.”
“Yeah, we got cursed, all right.” She glanced at the time on her phone. “I need to get back. No one knows I’m gone, much less that I’m here.”