The Konig Cursebreakers

by Brenna Lyons

  Finally, he accepted the lab reports back from Jacquie and smiled. “Looks good. We may opt for some extra vitamins until you can hold down more food, but overall it looks pretty good. We’ll get you into the ultrasound room in a minute.” Jeremy handed Erin a long robe. “Undress from the waist down. Weapons too.” He smiled at that. “Jacquie will lead you over when you’re ready. I’ll meet you there.”

  Jacquie smiled and shook her head. “I’ll be in the hall. Let me know when you’re ready.” She handed them a large plastic bag. “Drop everything in here so you can dress in the bathroom on that side. Better than dragging back here for no good reason.”

  Erin watched the door close behind them and sighed. She started to undress, but Curt took her hands away from the button on her jeans and pulled her to his chest.

  “You’re shaking,” he whispered next to her ear. “I never thought I’d see you shaking again.”

  “Only when my heart is on the line, someone I care about,” she managed.

  “I promise you it will be all right. Even if there’s something wrong...” He took a ragged breath.

  “You haven’t mentioned that possibility to your family, have you?”

  “Only the Königs know. Gods willing, no one else will ever have to know.” His hands moved to the button of her jeans. Curt undressed her, pushing Erin’s clothing down and lifting her to the table to strip her as Jeremy asked. He wrapped the robe around her reverently and slid her back to his side, hoisting the bag of clothing and equipment.

  “Why is this so nerve wracking?” she asked hopelessly, seeing the matching torture in her husband’s midnight blue eyes.

  “This is just the beginning. We have decades of this. Training, amulets, childhood accidents, first night—”

  “I hope,” she whispered.

  “We will.” He guided her to the door and out to Jacquie.

  The espresso-skinned woman smiled a motherly smile at her, and Erin couldn’t help but return it. Having Jacquie here was a stroke of genius for Jeremy. Erin remembered the first time she met the nurse. It was the night she drove Lorian to ground, and the older woman’s compassion was the only thing keeping her sane while Jeremy stitched Hunter and they checked for broken bones on her.

  Erin took a deep breath. “What can they really see on an ultrasound, Jacquie? I mean, the baby is so little...”

  Jacquie wrapped an arm around her shoulders, dwarfing the younger woman with her five foot nine and hundred and eighty build. “You’d be surprised, honey. The technology has come a long way since your mother’s day. The imaging alone will allow us to zoom in and see the baby or babies in there like we had a microscope on them. It will show us blood flow in the cord and through the rudimentary heart chamber. At this stage, a healthy cord, well-formed baby, and rushing blood through that chamber is as good as it gets. We’ll be able to check all of that.”

  Erin wound her hand through Curt’s, praying it was as good as it gets.

  “It will be,” he assured her.

  She smiled up at him. “I thought only Sarah read minds.”

  “She’s been giving me pointers,” he managed with a straight face.

  Erin punched him in the ribs playfully. “No one gives you pointers but me,” she scolded him.

  * * * *

  Talon paced the floor of the waiting room like a caged tiger.

  “Sit down,” Jayde ordered him. “You’re making me nervous.”

  He dropped into a chair, feeling his entire nervous system jumping uncontrollably. “What is taking them so long in there?” he growled.

  “Patience,” she hissed back at him. “Jeremy is just being thorough. Remember how nerve wracking my first visit to Laura was? Even our protected humans understand how important König babies are. He won’t leave anything to chance.”

  Talon grunted his agreement, bristling lightly at his wife’s gentle barb. He remembered Jayde’s first ultrasound all too well, and it was far too much like the current situation for his tastes. Talon remembered his terror, carefully hidden from Jayde, that the test would reveal their child killed in her womb, assassinated by Veriel while the beast had her unprotected in his grasp. He knew very well that Erin and Curtis would either emerge devastated or as the happiest couple in the world.

  “What is wrong with you two?” Kord asked suspiciously.

  Jayde sighed. “Our baby is having a baby,” she lied smoothly. “It’s not an easy thing to face the circus we experienced when my children were born, Kord. I wouldn’t wish beast attacks and elders on her for anything.”

