by Lexi Blake
Oliver gestured to the kitchen. “Perhaps you should talk to someone who’s been here before you make your decision.”
“Hello, darlin’,” a low voice said.
My eyes filled with happy tears. “Lee!” I rushed to my wolf and threw my arms around him. I kissed his cheek, so overjoyed to know he was here. “I am so…”
“Don’t,” he growled. He pushed me back so I could see his stubborn face. “Don’t you say you’re sorry. I did what I did to save you. I wouldn’t take it back for the world. My little pack is fine and that’s all I could have hoped for.”
I ran my hands across his face, assuring myself he was here and he was real. His skin was rough against my hand. He didn’t bother to shave even in Heaven. His wardrobe hadn’t improved either. He was still in jeans and a slightly rumpled T-shirt. I found it wholly endearing. “So how is Heaven treating you?”
He chuckled, his chest moving with his laughter. “The beer’s pretty good and boy do they know how to make a burger. It’s a nice place, but I think you won’t be staying, will you?”
My heart ached at the thought of leaving him again, but I had other obligations, including those babies of mine. “No, I have to go back.”
He grinned. The smile on his face was freer than any emotion I’d seen on him before. He looked young and carefree. That piece of Lee that always seemed to be somewhere else was gone now. He was here, completely, and happy to be. The Heaven plane had done wonders for my wolf. “We were kind of hoping you would say that.”
Now I realized Lee wasn’t the only newcomer. There was another man standing in the doorway of the kitchen, and I would have guessed from the pushed back chairs that they had been sitting at the table together. There was a deck of playing cards on the countertop.
“I’ve been trying to teach him how to play Hold’em,” Lee said with a shake of his head. He glanced back at the other male with great affection. “He’s complete crap. He can’t bluff to save his life.”
I stared at the young man, who appeared to be seventeen or so. His lanky body had yet to fill out. He had gorgeous silky black hair and emerald green eyes. The expression on his face was so sweet as he watched me.
He was the spitting image of my husband.
“Is that—?” I couldn’t quite finish the question because I was pretty sure who he was.
Lee smiled and this time his eyes were watery. “He’s your son. He isn’t allowed to talk to you, but he wants to. He’s brand new so I’ve spent my time here filling him in. I’ve told him all about you and Daniel and Dev. The angels are only letting me talk to you because they want you to make an informed decision. It could get rough in a couple of years. You’ve earned your peace, Zoey. If you want to rest, we’ll understand.”
I shook my head as I stared at the dark-haired boy and memorized every inch of that face I wouldn’t see again until he was grown. I felt a deep connection open between us and I hoped he felt my love for him. He was my son, the boy I’d lost and mourned and never stopped hoping for. “I don’t want to rest. I want all of it. I want the good and crappy and everything in between. I want my life. If it gets rough, then I’ll have to be tough, won’t I?”
Lee hugged me again. “You are. You’ll get through all of it. We’ll get through all of it.” He said that last bit with an emphasis on the “we.”
I pulled back as the implications hit me. I was having twins. I had two boys. “Recycled soul?”
Lee’s face lit up. “I was given a choice, too. I know where I want to be. I would promise to be a very good kid, but we both know that would be a lie. I’ll probably be hell on wheels.”
My hands shook and I held him so tightly, I thought I might never let go, and I was gloriously happy that I wouldn’t have to. He would be mine again, but this time I would be the one to protect him. He would get everything I had.
“Zoey,” Oliver said solemnly from behind me. “Time to make your decision.”
I kissed Lee’s cheek again and thought about the fact that the next time I kissed him would be about eight months from now. I waved at the man who would be with him when the time came. His grin looked so much like his dad’s my heart seized. He was going to break some hearts that one.
“I’m ready to go back,” I announced.
“I knew you would.” Oliver put his hands on my shoulders and his blue eyes were solemn. “It is an honor to watch over you, Zoey. I know I can be a jerk sometimes but know that I’ll continue to do my best to keep you safe. Just remember, whatever happens, you’re never alone.”
