by Michele Hauf
“Is there anything we can do?” Creed sat forward. “I entirely expect we should honor the agreement and give up one child. But both? That is asking far too much.”
“I couldn’t imagine giving away my child,” Vail said, his gaze drifting over their heads. He and Lyric had had their first child a year ago.
“How is Johnny?” Blu asked.
“Oh, he’s a little booger. And I mean that literally. Who’d’ve thought kids had so much drippy, runny stuff inside them? And always scampering about and shouting at the top of his lungs. He’s started walking, but it’s not really a walk, rather a full-on run. I love the guy. I would kill to keep him safe.”
“Is that what’s required?” Creed suddenly asked. “Do you think the sidhe would accept a sacrifice?”
“Creed.”
He glanced at her, but the hurt Blu saw on his face stifled her concern. He was a man who would protect his own, as Vail had stated. Creed had once been a battle warrior, who’d swung his sword to slay werewolves without a blink or a stab to his conscience.
“Sacrifices are looked upon with favor,” Vail said, “but they are not so valuable to the sidhe as a half-breed child. This much I do know.”
And Vail did know, since he’d been taken to Faery when he was two days old. The faery had taken him as payment, fully expecting he would be a half-breed vampire/werewolf. Except he hadn’t been. His real father’s identity hadn’t been known at the time of his birth to Rhys and Viviane Hawkes. Vail was a blood-born vampire, but only at puberty was that discovered. Vail had suffered in Faery because of this mistake—Lyric had told Blu—and as an adult he’d returned to the mortal realm an addict. Even now, he had to avoid faeries because one hit of dust would plummet him to some unspeakably dark depths of depravity.
“We’re idiots,” Blu said. “But surely, if we could speak to someone high up, someone in charge, and explain the deal that was made, they would make adjustments?”
“Someone in charge?” Vail chuckled. “Ch’yeah. No one is in charge of Faery. Though if you knew if you had dealt with Seelie or Unseelie, that could help.”
“Unseelie,” Blu and Creed said at the same time. They looked to one another.
“I don’t know why,” Blu said, “I just feel it.”
“Me too,” Creed agreed. “She had three blue markings on her face, slashed from brow to cheek.”
“Yes,” Blu agreed, “I think it was the same one. I was thinking she was a warrior or champion because of the crystal blade she wore at her hip.”
“Sounds like Unseelie, and you may be right about her being a champion,” Vail said. “Crystal blades are rare. My guess? Ooghna.”
“You know her?” Creed asked.
“No, but I know of her. She’s vicious and cold. Unwavering in battle. Why she would want a child is beyond me, but then, a half breed can be traded in Faery for a great price, or raised and trained.”
“Trained?” Feeling a queasiness rise in her throat, Blu swallowed.
“Ooghna is Malrick’s champion,” Vail said, wandering to the patio doors and shoving his hands in his coat pockets. “He’s the Unseelie king. You could appeal to him. Not sure it would do any good.”
“We’ll do anything.” Creed stood. “How do we contact him?”
“You don’t. He already knows,” Vail explained. “And if he’s curious, you’ll speak to him soon enough. That’s about all I can do to help you two. I’m sorry.”
“No, you’ve helped,” Creed assured. “Names are good.”
“Yeah, well, be careful with that. You don’t want to call upon something that you will regret.”
Blu and Creed met gazes.
“Er, right.” Vail clapped his hands in the tense silence. “I gotta run. My flight takes off in a few hours. Heading home to Lyric and Johnny.”
With a firm tug, Creed helped Blu to stand and she caught Vail in a hug. “Thank you. Give this to Lyric when you see her.” She hugged him again, then tweaked his cheek. “And give that to Johnny. I wish we could have summered in Paris, but with my big belly, it was out of the question. I do plan to visit in the spring.”
“You’ll bring your baby along then,” Vail said.
“I hope so,” she whispered, then caught a tear against her palm, and had to turn away from him so he couldn’t see her heartache.
* * *
Blu watched as Creed sank into the pool next to her and stretched out his arms along the tiled edge. For as much as she’d once hated to swim, she’d spent a lot of time in the pool lately. She enjoyed the sense of weightlessness and felt the babies liked the water also. At least someone was happy.
Her husband stroked her cheek. It felt too tender. And she felt too…much.
“What’s wrong?” he asked quietly. “I’ll find a way to contact the Unseelie king. Promise.”
“I know you will.” She glanced skyward. “Full moon tonight.”
“Ah.”
“Creed, I need to shift. It’s been months. I need to run, to go hunting. To get all furred up!”
“You’ve done well resisting the shift. This will be the last month for sure, Blu. You can do it. And you know I’m here to help. Let’s make love.”
She snorted and swished her hands through the water, sending out waves. “Right. I feel so desirable lately. Not. Hell, I look like a freakin’ whale.”
“Yes, well, I’ve fucked a werewolf. I guess tonight I’ll have a go at a whale, eh?”
