A moment later she was sitting in the back, cradling Skye’s head in her lap. Tension pushed at her—hers and Jason’s—as he made his way carefully down the dirt track that led to the barn that sat over the entrance to the old mines. Shelley wanted to yell at him to hurry, but she knew he was only taking care not to hurt Skye, especially given they didn’t know what was wrong with her. He pulled up outside the barn ten minutes later. Shelley ran to the lift to push the call button while Jason got Skye out of the car.
He appeared only a moment behind her, Skye cradled in his arms. Blue lightning zipped around Skye and over Jason’s arms.
‘Holy crap! Jason? Are you going to change? Give her to me.’
‘No. It doesn’t feel like that. I don’t feel it building up inside me.’
‘When did it start?’ There had definitely been no lightning sparking on Skye when she was in the back seat with her friend moments ago.
‘Just now. As soon as you got out of the SUV.’
‘Does it hurt?’
He rocked Skye in his arms, looking down at her, the love in his eyes almost painful to watch. ‘No. She’d never hurt me. Not even when she’s unconscious.’
‘No. Of course.’ Shelley turned from them as the lift doors opened. They hurried inside and she pushed the button that would take the lift down into the old mine tunnels.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw the blue around Jason and Skye intensify. The lights flickered in the lift. The lift shuddered. ‘No you fucking don’t! You’re not breaking down now!’ She kicked at the door, her shout bouncing around in the narrow space. The lift shuddered again, and the lights flickered then exploded over their heads. Sparks flew down around them. Jason, even though he had Skye in his arms, bent so as to protect Shelley from the sparks as well.
‘Are you okay?’ he asked a moment later when the lift shuddered but kept going.
‘I’m fine,’ Shelley said. ‘Just protect Skye.’ She couldn’t believe he’d done that. Nobody had ever tried to protect her like that before. Except for Adam. Her thoughts shied away from him immediately, her conversation with Skye too raw, too close, for her to want to even consider thinking about the feelings it had dredged up.
‘It seems to be coming from her stomach.’ He turned to her. ‘Have you ever seen anything like this before?’
She shook her head. ‘You’re asking the wrong person.’
‘I thought you might have come across something in the diaries.’
‘No. Except …’ Her voice faltered as the words she’d read just after Christmas swam before her eyes. ‘No. That’s impossible.’ She stared at Skye’s stomach.
‘What’s impossible?’
She looked up at Jason, feeling a little sick. She didn’t want to say anything, didn’t want to be the person who gave hope only to have it sucked away when she was proved wrong. Which she had to be. Because this was impossible. Skye couldn’t have children. Her womb and ovaries had been destroyed by some cruel surgery meant to save her from her magic, but that had just served to make things so much worse for her friend. ‘Let’s wait to see what Bron says, okay,’ she hedged.
‘Is it something bad? Please. Tell me. I’m going out of my mind here.’
‘I … it’s just …’ What could she say? She didn’t want to lie, didn’t want to give false hope either. Her gaze flickered to Skye’s stomach where the blue lightning was moving, almost acting like a shield.
Jason followed her gaze, then his eyes widened. ‘Are you saying she’s …’ He took in a deep breath. ‘She’s pregnant. I can smell the change in her scent. It’s mixed with the scent of another.’ His gaze skittered up to hers. ‘She’s pregnant.’
Shelley nodded, even though it wasn’t a question. ‘I think, maybe she is.’
He stared down at Skye, eyes widening even further in wonder. ‘I should have known. Everything was telling me she was pregnant, even my wolf knew, but I couldn’t let myself even think it. Bringing it up, I knew how much it would hurt her. It’s impossible. Supposed to be impossible.’
‘I know.’
‘Then how?’ he whispered, joy and confusion vying for prominence.
Shelley didn’t answer. She couldn’t. She had no idea. Didn’t even know why Skye’s power was acting the way it was, covering her like that, but not going into Jason. The thing she’d read in the diaries never mentioned Were contact.
‘A little boy or girl of our own,’ Jason muttered. ‘I can hear the flutter of their heart. Feel their presence already impacting the pack bond, mind linking with me. Our child is strong, my love. He or she is very strong. I don’t know how I missed it up until now.’ He leaned down and nuzzled his nose against her cheek. ‘Your mate is a dunderhead.’
