Ramiel heard a crashing sound and tore down the hallway to find Noele. In the past two weeks, she’d bumped into nearly every wall and every corner, and because of her huge pregnant belly, no glass on any table in the house was safe from her. She joked she’d become as big as an elephant, but this time the sound of something hitting the floor sounded more ominous.
More like her in danger.
He found her on the floor in the living room with Theron playing chess, both of them acting like nothing had happened. The overturned table next to them told a different story, though.
“Hi, honey. Everything okay? You look startled,” Noele said with a smile as she looked up at him.
“I heard a noise and thought you might be hurt.”
Theron laughed at his father and moved one of his pawns. “Mom leaned over and knocked the chessboard over onto the floor, so we decided to move the whole thing down here.”
Ramiel looked down at his son and shook his head, as much for his nonchalant attitude toward his mother’s clumsiness as for how grown he looked this evening. When he’d seen him head off to bed that morning, he would have said he still looked like a little boy, but now there seemed to be a knowing sense to him that made him look years older.
Suddenly, he had turned into someone who could honestly be said to be a teenager. Theron was a teenager, even though he hadn’t been alive for even two years.
As Ramiel watched his son and wife play chess like everything in their lives was perfectly normal, he knew he had little time left to fend off Nico’s demands that Theron join them in their fight against the Archons. At the rate he was aging, in just a few months he’d be a grown man capable of being exactly what they needed him to be.
“Well, if everything is fine here, I’m going back to watching my movie. Do you need anything?”
Noele smiled up at him again. “I’m fine, Ramiel. She’s been very active all day, though, so I don’t think it will be long now.”
“Maybe it’s a he and he’s been active all day,” he countered, happy with whatever blessing they would have in their next child.
“Whatever this child is, dear, they’ve got strong legs and kick like a mule.”
“Can I feel, Mom?”
Noele took Theron’s hand and placed it on her very swollen belly. The baby kicked hard so even Ramiel saw the evidence as her blouse fluttered.
“Did you feel that?” she asked with a look of amazement that still charmed Ramiel.
Theron smiled broadly. “She’s like a ninja with those kicks!” he said excitedly. “My sister the ninja.”
“Or brother,” Ramiel said.
“Or brother. But if it’s a boy, mom’s going to be totally outnumbered with all of us men here.”
Noele chuckled, but all Ramiel heard out of his baby son’s mouth was the word men. Us men here. Even his son thought of himself as a man. How would he hold off Nico much longer?
“Don’t worry, guys. It’s a girl. I just know it.”
“Well, whatever the baby is, Dad and I will protect you two, right Dad?”
Ramiel heard Theron say something and turned to see both him and Noele looking up at him, as if for an answer. Confused, he mumbled the only answer that came to him. “Sure.”
Reaching out for his hand, Noele gave it a gentle squeeze. “Don’t worry, honey. You’re going to be just as great a father to this child as you’ve been to Theron.”
He hoped more than his wife could ever know that he would be the kind of father his son needed when the time came.
Dante nudged Ramiel’s arm, interrupting what had been a perfectly nice nap. Focusing on the young vampire who stood far too close, he wondered why he was in his bedroom at all.
“Why are you waking me up? Go away.”
“It’s time.”
“Time for what?” Rolling over, Ramiel waved him off. “Go find Theron to play with.”
Dante shook his shoulder hard. Way harder than he should have if he wanted to keep that arm. Turning back to give him the death stare, Ramiel heard him speak the words he’d waited weeks to hear.
“Noele says it’s time. The midwife got here a few minutes ago, and I guess it’s going much faster than last time.”
Suddenly all his rambling made sense. Noele was in labor! His son or daughter was coming any second now, and there he was napping as if nothing was happening. Sitting bolt upright and nearly knocking Dante over, Ramiel looked around for his shirt. “Where the fuck are my clothes? Find my shirt!”
