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She pulls away far too quickly, but I hold on to the feeling. “I knew there was a way to make this work. Just wait until I tell Remus!”
I hide my smile. Unlike me, Remus has always been greedy. And selfish. And self-serving. But him showing his true colors will only drive Lo-Ren more into my arms. Together, we will deal with Remus the way I always have, and I will trust in my family to help me contain him when that time comes.
Chapter Twenty
LAUREN
Two hours later, we’re all around the large dining table, digging into the fresh cinnamon rolls I helped Hannah bake. Well, the humans are digging into the rolls. Romulus and his brothers are tearing into barely cooked steak. I have to look away from where Abaddon devours his meal, holding it between his claws, bloody juice dripping down his forearms.
Hannah seems oblivious to her husband’s lack of interest in utensils, perhaps having given up at this point, and baby Raven just flits in the air around her father, picking up little pieces of meat he tears off and discards on his plate for her.
Kharon and Ksenia finally come downstairs. “It’s happening again,” Kharon says, one of his three sets of arms holding tightly to his wife as she walks.
Ksenia looks exhausted and she pauses to hold her stomach. My eyes widen when she winces, and another set of Kharon’s hands shoot to surround her stomach as the ghostly specter of runes like I’ve seen the family use several times erupt from Ksenia’s stomach—barely formed like smoke—before dissipating.
“Whoa,” I whisper, turning to Romulus. “What does that mean?”
“We don’t know,” he says quietly back, obviously not wanting to disturb Ksenia and Kharon, who’ve started walking toward the table again. “It didn’t happen in Hannah’s pregnancy. So it’s worrying.”
I gulp, even happier that I got the birth control from Layden yesterday. After last night with Remus. . . yes, he pulled out, but still, I’m not sure I’m ready for babies. And it’s looking like we could actually make this work between all of us after all. Remus might not see it yet, but talking with Romulus this morning gave me real hope.
I frown a little, confused about some of my feelings in that regard. Because it didn’t feel wrong or weird to wake up like that in Romulus’s arms. It felt. . . natural. In a way, I felt so much hope that, of course, this was how it should work. Of course, the three of us could make it work together.
Romulus is so different from Remus and I feel drawn to him differently. And if I’m honest with myself, I don’t only have strong feelings for Remus. Not that I have the same kinds of feelings for Romulus that I do for Remus! I feel a tight little knot of anxiety even having the thought. No of course not! But was that just because I met Remus first? The thought feels disloyal, and I’ve never felt so confused.
Would it really be so bad, anyway, considering the situation we’re in? Romulus is right. They share one body. And considering how complex everything is, if I’m going to love one of them. . . my tummy tightens as I think the L word. . .
I can’t finish the terrifying thought, though, because Layden’s voice comes shouting down the stairs. “Evac! We’ve got to evac! NOW!”
Abaddon immediately leaps to his feet, looking to the stairs just as Layden jumps down them two at a time, a huge backpack and several other heavy bags slung over his shoulder.
“What? Why?” Abaddon demands.
“They’ve found us. They’re coming en masse. We’ve got to go,” Layden shouts. “Now!”
“Who?” Kharon demands.
“The government. Russian military,” Layden barely stops his motion to explain, clearly annoyed that he even has to. “The wards that kept the castle invisible broke somehow.”
“But they were set a thousand years ago and have never so much as—” Kharon starts.
“Well, something happened!” Layden shouts, obviously out of patience. “Because we’re visible and on their radar, and they’re sending all their firepower at us! We have five minutes, if that. So get your asses to the ’copter!”
Ksenia just sat down, but she grabs the table, readying to heft herself to her feet, a stern expression on her face. “I’ll get my guns. We will fight.”
But right as she does, she bends forward, a hand on her belly as she squats over, and a rush of water hits the floor. Her water breaking would have been shocking enough.
Except that a second after the first splat of water comes a second rush, this time of blinding white-blue runes that hit the stone floor and turn it into a pearly white pool.
Which Ksenia’s left foot then touches and starts disappearing into. It’s as if the floor, which was solid only moments ago, is now a deep pool. She slips calf-deep into it before Kharon grasps her with all his arms and yanks her backward out.
I’m frozen, staring at the, what? Multidimensional pool of amniotic fluid? Suddenly, I’m being lifted into Romulus’s arms as he sprints with me toward the door.
Kharon has done the same thing with his very pregnant—and I assume in labor—wife. Normally, I might have something to say about being carried around like a damsel in distress. But considering the fact that I am officially way out of my comfort zone and the entire might of the Russian military is about to descend on us, not to mention the whole woman in labor with a magic baby thing—
So, yeah, I’m happy to be a passenger in Romulus’s arms at the moment. I’m capable of a lot of things. Cinnamon rolls, for instance. Office work. I can make a mean spreadsheet.
Battling an oncoming army? Officially beyond my pay grade.
