by Joyee Flynn
“Some come in a box.” Mother playfully shuddered. Then she leaned into my mate and gave a mock whisper. “Stick with me, Malachi. I’ll always make sure you drink the good stuff.”
“I appreciate the advice, Marian, Elena,” he replied gently. I knew he was treating Marian as you would a small animal that might flee at any second.
“May I ask you a question?” Marian asked but then glanced at me. I shrugged and looked at my mate as if to say it was up to him. I was glad she was trying, unlike Riley who was talking to Micah and Damian in the corner, very obviously ignoring my mate. Malachi nodded as he reached out and took my hand with his free one.
“Do you remember your mother?”
“No, not at all,” he answered quietly. “I heard someone say she was killed before I reached a year old.”
“That’s horrible,” Marian said sympathetically. “I lost my son, his mate, and four of their children. Riley was the only one to survive, and he was just a baby.”
“I’m so sorry, Marian.” I could see the tears in my mate’s eyes and knew he was feeling her pain and maybe even Riley’s anger if that was what he was feeling. About to change the topic, I glanced over at my mother when Malachi cried out and fell to the ground. I immediately put my wine down on the table and knelt by him as he held his head and whimpered.
“Baby? Baby, what’s wrong?”
“Hannah. Who’s Hannah?” He gasped as he knelt on all fours. His eyes went wide as he looked up at me. “Is there a Hannah here?”
“What have you done, demon?” Riley snarled as he shifted and came towards us. Micah caught him in time as he glanced up at me. “If you hurt her or our child I will fucking end you, Victor’s mate or not!”
“She’s in pain, so much pain,” Malachi whimpered to me, ignoring everyone else. “You have to help her. She’s scared, Victor.”
“How do you know that, Malachi?” Micah gasped as he tried to control his mate.
“It’s his gift,” I answered as I sat down on the ground and pulled my mate onto my lap. “He can feel people’s pain. He knows if someone’s suffering around him.” I looked up at Micah. “I never told him Hannah was here or who she was, Micah, I swear it.”
“She can’t breathe, can’t get help,” Malachi cried out. “She’s bleeding and cramping.” His head whipped up, and he stared at Riley. “You may hate me—you can want me dead or kill me later. But I’m not doing this. She’s crying for you because she thinks you can save her. She’s scared she’s losing the baby and can’t get to the phone.”
“Fuck!” Riley screamed as he broke out of Micah’s hold. I don’t know which of us was more surprised, Micah or I, when Riley raced right past us and out the door. In a flash, Micah, Marian, Mother, and everyone else were racing after him.
“Who’s Hannah?” Malachi whispered as he shook in my arms. “Is she your sister?”
“No, she’s carrying Micah and Riley’s baby,” I answered, standing us up. “It’s what’s called a surrogate. When two men want a baby or a woman who can’t have one goes to a third person and asks them to have the baby for them.”
“What a selfless woman.”
“I’ve always thought so.” I nodded as I raced up the stairs. I headed for Micah and Riley’s suites, knowing Hannah was in the guest room there. All hell had broken loose in there as Riley barked out orders and was doing something with Hannah’s chest.
“Her lung is about to collapse, the baby’s pushing on her diaphragm,” Riley said to Micah who’d gone pale. His head whipped up when he smelled us, and I thought he was going to tell us to leave. Instead, I got an even bigger shock for the evening. “Malachi, can you tell if someone’s in pain when they’re passed out? Or if the baby’s hurting?”
“I-I’ve never been around a pregnant woman, so I don’t know,” he answered, his eyes wide. Malachi tapped my arm, and I set him on his feet. He walked over on shaky legs and touched Hannah’s stomach, his eyes never leaving Riley. “Not in pain, scared though. The baby knows something’s wrong and is panicking.”
“Hannah passed out as we got here. Can you feel her?”
“She thinks she’s drowning,” Malachi whispered, tears flowing down his cheeks. “And her stomach hurts really badly.”
