by Anya Nowlan
“She’s not breathing,” Price said breathlessly, scrambling to Prowler’s side, who was already administering CPR.
It took a couple of breaths and pumps on her ribcage before Amy’s beautiful eyes fluttered open and she coughed up water. Price quickly helped her to her side so she could get rid of the salty water clogging up her throat, at the same time holding her close.
“Spirits above,” Prowler murmured, looking pasty-white as he quickly retrieved some thermal blankets and helped wrap them around Amy. “Amy, are you alright?”
“She almost drowned. I think she’ll need a few before she’s alright,” Thor commented dryly, giving her a worried look. “She’s bleedin’.”
It wasn’t like Price, or Prowler for that matter, to miss anything. The fact that they were both like headless chickens at the moment, missing a gaping leg wound on the woman they loved, only went to show how out of it they were.
I can’t believe we almost lost her, Price thought, accepting the medkit Thor tossed at him.
Prowler was ripping the leg of her pants off, the wet fabric sticking to her skin like glue.
“Ow,” Amy winced, and Prowler stopped right away, putting his arms around her.
“Sorry,” he said. “It might hurt a little.”
“The Princess,” she stuttered, her teeth clattering. “They want to… they’re going to…”
“Oh yeah,” Thor said, leaning back and grabbing hold of the steering wheel of the boat with one hand. “Hold tight. We might get some waves.”
Price’s brow furrowed as he looked from Thor, to Prowler, to Amy, but when he felt the rumble from below, he understood completely. Despite the endless worry that seemed to swirl in him for Amy’s wellbeing, even now that she was safely in their arms, he couldn’t help but grin.
A couple hundred feet from them, the sea seemed to erupt upwards into the sky suddenly, raining water down on them. Amy yelped but the Shifter Squad Nine guys just laughed.
“Nothin’ like a little explosion to clear the air,” Thor commented, throwing a glance at Jorge.
The fox shifter was balled up in a corner, eyes wide with fear.
“I don’t think they’re going to do anything anymore, baby,” Price said with a smile, pushing a kiss on Amy’s temple, before getting back to her leg wound.
He had her back, and though she was obviously shaken and wounded, she was alive. Amy pulled the blankets closer around her shoulder and let out a strangled breath of relief.
“I think I might pass out,” she uttered, and Price met her gaze. “So if I do, please tell the doctors that I’m pregnant. And I guess you don’t have to tell the docs that, but… you guys are the fathers.”
With a cruise ship being almost taken over by werewolf terrorists, an all-out gunfight, a water rescue, resuscitation and a blown-up submarine having all ‘happened’ that day, Price couldn’t say that any of what had transpired earlier could hold even a candle to what he had been told now.
He looked at Prowler, who was staring blankly at Amy. In sync, both of the Renard twins smiled wide and it became something of a fight as to who managed to kiss her first.
Price won.
When she laughed, batting him away gently only to receive a kiss from Prowler, it seemed like the darkness of the night lifted and everything became suddenly and inexplicably better.
“I suppose you don’t mind if I get us back now,” Thor said, turning the engine of the boat on. “And she’s still bleedin.’”
As Thor turned the boat around and the twins got back to securing Amy’s leg wound, the sun slowly began to rise on the horizon, the first pink and purple rays sneaking up to light up the sky.
Twenty-Three
Amy
“I thought that would never end,” Amy said with a sigh as the door to her hospital room swung open and Price and Prowler rushed inside.
It had been over twelve hours since she’d seen them last.
After getting back to The Pearl Princess, Amy immediately called in a state of emergency on the cruise ship, prompting it to turn to the nearest port while help was sent as well. Luckily, there were almost no casualties other than the Arctics’ agents, and most of them were disposed of over the side of the ship before Amy even stepped foot on the cruise ship.
Shifter Squad Nine didn’t fuck around in that regard. There would certainly be questions and an inquiry about the detonation recorded in the ocean, as there was always scientific gear to pick stuff like that up due to seismic activity monitoring, but Amy was sure The Firm would make it all ‘go away.’ The security cameras were wiped and three bodies were left as token offerings to the local authorities, a ‘simple’ ship abduction gone wrong as far as they were concerned.
For The Firm, the wealth of information being handed over was going to be a lot bigger. While the security feeds never made it to the police, they would certainly be closely scrutinized by The Firm’s techs. Amy couldn’t be bothered to think about all of that, though.
She had much more important things on her mind.
“Are they okay?” Price asked immediately.
“And are you okay? They wouldn’t tell us shit. Something about ‘not being family’,” Prowler huffed, as the twins took up places on either side of her bed.
She received a kiss on the cheek from both of them and returned them with matching ones to the werewolves. Her stomach was twisting, but she wasn’t sure whether it was just because she was seeing her werewolves again, or because of the babies. Probably both.
“They’re fine. I’m fine,” she said with a gentle smile, running a hand over her stomach. “Just wish I knew what was going on with the Princess.”
Amy’s brow furrowed in worry. She had asked countless times, but no one could give her a list of the wounded or any sort of a status update on the cruise ship. Despite her adamant objections, she was airlifted off the ship before it could reach the port because of her wounds, along with several other people. And she didn’t exactly have a second in command to ask updates from, did she?!
