Temper

by Mary E. Twomey

  Von wrapped his arms around my waist. Ezra’s blood dripped from his chin into my hair as he pulled the stress from me with his hands around my belly. Danny knelt at my other side, holding me in a gentle headlock and pulling in an unsteady thrum that told me he was too hopped up on adrenaline to focus.

  “What are you two doing?” Finn asked, bewildered and worried as he stood over us.

  Danny hugged my head to his midsection, making me feel like a family pet while I breathed through my teeth. “She goes into labor if she doesn’t have constant pulling. A few minutes without it, and this is what happens.”

  Finn swore and tore one of the sheets off the bed, cutting the edge off and wetting it in his palms. He rubbed the cool rag over my face as I panted through the pain. “It’s alright, sinta. Breathe.”

  Bro moment over. Von stiffened, his voice livid. “She’s not your sinta, she’s my asawa! Check her finger, you insufferable wanker.”

  Finn looked down and let out a quiet bleat of agony that tore at my heart. Then he cleared his throat and continued to mop the sweat from the nape of my neck. I couldn’t believe the depths of love that kept him in place, helping us when he could’ve easily abandoned me to have Von’s baby in the middle of my bedroom. “You’re not married yet, though. I would’ve heard. There’s still a chance for you to get scared and run out on her again, and when you do, I’ll be ready.”

  Von gripped my stomach harder and yelled, “I’ll end you if you don’t stay away from my wife!”

  So much for the “We just wrestled a lion together, so we’re cool” truce.

  Danny’s tone was sharp. “Sod off, both of you. Can’t you see the woman you both love is in labor? Shove it off for another day.” He jerked his chin toward the hallway. “Finn, go down the hall to Mariang’s room. In the back of the closet there’s a false door. Pry it open, and you’ll find the passage to the panic room. Keep Mariang inside, but tell Boston to come here quick. I need him to pack Mariang and me a bag. If we can get October’s contractions under control, we’re moving into her house until Mariang has the baby. I’ll not go through this again.”

  Finn rose and did as he was asked, stepping over the enormous snoozing lion on his way out. My contraction ebbed, letting me finally get in a breath that didn’t feel like I wanted to die. Von had the presence of mind to be gentle as he stroked my belly. “Easy, darlings.”

  Danny shook his head, frustrated with himself. “I tried to bliss her out, Von. I couldn’t focus enough to pull that hard. I’m sorry. I’m still a little shaky. I mean, it’s Ezra.”

  “It’s alright. We’ll get it under control.” Von held my waist, leaning over my body to bury his face in my hair. “September will be born healthy and strong. She won’t be one of those tiny preemies we reap, so help me.”

  Danny shook his head. “I can do better. Ezra really threw me off my concentration. It’s no excuse. I’ll be more helpful next time.”

  “A Matruculan lion in the middle of the bedroom’s no excuse to get thrown off your game? You’re too hard on yourself, Danny. It’s alright. It’s fixable.” Von let out a gust of his nerves. “I haven’t seen Ezra’s animal form in ages. Forgot how big he gets. Temper, that one.”

  The guys were quiet a few beats, still coming down from the fight and the fear of me giving birth on the carpet. Danny’s panting slowed as he attempted to calm down. “You sent Boston away.”

  “And I’ll not apologize for it. Mum lost one of her babies. She’ll not lose the other.”

  “It wasn’t a criticism. I would’ve done the same thing, had I been thinking clearly.”

  “Mariang can’t be unprotected, and I needed you here. You’re better in a fight. Boston’s been drinking too much to be all that solid with a knife.”

  Danny mulled over the compliment, and while I wished he had the space to respond with “I’m so sorry I’ve been a terrible brother, Von,” another contraction hit me like a ton of bricks, making me scream as I tried to breathe through it.

  “Wicked! Feel this, Danny. Her belly gets hard and starts trembling when the contraction hits.” Von moved his brother’s hand to my stomach, like I was a science experiment or something. I wanted to punch them both.

  “Wicked!” Danny agreed as Mariang came back into the room with Finn.

