“Huh.”
“Are you refusing?”
“No, I just honestly didn’t…heh…see that one coming.”
He smirked. “Droll.”
She stared at the baby. The little girl was quite beautiful and would likely be a heartbreaker when she grew up. “I did some research. I thought cockatrice genes were passed through the father, not the mother?”
“They are,” Marston said. “The shifting genes. That doesn’t mean other traits that reveal their true parentage don’t pass along through the mother. That Colleen is nearly three-quarters wolf is in her favor, but it is not a guarantee. Rodolfo bore the scent. Not nearly as strongly as a full-blooded one, but it was still there if you knew it was.”
“When he wasn’t marinating himself in cologne.”
He smirked. “Quite. That came about later, after the invention of regular bathing and deodorant, when everyone in general started smelling better. Then he had to start masking it.”
Elain thought back to the film Mercedes had shot in the woods of Rodolfo murdering Paul, BettLynn’s birth father. “Mercedes could shift into a cockatrice and a wolf, right?”
“She could. Very rare that a shifter can utilize both forms when from mixed parentage. I suspect it’s because she was such a strong Alpha as both.”
Elain pondered it. “Maybe that’s why Mercedes could shift to cockatrice form and Rodolfo couldn’t,” she finally said. “Because the shifting gene was passed to him via his mother and dormant in him, and he passed it to Mercedes by getting her full-blooded cockatrice mother pregnant.”
He shrugged. “I’m not a geneticist, but that sounds logical. Makes as much sense as anything having to do with them.”
“That means Edgar and Lenny both had cockatrice fathers, right?”
“Well, a father with at least strong shifting genes in him, so perhaps. They both could shift, but so could Mercedes, and Rodolfo was part wolf. Why is that so important to you, if you don’t mind me asking? Why now, when they’re dead?”
“Because it’s an unknown.” She finally met his gaze. “According to what we know, Lenny and Edgar’s mother told them their father was dead. That doesn’t mean he really was.”
“Ah. Very true.”
“Whether she really told her sons he was dead, or they just told Mercedes and you he was, I don’t want to get caught unprepared.” She was smart enough not to reveal what she’d found out through her visit with Rodolfo.
“Yes, that is wise. They are not generally known for their veracity.”
“No shit.” That’s when a horrific thought hit her.
Paul Abernathy, Rodolfo’s great-grandson.
He was BettLynn’s birth father.
Shit.
“Elain? Are you all right?”
Hell, not like he was going to tell anyone. “How diluted do the cockatrice bloodlines have to be through the father to prevent passing along the shifting genes?”
In a quiet voice, he asked, “I take it you’re talking about someone else? Another child?”
“Paul Abernathy. Could he have passed it down? A great-grandson? Mercedes was Rodolfo’s daughter with a cockatrice. Mai is a full-blooded coyote.”
He immediately followed her line of thinking. “There might be a possibility, of course. But as I said, I am not an expert.”
“I hate to admit this, but you’re the closest fricking thing I’ve got to an expert, so you get my questions.”
He nodded his head in her direction. “You can likely lay hands on the baby yourself and tell.”
But she didn’t want to do that. She didn’t want to find out BettLynn might have strong cockatrice genes in her.
She damn sure didn’t want to have to be the one to break it to Mai. And it would mean having to hunt for a way to occlude her, as well as Colleen.
Jeez, doesn’t the kid have enough issues to deal with already?
Sudden relief hit her.
Jasper.
The dog had played with BettLynn and the Beasts. In fact, he adored BettLynn.
If BettLynn was part cockatrice, surely Jasper would have reacted, right?
Then Marston’s voice sliced through her thoughts. “And there is Fiona to consider.”
She stared at him before letting her head hang down. “Fuuuck,” she muttered.
She hadn’t really considered Ortega’s granddaughter.
Fiona was Rodolfo’s daughter, too, with a full-blooded wolf mother who’d also been Rodolfo’s niece, but Elain didn’t know in which direction.