“No one died. Two guys are in critical condition, one of them a crewmember, but they should pull through,” Price said, his gaze soft.
“Oh, thank god!” Amy said with an exhale. “I was so worried. What about Jorge?”
“Handed him over to local Firm ops. They’ll take him in and keep him until we have time to go ask him some questions,” Prowler answered.
The look in his eyes, gone a second later, told Amy that they weren’t going to be doing a lot of talking. In Jorge’s case, she didn’t exactly mind that either.
Amy could see that both his and Prowler’s eyes kept sneaking to her belly, even when the topics were as serious as the ones they were discussing, and she couldn’t help but smile.
“You can touch it if you want,” she said, almost whispering the words.
The nervous looks that she got from the men who she had thought to not fear anything made her giggle. These brave, mighty warriors, made completely speechless and unsure of themselves by such a simple human condition.
They seemed to check with one another just to make sure as well, before both put one hand on her slowly growing stomach. Amy placed her own much smaller hands on top of theirs and let a deep breath out, turning almost into a hiccup as the babies kicked in unison.
“Wow,” Prowler murmured. “That’s…”
“Amazing,” Price finished, grinning.
“I wish I would have told you sooner,” Amy said, averting her gaze from the men and keeping it firmly on her own palms. “I wanted to make sure our heads were clear during the mission and I didn’t know what you’d think of this… But really, I think I was just afraid.”
“Afraid of what?” Prowler asked, his tone subdued, as if he didn’t want to talk too loud around the babies.
“That we wouldn’t want this,” Price said, his lips narrowing as he pressed them together.
“That’s insane,” Prowler argued. “No shifter would ever say no to his children.”
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“You know that’s not true,” Price argued sternly.
Amy held her breath as Price’s gaze turned to her along with Prowler’s.
“You have to understand that whatever you need, whatever they need, we will be there to provide. You were not alone in this. I could sense in your scent that something was off, and Prowler commented on it too – how you smelled different. We would have realized this on any other woman, but with you? I think we didn’t want to hope too much.”
Prowler nodded slowly at his brother’s comments, realization dawning on his face. Amy’s heart beat twice as hard in her chest and she felt the haze of tears starting to pool in her eyes, immediate and powerful. It was like a weight was being lifted from her shoulders and for once, she discovered that she was not the only one having to hold up everything. She had two men around her, as strong as she or stronger, who could help shoulder the burden.
“Really?” she asked, her voice breaking.
“Really,” Prowler confirmed, his voice filled with conviction. “You don’t know us that well, but we knew from the start… We just couldn’t see it right away. You’ve always been the one for us.”
Amy’s lower lip quivered and she quickly wiped away the tears that were trickling down her cheeks now. It was insane, the whole thing. Not only had she been through more action lately than she could possibly handle for a while, but she had done all that while pregnant. She’d gotten shot at, helped foil a terrorist attack, found the men of her dreams and so much more. It was enough to make a woman’s head spin, no doubt about that.
“So we’ll give this a shot, then,” Amy said, forcing her voice calm. “The three of us.”
“The five of us,” Price corrected her immediately, drawing smiles from all of them.
“Maybe things will calm down a little and we can all take leave together,” Prowler mused, a dreamy edge to his words.
Wouldn’t that be something? Amy thought.
As if on cue, sensing that things were going too well, the hospital room door swung open again. With long strides, Spade walked in, looking like a cloud of thunder. The remainder of Shifter Squad Nine stalked in after him, most of them giving Amy and the Renards apologetic looks.
Ryker stayed at the door, shutting it behind him but crossing his arms over his chest and standing guard in front of it. Amy hiked herself up in the bed and the werewolves both jumped up on their feet. The amount of testosterone, animosity and anticipation in the room was almost suffocating.
“Is anyone going to tell me what’s going on or are we going to play twenty questions?” Amy asked, exasperated and annoyed that her moment was disturbed in such a way and even more worried.
When Spade showed up these days, it couldn’t be anything good.
“I hear congratulations are in order,” Spade said, giving a brief smile that didn’t reach anywhere near his eyes.
“Get on with it,” Price practically snarled, his tone so venomous that Amy grabbed for his hand and gave it a quick squeeze to calm him a little.
“Fine,” Spade shrugged. “I don’t have time anyway. I am simply here to let you know that there will be changes now. Things will be different.”
“Different how?” Dice queried, his arms crossed as well.
It seemed to be the stance of choice for Squad Nine at the moment.
Probably so they wouldn’t get the urge to choke the shit out of Spade, Amy thought.
Thor looked especially ready to pounce.
"In all the ways that it matters, of course," Spade said nonchalantly, showing off his pearly whites.
Regardless of how at ease he seemed to look, Amy could catch those tiny micromotions of his face, when he kept glancing at the door and sometimes even at the window, as if he was expecting someone to come after him or something. Amy held her breath without even noticing, her body tense and both her hands clamped over her stomach.
There was something inherently dangerous about being in the same room with Spade and she didn't like it.