She speared him with a hard glare. “That was not funny.”
“So it wasn’t.” He edged away from her and she felt his chagrin.
“Sorry. I’m so ready to have these babies. And yet…” Sighing, she floated over to him and buried her face against his neck above water level. “I’d hold them inside me forever if that meant I could keep them both. I can’t do this, Creed.”
“Whatever you have to do, we’ll do it together. I intend to call out the faery king. There must be a bargain we can agree to.”
“I don’t want your sacrifice. We’ve already sacrificed so much. And for what? For selfish greed. We wanted a baby so desperately we were willing to give another away? How terrible is that?”
“Stop beating yourself up about this, Blu. And me. Do you think I don’t feel the weight of our mistake?” His chest heaved and she heard him sniff. She’d never seen him cry, and he wasn’t now, but it was the closest he’d ever been to showing such raw emotion. “I will make it right.”
“I know you will,” she whispered, believing, if only for the moment, that he would. “Make love to me so this itchy urge to shift will leave.”
He bent to kiss her, and she drew him forward, floating until her shoulder nudged the first underwater step. “You sure about this union between a vampire and a whale?” she asked, forcing a smile.
“You are the most beautiful sea creature I have ever laid eyes upon.”
He slipped down her bikini top and her breasts became two islands in the water, her nipples cooling in the night air. He pressed kisses to each one, gently, not rough or hurried as his kisses could sometimes be. Reassuring almost. Claiming. Sweet.
With one of Creed’s arms under her back to anchor her to him, Blu closed her eyes and spread out her arms, floating. His mouth felt so soft, at times she couldn’t determine if it was his kiss or the slap of the water with his movement. This quiet touch was what she needed when she knew the frenzied energy of their normal moonlight sexcapades would ne
ver be comfortable with her larger shape.
He placed soft kisses over her belly, which seemed a vast island in the ocean. She had marveled how her skin could stretch to encompass the lives within, and worried about stretch marks, but hadn’t seen any yet. She could probably attribute this to Creed’s cocoa butter massages. And hell, maybe the fact that she normally shifted her human skin to wolf fur had something to do with it as well.
She was ready to release this burden. And yet she’d meant it when she said she’d carry the babies forever if only to keep them with her.
She noticed the kisses had stopped and opened her eyes to see Creed holding her gaze. He tilted his head. “Stop thinking,” he said. “Slip into that good, sexy space you go to when we make love. Can you do that?”
“I can. I will. I want you inside me, slow and gentle.”
“I was just getting to that.” He kissed her hip and tilted her body away from him so her elbows landed on the step and her body floated stomach down. He slipped down her bikini bottom and slid inside her. “This is nice. Whale breaching in the moonlight.”
“Oh, you creep!”
He chuckled, yet held her secure across the belly as his rhythm inside her kept a slow and languorous pace. “Just kidding.”
“You had better be. I can flick out a few claws if I feel the urge.”
“I like it when you mark me,” he said, laying his cheek against her spine where the tribal tattoo darkened her skin. “If I didn’t have the ability to heal so well, I would be a walking canvas of your love scars.”
“They are given with love,” she said. “As we wear each other’s bite marks with pride.”
“Mmm, don’t mention biting, or I might need a nip.”
“I can dig it.”
He moved his hand down over her belly and found her clitoris. The briefest skim of his finger set her core to a delicious clench. Being pregnant was awesome for her senses; everything was heightened, fine-tuned to catch the slightest touches, whispers, scents. She wondered if the babies could feel her orgasms, and then…let go, hoping her children would feel her pleasure and know it was their mother and father, hugging them.
The orgasm was soft, yet lingered, vibrating through her body, squeezing, shuddering her in the water against her husband’s sure, strong frame. Eyes closed, her face bobbed in and out of the water. “Oh yeah.” She slid her hand through his moist hair, drawing him forward until he lashed his tongue against her neck. The intrusion of his teeth gave her another orgasm.
Chapter Nine
Creed wrapped Blu’s black wool coat about her shoulders and helped to button up the front over her belly where she couldn’t reach. He tugged her wool cap over a spill of black hair and kissed her forehead. “Don’t go too far.”
“I always make a round or two of the property,” she said. “Don’t worry. It’s daylight. The snow is coming down softly. You know how much I love the big flakes that look like goose down. I’ll be back in an hour. Besides, maybe if I jog I’ll loosen up the kids, eh?”
“No jogging,” he admonished. “Take it easy.”
“Spoilsport.”
“Whale,” he shot back.
“Longtooth.”
“Oh, is it like that then?”
“Bring it,” she said, then couldn’t fight the grin any longer. “Sorry, lover. I didn’t mean that. I’m going to blame that one on mood swings.”
He kissed her mouth and tugged the fake fur lapels up close underneath her jaw. “I will serve you fitting punishment when you return.”
Dashing her tongue in a sexy swish across her lips, she said, “I think I’m going to make this a quick walk. Love you.”
