by A C Warneke
“I’m fine,” she said, ridiculously happy that he was there and she couldn’t prevent the smile that curved her lips. She was barely aware of the cushions shifting as her father got off the couch and she simply stared at her mate.
“How did you get in here? We’ve warded the place against Aradian travel,” Gus asked from the floor. Looking past Feryn, Malorie saw that her father’s arms were wrapped around Tari as she stared at Feryn in horror while a ripple of pain moved over her face.
“I go where my mate goes,” Feryn growled as he continued examining Malorie. “What do you think you were doing, letting an Aradian feed from you? You know that it can’t be good for our baby!”
“Malorie!” Gus ground out in a deceptively calm voice. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Oh, please,” Malorie scoffed, holding Feryn’s eyes as she spoke to her father. “As if you can say anything. You knocked up an Aradian.”
Her words and her calmness seemed to penetrate Feryn’s frenzied brain as he sat back to look around. Tari was now holding her stomach and panting like mad, something Malorie instantly recognized as one mother to another. Sliding out from beneath Feryn’s arms, she kneeled on the floor and took Tari’s hand in hers, “Dad, the baby’s coming.”
Despite the terror that she knew was flowing freely through her father, Gus remained outwardly calm, nodding his head as he took charge. Propping a pillow beneath Tari’s head, he looked at Feryn and said firmly, “I need hot water and some towels, a pair of sterilized scissors and no questions until we get this child out.”
Stunned, Feryn stood and did as he was asked while Malorie continued to hold Tari’s hand and helped her with her breathing. “Look at me, Tari. Concentrate on breathing.”
By the time Feryn returned, Tari was stripped from the waist down and a blanket was draped over her spread legs and she was screaming obscenities at Gus for doing that to her. Gus calmly took it all as he measured the progress of their child, grimacing every time Tari cried out in pain.
Malorie looked up and offered a smile to Feryn before she noticed he was absurdly pale. Holding out her free hand, she whispered, “Come sit with me, Feryn.”
Woodenly, he crossed the room and sat behind her, his breath thundering in and out of his chest. Reaching behind her with her free hand, she wrapped it around his cold fingers and squeezed, glancing over her shoulder at him. Pursing her lips, she blew out short puffs of breaths to help him breathe. His stiff body relaxed and he smiled uneasily and she smiled back even though his skin was still pale. With one last look to make sure he was okay, she turned back to Tari, trying to keep the Aradian breathing through the pain.
Within minutes, Tari’s face was beet red as she pushed and Malorie feared she’d never have feeling in her hand again as Tari squeezed even harder. Without saying a word, Feryn eased his hand between hers and the Aradians, taking the brunt of the pain and leaving Malorie free to wipe the sweat from Tari’s brow and to assist her father.
Feryn was still too pale but he murmured encouraging words to Tari, ignoring the threats and curses coming from her mouth, some of which were very colorful. “I’m going to twist your penis into knots and wear it around my neck, Gustav, because I am never going through this again! May your balls shrivel up and die a horrible, painful death and once they’re the size of raisins I’ll cut them off and bury them in the yard and grow a testicle tree and I will burn every testicle that grows!
“How has the human race not died out before now?” she screamed, her violet eyes focusing on Malorie in a combination of fury and accusation. “Why would you allow a man between your legs when this is the result?”
“Um, sex is really enjoyable,” Malorie blurted as she met Feryn’s eyes before a subtle ahem reminded her that her father was sitting right there. Her cheeks reddened as she turned her head and saw his grim expression and it was enough to make her feel like an idiot. Except he wasn’t looking at her; his attention was fully on Tari. Ignoring the embarrassment, Malorie looked down at the blood pooling on the floor and bit back her gasp of dismay. Scurrying down next to her father, drawing a cool rag across his forehead, she murmured, “What do you need me to do?”
He shook his head, speaking in an undertone that the Aradians wouldn’t hear, “There’s too much blood. There shouldn’t be this much blood.”
“She’s not human,” she reminded him. “And an Aradian female has never given birth so maybe this is normal.”