  The old man’s eyes narrowed. “It’s more than that,” he decided. “You love Sarah like a daughter, and she’s hunted too. You were never nervous about her pregnancy. Not like this, anyway.”

  Talon raised his head breathlessly, ignoring Jayde’s response. He could see the quartet of people through the glass, and his heart sank. Erin looked shell-shocked. She nodded grimly at something Jeremy said and wound her arm around Curtis’, laying her cheek on his bicep. Curtis regarded the doctor seriously as he shook his hand. He guided Erin out into the waiting room with a gentle kiss on the top of her head. Her weapons belt was looped around his shoulder.

  Talon stood, feeling Jayde and Kord tense behind him. “What’s wrong?” he asked quietly.

  Jeremy waved him back. “There are just a few extra ground rules for this pregnancy,” he assured them. “Limit her stress and her travel. More tests. We’ll see her more often.”

  Curtis met his eyes wearily. “No training allowed. If we can avoid it, no battles either,” he added.

  “What’s wrong?” Kord echoed before Talon could repeat himself.

  The old man was firmly holding back a strong Blutjagd. If this was serious news, Talon knew he might find himself acting against his old friend.

  Jeremy smiled. “Erin has just decided to exercise her unique nature, as usual.”

  Her eyes lit in annoyance. “I hardly managed this alone,” she protested.

  Curtis grinned wickedly. “This is your body’s part of the arrangement,” he stated in a teasing voice.

  Erin smacked his arm, and her husband recoiled, laughing lightly at her anger.

  “Well, who the hell invited you to fertilize both eggs?” she demanded. “You had a little something to do with it. As I recall, you were pursuing me at the time.”

  Talon bit back a laugh of pure relief. Twins! Gods alive, she was having twins.

  Curtis laughed harder and pulled her to his chest. “And what a pursuit it was,” he crooned tenderly.

  “Obviously. As if this isn’t proof enough of that.” Erin wound her arms around his chest. “You better be up for helping — diapers and all,” she warned.

  “What happened to you being ‘perfectly capable of doing this alone’?” he mused.

  “That was before I knew there were two. Two of you? Gods help me! Not to mention, you were the one who insisted that we complete our printing,” she reasoned. “You’re stuck, Curt. Deal with it.”

  “I’ll do more than deal with it. I’ll get Adam and Jo to give me Baby Care one-oh-one with their new little one,” he promised.

  “You better,” she grumbled into his chest.

  The older Warriors watched the exchange in a mixture of shock and amusement.

  “Twins?” Kord finally demanded.

  Curtis smiled widely. “We made the Warriors’ records book.”

  “I’ll say. Fifteen hundred years and seven families without a single set of twins,” he replied in awe. “You’re really sure about this?”

  “We have the pictures to prove it.” Curtis beamed.

  Talon laughed, remembering the lure of those first pictures.

  Erin scowled. “The stone is just punishing me for wasted time,” she decided.

  “You’re only twenty,” Jayde protested.

  Erin darkened and brushed her face against her husband’s chest.

  Curtis chuckled. “Didn’t you know? There was a reason Erin left Maher r
ange before she got her autonomy. There was a reason she stayed away until Lewis ordered her back. She was busy hiding out.”

  Erin punched him ineffectually. “You are entirely too full of yourself. What am I saying? I’m entirely too full of you.”

  “Not yet,” he teased. “And before you say it, since you’re not allowed to train and battle, I am hiding your weapons.”

  “Keep this up and that’s the only way you’ll live to see our children born.”

  Curtis held her to him, nuzzling his face to hers and looking very pleased with himself. “I can’t wait to feel them moving inside you. You’re beautiful. You know that?”

  “I’ll be fat,” she complained.

  “Not fat. Just wonderfully pregnant.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  December 24, 2029

  The assembled Warriors’ heads shot up as Erin rushed into the room. Her eyes were wide, and her hands were cupped under the swell of her belly. Curt went to her, pulling her into his embrace, his heart hammering.

  “What’s wrong? Is it the babies?” he asked urgently.

