His hand came to rest on my thigh, warm and solid. "And they failed. They'll keep failing. We won't let anything happen to them. If you can’t trust the family we’ve built, trust that my mother and father will do whatever they need to make sure no one touches a hair on their heads. These babies have more powerful beings looking out for them than I did."
The girls nursed for twenty minutes, their tiny mouths working with single-minded determination that would have made me smile under different circumstances. After being burped and changed—a process that had Aidon and me moving in that silent synchronization we'd perfected—we got them back to sleep. This time, we kept them in bed with us. Their warm little bodies were nestled between us like the most precious treasures in existence.
We drifted in and out of sleep, feeding and changing them in those dark, quiet hours when the world felt suspended. By the time we dragged ourselves out of bed a little after eight in the morning, I felt like I'd been through a war. Which, considering what was coming, probably wasn't far from the truth.
By nine-thirty, our house had transformed into a command center. Mom and Mythia had commandeered the kitchen at dawn. They started baking enough pastries to outfit an army. The scent of coffee and cinnamon scones filled the air. There was nothing like comfort food for uncomfortable conversations. Binx curled up in a slice of sunshine in the window above the sink. His blue eyes tracked everything with an unnerving intensity that reminded me he was far more than just a cat.
Nana entered the kitchen carrying a canvas bag that clinked ominously with whatever arsenal she'd deemed necessary. She kissed each baby's forehead before settling on her stool at the island like a queen claiming her throne, dropping the bag at her feet. Talk about a promise of violence.
Nina and Selene each munched on a cinnamon scone, drinking coffee. Nina jumped into action when the tablet on the small desk off to the side of the kitchen chimed. “Hey, big brother,” she said with a smile.
Jean-Marc returned her grin. Behind him, Greyson lifted his hand in a wave. “Hey, Nina. Good to see you. How’s it having new baby siblings?”
Nina showed them the babies, holding them up one at a time while my gaze scanned the room visible behind them. Jean-Marc lived with Greyson, Emmie and Skylar, my friend Fiona’s children. The girls weren’t there though.
I listened as Mom and Nana talked to Greyson and Jean-Marc about school before Greyson left. "I've got the monitoring network running remotely," Jean-Marc said, getting to the issue I’d been messaging him about all morning. "Any magicalsignature within a half-mile radius of you guys will trigger an alert on your phone. I've calibrated it to ignore your usual household readings and friendlies."
"Thank you," I managed, my throat tight. "I'm sorry we pulled you into this?—"
"Don't." His expression was fierce. "Those are my sisters and brother. There's nothing I wouldn’t do for them. I’m just sorry I can't be there physically."
Before I could respond—before I could tell him that his beinghere, even through a tablet screen, was holding me together more than he knew—a soft knock rattled the door. A second later, Stella burst through like a hurricane with a caffeine addiction and zero concept of personal space.
"Where are my godkids?" she called out, already halfway across the room with two carriers of steaming cups and a box of pastries that she somehow managed to deposit on the counter without spilling a single drop. "I brought bribes! And emotional support in the form of chocolate croissants!"
Clio appeared in the doorway behind her. The healer had become a big part of our group during my pregnancy, and it felt natural to include her. She oozed a grace that was the complete opposite of Stella's bubbly, chaotic energy.
"Thank you for including me,” Clio murmured at the same time Stella's arms wrapped around me tightly enough to crack ribs.
I nodded at the healer while my best friend’s familiar jasmine perfume enveloped me. "Tell me everything," Stella demanded when she pulled back enough to meet my eyes. "And I meaneverything. Don't you dare leave out a single detail or so help me?—"
A chuckle escaped, and I extricated my body from her clasp. “I know, you’ll give me a makeover and try to stick me in a pair of designer shoes.”
Stella beamed at me as she grabbed a cup of coffee. “Damn, right.”
Grabbing a croissant, I messaged Tseki, Murtagh, and Layla to join us. When they walked in the back door, I launched into the tale again. Nina and I told them every detail and every horrifying second. But this time I added what we'd discovered about that scorch mark. About how close—how fucking close—we'd come to losing Melaina.
Stella's bubbly energy evaporated like steam. and she picked up Melaina. She held our daughter close to her chest. “Who was it?”
“More like a what,” Nina replied as she lifted her phone. “I got footage so you guys can see it.”
"Send that to me, as well," Jean-Marc asked before Nina pressed play and angled the screen so he could see it, along with those who hadn’t the night before.
I couldn't watch the hooded figure stalk us through the market. Or see the reddish-orange lance materialize out of nowhere and head right for my daughter. It was playing on repeat in my head. I should be thinking about Nina's dome snapping into place and how I had deflected it.
"Pause there," Jean-Marc commanded through the tablet, and Nina froze the frame. He leaned closer to his screen and narrowed his eyes. "Those modifications aren't natural. Someone did that to them deliberately."
"The question is whether they were created that way or creatures were altered," Selene said quietly, her dark eyes narrowed. "And why?"
"I might be able to answer part of that," Stella said, making every head turn toward her. "I need to tell you something. Something I learned last night after Nina called me."
My heart started hammering against my ribs. "What?"
"I reached out to my contacts across the network I’ve been building," she said, referring to the relationships she’d been developing through her real estate dealings. She might only have been an agent in Camden, but she had started gathering other paranormal agents across the country and creating a network she could access. Perks of being outgoing and friendly. "Three other supernatural families have reported similar attacks in the past two weeks."
"Jesus." Mom's hand flew to her mouth.
"You guys all have something in common.”
