by Larissa Ione
Demons were so fucking sensitive.
Luc definitely didn't have that problem. Hell, half the reason he was afraid of parenthood was that he didn't know if he could love anyone besides Kar. What if he felt nothing for this child? What if he couldn't love it? That had been his fear from the beginning, and nothing had changed.
"Luc?"
Kar stood at the foot of the bed, naked, her hands on her swollen belly as she stared at him. Not in a million years had he ever thought he'd think anyone or anything was cute, but she was. She'd grown out her strawberry-blonde hair so it now hung around milky, lightly-freckled shoulders, and she'd plumped up from pregnancy, giving her a rounded, softer look that suited her. She'd be a beautiful mother.
He shifted his own naked body on the bed, barely able to move. Kar had been raging with pregnancy hormones and Feast moon twitchiness, and the two combined had given her one hell of a sexual appetite. Her excuse for attacking him every couple of hours was that sex could trigger labor. He could state for the record that it wasn't true, or she'd have dropped the cub two weeks ago.
But hell if he was going to contradict her. In her state, she'd flay him alive. And then make him have more sex. Not that he was complaining, but he'd like to get more than two hours of sleep at a time.
"Yeah, babe?"
"It's time."
He yawned. "Time? For more sex? Because it's only been half an hour."
She whacked him on the foot. "For the baby."
For a dozen heartbeats, he lay there, fuzzy-brained and uncomprehending. Then he sat up so fast he thought he might have pulled a muscle in his back.
"I'm not ready," he said, as if saying it would make the baby behave and just stay put. For another ten years.
Kar smiled, the warm one that always reminded him that as hard as they could both be, they could also let down their walls with each other.
"You're ready."
If ready meant hyperventilating, then he was so ready. "You're sure you don't want to go to the hospital?" He swung his legs over the side of the mattress and threw on his jeans.
"I'm sure." She shuffled out of the bedroom without waiting for him, heading to the hidden door in the living room floor. He caught up to her as she opened it.
"Wait. Let me go down first. I want to be able to catch you if you fall."
She cocked an eyebrow at him. "Are you suggesting that I'm fat and awkward?"
"Yep."
She punched him in the shoulder hard enough to make him yelp, which made her grin. The grin only lasted a second though, because then she was wincing, and a trickle of blood dripped down her thigh.
Fear twisted his insides into a pretzel. Yeah, he was a paramedic, and he knew how a werewolf's labor worked. But he didn't like seeing his mate bleeding, even if it was supposed to happen that way. He didn't like her to be in pain, either, and he wished he could do this for her.
"Come on," he said softly. "Let's get you down there."
Before he started down the ladder into the secret den where they could either hide from enemies or chain themselves for their shifts, he kissed her. Framed her face in his palms and put every ounce of what he felt for her into it. He didn't get mushy often, and he didn't plan on it now. But this was the last time they'd have a chance to be alone for a long time, and he was going to make it count.
When he pulled back, Kar's pale blue eyes were misty and her voice gravelly. "I love you, Luc."
It still stunned him every time she said that. He'd been such an asshole when they'd met, and then again when she'd come to him for help a month later. He was so fucking lucky she hadn't just shot him and called it good, because he'd have deserved a bullet in the head.
"Love you too." He stepped onto the first ladder rung. "Now let's get you settled in."
Luc helped her down into the dark space beneath the cabin, and while she poured a bowl of water from the jug he'd brought down last week, he got a fire going in the wood stove to combat the ever-present chill.
"Seriously," he said, turning to watch her arrange blankets and soft towels into a giant nest. "You're really sure you want to do this?"
"Yes," she groaned, and he felt his gut twist tighter.
She was a turned warg, but she had the instinct of born werewolf, maybe because she belonged to a rare subspecies that turned on the new moon instead of the full one. Whatever the reason, her instinct was to go underground and give birth by herself. She didn't even want him there.
Which sucked, because his instinct was to be at her side, helping, watching over her, doing what he could to ease her pain and ensure the safety of both her and his cub.
Once the fire was going, she started pacing and gestured to the hatch door.
"Kar–"
"Go." She panted through a contraction, her eyes glittering with pain. "Please, Luc. We'll be fine."