The clyten laughed at him and chucked his shirt toward his head. “Calm down, Dad. Remember, you did this once before?”
“Don’t call me Dad, for fuck’s sake! I’m not your father.”
He slipped his shirt over his head as Dante said in a deep voice, “Luke, I am your faaaa-ther.”
Tucking his shirt into his pants, he stopped as the clyten’s words sunk in. “Are you serious? Noele’s in labor and you’re making stupid movie jokes.”
“Take it easy, Ramiel. She’s got this under control. She only sent me to get you because she knew you’d be pissed if you missed it. Don’t worry. Women know what they’re doing with this stuff.”
Ramiel leveled his gaze on him. Where did he get this stuff from? “Are you some kind of expert on women now? You who can’t get laid suddenly knows everything about the opposite sex.”
“I’ll have you know I got some last night, thank you, and you don’t have to be an expert on women to know they can handle things when it comes to giving birth.” Holding the bedroom door open, he said, “So if you’re done insulting me, why don’t you head out to your wife and get ready to meet your kid?”
He stormed past him toward the bedroom where Noele lay in the bed deep in labor. Stopping dead in the doorway when he saw her there, her drenched hair hanging in her face as she bore down for another round of pushing and breathing, Ramiel suddenly realized this was really happening.
Their child no one had expected or prophesied to come was about to be born.
Dante tapped him on the shoulder and said in his ear, “I’ll take care of Theron. Go get ’em, Tiger!”
Ordinarily, he would have told the kid where he should stick his wittiness, but now as the door closed behind him and Noele called for him to come take her hand to support her, every nasty thing slipped from his mind. Only sweetness filled his head as he felt her grab onto his arm and grunt through another contraction.
Ramiel gently pushed her hair from her forehead and whispered against her damp skin, “It’s okay. You’ve done this before and you’re going to be fine.”
“Oh God! Here comes another one!” she wailed as the midwife ordered her to bear down and give her best push.
A minute later, Noele leaned back against Ramiel’s hold and relaxed in his arms. Looking up at him, she said breathlessly, “I need you to promise me something.”
“Anything.”
“Promise me you won’t love this child more because she’s yours. Theron needs you more than ever now. Just promise me, okay?”
Ramiel couldn’t help but smile. In those first days after Theron was born, he wasn’t sure he’d ever see him as anything other than Thane’s child, but now as this new baby was about to be born, he knew he’d challenge anyone who ever said the boy wasn’t his son. Blood or not, he was Theron’s father, and nothing could change that.
“You don’t have to worry. I’ll love him or her just as much as I love our son. I’d give my life for you or either of our kids.”
She began to say something, but a contraction came over her and she screamed, filling the room with the sound of pure pain. Ramiel waited for the midwife to announce their child had arrived, but when he looked down the bed toward her, he saw something was wrong. Her eyebrows were tightly knitted and a look of terror filled her eyes.
“What’s wrong? Is something wrong? Say something Opal!”
She struggled to say anything as Noele cried, “Is there something wrong with her? Is she dead?”
“No, but I need to work fast. There’s some kind of injury, so I need you to keep calm, okay? Just give me a moment to see what can be done.”
Like all other vampire midwives, Opal possessed the ability to heal others instead of just herself. All vampires healed quickly, but if the baby was hurt, he or she would need more than just her own power, especially since it was so new.
As Opal worked to stabilize the baby, Noele pleaded, “Just tell us if it’s a girl or a boy. We want to know before…”
She stopped her thought before she said what she really meant. Burying her face in Ramiel’s shoulder, Noele began to sob. He knew what she feared. Sitting there holding her, he feared it too.
“I’m not giving up on this little lady yet, so give me some time,” Opal answered with the hint of a smile that made Ramiel feel like he could believe the baby would be okay.
Little lady. Their child was a girl.
When Noele’s brain finally processed what the midwife had said, she cried even harder and looked up at him. “Ramiel, it’s a girl. We have a daughter!”
