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Drew was best at taking down houses because of his Earth element, and he always had one of his brothers around to help. That meant lifting a lot of walls, beams, and bricks. My back was killing me.
Sophie gave up the fight to take her gloves and came willingly into my arms when I held them out to her. My mate’s warmth brought me peace. It wasn’t often we were exhausted like this. Our Lightning element gave us way more energy than we needed. I was almost ready to feel hyper from the electricity running through me again.
I groaned, and Sophie pulled back from the hug, raising an eyebrow at me.
“Our kid is going to be as hyper as we are.” She laughed at my complaint.
“Probably, warrior, but we’ll have the energy to keep up. Now, take us home. We’re making the big announcement to our family tomorrow. Plus, Saber’s coming in to say hi after I called him the other day when I was so emotional.”
Good. I liked having Saber around. Sophie’s twin had been her best friend before me, and he had a good head on his shoulders. He’d also saved my life, and I wouldn’t forget that.
“I can’t believe Jeff and Carmon have kept the baby a secret all this time.” She smiled up at me as I tried to gather the energy needed to send us home in a bolt of lightning.
“Yeah, I can’t either.” But they had. They’d promised they would. They’d even confirmed, as far as they could be sure, that we were having one baby. That was enough for Sophie and me to handle.
I pictured our bedroom at home. After a burst of light, I opened my eyes to see we’d made it, and both Sophie and I made it to the bed before passing out and sleeping.
Nate and Tessa sat in the living room laughing. We’d spent our day off helping at Drew’s house. The large back window had been boarded up until another window could be ordered. Still, Drew was gone every day helping with clean-up, and we all took turns helping Jazz with the babies.
They were good kids. So were Dalton’s and Grace’s. Their kids went with them. Grace and Dalton took turns carrying Brady in a front pack, and Lacey stayed with whichever parent carried Brady. Of course, that parent didn’t work the hard jobs. There were still plenty of messes in the academy to clean up.
Tessa looked up and smiled at me. Her violet eyes danced in the firelight. I smiled back. She was beautiful, and she was mine. While over half of my siblings were starting families, Tessa and I hadn’t been so lucky yet. Still, for a Harbor Witch, Tessa was young, and more time alone together wouldn’t hurt us at all.
I gathered up the snacks I’d pulled from the cupboard and placed them on a serving tray with the drinks I’d poured. Tessa rolled her eyes when I put the tray down and she saw my cookies and milk.
“You’re going to get cavities, you know.” She was so adamant about my cookies killing me one day. I still found that funny since she’d poisoned my cookies before.
“Haven’t had a cavity yet. I’d say I’m good for the next twenty years.” I stuck an entire cookie into my mouth just to prove my point.
Nate laughed while Tessa crossed her arms. “That’s not how that works, Jefferson.”
“I know, Noodles.” She still didn’t understand why I continued to call her that after all this time, but Nate still got a good laugh out of it.
“I’m heading to bed.” Nate stood and gave us hugs goodnight. “Don’t stay up too late. We’re working hard tomorrow.”
I groaned. “Don’t remind me.”
I’d never healed so many people in my life. Tessa had given me blood to keep going. Nate had given me blood. Victor had donated to the cause as well. Note for future reference: Vampires were not tasty.
My days off were few and too far between. Nate was helping me, Alex, and sometimes Sophie with healings, but I’d made Sophie take a break when I found the energy she expended from so many healings wasn’t good for the baby. That being said, I had a feeling the baby would take after Chris and be a warrior. A healer baby would have put up with her long hours better, even as a very early fetus. A warrior baby preferred the manual labor tasks.
Nate had spent a few nights with us now. That was coming up on a few nights too many. Tessa wasn’t fond of the idea of love making when her father was a couple doors down. At this point, I wanted to say it was a good idea and if he heard anything he didn’t like, he was free to leave so my young love life could go back to normal. Tessa would frown on the idea, though. Still, I’d have to talk to Nate. Part of me thought he was staying so long on purpose just to rile me up.
“I was thinking of helping Jazz with the babies tomorrow, if you’re okay with that?” Tessa pulled me to my feet after I’d almost fallen asleep twice on the couch. “Sophie’s brother’s coming to town, and she wants to spend time with him.”
“Yeah, of course. Jazz likes it when you help her.” I’d miss her, but Tessa didn’t feel like she did a lot in the city. She was more comfortable at home. People sometimes looked at her like she was the enemy because she was a Witch. I kept telling her they’d move past it.
Tessa helped me upstairs. If I were lucky, I’d sleep through my alarm. Except that Tessa would be in bed with me, and she wouldn’t sleep through it.
I crawled in bed and groaned. One day off wasn’t enough when there was so much work to do. How were there still so many injured? It didn’t help that people were always being hurt during the clean-up process, doing jobs they couldn’t handle but thought they could.
My phone clunked on my nightstand, and I looked at Tessa as she rounded the bed.
“I turned your alarm off. You’re to sleep until you can’t tomorrow. Healer’s mate’s orders.” I smiled at her order. She knew how to take care of me. It was nice to be taken care of after so many years taking care of everyone else.
Red’s hair was fanned out around her pillow. Her eyes were closed, and if she weren’t humming a lullaby, I’d have thought she was asleep.
Three cribs were scattered about the room. I’d even made one for Dalton’s baby when we began putting our lives back together. The baby boys were fast asleep. My little princess, Taylee, was a night owl, though. Somehow we’d help her sleep at night. I hoped.