Shelley looked away. She couldn’t stand to see his happiness. Not that she wasn’t happy for Skye and Jason and the miracle of this pregnancy, but it hurt. It still hurt. She hated that it did.
The lift jerked to a halt and the doors opened.
Bron stood in the hallway, eyes wide with worry.
Jason smiled at her. ‘She’s pregnant, Bron. She’s pregnant.’
Bron’s gaze slammed into Shelley, so that she almost stumbled back from it, the accusation in her eyes like a shove ‘You know that isn’t possible.’
‘We know, Bron. But look at her. Check her out. I know it’s impossible, but I think, I’m afraid, that it’s true.’
Bron surged forward, checking Skye’s pulse, her temperature, then ran her hands over her friend, just a few centimetres above her skin, eyes intent as she watched their progress. Skye’s power flickered under her almost-touch. ‘By the moon. You’re right.’
‘Is that why her power is acting like this?’
‘I don’t know. I’ve never seen anything like it before.’
‘Shelley’s read something about this.’
Bron looked questioningly at her, but Shelley gestured to Skye. ‘Shouldn’t you get her to the hospital room and check her out? I could only do a basic physical—I have no idea if there’s a deeper problem, either physical or magical.’
‘Yes. Of course.’ Bron turned and hurried down the hall to the room at the end, Jason and Shelley following closely behind her.
‘Where’s River?’ Shelley asked as Jason carried Skye over to the empty bed.
‘Out for a run. I’ve called him. He’s coming now.’
‘Good.’ Depending on what was wrong with Skye, Bron might need River’s strength to pull on if she needed to do a healing. Aside from that, River would want to be here for his sister.
Bron quickly examined Skye, hooking her up to the machine that read oxygen levels, blood pressure and heartbeat. Then she checked her eyes. ‘It’s not a coma. She simply appears to be asleep.’ She turned to them. ‘What happened?’
Jason quickly told her, with Shelley adding bits that she knew. Bron nodded throughout, arms crossed, a frown deepening on her forehead. She reached over after they’d finished and touched the power flickering over Skye. ‘What do you know about this, Shelley? I imagine this is what you read something about?’
Shelley nodded. ‘I think it’s the baby. From what I’ve read, this sometimes happens with a powerful mother having a powerful child, especially if the mother hasn’t been looking after herself—and we all know Skye has been pushing herself to exhaustion.’
‘I should have stopped her.’
Bron touched Jason’s arm, stroking. ‘Nobody could stop her when she gets a bee in her bonnet.’ She looked back at Skye. ‘Do you think it’s dangerous to her? Do the diaries say anything about that?’
Shelley went to answer, but there was a sound behind her, and then a soft, slightly husky voice said, ‘It’s not.’
They spun to face the familiar voice they hadn’t heard for months.
‘Cordy!’ Bron gasped. ‘You’re awake.’
The McClune head witch was pushing herself up in the bed, her eyes shadowed by pain and grief, her face far too pale. She didn’t seem to notice their s
hock, her gaze on Skye. ‘Shelley was right. The baby is as powerful as its mother and it needs more than Skye has been giving it. Both physically and magically. This is the result.’ She swung her legs over the edge of the bed, stood up, began to topple.
Shelley and Bron raced over and held her steady. ‘You’re awake. You’re awake.’
Cordy didn’t look at them, her gaze still pinned on Skye. ‘I don’t want to be awake. I was called.’
‘You were?’ Jason asked.
‘By the babies. Your babies. They’re worried about their mother. They sent out a call to the nearest midwife. I’m it.’
Shelley frowned. ‘But I’ve had training as a midwife. Why didn’t they call to me?’
‘A magical midwife, Shelley. One with an essence in new life. That is not your gift. It is, however, mine. I had to wake up because I’m bound by my powers to help a child of power when it calls me.’
‘They?’ Jason didn’t think his mouth could smile any wider. ‘There’s more than one?’
Cordy smiled shakily at him. ‘Yes. There are two.’
