Obsidian Mask

by Scarlett Dawn

  Daniil’s jaw clenched, and he shut the magazine with a snap, his attention slamming to me. “He is not touching you.” A blatant command, which had the doctor stopping in his tracks and glancing up, the door barely having time to close behind him.

  “Daniil…” I murmured softly. “Remember, I chose you.” God, he was a handful.

  Daniil glanced at the doctor, glaring at him, making the doctor freeze in his tracks, and getting a good look at who he actually was. The doctor’s jaw started to drop, obviously recognizing him, but Daniil didn’t seem to give a shit about that and asked him harshly, “Are you married or gay?”

  I snapped a hand over my mouth, trying to hold back the laugh that wanted to erupt.

  The doctor sputtered, “No.”

  Daniil’s gaze came back to me, eyebrows raised, and he stated calmly, “He’s not touching you.”

  Clearing my throat, getting control over myself as my irritation started to peak. “He’s the best. And that’s what you wanted. That’s what you get. So, if that means he has to put his hand up my crotch,” I held up a quick stopping hand when Daniil’s mouth flew open, “professionally, of course, then so be it. I don’t want a midwife. You don’t want to use the doctor my mom suggested. So here we are.” I pointed at the doctor. “The best.” I shrugged, lowering my arm. “He can’t help the way he looks any more than you can.”

  The doctor cleared his throat, finally done composing himself and his obvious shock, also getting the gist of this conversation. “I assure you I am nothing but professional.” He cocked his head. “If it helps you…” And he started in on all of his recommendations. We already knew this, but I let him continue because it gave Daniil time to accept the fact that I wasn’t going to go through this all over again.

  I kept my gaze on Daniil, letting him see I wasn’t going to be pushed around again. Daniil so wasn’t happy as he stared at me, then the doctor, and back and forth, his nose crinkling and his eyebrows together…but his eyes slowly went from spitfire mad to only slightly furious. That was an improvement. Finally, Daniil huffed out a breath, his voice deep, and asked me, “Are you sure you won’t pull a Grigori?”

  I coughed hard, glancing at the doctor, who stood there quietly, actually seeming amused by this now. “Yes. I already said I chose you.”

  Daniil crossed his arms, his tailored black jacket pulling at its seams as he glared at the entertained doctor. And then he stated bluntly, “I will watch everything you do. And if you so much as go near her clit, I will kill you.”

  I gawked, gasping, “Daniil…”

  “Hush,” he ordered me quietly, his eyes flicking toward mine, then back to the doctor. “Do you understand?” I was pretty sure I had never seen that look in his eye before. Even when he threatened me that very first morning. He was utterly serious, no smiles on his face right now.

  Dr. Wisser’s eyebrows rose, and he stated, “I normally order the partner outside when I perform a pelvic exam, but I can assure you I won’t try to stimulate with Ms. Forter.”

  Daniil rested back in his chair, staring at the doctor. “I’ll double your fee if you allow what I want.” He reached inside his jacket, withdrawing his long black wallet, and pulling out so much damn money, I was in shock. Especially, when he put the wallet back in his coat and there was still some left in it.

  Dr. Wisser eyed the money Daniil had placed on the counter and then used a pen to delicately spread the bills apart. “You do realize it’s illegal to carry this much cash on you.”

  “And your point?” Daniil stretched his legs out when the doctor stayed mute. “Do we have a deal?”

  Dr. Wisser’s eyes were still on the cash—indicating he really wanted it, but he stated, “That’s up to Ms. Forter. She’s the patient.”

  “Do I seriously look like I care?” I asked exasperated by this. “I just want an actual doctor in an actual hospital. Just take the damn cash and keep me and our baby alive.”

  Dr. Wisser pocketed the money pretty damn quickly. “That shouldn’t be an issue.”

  The exam started. First, there was a ton of questions that I had already answered in my book I wrote for him, making me even more irritated. But Daniil must have sensed this because he came over and sat on the edge of the table slash chair I was on and started massaging my shoulders lightly. The doctor ordered a nurse to come in and take some of my blood and left with her when it was done.

