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Another contraction clamped down on her, and she fought against the urge to push, panting and holding Lyon’s gaze while she fought against the urges of her body to expel the baby.
Not yet.
When the contraction ended, the doctor was there, along with two other nurses and two carts of instruments and equipment that would have terrified her if she’d been capable of feeling anything but the pain that blotted out everything else.
“Ready to have a baby, Kira?” the doctor asked cheerfully.
She looked at Lyon, holding her hand and staring down at her, his face creased with concern.
“I can’t do this,” she said.
He bent down until his face was only inches from hers. “You can,malen'kiy sokol.You can do anything.”
“Don’t leave me,” she begged.
His gaze didn’t waver. “Never.”
“All right, Kira, on the next contraction, you’re going to bear down and push while I count to ten, okay?” the green-eyed nurse asked.
Kira nodded, feeling another contraction begin to build.
The nurse glanced at the monitor as Kira’s body tensed.
“Here we go: 1…”
Kira looked into Lyon’s eyes and pushed.
46
The hospital room was hushed except for the murmur of the night nurses in the hall and the soft beeping of a monitor in one of the other rooms. The lights had been turned off, and Lyon was glad to see that Kira was finally sleeping a few feet away, her features at peace, hair mussed on the pillow behind her.
He’d seen her in all manner of dress — in designer gowns and expensive lingerie and tailored skirts and blouses — and she’d never looked more beautiful to him than she did now.
The mother of his child.
His daughter.
Katerina Baranov Antonov.
He looked down at the tiny bundle in his arms, marveling at her perfect features, her long fingers clenched into fists as she slept.
He hadn’t been prepared for the outpouring of love that had flowed through him when they’d placed her in his arms for the first time. He’d known then and there that he would kill anyone who hurt her, that he would protect her with his life.
That wasn’t a surprise. He was the Lion. He was well-versed in the practice of violence.
What had surprised him was the other vows he’d made to his tiny daughter, promises from his soul that came as naturally as if he’d made them a thousand times before when he’d never said them to anyone.
I promise to love you, just as you are, whatever you become.
I promise to listen to you, even when we disagree.
I promise to be there for you.
I promise to be on your side.
I promise never to leave you.
They’d defied Russian tradition by giving the baby Kira’s surname as a middle name rather than Lyonyevna. She didn’t need another reminder that she was the Lion’s daughter, but a reminder that she was her mother’s daughter — fierce, determined, able to both lead an army and birth a family — would serve her well.
