Meow, Baby

by Rebecca Royce

  She didn’t stop to question him. The guys had to know he was coming. They could stop him if they knew he was released. He’d caught them unawares, but now they wouldn’t be.

  Michaella fled as fast as her feet would take her. It wasn’t as quick as she could do it on the water, but she ran hard even as The Butcher laughed, running after her. She made it into an office. The patients were not contained, even the ones who should be. People were running everywhere now.

  She grabbed a device in the office. It would send a magical message. She didn’t know how long she’d have, but she had to let the Addingtons know. Evan still cackled in the hall. Prestige had been overrun.

  “Marge let Evan out.” She spoke fast into the machine. “He’ll be coming to you. Not sure what’s going to happen here. This place has fallen. Be careful.”

  “Now I get the pretty girl.” The Butcher closed the door behind him. “My name is Evan. Do you like animals? I do. I think you’d be a very wonderful cat. I just love cats.”

  Michaella backed up, glaring at the man before forcing her features to relax. Inside her, the magic she used to heal throbbed. Evan was sick. His magic was dark and twisted, and wrapped around it was the evil that had made him this way. Her healing ability wanted to touch it, soothe it, and relieve the man in front of her.

  His head cocked, like a bird staring at a worm. “What are you doing?”

  She didn’t really know. Her powers had never reacted so strongly to someone before. Michaella shook with the effort of keeping them inside. They threatened to blast out her fingertips into him when a series of images assaulted her.

  A small boy, locked in a dark room.

  An animal, soft and calm, wrapped in the boy’s arms. This was his only comfort. His only relief from the terror and loneliness.

  Michaella was sucked back into her body. Propping herself on the desk, she panted at the pain that seemed to flood her.

  “Don’t touch those!” Evan shook his finger at her. His face was darker, suffused with red, as he stalked toward her. “Those are mine!” He touched his hand to his chest, falling back to his heels. “What did you do?”

  Her powers were throbbing, whirling and spinning. She started to feel light-headed and helpless. Whatever was happening was going to happen with or without her permission. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. Every light in Prestige flared, burning so brightly that Michaella shut her eyes. Her healing built and built, and like a volcano, erupted. It rushed to Evan, wrapping him up.

  Never had she healed something so broken, so sick. Evan lifted off the ground, bathed in the light of her healing. He threw his head back, screaming. Her power sought out the rot, and like a wound, it scoured away the deadness to the healthy tissue beneath.

  But Evan was not healthy. The more her power sloughed away the evil, the less of Evan remained.

  “Michaella!”

  The power was emptying her out. It was as if she was a well and her healing the water. It was dousing the flames of badness inside The Butcher, but it wasn’t refilling. There was no hidden spring to add depth to how shallow her magic became.

  Zach grabbed her hand and then David the other, while Bradley supported her body. Their magic poured into her. They were the hidden spring.

  In that second, where Michaella stood between losing herself in healing and disappearing forever, the brothers tethered her. They replaced the magic she lost, and with renewed energy, it poured out of her into Evan.

  The man’s scream bounced off the tiled walls, filling Michaella’s ears so shrilly she wished she could cover them. The lights flared, brighter and brighter, until there was a pop.

  And everything went silent.

  Michaella collapsed. Her knees bent and she slid toward the ground, except Bradley caught her beneath her arms. He eased her onto his lap, and his brothers settled next to her. Sweat trickled down her temples, past her ear and down her neck. She felt it, dripping between her breasts and down her back. Gross.

  There was another pop, and the lights in Prestige glowed to life. “Are you okay?”

  David touched her face, trailing his fingers along her jaw. His lips were white as they thinned into a line. He gave her a weak smile before he stood. “Where the hell were you?”

  Lawson and two other people Michaella had never seen before stood in the office with them. One of them stared at the scorched tile. “Ew.”

  “She got him,” the man said, swallowing. “I’ve never seen that before.” He glanced at Michaella, ignoring David, and smiled. “I think that Evan-stain is going to be tough to get out.”