He pushed aside the fear of what might happen in the next minute and kissed his beautiful wife for giving him such a gift. “What are we going to name her?”
“Leta. It’s the only name that’s been in my mind ever since I found out we were pregnant. Leta.”
Just seconds after hearing the name for the first time, Ramiel couldn’t imagine his daughter with any other. He had no idea what it meant or if it had some significance, but if Noele had thought of her all this time as Leta, then that’s what she was meant to be.
“Leta it is then.”
“She deserves a name, even if she doesn’t make it.”
Ramiel pressed his forehead to his wife’s and closed his eyes. Whispering as if in prayer, he said, “She’s like her mother, so she’s not going to give up so easily. Give her a chance to prove she’s our child.”
Just then a sharp cry pierced the silence, and Opal lifted their daughter up so they could see her. “I think you might have another very different child on your hands. She didn’t need any of my help to heal.”
Looking down at the tiny bundle in her hands, Ramiel wondered if the prophecy had been wrong. Maybe both Theron and Leta were destined to save the vampire world.
He’d think about that later. Now as Opal placed Leta into her mother’s arms, all he could think about was how lucky he was and how proud he was of both his wife and daughter.
Leta cooed as Noele held her, instantly taking hold of Ramiel’s heart. “She’s perfect, isn’t she?” his wife asked as their daughter wrapped her tiny hand around her finger.
“She’s gorgeous, just like her mother,” he said with a smile he thought might never leave his face. Gently touching her head, he smoothed his palm over his daughter’s jet black hair and stared into her deep brown eyes. “She the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen.”
“Go get Theron so he can meet his baby sister, honey. He’s just going to love her.”
Ramiel leaned over and kissed his daughter’s cheek, her skin so new to the world and so soft. “I will, and then I’m going to spread the news that there’s a new girl in town.”
He stood from the bed and headed out to tell his son about his new sister, but as he turned the doorknob, he looked back at Noele and Leta and didn’t want to leave ever again. His life had become them and Theron, and from that moment, he pledged to protect them with everything he had.
After telling his son the good news and watching him race to his mother’s bedside to meet his brand new sister, Ramiel pulled Dante aside. “I need to talk to you about something important. It has to do with what Nico said.”
The clyten chucked him on the shoulder with a satisfied grin. “Not tonight. Tonight’s for celebrating your daughter’s birth. We can deal with it tomorrow night.”
“No. I need to make sure we talk about this while we have the chance to be alone. Soon everyone’s going to come here to see Leta and Noele, and I need to know this is settled.”
Dante’s smile faded away. “Okay, Ramiel. I got it. What do you need from me?”
He took a deep breath and said the words he knew could brand him a traitor to the Sons of Navarus. Letting it out slowly, he said, “I need your word that if things get bad, you’ll get Theron away from here.”
For a moment, Dante said nothing as his mouth dropped open in shock. Then he lowered his voice to just above a whisper and leaned in toward Ramiel. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”
“I won’t let Nico and the Order muscle Theron into a war he isn’t ready for. He needs more time.”
“I agree, but you know what happens if they find out you sent him away, don’t you?”
Ramiel nodded. “I know. And I know I’m putting you in the middle and making you just as guilty. I don’t have anyone else I can trust Theron’s safety to, though.”
“I know, and I can’t tell you how good that makes me feel. I love the kid like he was my own brother, Ramiel. I would never let him get hurt. I swear that to you.”
“I’ve seen how you are with him, Dante. I know how much you care about him. That’s why I’m trusting you. If I give you the word that you need to get him the hell out of here, you can’t hesitate. You won’t have long before Nico and the Order send their thugs to take him.”
Always the optimist, Dante didn’t see how dire things could get. “Do you really think it will come to that? I know Nico thinks Theron is ready, but you and Noele are his parents. You still get to say what happens to him.”
