“What are you talking about?” Looking quickly at Briar, he studied her for injury. When he found none, he examined the room. “What is it?”
Hudson’s blue eyes were wide and focused on Briar. She stepped away from Valen and toward his brother. “Are you okay?” she asked, reaching for him. He held up a hand, stopping her, and Valen didn’t miss the look of hurt that flashed across her face. “Hudson?”
“Don’t you hear it?” he asked, gaze flicking toward Marcus.
Valen growled. This was a trick of the vampire. She was in Hudson’s head again. Stepping between Briar and Hudson, Valen continued his low warning growl.
“Listen!” Hudson snapped.
“I hear it, too.” Sylvain’s tan face seemed to pale and the larger man gripped the bannister at the foot of the stairs. He stared at Briar in disbelief. And then his face changed, disbelief giving way to amazement, and then utter and complete joy. He approached Briar with his hand outstretched. “How did I not know?”
“What is going on?” Briar asked, her voice small and scared and then all of a sudden she gasped, her hands going to her stomach. Staring at her lower body in disbelief, a slow smile began to grow on her face. “Oh!”
Valen couldn’t hear whatever it was Sylvain and Hudson heard. Marcus stood frozen, eyes on Briar’s hands when it suddenly struck him.
And he heard it. Fast as a hummingbird’s wings and as soft as a breeze. Another heartbeat. Valen counted—one, Sylvain. Two, Hudson. Three, Marcus. Four, Briar. Five, me.
Six.
“Oh,” he breathed. Gently, he touched Briar’s hands where they rested. He didn’t know how, but he was on his knees, shuffling forward to put his ear where his hands had been. Closing his eyes, he listened to the sound that had just made everything more wonderful.
Briar
Was it possible to be deliriously happy and overwhelmingly terrified at the same time? Valen’s pale head rested against her belly, ear poised to listened to the sound of their baby’s heartbeat.
Her baby.
Briar shut her eyes, concentrating solely on the patter. She’d thought striking out on her own and coming to Boston was the start of something new. Then, when she met the guys and they fell in love with her, she thought that was as good as life could possibly get.
But this—this—was a miracle.
“I’m supposed to be dead, but I’m alive.” Her throat swelled with emotion, and she glanced up to meet Sylvain’s eyes. Of everyone, he would know exactly how this felt. “And I feel like… maybe this is why.”
Taking a step toward her, Sylvain suddenly laughed and threw back his head. His dark eyes sparkled. Had she ever seen him so happy?
“This is why,” he agreed. “Valen move. I want to hug her.”
Valen shook his head against her stomach before leaning back. He placed a kiss against her shirt, whispering something in a language she didn’t understand. “In a moment, Sylvain. I'm speaking to our son.”
“Hurry up,” Sylvain said and winked at Briar.
Briar touched Valen’s head, playing with the ends of his hair as he continued to talk in low tones. She glanced up, toward Marcus and Hudson. Were they as happy as she was?
Hudson had been shocked, but when she met his stare now, all she saw was joy. “You’re happy?”
He opened his mouth to speak but then shook his head. His blue eyes seemed to soften. Once upon a time, she had thought they were icy, but she had a feeling they would never be that way again.
“Of course he’s happy!” Marcus slapped Hudson on the back. “We’re going to be fathers! Think about it, Hudson, an adorable baby boy who looks just like me.”
Valen jerked his head back. “He will be beautiful no matter who he takes after. But I hope he looks like his mamma. And it may be a girl.”
A thought occurred to her, and she frowned.
“What is it?” Sylvain had seen her lapse and now so did Valen.
“Little one?”
Meeting Hudson’s eyes, she tried to formulate her thoughts. “What if they have my condition?” she said and the floodgates released. “What if this baby could burn up like a vampire?” A thousand worries swamped her. “What if they stay a baby forever? What if they don’t? Remember that book where the baby grew up super fast? What if they only drink blood? What if Theia tries to take him?” Her knees felt a little weak, and she let Valen lead her to the couch. “What do I tell my mother?”