  She swallowed a sob. “I killed him.”

  Zach enveloped her in a tight hug. “We’ve got you. This will be okay.”

  She really hoped he was right.

  Chapter 11

  It turned out that the world still spun even after she’d killed a man. Days became nights and the Addingtons didn’t go anywhere. The first night home from Prestige, after the Enforcers left, Zach, Bradley, and David held her for hours. Anytime one of them needed to leave, and from the pops, she recognized the magical community was coming and going within their home, another brother would slide into his place.

  Michaella fell asleep, and when she awoke the next morning, the sun was bright and everything felt different. The brothers brought her breakfast in bed, and she ate as if she’d been starving. They walked around the neighborhood after they ate, but Michaella couldn’t help flinching each time she heard a noise.

  “They’re still looking for Marge,” David said, his voice deep with conviction. “And they’ll find her. No doubt.”

  “And if they don’t,” Zach added. “We will.”

  Their days fell in a rhythm. Fall asleep in each other’s arms, wake in each other’s arms. Her jumpiness didn’t seem to fade, however. Every time someone popped in their home, she startled. Not even a trip to the ocean seemed to assuage her anxiety. Evan may have been dead, but the dread she’d associated with the event didn’t abate. And worse, she began to wonder how long the Addingtons would put up with her moroseness. Surely, this was getting old for them.

  Every morning, she looked forward to opening her eyes to see the brothers. She wanted Zach’s tenderness. Brad’s ease. And David’s quiet seriousness. She didn’t know what she’d do without it.

  Which was why two weeks later when she’d awoken to find herself alone, a wave of pain nearly crippled her, and she wondered if she could ever breathe again.

  Oh no, this wasn’t good. She’d fallen for them—hard.

  They’d gone to bed together last night. But the Addingtons were now gone.

  They’d had enough. She couldn’t blame them. The constant crying jags would weigh on anyone. And her schedule sucked. She’d tried to get it changed, but she was getting a lot of push back from her bosses who liked her working the nighttime hours. Saving everyone hadn’t earned her any ease-up on her times. The two nights a week was all she’d finally wrenched out of the schedule. It wasn’t enough. Or maybe it was plenty of time since she was such a mess.

  She needed the ocean. If she was going to survive their leaving, she had to be there. She ran outside, jumped in the car, and took off faster than she normally would drive in search of her calm place. Ten minutes later, she was diving under the water and swimming hard for her caves.

  In there, her heart finally slowed. She could breathe. The salt from the sea coated her skin, and she put her head down on her knees. She would just be for a while in her cave. She hadn’t been able to bring herself here. She’d hardly been able to think at all, existing on autopilot only. Marge was still missing but no one seemed to care much. She was a wanted woman and wouldn’t get far.

  Time passed. She didn’t know how much, but when she finally finished shaking, she supposed it was time to drag herself back to reality. Just then three heads emerged from under the water.

  “Fuck.” Bradley shook his head, climbing out of the water into the cave first. “I am never going to be okay with the fa
ct that you do this with no spell to help you breathe. I hate it, baby.”

  Zach and David followed him out, the former’s hand coming to her cheek. “You’re cold. How long have you been here?”

  They weren’t even wet. They must have concocted a spell to keep the water off them entirely.

  “I don’t know.” She rubbed her eyes. “When you were gone I just… thought maybe you had left permanently.”

  Bradley and David made eye contact while Zach spoke. “We had something to get. When we got home, we knew where you’d gone.”

  Bradley spoke again. “Come see it now. Actually, we have two things to show you.”

  Her body trembled, and she was physically unable to place her hand in his. They didn’t know what today had been like for her. Two weeks had passed in a haze. They’d taken care of her, put her to bed, and woken her up when it was time for work. They kissed her, hugged her, made love to her.

  And she hadn’t trusted them.

  For the first time, Michaella suddenly felt like she really wasn’t good enough for them.

