Because it meant his daughter would be the same way.
Lizzie and Jayson murmured a few words about their child’s beauty, working as a cue for Leela to slowly inch away.
Balthazar slid casually into her path, ensuring Leela moved right into his chest. He caught her hips, holding her back to his chest.
Another shiver traversed her skin, the ease with which their bodies seemed to move together suggesting an intimate history existed between them.
Because it did.
One he wanted to know every detail about.
I’m in so much trouble, she thought, making him grin against her ear.
“Yes, you are,” he agreed, ensuring she knew he could read her mind. She hadn’t seemed to put that together yet, as she’d been so caught up in healing. But that rune Vera had etched onto her arm allowedallHydraian gifts to work on Leela.
Did I say that out loud? Or did he just read my mind?Leela wondered.
Balthazar waited, enjoying the pieces coming together.
Then she started, her entire body jolting as she realized what he already knew about the rune.
“I know everything,” he confirmed softly, his arms sliding around her waist as he rested his head on her shoulder. It served to confirm that he would not be letting her go easily. “We’ll talk later, Lee. For now, let’s admire the life we helped bring into the world.”
Balthazar had assisted with most of the initial preparation for the birth, his medical training marking him as a reasonable aide. Then Leela had taken over once the child had arrived.
Together, they’d made one hell of a team.
Leela didn’t fight him, her eyes wandering over the party and thinking about how she’d gone through something similar to this twenty-five years ago when she’d brought Stas into the world.
Caro appeared to be considering the same memory, but Balthazar couldn’t read her thoughts. He caught the misty gleam of her blue eyes as she glanced at her mate, Sethios, and back at their daughter.
Issac stood nearby, his own expression more emotional than usual.
Balthazar couldn’t hear the former Ichorian like he used to, thanks to his recent bonding with Seraphim Stas. Now the other man’s thoughts were all fuzzy and incoherent—a fact that delighted Issac to no end.
However, Balthazar was able to pick up enough emotion in Issac’s aura to know that while the male might not want a child now, he would one day.
Balthazar could see that truth in his sapphire gaze as he glanced adoringly at Stas.
Those eyes grew softer as Stas asked her best friend about the child’s name—something Balthazar had already heard whispers of between Jayson’s and Lizzie’s minds.
“Aidyn Lee,” Lizzie replied. “Aidan saved us both. It’s only fitting she carry his name in memory of his sacrifice. And Lee after Leela, for ensuring we all survived.”
Balthazar remained quiet but felt the overwhelming love in the room.
Luc would appreciate having his father honored in such a way.
And Leela… she was stunned by the gesture.
However, Balthazar wasn’t. He’d felt her bond to the child during birth, then sensed her deepening that connection when she’d coaxed the little spirit back into Aidyn’s body.
An unspoken vow remained between the child and Leela, one grounded in protection.
Balthazar understood because he felt similarly about the little beauty. He would forever watch over her, just as he’d spent millennia guarding her father and his fellow immortal brothers.
The Elders of his kind had an unspoken bond that included all those they loved.
Which meant little LJ was Balthazar’s to protect, too.