“Thank you,” I said gratefully. “So how exactly do I get home?”
Felicity gestured to the balcony. “Do what you do best, Zoey. Take a leap of faith.”
I laughed. I had promised myself I would never jump off a perfectly good building again, but that was one promise I was going to break. I glanced back at Lee and his brother watching me.
“I love you. See you soon, Mom,” Lee said, his arm around his brother’s shoulder.
I nodded at my sons, too filled with emotion to speak. Then I turned and ran, my heart pumping with joy. I leapt over the balcony and I was free.
* * * *
When the pain came I took every instant of it because it meant I was back. I opened my eyes to see the bright lights of the arena all around me.
“Oh goddess, Daniel, it’s working,” I heard Dev say, his voice hoarse. His hands were on mine and I felt him squeezing. “Give her more. She’s coming back. She’s coming back.”
I swallowed and tried not to gag because my mouth was already full of blood. I breathed deeply through my nose, ignoring the pain in my chest. The blood slid down my throat and immediately went to work.
Daniel wasn’t waiting. He shoved his wrist against my mouth for what was probably the hundredth time. I could tell from the relief in his face that he’d been opening his wrist for a while. He was pale and I knew that he would have sat there until he was empty trying to bring me back. I reached up and touch his cheek.
He brought his forehead down to touch mine. “Don’t you leave me, Z. Don’t you dare leave me.”
He’d been crying and I could see Dev was emotional as well. His face was stark and his eyes were red. I drank for a moment, letting the blood heal me and the child Marini had injured. After a minute, I pushed Daniel’s arm away.
“Are you sure?” he asked, perfectly willing to give me more though I could see he was low.
“Yes, baby, I’m fine.” I let him help me sit up. I was still wicked tired. Dying will do that to you, so I leaned against his chest. Dev was right there, folding his arms around my waist and laying his head on my shoulder. We sat together in the sand for a moment.
“She’s all right?” I heard Neil ask.
“Thanks to you,” Daniel said, and I heard the gratitude in his voice. He looked down as he stroked my hair. “Neil heard you screaming. He punched through the hidden door and tracked you down.”
“You were face down in the water, Z.” Neil’s voice was shaky as he spoke. “I had to get you to Daniel. It was hard, but I stayed me.”
I knew what he was talking about, but the others glossed over his last statement. The blood and adrenaline had almost brought out that strange new side of him, but he’d kept it together for my sake. He’d saved my life. I mouthed the words “thank you” and “I love you.”
My father put a grateful arm around Neil and thanked him himself.
“Marcus.” I’d been forced to leave him. I couldn’t stand the thought that he was a pile of ash somewhere in those sewers.
“Is feeling better, cara.” He stepped into view and I was happy to see him. He was pale and his hands shook slightly, but he was walking around. “Neil took note of my almost-corpse and sent Hugo and Henri back to find me. They revived me in no time at all. I’m very old. I can take a lot of damage. I heard everything Louis did while I lay there, Zoey. I was so sorry I could not help you.”
Daniel hugged me tightly, thinking about what could
have happened. “You did everything we could have asked for, Marcus.” He looked over my head at Dev. “The babies?”
“They’re fine,” I tried to assure Danny but Bris was already laying hands on me. His warmth filled me. I hadn’t known just how cold I was.
“Our goddess is correct,” Bris said. “The babies are fine. But something has changed. I can’t put my finger on it, but one of them has been slightly altered. They’re no longer completely identical. I don’t think it’s anything to worry about. They’re strong and active.”
I would take that. I happened to know my boys were more than fine.
My wounds had healed, and Dev laid his head down over my stomach. “We almost lost you.”
I let my hands find his hair and thought of how much our sons would look like him. “I’m not going anywhere, baby.” I glanced up at Neil, who was surrounded by my dad, Christine, Sarah, and Felix. Zack moved in to get close to the action. I had a story for that wolf. “But I think I’ll need that bail fund.”