“Thank you, Malachi,” Riley said with a nod and got back to work. “We won’t make it to the hospital in time. I’m going to have to do a C-section in my lab. Damian, there’s a rolling cart in there; it will be big enough for Hannah. I don’t want to carry her.”
“I’m on it,” Damian replied and raced from the room.
“Her lung is filling with fluid. Micah, I’m going to get the air back in and re-inflate her lung, hold this up for me after I stab her.”
“Are they going to be okay, Riley?” Micah whispered, his eyes darting from Riley to Hannah.
“I don’t know, my love,” Riley answered and then stabbed some sort of syringe into Hannah’s ribs. “But I will not let her or our child die without a fight. So I need your head in the game now.”
“I’m here,” Micah said firmly, clearing his throat as he reached over and held the syringe in place. There was a large hissing sound which I assumed meant air was going back into her lung.
“Grandmother, Elena, I need warm water and a shitload of towels. Bring them to the lab.”
“We’re on it,” Mother answered as she took Marian’s hand and booked it from the room.
“She tried to get to the phone. We found it on the floor when we got here.” Gabriel informed me as he gestured to the night stand. Sure enough the phone was knocked over and off the receiver. “She could have bled out without any of us every knowing it if Malachi hadn’t felt her.”
“Then I won’t bitch that his gift causes him pain anymore,” I said, starting to see the pieces of fate falling into place. “I just hope it was enough to save them.”
Damian burst into the room then with a large service cart. Micah held onto the syringe as Riley and Gabriel lifted an unconscious Hannah onto it and moved out of the room as quickly as possible. It was hard with everything going on since they couldn’t jar her, especially with that needle in her lung.
“The baby wants out. It’s scared and wants to move,” Malachi said to Riley as we ran after them.
“Don’t worry, our daughter is going to get out of there as soon as we get to the lab.” The elevator’s doors closed and the rest of us raced down the stairs. We beat the elevator and got as much ready as we could. I knew which table Riley would want to use and cleared it off. Malachi stayed out of the way as Mother and Marian came in with supplies right before the others wheeled Hannah in.
Suddenly mine and Malachi’s issues with Riley didn’t matter. That was the mother of their child on the table and their baby that was in trouble. I couldn’t imagine the type of man who could operate to save his own child, but Riley was the best. We left as they got everything ready so as to not put extra pressure on him as he worked.
Everyone sat down in the hallway before Gabriel realized Riley would probably be using his powers of healing as well as his medical knowledge. That would take a lot out of him, and he’d drink from Micah for energy. Which would mean Micah would need more blood. He told us where he was going and raced off to the kitchen.
“Is Riley going to hate me even more now, Victor?” Malachi asked, still crying silently. I pulled him into my lap and wrapped myself around him to comfort both of us. I didn’t have any answers for him, and I didn’t want to lie.
“No, Malachi,” Marian said as she scooted over to sit next to us. “You just gave them the chance to save their child’s life. Hannah wasn’t due for a few more weeks, so no one could have expected this. Without you, Riley and Micah might not have found her for hours, and by then it would have been too late. I’d say my grandson will always be in your debt from now on. That’s a far cry from hating you.”
I stared at her as it all sunk in. It was true of course, everything she’d said. But would that matter to Riley? Or would he
think Malachi did this somehow and hate him more? I just didn’t know, but I prayed that Hannah and the baby made it.
Chapter 7
“Your blood is fixing the anomalies in Malachi’s blood,” Riley said several hours later as he walked out of the lab.
“Huh?” I asked quietly since most everyone in the hallways was napping.
“Micah showed me where your samples of blood were,” Riley explained as he squatted down in front of me. Malachi was softly snoring on my lap, but my mind had been racing too much to sleep. “When I was done with surgery, I checked the samples and mixed a small amount of each of your blood. It was like nothing I’d ever seen before, Victor. Your blood healed his.”
“So he can go out in the sun one day?”
“Oh yeah.” Riley smiled gently as he glanced down at my sleeping mate. “He saved my daughter’s life. He saved Hannah’s life even after I’ve treated him like shit.”
