by Abby Blake
“We’ve been using condoms,” she said reasonably. Well Brody hadn’t been, but since he wasn’t compatible in a reproductive sense, that didn’t really count.
“Condoms fail,” Brody said with a grin as broad as the one Nathan was wearing. Hell. Apparently she was the only one who could see the problems they would face by becoming pregnant this early in their relationship.
“That’s right,” Nathan said excitedly. “It says so right on the box. And there was that first time. We didn’t use a condom then.”
Ava rolled her eyes. She clearly remembered that night, and even though Nathan had been inside her, he hadn’t actually come inside her. Of course, it took only one sperm to make a baby and there were usually of few of them in the pre-cum—more than a few of them if she remembered high school sex ed. She almost laughed out loud when she recalled that particular warning in the same pitch and tone of the teacher who’d taught the class. He’d droned on and on in a hypnotic, monotone voice that surely meant his students slept through most of his class. But still even she’d been awake for that warning.
Could she be that…lucky?
A small bubble of excitement curled through her, the thought not fully formed, the worry set aside for another day. What if she were pregnant? Nathan and Brody seemed more than happy for them to start a family now.
Brody pulled her into his embrace, kissed her soundly and then said one word—drugstore. He walked into the backyard, opened a jump vortex, and stepped through.
Nathan took her in his arms, squeezing her tight, almost bouncing with excitement. It was very premature to be this enthusiastic, but that “knowing” skill that she seemed to have developed kicked in again, and she suddenly knew without a doubt that she was pregnant.
She was about to share what she “knew” when the truth of her baby’s parentage slammed her, and she wobbled at the knees. She heard Nathan’s voice as if he were talking through a long tunnel, and then everything went dark.
* * * *
“Welcome back,” a soft female voice said in the darkened room. “You have every man on the block completely freaked out.”
“What happened?”
“You fainted. Want to tell me why?”
Ava finally managed to focus her eyes on the woman sitting on the bed beside her. Memories of the thoughts that had formed in her mind a moment before she passed out clambered through her mind once more. A baby. She was having a baby.
“I’m pregnant,” she said with a small smile.
“That we know,” Kali said with a soft laugh in her voice. “What they want to know is why you swooned like a frightened maiden.”
“Did not,” she said, the words almost a perfect mimicry of the kids she used to teach.
Kali just folded her arms and waited for Ava to get over her childish behavior and tell her the real reason. But then that annoying skill kicked in again and she realized something else. “You already know.” Kali nodded. “How is it even possible?”
“Now that’s one thing I don’t seem to know the answer to. It’s like the information is incomplete.” She made a frustrated sound. “I know your baby is Brody’s. Just like I know that I can have Alex’s children. Fire demons, dragon-shifters…none of them are compatible with human reproduction. It shouldn’t be possible, but somehow I know it is.”
“Me, too,” Ava said as her hand seemed to move of its own accord and rest protectively over the life growing inside her. A smile curved her lips as she remembered that first night with Brody and Nathan. Brody had seemed so sad that they wouldn’t be able to have a child together. She couldn’t wait to see his face when she explained what had happened.
“Well, come on,” Kali said as she stood up and offered Ava her hand. “Brody bought a pregnancy test. Let’s make this official.”
* * * *
Brody paced the length of the small room. When Ava had collapsed, he and Nathan had damn near panicked. It didn’t matter that they were both highly trained, resourceful, experienced soldiers, when it came to the woman they both loved, fear for her had nearly crippled them both. How could they fight an unseen enemy? He’d almost opened a vortex to the nearest emergency room, but not knowing the effects of jump travel on a human fetus had stopped him cold. Nathan had her in his arms, ready to put her in the car and drive to the nearest hospital when Kali had walked in the front door.
She’d taken over immediately, ordering them about. He’d bristled at first, annoyed at Kali’s timing, but then Ava’s eyes had fluttered open for just a moment, and he’d finally been able to breathe again. Sense had kicked in, and he’d realized that Kali, with her unexplained “knowing” skill, would know what was going on. The fact that she seemed unconcerned for Ava’s health went a long way to calming his own overactive imagination.