  Exhausted just from that little bit, I rested against Daniil, grumbling into the quiet, “You can’t just go around bribing people all the time.”

  Daniil shrugged against me. “He just wrecked his vintage Corvette a week ago. I knew he would take the cash.”

  Shaking my head, I asked, “What kind of investigation did you have done?”

  “I hired Lion Security to see to it. I believe Stash and Torrez took care of it for me. It’s fairly extensive.”

  “So, no little black dots in his history?”

  “None. Otherwise, we wouldn’t be here. He’s as good as he says he is.” Then Daniil grumbled, “Too bad he’s so fucking pretty, though.” He hummed. “Maybe I could fix that.”

  “Daniil, you won’t touch the man. Just stop it,” I hissed, and the door opened again, the pretty doctor walking inside. “Promise me or I go to my mom’s choice.”

  Daniil grumbled a little but ended up kissing the side of my neck, and whispering, “Fine.”

  The doctor sat down, reading a blue piece of paper on top of my file. His jaw seesawed for a few seconds, and he flipped through the pages on my chart, reading again before lowering them, and staring at the blue paper.

  Daniil kind of went predator-still behind me, and he asked softly, “Is there a problem?”

  Dr. Wisser glanced up at me, asking calmly, “Are there any twins on your mother’s side of the family?”

  I blinked at him. “Um…” the question surprised me, but a thought occurred, “My grandmother has a twin on my mom’s side.”

  He nodded, flipping through my paperwork again. “From the date of your last period I would put you at five weeks pregnant. Is the date correct that you indicated on the paperwork?”

  “Yes.”

  He sat the folder aside and put his hands together, leaning on his knees. “The blood work shows you are indeed pregnant. Congratulations.” He paused, and both Daniil and I nodded to him. “Although your blood work also shows that your HCG levels are very high.”

  Instantly, Daniil asked, “What does that mean?”

  I listened carefully, wondering if I was somehow screwed up. High levels of whatever was never a good thing. At least, not in doctor lingo.

  “It means she could be possibly carrying more than one fetus.”

  Daniil and I both stilled at that. Staring at him. What?

  The doctor clapped his hands lightly and stood up. “I need to finish performing the exam to find out. We should know by the end of it.”

  Daniil and I both sat there, kind of shell-shocked by that little bomb he so lightly told us.

  The doctor started moving a spotlight looking thing around. There was a small table next to it which he placed some really funky looking equipment. Yeah, and I started shaking a little. Almost absently, Daniil started rubbing my back, but a quick glance at him, and he was no longer looking like a strong protector. More like a man about ready to toss up his cookies.

  “If you step aside for a moment, I need to start,” Dr. Wisser said patiently to Daniil.

  Daniil nodded quickly, and stood…but hardly moved from my side.

  The doctor sighed, and gestured toward the other side of the table. “If you would be so kind as to stand over there, it would be helpful. You can see everything I’m doing from right there.”

  Again, a mute Daniil nodded and quickly made his way to the other side of the table as the doctor positioned me on the table. He had a wonderful bedside manner. Plus, I’ve got to hand it to the guy—even as he untied the knots I had put in my gown and began the breast examination, he didn�
�t tremble or anything, even when Daniil stepped closer and hovered over the table a bit. Now, when he got to the actual pelvic exam part of it, I could tell he was a little hesitant—after all, Daniil had threatened to kill him if he touched my clit…and then there was the fact Daniil was standing right over his shoulder where he was sitting between my legs.

  “You know, Daniil…” I started to say, thinking I really didn’t want him down there seeing whatever the doc was going to do to me…but one glance at Daniil, and I realized the poor man was seriously worried the doc was going to do something he wasn’t supposed to do. He didn’t even seem interested in what I was flashing between my spread legs the way he was staring at whatever Dr. Weiser was doing. “Never mind.” Let him get used to the guy. Trust him so he wouldn’t try to harm him.

  And, my goodness, did Daniil ever hover as Dr. Weiss began the pelvic exam. I have to admit, I probably didn’t help the situation much because it was uncomfortable at first. He didn’t hurt me, by any stretch of the imagination, but it was just…uncomfortable the way he pressed inside me and on my lower stomach.