Dammit. "I'll be at the top of the ladder if you need me, and I'll call Eidolon, have him on standby."
She cried out, then snarled when he moved toward her. Right. Go. Today probably wouldn't be a good day to lose a hand…or worse, his life. There was a high probability that she'd shift during the birth, and the bite of a Feast warg was death to a regular werewolf like him. Which was another reason she wanted to do this alone. In her beast form, she was likely to eat anyone who came within snapping distance of her massive jaws.
He scaled the ladder, closed the hatch, and called Doc E, who he hoped to hell wouldn't be needed. Not only would that mean Kar was in trouble, but the hospital couldn't afford for him to be gone long. Not with the way he underworld was going crazy with the impending apocalypse.
So, now what? Every cell in his body was screaming for him to be downstairs with Kar, and when he heard her cry out, he had to forcefully peel his hand off the hatch with his other hand. It was as if part of his body wasn't paying attention to his brain, and damn, but this could end badly.
Sweating, jamming his fingers through his hair, he paced. And listened to her moans and cries, every one of which was a spear to the heart. He hated this. Hated it. No more kids for them. No way. He couldn't go through this again. And if anything happened to her…
He forced his thoughts away from worst-case scenarios and back to the present. And in the present, it was clear that Kar had turned. The whimpers and yelps coming up through the wood slats in the floor were punctuated by panting breaths, some of which were his. He kept forgetting to breathe.
"Kar," he rasped. "I'm right here, baby."
He didn't know if she could hear him through her cries, but he was sure she could feel him. They'd grown so close over the last nine months that he swore they could sense each others' emotions even when he was at work at Underworld General and she was here at home.
A pained scream nearly ripped him in half, and he dropped to his knees, jamming the heels of his palms into his eyes as he let out a scream of his own. God, he hurt for her. He hurt so…fucking…bad.
There was a knock at the front door, and then it swung open, and Con sauntered inside, followed by Runa. Both were loaded down with giant baskets full of food and baby stuff.
"Hey, man," Con said. "We brought you guys a couple of meals and a ton of shit Runa and Serena said you'd need for the baby."
Luc thought they already had everything the baby would need, but whatever. He hadn't even known what Onesies were, so he was pretty clueless.
Runa started toward the kitchen. "Plus, I wanted to be here for Kar, in case she needed help." Runa, being a warg who had gone through the birth of three babies, was probably the best person who could be here.
"Thank you," he croaked.
She gave him a "duh" look that females were so good at. "You didn't really think we'd let you go through this alone, did you? How long have you been working at UG? Silly wolf."
Con waited until Runa was gone to plop down on the floor beside Luc. "And I wanted to make sure you were okay." He cracked a smile. "Silly wolf."
The vampire was the closest thing Luc had ever ha
d to a friend, and though he couldn't say it, he was glad Con had come.
Kar made another bloodcurdling noise, and Luc started to tremble. "She's in so much pain." He blinked back humiliating wetness in his eyes. "She's alone, and I'm fucking stuck up here."
"I can't say I understand what you're going through," Con said. "But dhampire females do the same thing, and it all works out. Kar and the baby will be fine."
Luc sat there with Con for what felt like hours, and it probably was. Runa brought him a shot of whiskey, and the two of them did their best to keep Luc occupied. For the most part, it worked.
Until he heard the sound of a baby's cry.
Heart slamming into his throat, he ripped open the hatch door so hard it tore off its hinges, and then he hit the ground floor without taking a single step on the ladder.
His mouth went dry and his eyes went wet when he saw Kar lying in her little nest, a squirming bundle of baby tucked protectively to her breast.
"It's a girl," she whispered. "We have a beautiful daughter with your black hair."
Luc dampened one of the folded cloths with the jug of water and eased down next to them.
"You're both beautiful," he said, as he wiped sweat from Kar's forehead. "Are you okay? Can I get you anything?"
Her smile was tired but as happy as he'd ever seen it, and his heart gave a great thump. "I'm perfect." She glanced down at their daughter, who Kar had insisted they name Luca if it was a girl. "Do you want to hold her?"