It didn't used to be like this, she thought to herself, thinking back to the days when she knew both Spade and Dice as smiling young men, ready to crack a joke at a moment's notice.
Those days seemed to be long gone now.
"I am no longer with The Firm," Spade said, and you could hear a pin drop in the room for a moment after he uttered those words.
"What?" Rio asked, being the first to come out of the daze of surprise. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"It means that I am no longer working for your employer," Spade said simply, a gleam entering into his eyes that was as predatory as it was dangerous.
The temperature in the room seemed to drop by a couple of degrees and Amy could feel a small chill going down her shoulders and then into her spine. It was like an omen of bad things to come.
It doesn't have to be, she reminded herself sternly. When we're together, we can deal with anything.
The incident with the Arctics on the cruise ship should have shown that much, at least.
"Why not?" Dice asked, making Amy's attention snap back to the situation at hand.
"Irreparable differences," Spade offered with a small smile. "I will keep this short."
With that, he tucked his hands into the pockets of his long black trenchcoat. Amy noticed the bulge on the left hand side, where he most likely kept his sidearm. She couldn't help but take notice of it, even if she was entirely sure that Spade wasn't mad enough to attempt to pull it in a room full of professional, deadly warriors.
The fact that her mind went to that point at all was sort of unsettling, though.
"I don't think my exit will be appreciated. I am not sure how this will change your status in the company. Probably for the worse, if I had to guess."
"Who is taking over intel?" Thor asked, to the point as ever.
"I don't know," Spade answered with a small smirk and a shake of his head.
It didn't look like he particularly cared, either.
"But I want to leave you with this. Your loyalties will be questioned. If I had to guess, I would say that it will happen soon."
"Who would do that?" Ryker snorted. "It's not like any of us are going to follow you out."
There was a grumble of approval from the men around him and even Amy found herself nodding along to them. There was no love lost between her and The Firm, but they were still steady providers and kept her fed and covered.
That was more than she could say for Spade, who seemed to keep her barely alive at best.
"We'll see about that," Spade offered lightly, a momentary flash of color going through his eyes, solid gold and oh so familiar to Amy.
She pushed back into the pillows slightly at the sight of it, remembering all too well what could happen when that man in particular would let his beast out.
"I might come to you with an offer at one point. You might find that it is better than what The Firm can offer you, and more in line with your moral compass, if you were to have one. I suggest you don't mention to anyone that I was here, or you might face the consequences from their side for it."
"You're making it sound like some kind of a war," Amy said lightly, frowning.
Spade's attention centered on her and the way he grinned, all teeth and menacing amusement, made her sit up straighter on the bed. Both of her werewolves took a step closer to the bed as well, as if expecting Spade to pounce.
Considering that he had injected Thor's mate with a deadly toxin not that long ago, Amy had to admit that it wasn't exactly beyond the scope of Spade's capabilities.
"It is," he said gently. "It has always been a war. The Firm simply didn't know it."
Spade shrugged his lean, muscular shoulders slightly and then cast a look over those gathered in the hospital room, as if sizing up his army. What he saw seemed to please him, even though every single pair of eyes centered on him now seemed to be alight with more questions and animosity than anything that could resemble loyalty.
"Oh, and in case you were wo
ndering, Jorge's dead now," Spade said as he strolled towards the door leading out of the hospital room. "And I made it hurt."
Ryker stepped aside, out of Spade's way, after checking with Dice with a glance and receiving a nod for it. The intel operative left the room and in his wake, half of the anxiety that had permeated the air seemed to evaporate.
Prowler slouched down on the side of Amy's bed, shaking his head, and Price pulled a hand through his hair. They looked at one another and Amy couldn't help but read the silent communication going on between them.
"He knew all along, didn't he?" she said softly, running her hands down her stomach.
"Probably," Dice said with a nod. "If there's one thing that could be said about that heartless bastard, then it is that he always knows. I don't know how, but he does."
Amy bit her lower lip, trying to figure out on the go how Spade could have had any idea about her pregnancy. Yet it was now entirely clear to her that he did, even though he hadn't said much to that account. Like Dice said, that man always knew more than he was supposed to and Amy wasn't sure if she even wanted to know how he did it.
"He knows everything," Rio commented with a roll of his eyes. "If I had to guess, he has that gas as well, the shit they used on the ship. We never retrieved it, you know. Even though we had one of the scientists alive and he took us to where the stash and the recipe was supposed to be, there was nothing there anymore. I thought that The Arctics had cleaned it out, but now I think it was our good old friend Spade instead."
"The fuck is he plannin'?" Thor mused out loud, his piercing gaze drilling through the door that Spade had left through.
"Whatever it is, we probably don't want to be anywhere near it," Dice said, though there was a fair bit of uncertainty in his voice.
How could they not, when despite being a giant jackass, Spade's the reason any of them still had a job... or had their families now, Amy thought, worry still more than settled in the pit of her stomach.
"Alright, it's not like we're going to figure out anything here," Dice said with a low grumble, motioning for the rest of the squad. "Let's leave these young lovebirds alone. And Amy, honey, congratulations. Really. You've done good with those two," Dice said, giving Amy a nod and a glance at both of the werewolf twins.