I’d better find that out pretty fricking soon. “I can’t deal with this right now.” She looked up again and stared at him. “I really can’t.”
“No one says you have to.”
Elain let out a harsh laugh. “Ohhh, buddy, you’re sooo wrong there. Protecting my peeps, and their peeplings, is massively part of my raison d’être now, lucky me.” She laughed again. “Imagine that. The asshole wanted to sow his oats, he just didn’t know he was dipping into the wrong fricking seed packet.”
How many other unknown Abernathys were floating around out there, unaware they might have hidden cockatrice DNA just waiting to be activated by the right—or wrong—combination? From what she’d seen in Rodolfo’s mind, there were more than a few. And they were, literally, scattered all around the globe.
After giving herself a moment to absorb the lasting and possible future ramifications of Rodolfo’s megalomaniacal genetic contributions to her own future headaches as a Seer and part of the Triad, Elain finally lumbered to her feet and over to Marston. He straightened, watching her.
Not sure why she was doing this, she awkwardly reached out and hugged him, steeling herself for what she might feel.
After a brief hesitation, he returned her hug, and she felt…
Gratitude.
Relief.
He’d worried she might refuse his request to be Colleen’s guardian.
She also had to fight back a wave of nausea caused by his ocean of dark and sticky guilt and regret, exponentially worse than what she’d felt from Ain the night before.
This was a man for whom death would absolutely be a welcomed release once he felt he’d fulfilled his duty to his daughter. He actually hoped Elain would kill him, allowing him not only the relief of her being able to take her revenge upon him, but releasing him from his emotional pain.
Lacey’s words to her the first time she’d met up with Marston in Bolivia came back to her.
Hmm.
“You know I still hate your guts, right?” she asked as she clapped him on the back before stepping away.
He sadly smiled. “I do.”
“Cool. As long as we’re clear on that, Damocles.”
“We are.”
Chapter Twenty-One
When Elain called Maine, she didn’t tell Brodey and Cail exactly when they were returning that evening because she didn’t want to do this introduction on the tarmac at the airport.
Instead, she told Cail to tell Brodey that they’d return to the cabin later that evening, and to please make sure they were there, and alone.
Cail had to relay the info to Brodey, because he told her Brodey was out on a shifted run in the woods, something he’d spent most of his time doing since her departure.
She felt some guilt about that but knew the outcome would be worth it, and that Brodey would agree.
“Well, quiet time when we get home, okay?”
“Why can’t we meet you at the airport?” Cail asked.
“Seer stuff, sweetie. I’m sorry. I hate using that answer on you, but Ortega and his guys are going to bring us to the cabin. I’d really like it if you’d get some steaks and fixings for dinner for us when we get there.”
“For just the four of us?”
She had to be careful how she answered that, since, technically, there would be five of them upon their return. “Ortega’s not staying. Love you, and tell Brodey I love him, too.”
She couldn’t so much as nap on the p
lane. The closer they drew to their arrival in Maine, the more eager she grew to be reunited with Brodey and Cail.
To let them meet their son, the son they didn’t even know they had yet.
They’d already cleared customs at their refueling stop in Miami, so when Ortega’s men brought the black SUV around when they landed, they were able to immediately load up and go.
“We need a quick stop,” she said.
Back to the same department store. She wanted to stock up on more clothes, diapers, a few toys, and formula for the next several days.
She suspected none of her men would want to leave the cabin, not take their eyes off their new son.
She knew she didn’t want to miss a minute of watching them being new fathers.
She also grabbed a digital camera and several memory cards.
When the SUV’s lights swung across the front of the cabin, Brodey and Cail both stepped out onto the porch, waiting until they were parked to walk across the yard to meet them. Cail looked relieved to see them.
Brodey looked ready to do battle with his brother.