He swallowed thickly, his eyes glazing over as he stared at the feisty woman lying on the floor with her legs spread wide and blood seeping from between her thighs. Her large belly rippled as the baby struggled to escape. “It’s too much blood.”
Damn it, he was going into shock. Nudging her father out of the way, she whispered, “Go wash up and then come back and comfort your mate.”
Blankly, he turned his head and looked at her, as if just realizing she was there. “I don’t know what to do, Malorie.”
“Go get cleaned up,” she repeated. “I’ve got this.”
Putting her fingers where she never expected to put her fingers, she checked the baby’s progress, surprised to find the head already crowning. Tari was displaying no signs of blood loss, keeping up a continuous stream of invectives, almost all of them aimed at Gus. Her color was also normal, if not a little heightened. As Malorie moved in to help, Tari tried to clamp her legs shut, trapping Mal with her hands on the baby’s head.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Tari asked in a low, deadly growl.
Malorie froze, holding Tari’s violet eyes, watching as the purple irises swirled with power. If she said the wrong thing, she could be thrust into another dimension and there’d be no one there able to help deliver the impossible baby. “Tari, I’m just easing the baby out.”
The color deepened and Malorie could feel the air shimmer around her. Holding Tari’s eyes, she murmured, “Feryn, she’s freaking out. Do something to calm her.”
Pulling his hand free, he clasped Tari on either side of her head and forced the laboring woman to meet his eyes, “Focus, Tarialeis. Focus. You are the first among our kind to experience labor and birth, you must be strong.”
Her violet eyes narrowed dangerously at Feryn’s well-intentioned but not well-timed pep talk. Malorie cried out, “Father! You’re her mate. Make her hear you.”
Gently, Gustav slid his hands beneath Feryn’s and turned Tari to meet his eyes. “Sweetie, Tari my love, look at me.”
Tari blinked, focusing her eyes on Gus. Distracted or lost in her agony, Tari didn’t even flinch when Malorie pulled the baby out with a quiet breath of relief. With quick, efficient movements, she wrapped the baby in a towel and smiled, “Father, I have another brother…. Crap, she’s still bleeding.”
Handing the baby to Feryn, she grabbed some towels to try to stop the watery blood that was now gushing out. In the background, she could hear her father trying to reason with Tari who showed no signs of weakening but it barely registered because she had to staunch the blood.
“Malorie,” Feryn’s calm voice penetrated her panicked brain. “It’s not Tari’s blood.”
Slowly turning her head, Malorie blinked her eyes and stared at Feryn. His lips were moving and it took a moment for his words to register. “It’s your blood and your father’s blood. It isn’t hers and it has to come out.”
“All of the blood she drank was for the baby,” she said dumbly, turning back to the mess on the floor. “That makes sense.”
Gently taking the baby back from Feryn, breathing in the newborn baby scent, Malorie scooted along the floor to Tari’s and her father’s sides. “Look, Tari, you have a son.”
Tari’s anger suddenly vanished as her eyes landed on the small bundle in Malorie’s arms. The little guy had strong lungs as he took a breath and wailed, making Malorie laugh. “A son?”
“And he’s perfect,” Malorie assured her, lowering the baby down to show Tari her child.
Tears filled the Aradians eyes as she ran a slender fi
nger along the baby’s smooth cheek. Smiling up at Gustav as a tear spilled over, she rasped, “Look, Gustav.”
“He’s beautiful,” Gus said.
Malorie transferred the baby to her father’s arms, smiling at the new family. “Dad, take Tari and the baby to the bedroom while I clean up.”
“Thank you, Malorie,” he said in a rough rasp as he gathered up his new family.
Chapter 14
The moment they made it into their bedroom, Feryn grabbed Malorie’s arm as she walked past him and he spun her around until the front of her body was intimately pressed against the front of his. She opened her mouth to say something but his mouth was there and his tongue was in the way as it pushed past her lips. He turned them until her back was against the wall and he was against her. His hands burrowed into her hair as his kiss became more and more passionate, more and more desperate. She could only hold onto his waist as he devoured her where she stood.