  I didn’t exactly whimper, but a noise made its way past my throat and I tried pushing back in the stirrups.

  Then, the doctor made a soft gasp, and Daniil said softly, “Get your fucking hands off her.”

  “Wait, wait,” I mumbled. “I’m all right. It’s just uncomfortable.”

  There was a pause, and Daniil looked up at me—I couldn’t see the doctor because of the sheet—and he asked, “He’s not hurting you?”

  “No. Not at all. It’s just feels unusual.”

  Another pause and Daniil’s gaze had darted all over my face before he glanced down at the doctor. “Try not to make it uncomfortable for her.”

  Dr. Wisser’s voice was very soft as he said, “I won’t be able to do that if you don’t remove the knife from my throat.”

  I gaped, and then shrieked, “Daniil! Stop that right now!” No wonder the poor doc’s hands were starting to shake inside and outside of me.

  Daniil glared down at the doctor, then me. “If he hurts you, you tell me.” His shoulders moved, and the doctor took a deep breath.

  I glared right back at him as the doctor started to hesitantly do his job again. “Maybe you should come up here if you’re just going to scare the doctor to death. He needs to be able to do his job without worrying about getting knifed in the back.”

  “I won’t do anything to his back.” Daniil shrugged.

  “Or his front, Daniil. You’re scaring him.”

  “If that scares him, then maybe he shouldn’t be your doctor.”

  “Anyone would be scared with a knife to their throat.”

  “No. Not everyone.”

  “Oh. Excuse me. Only sane people would be scared.”

  “I know plenty of sane people who aren’t frightened with a knife to their throat.”

  “And this coming from the least sane person I know.”

  “Then you don’t know enough people.”

  The doc cleared his throat loudly. “I hate to interrupt, but I need to ask you a few questions.” Daniil and I both shut up, he staring down and me staring at the blanket where the voice was coming from. “And he’s also not insane. He knows what he’s doing while he does it. That’s not the actions of a technically insane individual.”

  I gritted my teeth. “What did you want to ask?”

  “First, are you absolutely positive you could have gotten pregnant before your last period?”

  Daniil stilled, and his gaze shot to mine. Oh, perfect. A medical professional asking me if I was having someone else’s baby. “Yes. I’m sure. I hadn’t had sex for six months before then.” I wanted to give Daniil the finger. He appeared to have caught it and glanced away looking a little sheepish. Dick. But I knew that was the ever-present question of men when someone got pregnant outside of marriage. My dad was right about some things being easier. And I had to give Daniil credit that he hadn’t actually ever asked that question.

  “And you weren’t taking any fertility drugs?” doc asked, pressing around inside me again.

  I tried not to flinch and answered, “No. Just one night without a condom.” Daniil and I hadn’t even had sex since we got back from Key West. Half the time I was too exhausted and asleep as my head hit the pillow, and the other half of the time I stayed at my apartment, keeping some of my independence—albeit with a few grumbles from Daniil.

  “Okay. Well, I need to finish up here, but you already measure too large for five weeks. You’re showing all indications of a multiple pregnancy. I’ll need to do a sonogram when I’m done to verify how many fetuses are in the womb.”

  I stared at Daniil, and I was pretty sure I looked about the same as him. Shocked. I almost forgot with the whole knife issue that the doctor had said my numbers were high. Although it appeared that Daniil might need to sit down, he was so stunned. He cleared his throat when I couldn’t help the wince, his eyes going back down to the doctor and watching what he was doing. It appeared to help him.

  Daniil froze when the doctor removed his fingers from me, and he hissed, “What did you do to make her bleed?” He was furious, and his arms moved again.

  “Daniil, stop it.” I knew from the doctor’s gasp again that he had the knife back out.

  Dr. Wisser wheezed, “It’s a normal result of the exam because more blood flows to the cervix during pregnancy.”

  “Daniil!” I stated, completely vexed and sitting up on my elbows. “I swear to God, if you don’t stop, I’ll bring my parents in here.”

  That stopped him. Kind of.