Anxiety wracked him, and he broke out in a sweat. He'd held a million babies, had delivered several in his ambulance, and while the miracle of birth was nice and all that, he'd never felt anything beyond a professional obligation to a patient.
Now he was under obligation as a father. What if he experienced the same non-emotion he felt when he was holding a patient?
"Luc? She won't bite." Kar stroked Luca's wispy hair and grinned. "Not yet, anyway."
He puffed up a little with pride. As a born warg, his daughter would have one hell of a bite.
Inhaling a shaky, deep breath, he gently wrapped the infant in one of the clean blankets and lifted her into his arms.
Her blue eyes met his, and instantly, she was a part of him. Instantly, he was in love. Gods, he was nearly knocked on his ass by the intensity of it.
"I told you," Kar murmured.
Yeah. Yeah, she had. She'd been certain that he had room in his heart for a baby, and she was right.
He leaned over and kissed her, taking care to cradle their daughter between them.
"For once," he said, "I don't mind the I-told-you-so."
"Good." She reached up and cupped his cheek, the glint in her eye warning him to duck for cover. "Then you'll remember this when we have our next baby."
"Oh, hell, no," he growled, but even as he said it, he knew he was talking out of his ass. What Kar wanted, she'd get. And, as he looked down into his daughter's gorgeous eyes, he realized he wouldn't mind more I-told-you-sos.
Bring 'em on.
Kaden and Andrea
***Note: these two chapters are included in the ebook version of Eternity Embraced, but are not in the print short story found in The Mammoth Book of Vampire Romance.***
* ~ * CHAPTER FIVE * ~ *
Tayla Mancuso hadn't been sure what to think when she'd gotten the call from the head of The Aegis's Portland cell. Sure, Guardians transferred all the time, but the Regent, Shawn, said that this was a special case, and he wouldn't elaborate.
Then, when one of the Guardians he'd called about, Andrea, contacted Tayla and asked to meet at the apartment Tay shared with her husband, Eidolon, instead of at the New York City cell's headquarters, Tay had gotten real suspicious. There were very few reasons a Guardian wouldn't want to meet at a cell's highly fortified headquarters, and topping the list would be if said Guardian couldn't make it past the wards that prevented underworld beings from entering. Or if the Guardian was worried about being recognized by cell members for some reason.
Or if the Guardian wanted to get Tayla alone, somewhere unprotected.
Tayla went through all of the scenarios, and though she was suspicious, her internal danger alarm hadn't triggered. She'd meet Andrea, but she'd make sure Eidolon was safe.
Tayla never lied to E, but before she agreed to see Andrea, she'd made sure he was working a shift at Underworld General, the hospital he and his brothers ran for anyone who couldn't be seen at a human medical facility.
Eidolon was a demon, a rare breed of incubus, and there was no way Tayla was allowing a demon slayer into the apartment with him there.
Granted, Tayla was half-demon herself, and no doubt rumors were already spreading since she'd revealed the fact to some Aegis bigwigs in Egypt last month, but she was also a Guardian, and she was fully prepared to take on Andrea if this was some sort of trick.
Or assassination attempt.
So yes, she'd agreed to meet Andrea while Eidolon was at work. Not that he couldn't defend himself — he was a powerful fighter. But Tayla wasn't taking any chances.
Funny how protective she'd gotten. When they'd first met, she'd tried to kill him.
Now she was walking down the hallway of the expensive Manhattan apartment they shared, her fingers flexing over the stang at her hip. The double-bladed S-shaped weapon was an Aegis special, the first weapon she'd been trained on, and she wanted it at hand if there was trouble.
Because she suddenly had a hinky feeling, and she sensed that behind the door was more than just a woman wanting to transfer from the City of Roses to the Big Apple.
She opened the door, and her hand flew to the stang at the sight of a black-haired woman Tay assumed was Andrea…and a blond male who Tayla had no doubt was a vampire.
Neither Andrea nor the vamp missed Tay's hand action, and though they stiffened, they didn't make any aggressive or defensive moves. Wise, since Tayla also had a wooden stake at her ankle, and the ability to turn into an unstoppable monster if the situation called for it. Which she hoped didn't happen. Shifting into her Soulshredder form, with her veiny black wings and six-inch claws, stung like hell and made her cranky for hours afterward.