Holding her in place with only his lips, he started tugging at her clothes, tearing and pulling them from her body in his haste to have her. The moment she realized his intent, her fingers flew over his shirt, unbuttoning it and pushing it from his hard body, exposing his luscious flesh to her wandering fingers.
“I need you,” he rumbled, pushing her pants down her legs and grabbing her around her thighs. She squealed as he heaved her over his shoulder and stalked over to the bed. As if she weighed nothing, he tossed her onto the bed and towered over her, his erection straining towards her. “I don’t want you to go through that.”
She would have laughed if she wasn’t desperate to feel the slide of his heavy erection. In a breathless voice, she panted, “It’s a little late.”
Crawling onto the bed, he covered her body with his, the heat penetrating the layers of doubt and confusion that had been plaguing her for months. All that existed was Feryn. His fingers tunneled through her hair until he was framing her face, holding her gaze steady. He captured her lips as his erection probed the opening of her sex, stealing her moan as he thrust into her.
Tearing his lips from hers, he glared at her, “I’ll take all of the pain, Malorie,” he vowed vehemently, his green eyes fierce with determination. “I’ll take the pain for every child we have.”
Rubbing her cheek against his palm, she met his glare with passion-glazed eyes, “We’ll see how you feel after this one is born.”
“All of the pain,” he vowed feverishly.
“Do you really want to discuss this now?” she managed, her body trembling with its need to come. After so many weeks without this, without Feryn, she needed release, preferably with less talking. Reaching behind his head, she curled her fingers into the thick strands of his hair and twisted as she pulled him closer. With her lips against his mouth, she breathed, “Kiss me.”
A low growl came from the back of his throat as the fingers of his right hand curled into her hair and the fingers of his left hand moved down her body and curled into her hip. His tongue claimed her mouth, filling her with the dark, powerful taste of him, making her body weep with desire. With bruising force, he made love to her, ravaging her with every punishing stroke of his body.
Jerking her hair until her scalp stung, he pulled his face away from hers and looked down at her with burning green eyes. Without a word, he slowed his movement and claimed her anew. In weighted silence, he grabbed her thigh, opening her up even more, and pushed further into her willing body. Thrusting slowly, deeply, he growled, “You’re mine.”
“Yes,” she purred, wrapping her arms around his neck, her legs around his waist, and kissing him with all of the fierce love and tender passion in her soul. Her body arched upwards with each powerful possessive thrust, his body spreading her further and further apart as he tried to bury himself in her soul. Her thighs burned, on the knife’s edge of pain, and she loved every moment.
Bending his head, he ran his tongue along her neck before he latched onto the tender fleshed and sucked without biting. She could feel the sensation of being marked in her toes and she never wanted it to end. He moved his mouth upwards, trailing kisses along her neck until his lips were next to her ear. As he continued to claim her with ever deliberate movement, he asked, “What am I going to do with you, my love? You defy me at every turn but I can’t get enough of you.”
“And you’re incredibly stubborn and arrogant,” she panted. Dragging her hands over the hard muscles of his shoulders, along the long lines of his torso, she curved her body and grabbed his succulent ass. “But we have this.”
“We have so much more than this,” he countered. Lifting his head, he looked down at her with bewilderment and passion. “You have so much power over me, Malorie, and you don’t seem to even realize it.”
Cupping his face in her hand, she told him, “You own me, Feryn.”
A low groan came from the back of his throat as he buried his face against her neck and lost control, pushing her relentlessly towards completion. All of her thoughts disappeared as she gave her body over to Feryn, letting him take her where she wanted to go. Her body trembled as she went under, pulling Feryn with her.
As he collapsed onto her, his weight a comfort after the long absence, she heaved a sigh of contentment, “Oh, God, I needed that.”
“It wasn’t too rough on the baby, was it?” he asked, his sudden concern making her laugh.