“One thing at a time.” Hudson sat on the coffee table and reached for her. Placing his hands on her knees, he stared into her face. “You have two doctors and two warriors who will do everything in their power to keep you healthy and safe.”
Briar nodded.
“We’ve always suspected, since you carried the vampire gene, that somewhere in time, there had been vampire children,” Hudson continued. “We will do research. Something I’m very good at.”
“Wait? You did?” Briar’s thoughts about her genetic mutation revolved around bad luck and sneaky recessive genes. After meeting the guys, she came to believe somewhere along the line, humans may have evolved in ways that allowed them to mimic vampiric traits. Those traits could have allowed them to hide among vampires, or perhaps trick vampires into protecting them. She’d had a lot of theories before she’d been turned. “I thought you agreed with me about anti-predator adaptation.”
“I just asked Valen not to speak in a foreign language. Now I have to ask you?” Sylvain interrupted.
“Sorry,” she said, willing to change the subject.
But Hudson clearly wasn’t. “I certainly think it was a possibility… but Briar… some kinds of evolution can be confused with mimicry.”
Briar was going to have to see about adding evolutionary biology to her course load next semester, because she didn’t know what Hudson was talking about. “Another type of evolution? Isn’t there only one kind?”
“Briar.” Hudson couldn’t hide his smile even though he pretended to be disapproving. “Well. It could be two different species share an ancestor, but then diverge, so they share similar traits. Or, two species have similar traits, but no common ancestor.”
“Which one do you think it is?” she asked.
Hudson chuckled. “I don’t know, Briar. But I think your theories were good ones. We’ve managed to do what no vampire to my knowledge has done, but what is important now, is growing that baby. Someday we’ll figure out the why of it.”
Her stomach clenched with worry. “I’m afraid that isn’t a good thing. I think I’d like to know what to expect.”
Hudson pushed off the table to kneel between her knees. “The only thing that matters is your health, and our baby’s health. Don’t borrow trouble.”
Briar smiled despite her anxiety. “Okay. There’s just a lot to think about.”
“Are you happy about this?” Valen asked. He peered at her closely. “You have plans for school and your life. I’m so happy about this, but we should have been more careful with you.”
Her cheeks heated, and she put her palms over them to hide her blush. “I’m just as responsible for safe sex as you all are. But yes. I’m happy.” Babies had barely pinged Briar’s radar before today. Until the guys, though, neither had boyfriends. Who was going to date the girl who burned in the sun? Then after the guys, she’d made assumptions about their ability to have children—which were wrong—obviously. But now that her baby was a glimmer on the horizon, yes, she was so happy. “I’m happy,” she said again.
“I think I need to redecorate,” Marcus said. He stood, hands on his hips, and surveyed the room. “Baby proofing aside, I’d like Briar to have the biggest room. Maybe the third floor…” He trailed off.
Looking ahead like this was wonderful, but it only served to remind Briar of the things that stood in the way of that future.
“Before we redecorate the house,” she said. “We have to figure out Theia. What do we try first, Hudson?”
The mood of the room shifted. Now, all of them had
something infinitely more fragile to protect.
“The ones that didn’t make me a zombie were the ADHD meds. Hold on…” He dashed upstairs and returned with a laptop. Briar smiled when she peered over his shoulder to see he’d made a spreadsheet, complete with graphs. “Valen took data, thank God, so I know what happened each time I took a different drug, or I took more of a drug. I didn’t enter the data from tonight—I mean yesterday—but it was the combination of drugs that seemed to keep me present cognitively.”
“I want to go back to you being a zombie.” Marcus grabbed the laptop from Hudson and sat on the couch. “The spreadsheet is good, but are there pictures?”
For a second, Briar thought he was serious, but his green eyes twinkled wickedly.
“No,” Valen replied. “And trust me. It wasn’t funny.”
“The dopamine antagonists—”
“English!” Sylvain roared, causing Briar to jump. She placed her hands over her heart. “Sorry,” he said. He drew her hands away from her body to his face and kissed them.