“No, you did that. I was just the warning beacon,” Malachi replied with a yawn. “And you’ve not treated me badly, you just don’t like me. I can’t say I blame you after what you’ve been through. I just hoped one day you’d understand that I’d never hurt you and I wasn’t a real demon.”
“I know that now, Malachi.” Riley’s eyes filled with tears as he wiped the back of his hand over his face. “I’m sorry for being such a bastard. When I thought of someone even part demon, or who smelled like one in the house with my mate, grandmother, and my unborn child, I just wasn’t willing to take any chances.”
“Is the mother and baby okay now?”
“Yes,” Riley answered as he took my mate’s hands in his. “We named her Carolyn Angel Marius. Carolyn was my mother’s name, but we named her Angel after you, Malachi.”
“I–I don’t understand,” Malachi whispered and looked up at me. “My name isn’t Angel.”
“But that’s what your name means,” Riley explained, waiting for Malachi to connect the dots. “You’re this family’s Angel. You love Victor, who has waited a very, very long time for his mate. You’ve helped me and my grandmother deal with the death of our family, which we should have done centuries ago, and now you saved Hannah and Carolyn.”
“I’m just glad they are okay.”
“There’s more,” Riley said as he glanced at me before turning around. I knew what he was doing when he pulled up his shirt, but Malachi went stiff in my lap. “Grandmother picked the Angel of Mercy statue when we buried my family because she thought at least they all went together. I never understood that, since I was so small when it happened. But I wanted to have a living memory on my body for them.”
“It’s beautiful and so sad at the same time,” Malachi whispered as he reached out and traced the names.
“But I get it now since you’ve come into our lives,” Riley said as he turned back around and pulled down his shirt. “As much as my grandmother and I suffered and grieved for their loss, I can’t imagine how much pain my parents or one of them would have been in if they survived, too. She understood that because she had children. I didn’t get it until tonight when I almost lost my daughter. It’s something I don’t think I could ever have recovered from.”
“You figure out a way,” Marian said softly. And it was then I realized she wasn’t leaning on my shoulder anymore fast asleep. “And for me, I had you. We had each other. Your father saved you, Riley. I wasn’t going to let that sacrifice go to waste when all I wanted was to curl up into a ball and die myself. Hannah and the baby are okay?”
“Take a look for yourself,” Micah whispered from the doorway of the lab. I watched as my younger brother placed the cutest little girl ever into Marian’s arms. “She looks just like Riley.”
“It was a fifty-fifty chance to look like either of us.” Riley snickered as he leaned into Micah. The baby yawned and opened her eyes, staring up at Marian. Sure enough, she had Riley’s jet black hair and bright cobalt blue eyes.
“Did you name her Carolyn?”
“Yes, Carolyn Angel Marius,” Micah answered as he glanced at my mate. “After the angel who helped save her.”
“I can just feel when people are in pain,” Malachi whispered as he wrapped an arm around me. “Victor, they’re all staring at me funny. Almost how you look at me sometimes.”
“They’re looking at you with love, my mate,” I whispered as I kissed his temple. “It’s how they look at me as their brother that they love. It’s not bad thing, it means they see you as family now.”
“I–I don’t know how to be part of a family,” he stuttered as he held onto me tighter.
“I didn’t either, Malachi,” Patrick said gently, and I saw everyone else was awake now. Mother moved to sit next to Marian and was cooing at the baby. “You’ll learn, brother. In a family like this, you’ll learn really quickly what a loving family is.”
“I’ll try.”
“I was telling Victor before you woke up that I tested your blood.” Riley said as he plopped on his ass and pulled Micah down next to him. My little brother wasn’t having any of that and instead lifted his tired mate into his lap. “Victor’s blood heals yours. So you really aren’t a demon, Malachi. You have a blood abnormality, probably from being inside your mother that last month when she became a demon. Your blood is vampire.”