So now he paced the floor waiting for Ava to wake up. Alex and Ronan waited with them, but fortunately neither man felt the need to fill the silence with empty platitudes. It was just as well. Brody wasn’t sure he wanted to explain to his boss why he’d beaten his fire demon squadmate and the owner of Deeks Security into bloody pulps. It was way better that they stayed silent.
Finally the door to the bedroom opened, and Kali came out wearing a big smile. “She’s awake and wants to talk to you both.”
Brody was grateful for the words, but he’d had every intention of barging into the room whether Ava wanted to talk to him or not. A quick glance at Nathan showed the same determination. He heard Kali’s soft laugh as he firmly closed the door behind them.
“Ava?” Nathan said in a voice filled with emotion. He knelt on the floor beside the bed, his hand lifting to tuck the soft curtain of her hair behind her ear. “Are you okay, baby?”
“More than okay,” she said with a reassuring smile. She held her hand out to Brody, and he quickly joined her on the bed. She shuffled over to make room for Nathan. Brody very carefully placed his hand over her belly. Ava smiled and nodded, but a tear slipped from her eyes before she could hide it.
“Ava?” Brody asked, feeling his heart squeeze tightly. Was she unhappy to be having their baby?
“That’s a happy tear,” she said with a watery smile, “but there is something I need to tell you both.”
“What is it, Ava?” Nathan asked with a worried smile. “You know you can tell us anything.”
She nodded. “I…um…you know the way Kali and I sort of know stuff but don’t know how we know stuff? Well, we both know something about the baby that you need to know.”
Chapter Six
Now that the time had come to say the words out loud, Ava found her throat closing over. Nathan was obviously excited to be having a baby together, and with humans not being compatible with dragon-shifters he would expect the baby to be his. Would he turn away from them when he learned the baby was Brody’s?
And what about Brody? He’d never expected to have a baby with her. Would he try to push Nathan aside when he learned she carried a dragon-shifter child?
“What is it, sweetheart?”
“I…” She glanced at Nathan and then back at Brody, her uncertainty annoying the crap out of her. She loved these men. They loved her. Having a family was a natural progression. Whatever problems they encountered they would work through together. “The baby is a dragon-shifter. He’s Brody’s son.”
She wanted to say something more, but anything else felt like an apology. She wasn’t going to apologize for having a baby, no matter who the father was.
“That’s not possible,” Brody said with a sad smile. “We discussed this, sweetheart. On a genetic level we’re not compatible. The baby must be Nathan’s.” He leaned over, cupping the side of her face with his large palm. “It’s okay, Ava. I’m thrilled that you’re having Nathan’s baby. It doesn’t make me feel left out. It makes me happy to be part of something so beautiful.”
But Nathan looked worried, very, very worried.
“Are you sure, Ava?” he asked quietly.
Ava nodded, fear coursing through h
er as Nathan glanced at Brody and shook his head.
“Your mother…” he said to Brody, his voice sounding urgent. “She’ll know. She’ll sense the child, and she’ll come here.”
“She’ll what?” Ava asked in shock. She hadn’t even met the woman. Come to think of it, Brody had said very little about his family.
“It’s not possible,” Brody said, shaking his head. “Ava and Kali are mistaken.”
But his words no longer held the conviction they had earlier. Despite what his lips were saying, it was obvious that Brody was really trying to deny everything that she’d told him but was failing miserably.
“They’re not mistaken,” Nathan said in a voice that brooked no argument. “Call in your team. Tell them to meet us at safe house fourteen. Do it. Do it now!” He was already on his phone texting someone.
Fear was coursing through Ava, her heart beating so rapidly that she thought she might pass out again. How had this gone from slightly awkward, but happy, conversation to full-on red alert?
Brody opened a jump vortex, grabbed Ava, and dragged her through. Nathan was right behind them. Whether it was the adrenaline, fear, or the pregnancy Ava noticed a lot less nausea this time around. But she barely had a moment to consider it before Ronan, Alex, and Kali stepped through an invisible door, just like the pixie had done in her living room.