"I'm Andrea." The female, dressed in jeans and a bulky sweatshirt that no doubt concealed a buttload of weapons, took the vamp's hand, and he tugged her protectively against him. "And this is Kaden."
Suddenly, Tayla got what was going on. A slayer had fallen for a vampire. How very Buffy.
As if Tayla had room to talk, given that she'd slept with Eidolon before she'd learned that she was also a demon.
"So," Tayla said, "I'm guessing that you know about me and my situation, and you're hoping that by coming to me, you'll find a cell sympathetic to your situation."
"It's a little more complicated than that," Kaden said, his voice as dark as his leather pants and jacket.
Still wary, Tayla gestured for the couple to enter, and then she followed them to Eidolon's study, where they took seats on the leather couch. Kaden sat stiffly, his body language making clear that he was ready to throw down if Tayla made a move against Andrea. Having an overprotective mate herself, Tayla understood his precaution. Having dealt with prejudice inside The Aegis on a daily basis, she also got his paranoia, so she'd give him a break. She wasn't however, stupid, and she took a casual stance near the door.
"Okay," she began. "So how is your situation more complicated?"
"I'd like to know the answer to that, as well." Eidolon's deep voice made Tayla jump, and she whirled around to see him moving toward her in that smooth, confident gait that always made her hot. "What, you think I didn't know you were hiding something from me? We're bonded, remember?"
She sighed. Yeah, they were bonded. Linked by a blood ritual and the matching glyphs on their arms. They could sense each others' emotions and needs…especially the sexual needs, given that he was an incubus.
"Look," Kaden said, coming to his feet. "We didn't mean to cause trouble. But we couldn't go to Tayla's Aegis headquarters because I can't ent
er, and even if I could, I'd be slaughtered before I made it past the threshold."
Tayla folded her arms over her chest. "So explain what you two need."
"Kaden's not just a vampire," Andrea said, coming to stand beside said vamp. "He's a Guardian."
Jesus. Okay, Tayla hadn't expected that. "You were turned while you were an active Aegi?"
"My little accident happened while on the job, in fact," he said wryly. "Crazily, The Aegis has no workman's comp program for people who get turned into vampires during work hours."
So the guy had a sense of humor. Tayla had to offer up thanks for that. There was nothing worse than a broody freaking vampire. "How long ago?"
"A couple of weeks," Kaden said. "I'm a newbie vamp."
Cocking her head, Tayla studied the couple. "I'm guessing you were together before this happened?" At their mutual nods, Tayla whistled, long and low. It couldn't have been an easy thing for them to go through, but they seemed solid and happy.
Andrea ran her hand up and down his back in an affectionate gesture. "He's been working undercover with vampires to feed us information. Thanks to him, our cell wiped out a really nasty nest, but now that they're gone…"
"Your cell isn't playing nice," Tay finished.
"Exactly."
"I get that," Tayla sighed. "So what is it you want? What makes you think my cell is any different from the Portland one."
"We heard…" Andrea cleared her throat. "We heard that you are, ah…"
Tayla didn't put the poor girl through more discomfort. "You heard I'm half demon. And that I'm mated to one."
"Yes," Kaden said gruffly, shooting Eidolon a wary glance.
"Well, you're right," Tayla said. "I didn't know about my demon half until I met Eidolon." She smiled at him, and he returned it. He was just so cute. "He's a Seminus demon, a rare species of incubus. He runs Underworld General Hospital, which you might have heard of."
Kaden nodded. "The rumor has filtered down through The Aegis, but it's definitely known among underworld beings."
"Okay," Tayla said. "Here's the thing. You're Guardians, which means you think all underworld creatures are evil. Except now that Kaden is a vampire, you have doubts. I'm here to tell you that underworlders run the gamut from good to evil the same as humans do. I've got my Aegis cell working with some, because demons can provide awesome intel. If you join up with us, you'll catch shit, because Guardians don't change their minds easily. And it also means that you have to have respect for the demons I call friend and family. Understood?"