  She was less than thirty-five weeks, and Jeremy warned that she could go early, but they were afraid of the consequences of that. Full-term, they could trust that the healthy nature of Warrior babies would suffice and deliver at home. More than a month early, they would have to brave a hospital birth, complete with the attendant problems of security, for the sake of possible problems.

  “He’s coming,” she whispered. “He’s close. We have to get out of here.”

  Curt backed off and met her eyes in confusion. “Who, Erin? What’s wrong?”

  Hunter vaulted over the back of the couch and made it to them in two long strides. “Lorian? He’s coming here?”

  She nodded, shivering in the knowledge. “Yes. He’s almost here.”

  “Sarah?” Jayde asked.

  The sensitive shook her head. “I don’t sense anything.”

  Erin ground out a curse. “Hook in. Use my senses like I use yours— Please, Sarah. Trust me.”

  Sarah’s eyes widened almost immediately and she scrambled to her feet. “You have range. She’s right.” She scooped up Mikel from the floor. “Five minutes at the most. Christ! They can move, can’t they?”

  “Three,” Erin corrected her, looking weary. “Can you use my range with your definition? I know we’ve never tried it...”

  “Dunno. Let’s try it.”

  They sucked in their breath in unison.

  “Dammit!” Sarah exploded.

  “Oh, Sarah. I taught you better language than that. It’s a fucking war,” Erin breathed. “I’m not good at separating the mists. How many is that?”

  “We’ll discuss it in the stone room.” Sarah jogged from the room with Mikel on her hip, staring back at Erin expectantly.

  “How many, Sarah?” she demanded, walking as quickly as she could manage after her friend.

  “I stopped counting at forty. Does that tell you anything?”

  Erin froze in shock.

  Curt wrapped an arm around her, guiding Erin toward the training room and the safety of the stone. “Come on, Erin. He’s not getting anywhere near you. I promise.”

  He could see the terror in her eyes. “Stay with me,” she pleaded.

  “I can’t. You know I can’t.”

  “For some moldy code of honor? The hell with it!” Erin pulled his hand over the mound of their babies. “I need you, Curt. I need you alive and with us. Protect us. Stay with us and protect us.”

  “I won’t die. Do you honestly think the rest of these guys would let that happen?”

  “This is Lorian. You don’t understand what he’ll do. I can’t lose you.”

  “You’re right. You can’t. You won’t, but I have to do this,” he explained patiently.

  Erin pushed him away violently, pulling back tears. “You don’t have to. You’d leave me to raise our children alone for this crap. Go away, Curt. I’m going in there so I’ll at least have—” Her eyes widened. She turned without finishing her thought and stormed away from him.

  “Erin!” Curt’s mind whirled at her reaction, and his heart hurt at her anger with him, her dismissal.

  “It’s okay,” Hunter told him. “Let’s go.”

  “I don’t get it. Explain it to me,” he pleaded with his brother-in-law as they headed back to the living room. “Is it just that she can’t battle?” They hadn’t had to since Erin was banned from it, but Curt had seen her shunted out of a battle before and not seen this reaction.

  Hunter shook his head. “The last time Lorian came for her, she used that parting line on me. Erin loves you. Of everyone here, she’s afraid Lorian wants to take you out to hurt her. She’ll get over it. After all, if you can down me...” He smiled.

  “Erin told me your holes,” Curt admitted.

  Hunter laughed nervously. “Yeah. We’ll discuss that later. Right now, we have a war brewing.” He shook his head. “I knew it was bad news when Lewis ordered us all here, but I didn’t think it was this bad. He ordered me to bring my whole family, after all. If your father survives this, I’m going to beat him unconscious for dragging my wife and son into this.”

  Talon looked up as they came back in. “All settled?” he asked.

  Hunter nodded. “Erin knows what to do.”

  “I hope she follows orders this time,” her father grumbled.

  Jayde loped into the room, passing out spare blades. “Okay. We have this room. Kord, Lewis, Adam, Terrin Kaufmann, and Alex Armen have the library. Garrett and Joel Hunter, William Farmer, and Patrick Smith have the kitchen.”