Ramiel shook his head and sighed. “Not for long. He’s growing so fast he’ll be a man before next week. Things are coming to a head, and when they do, they’re going to turn to Theron. You heard Nico. He sees Theron as someone who was born for only one reason—to save our world. He doesn’t see him as anything else.”
“Well, he’s wrong. That kid of yours may be special, but not in the way they think. He’s smart. Really smart. Like crazy smart, Ramiel. I know he hasn’t been on the planet for long, but he’s really incredible. Of course, that’s because he’s a clyten, but his ability to read thoughts and control them is getting better every day.”
“That’s why they’re going to want him, though,” Ramiel said, hating how true that statement was. They saw his son as a tool to get what they wanted. He understood why, but he couldn’t let them get to him before he was ready to deal with it.
“Maybe it won’t come to that. As long as the Archons don’t start something, there’s no reason for anyone to want the kid to be that savior they all think he is.”
Ramiel looked toward the bedroom where the ones he loved more than life itself celebrated the birth of his daughter and wished what Dante was saying could be true. He wanted nothing more than to live in peace with his children and his wife, but he knew better. The time was coming when the Archons would finally have all the pieces in place and this war would begin.
And that would be when Theron’s childhood would abruptly end and he’d become the war machine they all thought he was born to be.
Turning back to face Dante, he repeated his request. “I just need to know that when it all happens that you’ll get him somewhere safe far away from here. I need to know I can rely on you.”
“You can, Ramiel. I won’t let you down. When it happens, I’ll get him out of here and make sure he’s safe so they can’t get to him.”
“Thanks. You’re the only one of us I felt like I could turn to for this.”
Dante chucked him on the shoulder again and laughed. “Who’d have ever thought that, right? Don’t worry, Dad. He’ll be in good hands and with another clyten. We’re tough.”
“Again with the Dad thing?” Ramiel asked as he glared at him.
“Well, it fits even better now, don’t you think? Now you’re the proud father of two kids. That nobody could have predicted. You’re the last one of us I would have bet on to be a doting father.”
Ramiel couldn’t help but smile. He was that, and he didn’t care who knew. Of all the things he’d done and been in this world, being Theron and Leta’s father was the one role he was proudest of.
Putting his arm around Dante, he hugged him close. “Well, I’d say it’s about time for Leta to meet her uncle, don’t you think? Before everyone gets here to see her, I want you to see her first.”
The clyten beamed his happiness and grinned like he’d never been so proud. “Then let’s go! I just hope she’s like her mother. No girl should have your looks, Ramiel.”
Bad joke aside, even Ramiel couldn’t help but laugh. Bad times were coming, but for the moment, all that surrounded him was good and loving.
*
Solenne pressed END on her phone and ran to find Declan to tell him the good news. She found him sitting out on the balcony staring up at the night sky and instantly worried he’d slid back into one of his angry moods.
Coming around to stand in front of him, she looked down and instead saw a smile that filled her heart. “I just got a voicemail from Dante. He called this morning. Noele had a baby girl they named Leta. Mom and baby are doing great.”
Declan nodded. “Good. I’m happy to hear things went well for them. They deserve it.”
She crouched down in front of him and balanced herself by resting her hands on his knees. Looking up into his eyes, she hesitated to ask how he was doing. Weeks had gone by since Vasilije had brought him back to her, and they’d found some sense of happiness since then.
But he’d never opened up to her about how he felt, and Solenne knew those emotions had to come out sometime.
Part of her feared what he’d say when he finally let it all out. He carried around so much anger in his heart she knew couldn’t stay inside forever. Deep down, was he angry with her?
If only she didn’t need to be so damn independent. Other women seemed perfectly happy spending all their time with their husbands. They stayed at home where it was always safe, but she’d never been that type of woman. It wasn’t that she didn’t love Declan more than life itself. She did, but she’d spent so many years on her own that curbing her need to do things for herself was difficult.