And she waddled out through his office door and through the side fence. The world offered up a winter wonderland. No wolf would refuse this gorgeous day.
* * *
Creed watched Blu until she disappeared through the copse of birch behind the house. He wanted to rush out and walk alongside her to protect her, but she’d made it clear months ago she needed the time alone to walk. If she could not shift, she needed to commune with nature in some manner that was beyond his ken. She felt the trees and earth and air differently than he did. It was a wolf thing.
Well enough. He had plans.
Grabbing the battle sword Wolfsbane from his office wall, he stepped out into the backyard. Not far from his office door grew a massive willow tree that one could walk under and look up to admire the umbrella of sinewy branches falling toward the ground. It was coated with frost this morning and glittered in the pale winter sun.
Swinging the sword with both hands, he scythed the blade through the air while his thoughts called beyond this realm to Faery. Though he was using the same chant he’d gotten from Rhys Hawkes, he had no idea if his beckon would be effective now. But he had to try. He probably shouldn’t greet any possible visitors with a sword in hand, but he didn’t want to take chances.
Besides, he’d once solved all of his problems with the swing of this sword. Old habits died hard.
A gush of wind swept through the air, crushing the willow limbs and spilling frost crystals to the ground in a hail of glitter. Or…no. That sparkle was not because of the frost.
Creed stepped forward, his boots crunching against the snowy ground. He paused before the great tree, for within, near the trunk, materialized a man whose dark eyes formed before the rest of his body fluidly took shape. Hair pulled tightly from his narrow face revealed angled cheekbones and a severe brow. His body was lean and tight, and he shook his shoulders, which unfurled great, sweeping silver wings.
Shirtless and wearing little more than breeches, his exposed skin glistened with markings, ancient and powerful with Faery magic. Some faeries could work magic by touching the symbols. Wolfsbane would prove no match.
“Malrick?” Creed wondered. “King of the Unseelie?”
“Lord Edouard Credence Saint-Pierre. Battle warrior, bounty hunter, enslaver of witches. Well met.”
“Well met.” Creed bowed. “But your intel is ancient. I’m now husband, former tribe leader and father-to-be.”
“Says the vampire holding the menacing sword.”
“I, uh…” Okay, so it had been a bad call. But he was not a man to face a powerful foe unarmed. “I’m pleased you’ve answered my summons.”
“I answered nothing. I do not come at your beckon, but merely wish to ensure this ridiculous quest you seek is set aside.”
“I realize, my lord, my wife and I ask a great favor, and I’ve no intention of disregarding the bargain I have made, or the bargain my wife made. But we refuse to honor both bargains. We will not hand over both our children to Faery.”
With a twitch of Malrick’s finger, the frost on the branches crackled free from the limbs and swiftly swirled toward Creed. The ice crystals cut through his cheeks and forehead when he wasn’t quick enough to block the attack. But he would not charge his opponent. This was but a show of power. And he respected the Faery king, because not to was unwise.
“I grant forgiveness for your outburst,” Malrick said, wandering closer and parting the willow branches with but a breath.
Creed licked at the blood dotting his lip. “I don’t ask your forgiveness, but rather, your understanding. Are you not a father?”
“I am. To many hundreds.”
Whew. The guy had been at it for some time. “Could you fathom having to sacrifice one, let alone two of your children?”
“I could not. Yet I would ne
ver make such a hideous bargain. Apparently you and your wife have the lack of morals to do so. And now you’ve the audacity to beg for lenience? When once I would have stood beside you in battle, Saint-Pierre, I now look upon you with disdain.”
Creed was startled by that revelation. He straightened his shoulders and lifted his sword to inspect it, then stabbed the tip into the snow, releasing the hilt. “I wish no war, only love.”
“You’ve become soft. I do not admire you for that.”
“It happens when a man learns to love. Of that, I know you can never relate.” The sidhe could not love, or so he’d been told. “The love for a child, whether born or still gestating, is unfathomable. I was foolish to make the bargain, as was my wife. But had we not, we would have never the opportunity to know the joy of family.”
“Faery has granted you a great boon, and in turn you sneer at me and make even more demands?”
“Just one,” Creed said confidently. Every sinew of him wanted to lunge forward and rip the bastard’s heart out, but it would serve him no purpose, and would further malign his standing with Faery. He gripped his hands in fists to keep from grabbing the sword. “That is all I ask. Let us keep one child.”
“You know we favor half breeds.”
“I do. But you’ve no promise either of our children will be so. They may be full-blood vampire or completely werewolf.”
“Unlikely.”
“But not impossible.”
Malrick tilted his head. “Perhaps I might extend the handing over of your children until they reach puberty? If it is proven then one or the other are not half breeds, I will revisit your request then.”
Creed’s breaths quickened, but too soon, he cautioned himself against making another foolish bargain. The wait would only prolong the agony, and allow him and Blu to become more attached to their children. It would tear out his heart should he be forced to give up an adolescent child he and Blu had nurtured for years.