“Dyson, Benjamin, Samuel, and Skye are setting up a perimeter,” Alex said in a voice that sounded pure soldier. “They’ll sound the alarm if a jump vortex opens anywhere near the house. The wards are back in place so no one will be able to jump, slip, or bounce directly inside. Do we know how long we’ve got?”
“What’s going on?” Ava managed to force past a throat tight with anxiety. Whatever was happening now was something neither Ava nor Kali seemed to understand. So much for their strange “knowing” skills. She glanced around the room, surprised to find herself back in the bedroom of the first safe house they’d taken her to.
“Baby, everything’s going to be all right,” Nathan said as he gathered Ava into his arms and cradled her protectively. She had the very real urge to cry, but since none of what was happening made any sense, the emotion just managed to annoy her.
“Ava, I’m so sorry. If I’d known this was a possibility I would have warned you. We would have been prepared.” Brody seemed devastated, completely overwrought, and she wanted to crawl into his lap and comfort him without actually leaving Nathan’s arms. Impossible, of course, but her frantic emotions didn’t allow for reality.
“What’s happening?” she managed to ask once more. “Who’s coming? Why are we frightened of your mother?”
But even as she asked the questions, the answers came to her. Somehow someone else’s memories played in her head. Scenes of violence, of hatred, of murderous rage, filled her mind and she cried out at the onslaught. Kali scrambled over to her, grasped her hand tight. “I see them, too,” she whispered.
“See what?” Brody asked anxiously.
Kali turned to him, tears streaming down her face. “I see what dragon-shifters do to babies of mixed parentage.”
Brody nodded once, but turned away, unable, or maybe unwilling, to look at Ava. He left the room, and Ava tried to scramble out of Nathan’s embrace to go after him. But Nathan held her tighter.
“He needs a moment. Just give him a little time to pull his emotions back under control.” Ava nodded, trying to do as Nathan asked. Tears flowed down her face as she realized how awful it must be for a man as controlled as Brody to lose himself to emotion. “He’s not like them,” Nathan said quietly, the voice of reason amid the chaos. “He doesn’t believe any of what his family taught him. He has never agreed with or shared their attitudes. It’s why he works with the PUP squad. He sees a far greater world outside of the bigoted, narrow-minded attitudes of his own people.”
“At what stage of pregnancy can the matriarch sense her grandchild?” Ronan asked, obviously more aware of dragon-shifter biology than Ava.
“With a full-blood dragon-shifter, usually within the first week,” Nathan answered. “I’m guessing that it may take a little longer with a mixed breed simply because the woman hasn’t landed on our doorstep yet.”
“Is it possible she won’t sense Ava’s baby?”
“Anything’s possible,” Nathan said, obviously trying to sound optimistic. But he was too much of a realist to pretend there was no danger because he added, “But it’s more likely that she’ll come soon.”
“She’ll come,” Brody said from the doorway, “and she’ll bring help because she knows I’ll oppose her.” He turned his attention to Alex. “Are the others coming in?”
“Of course,” Alex said with a grin. “We’ve worked together for five decades. Where else would you expect them to be when you need help?”
“Thank you,” Brody said with a genuine smile.
“We’ve recalled both teams, everyone except Darian and West,” Ronan said as he headed for the door. “Even Jason who’s still technically on emergency family leave is heading in. Within the hour there’ll be so many vampires, werewolves, bear-shifters, fire demons, warlocks, and heavily armed humans around it’s going to look like a sci-fi convention.”
“Don’t forget the ice demon,” Alex said with a laugh. “Angus would be mighty pissed to learn he’d been left out of the party.”
“True,” Ronan said, smiling at Ava. “We’ll keep you and your baby safe, Ava. I know it’s not going to be easy, but try and get some rest. We’ll let you know when it’s all over.”
Ava nodded, but she knew she wouldn’t rest until she could talk to Brody.