He was coming up on Elain’s side of the SUV. She’d been sitting in the back with Ain, Connor strapped into his car seat between them. She stepped in front of Brodey to keep him from walking around the SUV to go after Ain.
“Brod, wait.”
“No, I want a swing at Prime, first.”
“Brodey, stop!” she snapped, the edict halting him in his tracks. She immediately changed tone. “Please? Look. Ours.” She stepped aside and pointed to Connor’s car seat.
On the other side of the SUV, Cail was now starring, wide-eyed and shocked, at the baby.
Brodey found his voice first. “But…babe, what the hell?” He reached out and touched her belly.
She laughed as she clasped her hand over his. “She hasn’t been born yet. You’re not seeing things.”
He stared into the SUV again. “What? Ours? You mean, ours ours?”
Hooking an arm around his waist, she nibbled on his earlobe. “I told you my surprise was better than sex.”
He swept her into his arms and kissed her, harder than she ever remembered him kissing her before. “What’s going on? I don’t understand.”
“Let’s get him inside, and we’ll tell you,” Ain said with a proud smile.
Cail turned to Ain. “Him?”
Ain grinned. “Him. Our son.”
Cail’s and Brodey’s gazes met through the car, across the backseat. As one, both men threw back their heads and let out the most joyous howls Elain had ever heard in her life.
* * * *
Ortega and his driver helped Ain and his brothers unload the SUV while Elain took Connor inside and got him changed and prepared him a bottle.
As he was ready to leave, Ortega happily hugged all three men and carefully hugged Elain so as not to jostle the infant. “I will be eagerly awaiting the birth announcement of your daughter, and the invitation to the recognition ceremony for them both,” he said with a grin. He held up a finger. “I will throw the largest party you Maine wolves have ever seen in your lives. And it is all on me. I insist.”
Cail and Brodey, still stunned, nodded and saw him out.
The men turned on Elain and Ain. “Okay,” Brodey said. “Make with the explanations. He’s really our son?”
She let Ain spin the story she’d planted in his mind. He wasn’t lying to his brothers, because he didn’t know it wasn’t the truth.
To him, it was.
A couple who’d relocated to South America years earlier to escape Abernathy were killed in a tragic and suspicious accident that bore the stink of cockatrice. Ortega had received the call on the plane just as they arrived in Maine, after Brodey and Cail had left the plane. Immediately after the battle, Ortega spirited Elain and Ain off to Bolivia.
Of course they’d offered to adopt the orphaned wolf child with no other living family in the world. Why wouldn’t they?
“So do you forgive us?” Elain asked them once Ain finished. “We couldn’t reveal anything until we had the paperwork done and were safely back in the US. And the ‘official’ story we need to tell people is that Ortega helped us adopt him because his parents died. From what I can tell, he will not be able to shift. We can leave the story simply that we adopted him to keep him safe from anyone who might want to hurt him. He couldn’t stay in Bolivia, and we were the best choice. And I hope you don’t mind that we made Ortega his godfather because of all his help.”
Again, technically, none of that was a lie.
She hated the mental gymnastics it required, but it couldn’t be avoided.
As far as all three of her men knew, since Ain’s memory was forever altered, Abernathy was still out there, somewhere, albeit someone’s prisoner, according to Elain’s vision.
Brodey nodded, tears in his eyes as he knelt in front of where she sat on the couch. She had Connor tucked against her shoulder and was burping him.
“Yeah. Like you said, better than sex.”
Cail grinned and playfully punched Ain in the shoulder. “Holy crap, hell just froze over.” He walked over and knelt next to Brodey to stare up at Elain and the baby.
“Can we hold him?” Brodey asked.
She glared at Brodey. “He’s not a cell phone. You can’t go trampling people to get to him.”
Brodey looked ashamed. “I won’t live that down, will I?”
“Not anytime soon. Get up here next to me.”
He scrambled to his feet and sat on her right side. She carefully transferred the infant to his shoulder.