  “You think I’m scared of your parents?” Daniil asked softly, but his arms moved back. Which meant the knife had been removed without harm since I didn’t hear the doctor hit the floor dead. “You really are adorable.”

  “And you’re getting on my last nerve with the knife thing!”

  Daniil chuckled, moving back as the doctor did and came around to table to look down at me. “I’m sorry. But what would you have done if you saw someone taking their hand from my cock and their hand had blood on it?”

  That made me pause, but I said stubbornly, “I wouldn’t pull a knife on them.”

  Daniil laughed, apparently seeing the pause I had tried to cover up, and said, “You’re right. I’ll have to train you to use a gun.”

  I scowled, halfway enjoying our banter because it helped me ignore the doctor pulling out a piece of the table and lowering my legs to it, laying me out straight for the sonogram. “My mom would have a heyday with you if she heard you say that.”

  Daniil brushed hair back from my face, brushing his thumb back and forth over my cheek. “You know most of the anti-gun coalition individuals know how to use a weapon better than others that don’t have a problem with guns at all.”

  I snorted. “Mom so doesn’t know how to use a gun.”

  Dr. Wisser interrupted, asking, “Your mother’s part of an anti-gun coalition?”

  “One of the largest anti-gun coalition companies in the US,” Daniil murmured quietly, leaning down and kissing my forehead before glancing at the stunned doctor. “And her father’s a preacher.”

  Dr. Wisser muttered, “You’re kidding.”

  We both shook our head, and he murmured, “And I thought my Jewish ex-in-laws were bad.”

  Daniil snorted and started chuckling. I, on the other hand, glared at them both. My parents weren’t so bad. Not all the time, at least.

  Dr. Wisser seemed to get the drift when I smacked Daniil’s head when he wouldn’t shut up. He quickly went back to work, pulling over the sonogram machine, opening my gown at my stomach to squirt liquid on it, and placing a device on my stomach that he kept moving around after turning on the monitor to the machine.

  Stupidly, I asked, “Will we be able to hear the heartbeat?” I’d heard that once before in a movie and it sounded really funky.

  Daniil stilled from where he was leaning over me a little, staring in fascination at the screen.
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  His avid gaze darted to the doctor, waiting for his answer.

  And he disappointed us both, murmuring, “Not yet. Maybe on your next visit.” He kept pressing keys on the keyboard in front of the monitor, moving the sonogram device on my stomach at different angles. He cocked his head, pausing with his hand on my belly and hit a button on the keyboard. This kept up for some time and printed out pictures of the weird grayish black screen. It didn’t make a lot of sense to me, but the doctor seemed pretty interested in it, along with Daniil, who was fairly vibrating with impatience above and next to me.

  “Well?” Daniil asked, his eyebrows together.

  “Just another moment,” Dr. Wisser stated as he moved his hand again on my stomach and more pictures printed out.

  Daniil’s nose crinkled and I lifted my hand, rubbing a finger over it. He glanced down at me, his expression clearly worried and anxious. I smiled at him softly. He could be such a worrywart.

  The doctor wasn’t freaking out yelling “Twins!” He was calm and doing his job like it was a normal singleton pregnancy. I had high hopes.

  Daniil stared down at my mouth and bent down, kissing me softly.

  And I sighed against his mouth, barely feeling as the doctor started wiping my stomach off. Daniil’s mouth was my own personal fireworks show. Beautiful and full of wonder. And he seemed to have the same opinion, grabbing my cheeks and deepening the kiss.

  And, like so often recently, we were interrupted. This time, by Dr. Wisser clearing his throat loudly. We both stilled, blinking at each other before we both turned our heads to him. The doc wasn’t looking at us, but staring down at the photos he had taken, giving us our privacy for a moment longer. Daniil glanced down at me, stealing another sweet, soft kiss before straightening by my side.

  The doctor grabbed some scissors and quickly cut through the strip of photos. Daniil started to argue, apparently wanting all the shots, but the doctor held up a hand and lay a row of the photos on my stomach, pointing to the first, “One,” he pointed to the second, “two”, and he pointed to the third, “three.” He smiled. “Congratulations. You’re having triplets.”