“Sorry, Sylvain,” Hudson said. “You’re right. I need to explain better. Dopamine antagonists are used to stop hallucinations associated with some illnesses. But when I took them, I had some pretty severe side effects, including not being able to move.”
Marcus frowned. “And no combination of that class of drugs resulted in anything but catatonia.”
“Right.” Valen nodded. “I called you fifteen minutes into him being lethargic, and like you suggested, Marcus, getting him moving burned it off.”
Briar stood and walked to the window. Outside, snow had started to fall. It melted as soon as it hit the ground, but it made a veil between their world and the rest of Boston. It was a false sense of comfort, but in the moment, she didn’t mind. “So you tried the other meds.”
“Yes.” Hudson smiled and walked to her. He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her closer to his body. “It feels so good to have you back in my arms,” he whispered.
Eyes closing, Briar stood, basking in his strength. Finally, she released her breath and opened her eyes. “What happened with the other drugs?”
Hudson looked to Valen. “Val?”
“Right.” Valen disappeared but returned a second later with a spiral bound notebook. Unattached pages fluttered to the ground, and he collected them. “We did testing to see if he was mentally sharp.”
“I would probably do better on any tests,” Marcus said. “Perhaps I should take them so you have a baseline of genius.”
Hudson flashed away from her side and Marcus flew into a wall. It shook the house and plaster rained from the ceiling. “Dammit, Hudson! I didn’t mean to start renovations now!”
Like he’d never left, Hudson wrapped his arm around Briar again. “Be specific, Marcus.”
Pushing himself from the ground, he lunged toward Hudson, but Sylvain caught him and pushed him into a chair. “There is a baby in Briar. Calm your hysterics.”
Marcus froze. “Sorry, Briar.”
She shook her head. “It’s fine, Marcus. And we can test you later if you want. An IQ test sounds like a fun way to spend a Friday night.”
Narrowing his eyes, Marcus studied her. “You’re not even joking.”
“Nope,” she replied, smiling. She turned her attention back to Hudson. “So what about motor skills, reflexes, and purposeful movement? Did they slow?”
“No,” Valen replied. He read some times and descriptions from his notebook.
“It’s a balance, isn’t it,” Sylvain said. “We want Hudson to be immune to Theia’s control, but if he’s a zombie, they could kill him. Do you think this will work?”
“We won’t know until someone is in his head,” Marcus answered.
It was unfortunate but true.
“Why can’t Briar try? You know how we’re feeling, can read our emotions. Why not get in our heads. I volunteer.” Sylvain crossed his arms, shut his eyes tight, and pursed his lips.
Briar giggled. He looked ready for a shot or to take a hit. “I’ll try, Sylvain, but if I could do this, I would have figured it out before Hudson left.” She’d have done anything to keep him by her side.
Her vampire had been oddly silent since the arrival of Hudson and Valen and the revelation of her baby. Briar went inward, searching for her. Her normally talkative vampire was stunned, reflecting Briar’s own emotions exactly.
When Briar reached for her, the vampire took notice, but in a distracted sort of way. Do what you must.
“Okay,” Briar said and opened her eyes. As soon as she concentrated on Sylvain, she felt a wave of his emotions. Usually, she let them wash over her, and for a second, she did.
Excitement. Joy. Anxiety.
She tried to follow them to their source, but it was like swimming against a powerful current. With each stroke, she was pushed back. Still, she tried. She struggled against the force shoving her away. And then, like two magnets with the same polarity, she flew back away from Sylvain.
Out of breath and feeling like she’d run a marathon, she opened her eyes. Sylvain still stood, eyes screwed shut. “Did she do it yet?”
Hudson studied her, eyebrows raised. “Yes,” he answered Sylvain. “It’s done.”
His eyes popped open. “It is?” At the sight of her, his eyes widened. “Are you all right?”
“Yes,” she answered breathlessly.
And then her knees gave out. A wave of dizziness hit her, and now her vampire had something to say. Stupid. We can’t do that.
Now she had an opinion.
Before she could hit the ground, Marcus caught her. “I think that’s a resounding no.”
“For Sylvain,” she replied. “Give me a minute, and then I’ll try Hudson.”