Wonder filled his face. “Hi, buddy. Connor Aaron. That’s a great name. I’m your…” A blank look filled his face. “Hey, how do we do that?”
“Do what?” she asked.
“I mean, I honestly hadn’t considered that before now. Kid yells ‘Dad,’ and all three of us answer. How do we do that?”
She shrugged and looked up at Ain. “I don’t know. How do you guys want to handle it?”
“I’m too tired to think about it,” he admitted. “We can figure that out later. We can all be ‘Daddy’ for now.”
Brodey smiled and looked down at the baby again. “Hey, Connor. I’m your daddy. One of them.”
She stood and got out of the way so Cail could sit next to Brodey. “See? Told you I’d get back before our little one was born.”
“You know,” Cail said, “I figured you’d come home and say you had to help fight something, or negotiate something, or figure out whatever. Of everything I thought about that might be important enough to get you to fly out without warning, this was not on my radar.”
Cail grinned as he played with one of Connor’s hands and the baby grabbed on. “Hey, he’s got a good grip on him.”
“You’re not mad we named him, are you?” Elain asked. “We needed to do the paperwork.”
Cail snorted. “Babe, seriously?” He grinned. “Do we look like we’re mad?”
“I guess not.”
“You could have named him Stabby McFluffykins and I’d be okay with it,” Brodey said. He looked up when no one responded to that. “What? Well, I would!”
Elain pointed at him. “And that’s exactly why you don’t get final say on any baby names in the future,” she teased.
He grinned. “That’s fine. As long as they’re my kids, I could care less.” His smile faded. “You know what I mean. Our kids. All of us.”
Ain stretched. “We knew what you meant. Now, who wants to help me set up the portable crib?”
Elain elbowed him. “You get it out of the box for me, and I’ll set it up. Lord knows, I’ve set up enough of them, between BettLynn and the Beasts and everyone else.”
“I think,” Cail said, “that the lady has issued her orders.”
“I have. And once you get a turn holding our son, how about you and Brodey get our steaks cooking? We’re starving.”
The two men stared at each other.
“What?” Elain asked.
Brodey
chuckled. “Seriously, I forgot about the food. Yeah, we got steaks like you asked.”
“Me, too,” Cail said. “And I was starving before you got here.”
* * * *
After dinner, Ain and Elain grabbed showers. They’d set up the nursery in the bedroom next door. Brodey and Cail hung back, both of them wearing sweetly silly smiles on their faces as they stared down at their infant son.
“I think,” Ain said, once they’d settled in bed, “that I’m going to let Brodey and Cail be the bread in your sandwich tonight.” He smiled. “I think I owe them. I’ve had you to myself the past couple of days.”
“I’m fine with that. But somehow, I don’t think they’d mind even if you didn’t do that.”
He nuzzled her nose with his. “I know how they feel. I’m practically giddy. I never thought that was ever a word I’d use to describe myself.”
“This is our practice run. I just hope you guys are ready to hold my hands when the burrito is born.”
“Still can’t decide on a name, huh?”
“No. Sorry.”
He held her close. “It’s okay, babe. No rush.”
“Well, I’d kind of like her to have one when she gets here.”
“Maybe you’ll think of it when you’re in labor.”
“You’re just hoping I’m not going to neuter all three of you while I’m in labor.”
“Oh, yeah. That reminds me. I need to get us stainless steel cups.”
She buried her face against his chest as she laughed. “I promise I’ll try not to do that, but I can’t promise not to threaten it.”
“I know.” He brushed his lips against her forehead. “And believe me, I won’t take it personally.”
Finally, Brodey and Cail made it back into the bedroom, still wearing their silly grins. In a few seconds, that was all they were wearing, except for their wedding rings and the matching pawprint tag necklaces, after they stripped and climbed into bed with them.
Brodey scowled and jabbed a finger at Ain. “You. You.”
“Me, what?”
Triple Cross Page 28