“Sweetheart,” she crooned, brushing her fingers through his silky hair and taking great pleasure from the simple act. “The baby is fine.”
Lifting himself off her, he slid his hand between their bodies and rested his palm against the slight swell of her belly. Staring at his hand as if he expected the baby to suddenly appear, he was silent for a long time and she took the opportunity to just drink in the sight of him. She had missed him so much and now that he was here, she wasn’t sure she had the strength to defy him any longer. They had to talk because she couldn’t live in limbo anymore.
After a long time, before she could say anything, he said in a low rasp, “I’m sorry my brother stole Hunter from his life.”
He was apologizing and he was sincere! Tears filled her eyes as her lips trembled in a smile and she covered her hand with his, “Feryn.”
Raising his head, he looked at her, his green gaze boring into her soul, “We won’t stop looking for him but we won’t imprison him either. But, Malorie, he isn’t safe out there.”
“He’s with someone I trust,” she murmured, grateful that Feryn was giving her brother a chance at a normal life, such as it was.
“Another vampire hunter?” he asked, a slight smile curving his lips. At least he wasn’t sneering or being condescending. After the whole mess with Taella and his son, maybe he was finally learning to listen to her.
Shaking her head no, she didn’t tell him about the angel. “He’s safe.”
Collapsing onto the bed next to her, he let out a self-deprecating laugh. “Malorie, you make me feel powerless. You’re so capable and yet you’re so young.”
“We’re not going to discuss this now, are we?” she groaned, curling into his warmth and yawning, her eyes closing as her body relaxed in perfect contentment.
“Come home with me,” he crooned, lightly running his fingers along her bare arm. “We’ll sit down and discuss everything like rational adults.” She smiled but was too tired to respond. As he placed a kiss against her neck, he kept his mouth against her ear as he whispered, “And if we happen to be naked at the time, I’m sure we’re mature enough to focus.”
A small chuckle pushed past her lips as she melted further into his embrace. “What about my dad and Tari and the baby?”
He laughed unsteadily, “I’ll talk with Tari and your father about what they want to do.”
“Thank you, Feryn,” she murmured, falling asleep with a smile on her face.
Lying in bed, back in Feryn’s arms, Malorie lightly caressed the smooth planes of his hard chest, tracing the lines of the mark that swirled over his skin. Thoughts were crashing through her hea
d now that she was with Feryn once again. After everything that she had gone through, she hadn’t actually expected to find herself right where she belonged and the joy was mixed with a healthy dose of worry. Their differences were still there, lingering just beyond the comfort of the bed, and sex wasn’t going to change that.
Tilting her head back, she studied his handsome face, the hewn jaw, the full lips, the curve of his eye lashes against his cheeks. Even in sleep he exuded such intensity and she realized she could spend a thousand years studying him, re-living his memories, loving him, and she’d never get enough. An eternity wouldn’t be enough time.
His chest rose and fell with each breath he took and even in sleep, he held her so tightly, as if he was afraid she’d leave him. It was humbling to be loved by such a powerful, passionate man, to know that she was responsible for bringing him back to life when he was ready to move on. Her heart ached in her chest for everything he had gone through and once again she wanted to rip Taella’s head from her slender body for what the bitch did to Feryn and his son.
With a grunt, Feryn’s hand came over hers and she realized she was so furious, she had been curling her fingernails into his flesh. Tilting her head back, she saw the grimace on his face as he looked at her with those beautiful eyes of his, “Have I done something to piss you off?”
Uncurling her fingers, she gently stroked his abused flesh before kissing it to make it better. Pushing herself up his body, she pressed a soft kiss against his lips and smiled, “Not you, Taella.”
His eyes moved over her face as he murmured, “She’s no longer a concern.”
She huffed out an unexpected laugh because he had said those words before and had been wrong. “Did you finally kill her?”
“Such a blood-thirsty, little thing,” he crooned, stroking her cheek as a slight smile played at his lips. Shaking his head no, he explained, “She’s in a dungeon re-living every nightmare she has ever caused. It will eventually destroy her but not before driving her mad.”