Marcus shook his head, glancing over her toward Valen and Hudson. “No, right?”
“Let’s see how you’re feeling, princess, okay?” Hudson soothed. “There’s no need to do everything all at once.”
“There is!” Her anxiety bubbled, and she needed them to understand. “We don’t know how long we have. The crawlers and soldiers are still attacking. I can’t help feeling like there’s something about to happen, and this dread is just rising up in me. Theia wants to catch us unaware. She wants to wipe us out.” And Briar had so much to lose.
Two arms wrapped around her, and Marcus squeezed her so tight. At first, she wanted to fight against him, to wiggle free of his embrace, but then her body melted into him. “I’ve got you, Briar. I promise. We’ll be okay. We won’t let anything happen to you.”
Within the circle of his arms, she sighed. “Please Marcus. Let me rest and then let me try again.” She met Hudson’s concerned gaze as she rested her head on Marcus’s chest. “I should have started with you.”
He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. His gaze dipped to her stomach, and then back to her eyes. “Okay,” he replied.
Marcus guided her to the couch, and she sat. She’d caught her breath, but she put her hand to her heart and her heart was thumping a slow, steady beat.
So…fast for a vampire.
“Do you need to feed?” Marcus asked her.
“No,” she replied. Her fatigue wasn’t because of hunger. When she’d taxed herself mentally, she’d managed to exhaust herself physically. But she still felt satiated from feeding from Sylvain this morning.
Two cool fingers wrapped around her wrist, distracting her from her thoughts. Hudson touched her pulse, and turned his wrist, eyes on his watch. “Your pulse is normal for a human.” He glanced at Marcus. “Has it been faster?”
“Yes,” Sylvain answered. “But she’s always blushed more, or paled faster, than us. I was taking credit for getting your heart racing, blossom.”
“You do,” Briar replied, smiling at him from across the living room.
“It’s slowing,” Hudson said. “We have lots of data to take, don’t we, princess?”
“So much data,” she replied. “Uncharted territory.”
“My favorit
e kind,” Hudson said, allowing his fingers to fall from hers. He leaned forward, kissing her gently. “Why didn’t I do this as soon as I came home?” He dove in again, tongue pushing past her lips. It tangled with hers, stroking and thrusting and Briar moved closer to him. She threaded her fingers in the hair at the nape of his neck, playing with the strands and stroking gently.
He withdrew, pecking lightly at her lips. “There’s goes your pulse again,” he joked.
Blinking heavy eyes, she focused on him. “Right.”
He pushed the hair away from her face and then let his hand fall to her lap. “May I?” he asked, glancing at her stomach significantly.
“You don’t need to ask,” she replied. “She’s your baby, too.”
Something about her words had his eyes snapping back to her, and he placed his hand on her stomach. “One day, she’ll be moving and I’ll feel her kick.”
“You’re all handling this remarkably well,” she said, glancing around the room.
“We’ve had hundreds of years where we believed this would never happen,” Hudson replied.
“Or never happen again,” Sylvain added. “I wonder if he’ll look like Jacques.”
“Your pulse is back to normal,” Hudson said. “Normalish,” he amended with a smile. “Ready?”
She nodded and took a deep breath. Keeping her eyes on his, she searched for the ripples of emotion. She exhaled as she found them. Happiness. Concern. Hope.
We can’t do this. Her vampire prodded her, reminding her of the outcome, but Briar had to be sure.
Like she had with Sylvain, she pushed against the ripples. Maybe it was because she’d already exhausted herself with Sylvain, but it was harder this time. Hudson’s current was stronger, more of an undertow that threatened to grab her and pull her under.
Concern. Worry. Anxiety. You’re pushing too hard, Briar. The voice was Hudson’s, but not his spoken voice.
Briar shook her head. She hadn’t closed her eyes, but in concentrating, ignored everything except Hudson’s emotions.
“I heard you,” she said. “It’s only happened once. I heard Sylvain’s voice.” Admitting she couldn’t do this sucked, but it was clear. “I can’t get in your head, Hudson. My vampire knew it, but I had to try.”
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