  She dropped to her knees and hugged me while I panted, wishing everyone would just get off of me already. “It’s alright, sweetie. Try and calm down. Tell my niece it’s not time to come out yet.”

  Danny and Mariang both stroked my hair like I was a dog, which of course made me want to growl and snap at them. I bit my lip through my temper, but my self-control was fading fast. Finn watched my face, knowing I was ready to unleash. “Lady Mariang, can you find me some rope to bind your father with? Something that won’t hurt him, of course. Just in case he rouses.”

  “Sure.” Finn helped Mariang to her feet, and she reluctantly left the room.

  “Better?” Finn inquired quietly once my contraction ebbed.

  “Make it stop,” I begged in a mournful tone that, had I not already reached my max capacity for emotional trauma, would’ve embarrassed me.

  “How about the himila weed?” Finn suggested, moving toward the box on my dresser.

  “No!” Danny was firm. “Mariang needs some of the weed, too. There are two Omen heirs to think about here.”

  Finn glared at Danny. “There’ll be only one if October delivers this baby too soon.”

  “No, no, Finn. Mariang and I can share it. Let me up, guys. I think I can move now. I’m getting claustrophobic. Can I get downstairs before the next one hits?”

  “Sure, love. Easy now.” Von and Danny didn’t let go as they carefully lifted me to stand and led me down the hallway. The stairs were tricky, but we moved slowly and steadily together, with the brothers pulling as a team the whole time. They anchored me to the white leather couch in the living room, exhaling with palpable relief.

  Finn pulled down the chenille throw from the recliner and draped it over my lap. He lifted my legs to the ottoman, his fingers lingering on my bare feet.

  Thirty-Two.

  Farewell, Finn

  Three more erratic contractions, and that was it. Danny and Von had pulled so hard that I could barely place one foot in front of the other. It was worth being totally helpless to get out of labor. I was terrified for when there was no way out. In a month, I’d have to do that all over again, but for longer, and with the pushing part I dreaded.

  Boston hurriedly packed Von and me a bag and loaded up the SUV with everything we needed, including a small feast from Lynna. She was still crying, dabbing at her face with Ezra’s handkerchief. She refused to come with us. “I’ll not let my Ezra come to, alone and scared in his house with no family. I won’t leave my boy.” Danny consented, but only if she waited out his transition in the safe room.

  Boston raided the fridge once more for the good cheese I knew he liked, while Von and Finn helped me to the car. It was a team effort, and though they both wanted to kill each other, they worked together for the common good. Von got into the car first, and Finn hugged me, letting me rest my tired head on his shoulder. “I’ll stay with Ezra to cut him loose when he comes back to himself. If worse comes to worst, I’ll port Lynna down to Terraway until Ezra’s a person again.”

  “Thank you for looking after my dad. And I’m sorry you had to find out about Von and me like this. I can’t believe you stayed with me through the whole thing. You’re a better man than anyone gives you credit for. I don’t deserve how good you were to me up there.”

  Finn kissed the top of my head as he held me, ignoring the threats from Von that came from the backseat. “Don’t you know by now? I love you. Even when you’re not mine. Even when you send me away, like you’re about to.” He pulled back, looking into my eyes to see what he’d always known was there. He smelled like the ocean, and I was scared to let him go. I hoped I wouldn’t sink without the green eyes that always adored me, even when I was unl
ovable. His voice was low and choked with emotion when he finally spoke to me. “Send me away, sinta. Tell me not to wait for you. Tell me you’ll have a good life, and that you’ll call for me when it’s not.”

  I closed my eyes and nodded. “It’s time for you to go find someone who loves you the way you deserve. Be a good man, Finn. Listen to your conscience. I always knew it was inside of you.”

  “I love you, October.” He brought my hand up between us and kissed my knuckles, scowling at my engagement ring. “My conscience isn’t all that strong right now. How much do you want to bet I could kiss you before your vampire attacked?”

  Von barreled out of the backseat, but I was quicker. “Goodbye, Finn.” I stepped out of his grip, reaching for the car to lean on instead. Boston and Mariang helped me inside while Von shouted and Finn snarled.