  “What’s going on?” Bradley knelt on the sandy cave floor. “Why would you think we left for good?”

  Michaella glanced down at herself. In the last week, she hadn’t been hungry, and she knew she’d lost weight. But her clothes, even though they were wet, hung off her. Usually her curves were visible, but now there were only concave planes along her stomach and hips.

  “I’m a friggin’ mess.” She sniffed. “I killed a man I tried to heal. I lost control of my powers.” Tears mixed with the salt water on her face. “And I keep waiting for you to come to your senses and leave.”

  “We’re not leaving,” Zach growled. “Come with us. Please.”

  Michaella sniffed one more time before David and Bradley pulled her to her feet. “You need to listen better,” David said so only she could hear him. “I love you. I do.”

  She didn’t answer at first because it had been so long since she’d heard those words directed at her. Potato certainly hadn’t said them. He hadn’t shown any love for her either.

  But they did. In every word and gesture—they did.

  And she loved them, too. With her whole and complete heart. Magic surrounded her, and they dove into the water. David and Bradley’s faces were serious, gazes lifted to the surface until they broke it and flew over the water. She thought they’d bring her home, but they didn’t. They raced along the rocky shore until they came to a sandy outcrop. With a burst of speed, they blasted over the sand and came to land on a deep, green lawn.

  Michaella studied their surroundings. She recognized this place. It was Standish Pointe. Only a handful of homes were built here, most of them as old as the town, and with substantial acreage surrounding them. They were old farmsteads, and the one toward which the guys walked even had a small shingled barn nearby.

  “A vacation?” she asked. The tension in her chest relaxed, just a millimeter, but enough for her to breathe.

  “No,” Zach answered shortly.

  Michaella followed them up the seashell-lined walkway to the front door. She craned her head back, staring up at the old home. It had the look of a place that had been well-loved. The shingles were gray and weathered, but not rotted. The entire place soothed her, and with the sound of the ocean in the background, she let out her breath.

  David opened the door, staring at her intently as he waited for her to pass. “What do you think?” he asked.

  “It’s beautiful,” she answered immediately. The house was empty, which surprised her, except for a sideboard, which held a set of keys and a small wooden box. “Perfect.” The word came out on a breath.

  “It’s yours.” Bradley’s breath tickled her ear, and she whirled around. “Ours.”

  “It’s ours?”

  “Ours,” David repeated. “Our forever home.”

  As her mind whirled, Zach opened the door, and like walking through a fog, she entered. “Our forever home.”

  “That’s right.” Bradley whispered in her ear. “Take a look.”

  The place was huge. She didn’t have any idea how many rooms could possibly be inside. At that second she couldn’t take her eyes off of what sat in the middle of the main room. A chair. An ugly chair. One she loved so much because it had belonged to her grandmother and she’d never thought to see again.

  “How?” She could only manage one word at a time.

  Zach grinned. “We knew your ex. He used to show up at our parties. David used to fuck with his head. The guy didn’t know he was being made fun of. Not nice, but we didn’t like you dating him. Anyway, when you said he took the chair, we found him and we got it. First piece of furniture for our new life together.”

  “You need to be by the water and to have the sea air in your lungs whenever you’re home. I really think it will help your recovery faster.”

  That was so sweet. “I never dreamed.”

  Bradley kissed her temple. “We know. There is something else…but just tell us if you don’t want it.”

  “We found a space downtown where you could see private clients,” Zach explained. “You could go into business for yourself. No more Prestige. No more working crazy hours. People need help here. You could offer it if you want.”

  That had been a dream. Not one she’d ever imagined affording. “Guys…”

  “Something to think about,” David finished.

  She wrapped her arms around his waist. “Thank you. I am… just so glad you didn’t leave. I have a hard time believing that everyone who comes into my life won’t disappear at some point. I have a long history of being left, one way or another. I’m sorry I doubted you.”