‘Two what?’ River asked, coming through the door, his gaze immediately going to his sister. ‘Is Skye okay?’ He was by her side as he asked, touching her face, her arm, stroking. Shelley stayed where she was beside Cordy as Bron and Jason joined him. ‘Please tell me she’s okay.’
‘She’s pregnant.’
He turned to Bron, his eyes widening as he saw Cordy sitting up. ‘Cordy?’
She waved her hand to stave off his questions. ‘This isn’t about me. It’s about your sister.’
‘How do you know she’s pregnant? Oh, my god. Is that …?’
Jason’s smile widened at the look of dawning realisation on River’s face. ‘You can hear the heartbeat too.’
‘Heartbeats,’ Cordy corrected.
‘But how? The surgery …’ River’s mouth hung open. ‘Heartbeats? She’s having twins?’
Cordy nodded. ‘Twins run in your family.’
‘One witch and one Were like Skye and River?’ Bron asked.
Cordy shook her head, frowning. ‘No. Both have power.’
‘Two witches?’ River asked.
Her frown deepened. ‘Yes, except, I can also feel the Were in them too.’ Her eyes widened as she looked up at Jason. ‘They are both.’
Jason swallowed hard, hand gripping tight to Skye’s. ‘That can’t be. Were can’t hold the power of a witch. The lore is clear.’
‘Not all the lore is written down. Some is passed on from midwife to midwife because to write of it would be to create fear and from that fear, a schism could be created that would destroy the Were-Witch Pact. Believe me when I say, while it’s rare, there have been cases of Were born with power.’
Jason turned to Shelley. ‘Tricksters. That’s what you said about the Tricksters, isn’t it? That they had power that sat outside the magic that allowed Were to change.’
Shelley bit her lip. ‘Yes. So what Cordy is saying is true. Adam is proof.’ The words caught in her throat, the reality of what it all meant a kick in the ribs.
‘Are you okay?’ Cordy asked, looked up at her.
‘I’m fine. It’s you, and Skye, we’re worried about right now.’
‘Yes.’ Cordy frowned down at her legs, which were trembling violently. ‘How long have I been on that bed?’
‘Almost two months.’
Cordy hissed in a breath, swayed.
Shelley caught her. ‘It’s okay. You’ll be okay.’
Cordy’s expression of disbelief tore into her. ‘Okay? He’s been gone for two months? I missed his funeral? How is that okay?’
‘I didn’t mean …’
Tears filled her eyes and her chin wobbled, but she shook her head. ‘No. Don’t talk about it,’ she said, breathing hard. ‘I don’t want to think about it. I can’t …’ Her voice broke.
‘It’s okay to take a moment,’ Bron said quietly, joining them again, her arm going around Cordy in a way that was more than just physically supportive. Shelley marvelled at the way her friend did that so naturally. ‘It’s okay to cry.’
Cordy shook her head furiously. ‘No. It’s not. If I cry, I’ll never stop.’ She stared at Skye. ‘I have to keep myself together.’ She made a little whimpering noise but then slapped her hand to her chest, clutching at the gown. ‘I’ve got a job to do. I’m the only one who can do it. If I don’t, Skye could die.’
‘What?’ Jason and River both barked.
‘She won’t die. She can’t die,’ Shelley said automatically, but inside her, the banshee shifted and stirred in a way that said it was a possibility.
‘If I don’t help the babies to control their power, she will.’
‘What do you mean?’ Jason frowned at the power cascading across Skye, centring around her stomach. ‘Is that what’s happening now?’
‘No. That is happening to protect her. But as they grow, that protection will become more dangerous. The power of both of them combined with her own power could become too much.’
‘I can channel it into the pack.’
‘No. Not this power. You are not designed to channel this kind of power. It would burn through the bond and every synaptic link in your body and mind before you could use it to transform and then it would burn its way through every member of your pack until all of them were dead.’ She glanced at Bron. ‘It would probably spark a cascade in you and Shelley and Eloise as well, and with the pack all gone you would all die too.’
River clutched at Bron’s hand. ‘No.’
‘This is one of the reasons Skye’s grandmother did what she did.’
Jason understood the horror in his tone as it was echoed in him. ‘Are you telling me I have to kill our babies to save Skye and the pack?’
‘No.’ Cordy looked as horrified as he looked. ‘Sorry, I’m not managing this well at all.’