Kali finally let go of the death grip she had on Ava’s hand. “You know how to call me if you need me,” she said as she moved away. And, as if a lightbulb switched on in her head, Ava realized that she actually did know. It wasn’t quite telepathy, but she could somehow contact Kali with her mind. She wasn’t even sure how it worked. Only that it did. She nodded as Kali and her men left the room.
Alone with the men she loved, Ava tried to hold her emotions together long enough to sort a few things out.
* * * *
Nathan could see anger, fear, and determination practically rippling over his friend’s skin. He’d known Brody a long time and could see what it was costing the man to hold himself away from Ava. Clearly he blamed himself for the danger she was in.
“Go to him,” Nathan said as he loosened his hold. “He needs you.”
“I need you both,” she said anxiously.
He smiled. “I’m not going anywhere, Ava. It doesn’t matter if our babies are dragon or human. I’m here for the long haul.”
Brody exhaled a sound of relief that made him wonder if the dragon-shifter had thought he would walk away and leave Ava behind. When all this was over, he’d be sure to smack the man upside his head. He should have more faith in his friends.
“I’m so sorry, sweetheart,” Brody said as he opened his arms to her. She practically flew into his embrace.
“I’m not,” Ava said very clearly. “I know how much you wanted a child of your own. I’m glad that I can do this for you…for us.”
“Your life would have been much simpler if all of our babies were human,” Brody said, confirming what Nathan had always known. All of Ava’s children would be loved equally by both of their fathers no matter what made up their DNA.
“Tell me about your mother,” Ava said as she maneuvered him back to the bed.
Brody grimaced and glanced at Nathan. Nathan nodded, hopefully conveying his opinion that Ava needed to know what she was up against. If Nathan and Brody had their way, PUP Squad Alpha and Deeks Security agents would neutralize the threat long before it had any chance of getting close to Ava, but the woman at least deserved to know why this was happening.
Brody helped her onto the bed, leaned on his elbow, and looked closely at the woman they both adored. “My family are what humans might call ‘dragon supremacists.’ They believe that dragons are superior to e
very other form of life—human or paranormal. They don’t tolerate ‘mixed’ marriages and they will kill to make their point.”
“So just being with me?” Ava asked quietly.
“Puts you at risk.” The words were dragged from deep inside him, and Nathan could see the agony of regret they caused the dragon-shifter. But it wasn’t fair for him to take the blame. They’d both known the risks. Nathan knew full well what Brody’s family was capable of.
“It wasn’t a big risk,” Nathan said softly. “Brody’s family disowned him over a decade ago. They’d been happy with him working for the PUP squad, perhaps thinking they had a man on the ‘inside,’ but when he stepped in to stop a female fire-demon from being murdered for carrying a half-dragon child, they realized that he’d never truly believed what they’d taught him.”
“Did you save her?”
“Of course he did,” Nathan said with no small amount of pride. It had been only a day after Nathan had stopped an assassin from killing Brody’s father. While they’d been grudgingly thanking Nathan for his assistance, they’d been preparing to kill an innocent young fire-demon named Becca for becoming pregnant to Brody’s brother. The worst of it was that Brody’s brother hadn’t tried to help the woman at all. If anything he’d actively participated in preparations for Becca’s ritualistic murder.
By standing up to his family, Brody had lost a lot that day, but gained far more than any of his relatives could ever understand.
“And her baby?”
“My niece is a precocious little thing,” Brody said with genuine affection. “She’s safe living with her mother and her mother’s family.”
“And, thanks to the big guy here, protected by the Ruling Body as well.” When she looked confused, he realized just how much they hadn’t explained to her about paranormal life. The past few weeks together had truly been time-out from reality, but sooner or later life had a way of interfering in everyone’s happiness. Nathan saw the questions in her eyes and quickly explained. “The Ruling Body is kind of like a government and justice system that caters to all paranormal species. The PUP squads—that stands for Paranormal Undercover Protection squads—are the law enforcement side of the Ruling Body. When Brody reported his family’s activities to his commanding officer, Benjamin filed a report, and the child was quickly pulled in to the Ruling Body’s protection.”