  “No,” Adam replied from the doorway as he made his way to them. “I’ve moved William to the library. I’m with you.”

  “Why?” Curt asked in confusion.

  “Because she needs you to survive. Erin may not accept my protection, but she’ll let me keep your butt alive. I owe her this one. Whether she likes it or not, I’m repaying my debt.”

  Curt stiffened and met his eyes evenly. “I don’t need you as a babysitter, Adam. Take a hike.”

  “Uh-uh. Stone orders, I march. I keep your shoulder.”

  Talon chuckled heartily. “Boy, does this sound familiar. Take my advice, guys. Adam, stay out of his way. Curt’s protecting his wife and children. Curt, let him help. Quit arguing and get ready to battle.”

  Jayde straightened and pulled her blades. “Like right now, gentlemen. Here they come.”

  Curt watched in shock as the high-levels started materializing. There seemed an endless army of them arriving. He cursed soundly. Sarah stopped counting at forty. There were more than forty crowded in the room and hallway with more fanned out around the other groups of Warriors.

  Was it too much to hope that a higher than average concentration was sent here because it was the Königs they would be fighting? Curt shuddered in the realization that it probably wasn’t that simple. Only the fact that Sarah, Mikel, Erin and his babies were safe from harm calmed him for what was coming. Surely, no one else would survive this night.

  There were more than ten to one. Ten humans or even low-levels to one Warrior of caliber at a shot — even ten highs spread out over hours wouldn’t be unthinkable. But, more than ten highs at once to each Warrior were a death sentence. Perhaps, if all the Warriors were in one place, they could form a fight ring and hold off a few survivors until morning — possibly, but they weren’t.

  For what seemed an endless period of time, beast and Warrior faced off without moving a muscle. The beasts held their ground patiently, as if waiting for a signal to move.

  “Why aren’t they attacking,” Curt whispered to Hunter.

  The older man shrugged. “I don’t like this. They’re up to something.”

  “What? Sarah and Erin are protected. The children are protected. They know they’re safe with the stone, and they won’t come out. Will they?”

  “I think Erin has learned her lesson about that. I hope she has.” Hunter grimaced. “Okay, this is
Erin. Let us protect you. If they hurt you, they may have a chance of snaring her somehow.”

  Talon moved forward until he was even with Adam. “Name yourself and tell us where your master is,” he demanded.

  A blonde, green-eyed beast laughed, showing his fangs. “I am Gruber. I’d introduce my friends, but that would take far too much time. You don’t really need to know our names, do you?”

  “Considering the circumstances, I think the name of the spokesman is sufficient. Where’s your master? What is this madness?”

  “Lorian is close. We have no plan. We are here to defend ourselves only. If you don’t attack, we don’t harm you. If we stand here until the dawn breaks and we are forced to ground in pain, that’s what we do.”

  “What’s the point?” Curt asked in annoyance. “This doesn’t bode well,” he added to Hunter under his breath.

  “Lorian has personal business with your women. You are to stay out of the way. That’s why we are here.” He shrugged as if in disinterest.

  “That’s impossible,” Adam decided. “The stone protects them. Even an elder can’t approach them now.”

  “With malice, that is true,” Gruber agreed. “It amazes me how little you understand about the stone when you’ve had it all these years.”

  An ear-splitting scream ripped through the house.

  “Sarah,” Hunter breathed. “Please, let it just be a face at the window or door.” The last was said so softly, Curt almost didn’t hear it.

  “Don’t touch her,” Erin’s voice demanded. “Stand down!”

  Adam turned and pulled Curt to the floor, as he launched for the beast army.

  The younger man suddenly found himself buried in Warriors. “It’s Erin. I have to get to her,” he reasoned. “You have to let me go.”

  Curt roared out his frustration as one of the amulets repelled an attack. Which amulet was an uncertain thing. It could be Sarah’s or Mikel’s as easily as Erin’s. Sarah screamed again, not in pain but in terror. He struggled against the hands holding him with increasing desperation.