Chapter Forty
Eight months later
“Just a little bit more, my goddess,” Dev said, holding my hand.
I stared at my husband. He looked close to perfect while I was a disgusting, sweaty mess. “You think it’s just a little bit more, Dev? You really think so? Well, if it’s so fucking easy, Dev, then I’d like to see you do it, you son of a bitch.”
I ground out my words as another contraction hit and I pushed as hard as I could. The other thing I did was squeeze Dev’s hand until I thought it would break.
“See, you are doing so well, my sweet little goddess.” Dev grimaced and winced as he let me squeeze his hand. He’d managed to keep that soft, encouraging tone for all ten hours of my labor, even when I screamed obscenities at him and promised he would never touch me again.
“You should stop talking now, Dev,” Sarah said with a knowing smile. She was sitting on a stool at the end of the bed where I was giving birth to twins. Sarah had served as my midwife/confidante for the duration of my pregnancy. I was willing to listen to her. Felix and their sweet little Mia were in another room of the condo with our entire strange family waiting for news.
“I’m supposed to coach her,” Dev insisted.
“You were supposed to get me drugs when they would have worked, asshole,” I snarled at him.
“I told you to get her an epidural,” Daniel said from the back of the room. I forgave him for not standing too close. The blood would get to him.
“She said she didn’t want one,” Dev replied. “She didn’t want to go to the hospital. She told me to deny her one because she wanted the birth to be natural.”
“And you were stupid enough to believe her, Your Grace.” The Fae healer who was overseeing the birth laughed. Miria had sent the woman herself. So far she’d merely watched over and approved of everything Sarah had done. She was also heartily amused at the way I was giving Dev hell.
I groaned as another horrible wave hit me and I bore down.
“It’s too late now.” Sarah clapped her gloved hands together. “Here we go. Zoey, you’re crowning. I see the first one’s head.”
“Oh, god,” Daniel moaned, putting his hands over his eyes. “That just sounds horrible.”
“You shut up,” I yelled at him. “You might be smarter than him to stay out of my range but I can get you later, vampire.”
Then I was done talking. Grunting, crying, and screaming were my preferred mode of communication for the next few minutes. I pushed harder than I ever had in my life. I held on to Dev and, despite my words from earlier, I was so grateful to have him grasping my hand.
“He’s out,” Sarah said happily. “Oh, Z, he’s so beautiful.”
She quickly cut the cord. She passed my first son to the Fae healer, who cleaned and wrapped him carefully and handed him to Dev. He seemed shocked to be holding a small bundle of life in his hands.
“Congratulations, Your Grace,” she said.
Suddenly the blood wasn’t so daunting to Daniel and he moved in to take Dev’s place because I wasn’t done.
“Don’t kill me, Z,” he said, his voice breathless.
“No promises.” I squeezed him every bit as hard as I had Dev.
Our second son was born two minutes after the first. The healer cleaned off the second boy carefully and gave him to Daniel, who took him with shaking hands. He and Dev shared a glance as they moved in close to me.
“We have babies,” Daniel said as though he was trying to make it real in his head. “Which one is which? Didn’t Bris say they weren’t identical? They look pretty alike to me.”
I held my shaky arms out and took the first boy from Dev. I smoothed back the downy bit of fluff covering his little head and he opened his eyes for the first time. I knew exactly who he was.
“Hello, Lee,” I said as he fastened his chocolate eyes on me. The brand new baby yawned as though the birthing process had been a tiring one. Then he opened his mouth and let loose with a yell.
“I think he’s hungry,” Sarah said with a smile.
“Then that one is definitely Lee,” Dev agreed.
I pulled down my gown, exposing a breast. I was prepared for breastfeeding to be hard, but this baby was a natural. He latched on and sighed as he started to suck. I cuddled him to me and he was safe and warm. I had told my husbands of the brief time I spent on the Heaven plane. They had been very interested, but I think they thought I’d had an odd dream. They’d been fine with me naming one of our sons Lee, however.