“Really?” Malachi gasped and then turned his head to kiss me quickly. “So Victor can claim me? I won’t burn him?”
“Nope. I want to set it up so that we take some extra blood from Victor and put it off to the side for a couple of days. Then he’s going to drink from you and you’re going to drink from the bags. That should be enough to transfer in enough of his blood to cure you. You’d be able to walk in the sun and smell like a vampire.”
“You really did save me,” my mate cried out softly as he turned in my lap and hugged me fiercely. “I love you, Victor.”
“I love you, too, baby,” I sighed as so many troubles left my shoulders in that moment. Hannah and the baby were fine. Riley didn’t hate my mate anymore and had helped us. Malachi wasn’t really part demon, and we could help him. That was a lot to take in over the span of a few minutes.
“Riley hasn’t told you the best part,” Micah said with a shit-eating grin. “We tested your blood with Riley’s and my blood. It didn’t work. It’s only Victor’s blood that heals yours.”
“How is that possible?” I gasped, staring between the two of them.
“I don’t know.” Riley shrugged. “It could be because you’re so much older than us and hence your blood is just stronger. But I’m going to be romantic and think it’s just fate. Fate arranged it so you could heal Malachi as he’s healed you.”
“I didn’t need to be healed?”
“Dude, you weren’t broken, but you weren’t all that loving and patient either,” Micah answered, rolling his eyes. “I’ve never seen you cry before, brother.”
“I’m not crying. My eyes are itching,” I mumbled as Malachi leaned back in my lap before reaching up and wiping away the tear that ran down my cheek.
“He cried when each of his brothers were born,” Mother said, smiling at me. “He was the one who birthed Stefan. Your father was out on a mission when I went into labor. Victor cut the umbilical cord.”
“Mother,” I whispered, wanting her to stop.
“No, Victor,” she replied firmly. “It’s time they knew.” She glanced at Micah, Stefan, Gabriel, and Damian in turn. “Victor also took a blood oath when each of you came into this world. He swore in front of witnesses that he would always protect each of you and give his life for you.”
“Why, Victor?” Stefan gasped, staring at me as if he’d never seen me before.
“You were all my little brothers.” I shrugged, looking down at my lap. Malachi took my face in his hands and raised it to look at them. “You were more important to me than my own life. I loved each of you from the moment you were born.”
“And he never missed any of your births,” Mother said with a smile. “Victor cried for jo
y when each of you were born. He’s always been the protective big brother, but he’s more than capable of emotion. I’ve just never seen him show them in front of everyone until Malachi.”
“He opened me up,” I whispered, staring at my mate. “I suddenly didn’t want to be just the protector of the family. He showed me how important it was to always be honest and to be open with the people I love.”
“And that’s why he is this family’s Angel,” Mother replied and moved so she could kiss Malachi and then me on the cheek. It seemed my mate was more than accepted now, and he was loved by my family. And damn if my eyes didn’t start leaking.
* * * *
“This feels so weird.” Malachi groaned as we left Riley’s lab later that next day. He was walking funny after our morning shower where I’d played with his ass and inserted a large butt plug while giving him head. We’d just finished letting Riley take a few pints of blood from me to go along with his plan, and I was feeling thirsty and something else watching him wiggle his ass.
“Are you sore, baby?” I asked, wrapping my arms around him and nuzzling his neck. “I can kiss it all better if you want.”
“No, no pain. It just feels odd,” he panted as he pushed his ass back against my groin. “Will you still kiss me there since I told you the truth?”
“I plan to fuck you in several positions as soon as we get back to our room.”
“Yes, please,” he whimpered as we started to walk faster. We gave quick waves to everyone in the kitchen as I grabbed several pints of blood, a few drinks, and some snacks. Mother went to open her mouth, but Damian was there to cover it up. He snickered as I gave him a wink and practically dragged my mate out of there, up the stairs, and then to our rooms.
“Do you want to be my submissive, baby?” I purred as I dropped everything onto the sofa in our sitting room before plopping down.