  Danny clapped his hands together after setting the black leather box down on the floor of the car. “Get in the car, Von. Finn, we’ll call you when we figure out October’s dream guy ordeal.” That was the good thing about Danny; he was so surly, people rarely argued with him. He drove us away before I could mess up my life any further.

  Thirty-Three.

  The Love of Von

  It was hard to get comfortable, but I kept any whining to myself. The moment we reached my home, I felt sixty percent more okay with the world. I blew a kiss to my mailbox and went inside, knowing that as great as the mansion was, my quaint abode on Lenoy Avenue was my home.

  “Bedrest for you, November,” Von ordered. “Boston, will you take a shift for me? I need to do a patrol of the grounds with Danny. Get some more blood in me. Get thoughts about murdering Finn out of my brain. You know, things of that sort.”

  Boston went with me into the bedroom, his hand in mine after rolling his eyes and consenting to take his shoes off before entering my own personal hallowed ground. We got into the bed and assumed our usual cuddle we fell into when it was just the two of us – my head resting on his outstretched arm, our knees touching, and our hands clasped between us in solidarity, my belly bumping against his. It was slightly more intimate than I ever wanted to get with my soon to be brother-in-law, but it was the job. One thing was for sure – when September finally came to meet us, she’d be the most relaxed baby ever, because her Duwende uncles would never put her down.

  “Is this how you imagined spending your Friday nights?” I teased. “Cuddled up to a pregnant woman?”

  “I could do worse. I’d never seen a woman in labor before. Remind me to send my mum some flowers when I get a moment where no one’s attacking us.”

  I gingerly slid his phone out of his pocket. “I’d wager you have a good ten minutes of not being attacked now. No promises on the hour after that.”

  He took his phone from my hand and held onto my fingers for a beat, examining my ring like it was an alligator sitting on my finger. “That ring is mental. Totally and completely mad. But I guess that’s just like Von. When he does something, he does it with gusto.” The fog of reminiscence clouded his vision, and he blinked as if he was seeing something very far away. “This one time, Mum was on our case about cleaning our room – Bishop and me. Von was sick of hearing the fight, so he gathered up all our things and shoved them into garbage bags. I still don’t know where he hid them. Cleanest our room ever was. Then for Christmas, he wrapped each item and put it under the tree. It was the biggest spread ever. I still remember coming down Christmas morning and seeing mountains of presents under the tree.” Boston chuckled. “After unwrapping the third pair of dirty socks, Von was in hysterics.”

  “That’s awesome. I hope he’s that creative with parenting for September. I’m a little worried about getting that part wrong and messing up a good thing.”

  Boston’s hand lifted to brush a few squirrely strands of hair away from my forehead. “It goes the other way too, you know. He loves big, which is why he doesn’t do it often. Did Danny ever tell you about the bully in grade five?”

  “No. Who was Danny bulling?”

  “Danny was getting bullied, if you can believe it. This grade six chap named... Oh what was his name? David or something. So Von spends the whole evening teaching Danny how to deliver a solid punch if David messes him up again. The next day, David’s up to his old tricks, so Danny pops him one, only it barely leaves a dent. Von showed up to stop the fight, and sent Danny home. The next day, David’s not in school. Nor the day after that. Three days later, he shows up with a black eye, a split lip, stitches across his cheekbone and a limp. Never messed with Danny again. You know what’s brilliant about it?”

  “That hopefully the school sent out better supervision on the playground after that?”

  “Nah. It was that Danny got the credit for beating up David. Von spread the rumor that Danny was vicious when crossed, and then used David as the billboard so everyone could see that Danny wasn’t to be messed with. David never said a word, but I knew. I saw Von come home that night with bloody knuckles.”

  “Von loves Danny.”

  “Von loves you,” Boston informed me. “It’s a sizeable responsibility to be loved by someone like Von. He loves hard, so if you care about Captain Finn, it was good of you to send him away. When someone Von loves is trifled with, big brother pounces, and they usually don’t get back up.”

  I shrank in Boston’s arms, embarrassed that my personal life was headline news for everyone in my world. “Thanks for the heads up. And for the record, I started getting close to Finn after your brother turned a relationship with me down.”