  Zach took her from David. “Look, we’ve never killed anyone. I don’t have the slightest idea what it’s like. Even though you saved everyone, that’s still something to sit with. We get that. And… we want you to marry us, Michaella. Please.”

  She caught her breath. After everything, maybe she shouldn’t have been surprised, but she was.

  Bradley’s blue eyes twinkled.

  “Oh.” She laughed. “Ha ha. Very funny.” The three of them glanced at each other. Bradley drew his brows together as he regarded his brothers.

  The chair, wide with high arms in a delightfully 70s-era brown, called her name. She fell into it, glad Potato hadn’t ruined it with his stupid butt. “I love this chair.” From the chair, she could watch the ocean through the glass doors. “I love this house.” The guys came closer, and she smiled. “And I love you. But if you want to marry me, you have to do better than my grandmother’s chair and a house by the sea.” One by one, their mouths dropped open, and she threw her head back to laugh. “Of course I’ll marry you. You’re mine. My irritating, sensitive, quiet…” Michaella stood. She held her arms out, and they approached her, wrapping their arms around her. She stood between them, arms open as wide as she could to touch each of their bodies. “…protective, wonderful Addingtons.”

  Something cool encircled her finger, and she held her hand out. A white gold band, encircled with stones the color of the sea, sat on her finger.

  “You’re ours forever,” Zach whispered.

  Michaella smiled up at him, and then over at David, and finally Bradley. “Forever. Or, you know, until you marry your fourth wife, who is going to be so much hotter than me.”

  Zach winced before he bent over to kiss her again. “Our only wife. Our forever wife. The hottest woman I know.”

  Bradley nibbled on her neck. “Forever.”

  David grinned. “And if there’s an after this maybe then, too.”

  That sounded pretty wonderful to her.

  Epilogue

  Vivian Blue Addington slept in Michaella’s arms as she stared out at the ocean. The water lapped her toes, cold and bracing. Her baby girl, named after her husbands’ mother, filled her with more joy than Michaella could have ever imagined. Vivian yawned, and her sea-colored eyes opened.

  “Hey, baby girl,” Michaella whispered, touching her l
ips to her baby’s soft skin. Vivian squeaked. Automatically, she rocked her, a side-to-side motion that had come naturally after her daughter’s birth. “The water’s getting warmer, and pretty soon, your daddies and I are going to dip your toes in it.” A wave crashed, and Michaella stepped back. “But not today. April is too soon to go swimming.”

  There was a pop. Michaella spun, smile wide, expecting to see one of her husbands. But that was not who stood, glaring at her with a hate so strong that Michaella could almost feel it. “Margery Addington—”

  Not even Evan the Butcher had made Michaella as frightened as she was now. But then, she hadn’t held her baby daughter in her arms when facing down the madman.

  Dark circles rimmed Marge’s eyes, but her clothes and hair were as perfect as they’d been the first time Michaella had met her. “Do you know how long I’ve waited for this?” Marge asked. “A dozen times I had the opportunity to kill you, but I didn’t. I saw you were pregnant, and I said to myself, ‘Margie. Just wait. It will be so much more worthwhile if you wait.’” She smiled, her eyes on Vivian. Michaella turned her body to shield her baby. “Vivian.”

  In all the months between the Addingtons proposal and this moment, Michaella hadn’t thought of Marge. She’d been too busy. She and the guys had had to find a practitioner to perform a binding ceremony to connect her them. Then they discovered she was pregnant, and they’d dealt with her being tired and nauseated for months. And after Vivian’s birth, she’d been too wildly happy settling into parenthood to think about the past.

  How could she have forgotten this woman was still out there? Well, she’d gotten blissfully good at being happy. She’d been an idiot. This baby had powers that Marge thought she could have if she just killed her. Kill Vivi. Kill Zach, Bradley, and David. Marge would have everything she wanted.

  Michaella hadn’t meant to kill Evan. But this woman here, threatening her so that she could turn around and take the life of her baby? That wasn’t going to happen. Not while she had breath in her body.