Why did she have to go to see Lucrecia that night? If only she hadn’t gone off on her own, none of this would have happened. Marc would have never gotten a chance to take her. He never would have raped her. They would still be truly happy.
“You look like you’re a million miles away, Solenne. Are you okay?”
Every time he’d asked her that since he came back, she’d lied and said she was fine. But now as she looked up into those dark eyes of his so full of love for her, she didn’t want to avoid the truth of what still stood between them anymore.
Mustering her courage to face what may end up just driving them further apart, she held his hand and told him what she’d longed to say for months.
“No, I’m not okay. I miss what we were before Marc kidnapped me. I miss the way you used to look at me like I was the most incredible woman in the world. Now you just look at me like I’m some broken bird you feel responsible for. I’ve waited for weeks since you came back to me to hear you say something, but every night we pretend the problem isn’t there anymore when we both know it is.”
Her words came out raw and uncensored, and she didn’t regret a syllable. Never one for lying, she needed the man she loved to know what was inside her heart.
Declan’s shoulders sagged slightly and he closed his eyes. She watched his mouth turn down into a frown as she waited to hear his response to her confession. Even if it just resulted in another fight, she didn’t care. Anything had to be better than the pretend happiness show they’d put on all this time.
He opened his mouth and simply sighed, as if the words he wanted to say were too much for him to let out. Tears welled in her eyes at the sight of him so torn up that he couldn’t even answer her. She wanted to understand and wished she did, but she couldn’t. For her, keeping all the anger and hurt inside only made it worse.
“Declan, please say something.”
He sat there, pain written all over his face, and when he opened his eyes, Solenne saw she wasn’t alone anymore in what she felt.
“I’m sorry. I’m sorry for not being there when you needed me. I’m sorry for not finding you before that son of a bitch had the chance to do what he did.” Declan’s words became strangled. Clearing his throat, he hung his head and continued.
“I blame myself for not being there to save you before he raped you.”
Solenne reached up and cradled his face in her hands. “You aren’t to blame. No one is but him. Neither of us are to blame, baby.”
Leaning his cheek against her palm, he looked at her and nodded. “I know. I didn’t for a long time, but I know now. I never blamed you, though. Never. I need you to believe that. I never blamed you.”
Tears rolled down her cheeks as she listened to her husband make his own confession to her. She knew he’d been in pain, but now as he spoke, she heard every ounce of that agony he’d suffered in each heartfelt word. Never a man to say much, he spoke volumes now.
“I love you, Declan.”
“I love you, Solenne. I’m sorry it took me so long to say this. I never meant to hurt you. I just didn’t know how to deal with all my anger and guilt. The guilt may be gone, but the anger still grows inside me.”
“I know. It’s there for me too. As long as we’re not angry with each other, that’s all that matters.”
Declan leaned down and kissed her sweetly on the lips. “I was never angry at you. Myself? Yeah. That fuck Verrater. Yeah. I’m going to hate him until the moment I get to drive a fucking stake through his heart.”
Solenne smiled. “I know, and all I ask is that I get to be there for it. I want to see him suffer for what he’s done not only to me, but to all vampires with his despicable drug.”
Standing, Declan wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. “I have this fantasy that when this war comes you and I are there together and get to finally give him what he deserves.”
She leaned back away from him and studied his face. “Seriously? You never want me anywhere near Sons business. I figured you’d try to shuffle me off to some hidden location somewhere in a distant land where you believe I’ll be safe when everything begins.”
“No more. I’ve got the most special vampire in the world by my side, and that’s where she’s going to stay. No one can protect you better than I can. When this all begins, I want you with me.”
His smile told her they’d turned the corner and could finally be open with one another. She didn’t expect life to go back to the way it had been before, but that was okay. Her husband may never be the kind of man who liked to express his feelings about much, but at least they were back on the same side.
“Then that’s how it will be. You and me against the world, like it’s always been.”
He pressed his forehead to hers and looked into her eyes. “You and me, baby. The way it should be.”