  “I know. But now that you’ve got his ring on your finger? Be prepared, is all.”

  Von strolled into the room, a relaxed smile on his face and color in his cheeks. “I found a few squirrels who met their maker sooner than they’d planned. Blood shipments will come here now instead of the mansion. I talked to Ezra, who’s very much a person again. He’s too ashamed to speak to you, Peach, but he sends his sincerest apologies. I believe the words ‘Don’t deserve to look on your face’ were used in conjunction with a good hearty smattering of a general ‘curse my genetics’ kind of thing.” When I only looked up at my fiancé with wonder as I studied all the things that were Von, he quirked his eyebrow at me. “What? Did I get some squirrel blood on my shirt?” He pulled a cinnamon stick from his pocket and started chewing on the end of it.

  I slowly turned my chin from side to side. “You’re amazing. You fought a lion the size of a small elephant to keep us safe. You fought a lion, Von.”

  Boston scooted out from our cuddle and left the spot vacant for Von, making his way out to the living room. “Yeah, yeah. Have your mating ritual without me. Not the kind of threesome I’ve always dreamed about.”

  My look of rapture when I drew the glowing “S” on Von’s chest to label him the superhero he was to me could not be tempered. “You fought a lion for September and me.”

  “If anyone’s going to take a bite out of my fiancée, it’ll be me.” He tried to make a joke, but I didn’t care. I was too grateful.

  I waved him toward me, sitting up to peel off his shirt. Von had the right kind of hunger in his eyes as he knelt on the bed at my side. “I love you,” I admitted, though we both already knew the truth of that statement.

  “Prove it,” he challenged, squinting one eye at me. “Marry me. Be my wife and have my baby. Kiss me until I don’t remember my own name.” Instead of letting me do just that, Von buried his face in my neck, kissing and tugging at the tender skin until my toes curled and my fingers bunched in the sheet. I couldn’t think through all the things I wanted to say to him to thank him for saving us. I wanted, and that was the only thing that stayed steady inside of me as Von’s seduction turned everything on its head.

  Thirty-Four.

  The Idiot I am

  Mariang had the grace to wait a whole hour before knocking on the door. Von had been firm that we would only make love in our minds, not in real life, so she was only interrupting a heated fictional romp as we kissed to our hearts’ cont
ent. “There’s something classically sexy about a virgin on her wedding night,” Von insisted, tugging his shirt back on over his head. “Plus, your brother threatened me with some very specific bodily harm, were we to indulge beforehand.”

  Our promise to wait worked on both levels: it made him happy, and kept us from accidentally getting too worked up and sending me into early labor. Besides, in our minds we could do anything our bodies wanted, getting us used to the idea of being together before we actually could.

  Von waited until I was situated in the bed before opening the door for Mariang, who was pink with chagrin at having interrupted us. “I’m so sorry. Danny’s insisting we get to the bottom of the black box issue. I told him to wait, but he’s worried.”

  Von couldn’t do anything but smile. It was a boost to my ego that I could make his stunning eyes look that dreamy. He chewed on a cinnamon stick, tucked his arm around Mariang’s back and held her other hand, dancing with her to a song he hummed, like he didn’t have a care in the world – like he hadn’t just wrestled a lion.

  Mariang laughed as she danced with Von, graceful and elegant. She was light on her feet, even with the slight curve of the baby in her belly. “You’re so happy,” she remarked, looking lovingly at her brother-in-law. “You’re much better this way. It does no good for the world when you’re bogged down by too much. I very much like you in love.”

  “Then be prepared to love me forever, because I’m getting married, sis. Actually married.” Von twirled her, releasing her to spin into Danny, who walked into the doorway unprepared for the cuteness. Danny fumbled with the pen and paper as he tried to jump into whatever it was Von was throwing him into. He swayed with Mariang for about two seconds, which I was actually pretty proud of him for. When Danny recalled himself and abruptly stopped the dance, it was with a firm frown that reminded us all who he was, and who we were asking him to be. While he’d come a long way, he was nowhere near comfortable with the whole dancing in public thing.