“Well, Rhys has my eyes,” Dev said, proudly looking down at the baby in Daniel’s arms.
“Let’s hope he has my intelligence,” Daniel said with a goofy grin. He was fascinated with the child he held in his big hands. “Then he’ll know to stay out of his mama’s way when she’s yelling like that.”
“I wasn’t that bad,” I said because the yelling seemed like it had happened to another person. Now there was just peace and a great sense of relief. They were here.
“You threatened to cut off my balls with a pair of rusty scissors at one point,” Dev said. He looked at Daniel. “Let me hold Rhys. I haven’t gotten to hold him yet.”
Daniel held him carefully to move him to Dev’s arms. “Hey, watch it. You’ve got to support the head.”
Dev held Rhys close to his body and gave Daniel a dirty look. “I’m a fertility god, Daniel. I think I know how to hold a baby.”
“No,” Danny replied smugly. “You know how to make ’em. You practically slept through our childcare class.”
It had been an interesting couple of days. We were the only ones there as a threesome. We had coyly refused to answer questions and, much to the boys’ dismay, the consensus had been that I was a surrogate for their infertile love. I had not corrected that impression.
“Stop fighting,” Sarah said. “Now, go. Show off the baby who isn’t nursing. Zoey needs to rest.”
Dev looked down at me. “Thank you, my goddess. Our sons are beautiful.” He kissed me soundly and I had no desire to let a pair of rusty scissors get anywhere close to him now. “I have to go inform my brother that I have two sons to his one.”
Danny leaned over and kissed me as well. His hand covered Lee’s tiny head as he fell asleep. “I love you, Z. I…god, baby, it’s so much more than I could have hoped for.”
I nodded and we watched our son sleep.
* * * *
I woke up many hours later to find myself alone in bed. I smiled and was very grateful for the swift recovery Daniel’s blood offered me. Though I had only given birth hours before, I felt marvelous. My eyes adjusted to the dimness in the room, and I noticed that the light in the nursery we’d built was on.
When I opened the door, I saw Zack sitting in a rocking chair holding a baby. He looked up at me and he was crying unashamedly.
“I didn’t believe you,” he said.
The baby squirmed, already trying to get out of his swaddling.
I had told Zack about seeing Lee in Heave
n. He’d hugged me and told me how nice that was. Now he had to believe. I put a hand on his shoulder.
“Zoey, this is my brother,” he said, emotion choking his voice. “He smells like Lee. How is that possible?”
“Heaven works in mysterious ways,” I replied, letting the baby grab my finger. He was already so strong.
Zack sniffled before laughing and running a gentle hand over the baby’s head. He leaned over and kissed him. “Well hello, Lee. Hello again, my brother. You had it rough before, but it’s going to be different this time. You won’t ever feel alone. I’m going to be your Uncle Zack, and I promise to help you with all the crazy stuff you and your brother will come up with.” He passed the baby to me. “And that’s your mom. You couldn’t ask for better than her, Lee.” Zack gave me a quick hug. “I’ll see you in the morning, Zoey. Trent wants to go over the new protocols we’ll use with the kids.”
“Night, Zack,” I said, sitting down in the rocker. I rocked gently and heard Rhys making sweet little baby sounds in his crib. I thought about everything that had happened since that day in the arena.
Daniel was the formally acknowledged King of all Vampire. He had spent months forming the new Council and while the politics still gave him a horrible headache, his chief advisor actually enjoyed all the intrigue. Dev was a master politician and since the war, he’d been enjoying the acceptance of those in Daniel’s circle. He’d reconciled with his brother, who was a frequent visitor, along with his mother.
Sarah and Felix moved back to Dallas and Felix was finishing his degree in counseling. They had moved into our building with their daughter, Mia. Sarah’s hair was a sunny yellow and it matched her perpetual mood now.
Marcus was the elected representative of Vampire. He held the seat and was discovering he enjoyed the political side of a true government. I still caught him looking wistful at times. I could only hope he would find that woman who could make him complete.