‘You’re managing it fine,’ Bron said, helping her forward. Shelley moved with them, holding Cordy’s other arm, giving her support, but suddenly, somehow, she felt like a third wheel. Their words swam around her and she only took half of it in, just enough to know that it was centuries since a witch had birthed a power-born Were and that Cordy knew what to do because she was a born midwife as her grandmother before her had been. She could help Skye. The babies had asked her. Nobody else. Not Jason. Not Bron. Not Shelley, despite her medical training and human midwifery skills.
The sensation of being on the outside increased. She tried to push it down, to ignore it, but it was difficult when she realised the only use she had here was as confirmation that if Cordy didn’t do her job, Skye and her babies would die. She could confirm the possibility of death. Nothing else. She was about to let go of Cordy, allow River to help her, to slip away, when Skye’s voice interrupted her thoughts.
‘What’s going on?’
‘Skye.’ Jason was at her side in a moment, forcing her to stay supine.
Skye’s eyes found Shelley’s. ‘What happened, Shells?’
‘You passed out. We brought you here for Bron to check over.’ She gestured and Skye looked down at herself for the first time, noticing the lightning.
‘Oh, my goodness. What’s happening?’
‘It’s okay, Skye,’ Cordy said as she reached Skye’s side with Bron and Shelley’s help.
‘Cordy! You’re awake?’
‘Yes,’ the other witch smiled down at her. ‘I came to help you and your babies.’
‘My … what?’
Shelley stood still and silent and watched the scene unfold as they made Skye believe the impossible had happened—that she was pregnant, not with one baby, but with two.
‘How? How did this happen?’
Cordy turned to Bron. ‘I think, perhaps, that has something to do with the rather remarkable healing Bron cast last year at Yule when she brought Eloise back from death and saved River from the Beast. It even healed some of our sick all the way up here. I think, perhaps, that massive surge of healing energy brought life to
something that previously had no life in it at all.’
‘Of course,’ Shelley gasped. Why hadn’t she realised something like this might have happened when she’d read about the creation of the Warlock Lightning and what it had originally been intended for? It was healing energy. A massive amount, twisted and turned into something dark because of the weakness of the magic that had created it. But Bron wasn’t weak. She was one of the strongest people Shelley had ever met, with such kindness and empathy that was rare to find in this world. A burst of that kind of energy from her would be enough to heal Skye’s broken womb.
It wasn’t a miracle. It was simply the nature of her friend and her beautiful gift. A gift that was the opposite of Shelley’s. No wonder she hadn’t put two and two together. Her gift could never encompass something so life giving, so life affirming.
‘Shelley?’
‘What?’ They were all looking at her. She shifted, forced her face into a smile. ‘I’m so pleased for you and Jason, Skye,’ she said, hugging her friend, hiding her face from Bron’s watchful eyes. ‘I’m so glad this happened. And so sorry I didn’t realise what was going on with you earlier. If I had, you might not have got this bad.’
‘Shelley. How could you have known?’ Skye pulled back, as if to look in her face, but Shelley hugged her tighter and then stood abruptly and looked away.
‘I am a nurse for Christ’s sake. I should have known the signs of pregnancy. They shouldn’t have had to slap me up side of the face.’
‘I didn’t see it either,’ Bron said. ‘And I can read her aura. I should have seen that there were two other little auras sitting inside hers.’
‘I think we’ve all been a bit blind—and with reason,’ Skye said, taking both their hands. ‘It was impossible.’
‘Not impossible. Thanks to Bron,’ Shelley said.
‘Yes. Thanks to Bron.’ Skye lifted Bron’s hand and kissed it, and Jason hugged the healer to his side, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
Shelley nodded and smiled as their congratulations and talk wove around her, wanting to feel a part of their excitement, their joy, but struggling to feel anything but separated from it. Cordy started telling them what they’d need to do to help the pregnancy along in a healthy way for mother and babies, none of which Shelley could help with. There was nothing she could do here. But there were things she could do back in Melbourne. They would be all better served if she took herself and her gift of death far away from those she loved the most. Skye had Jason and Bron and River. And Cordy, of course. She didn’t really need Shelley hanging around her too.
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