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Three women sat at the kitchen table, the rowdy sounds of their men’s laughter coming from the living room. Raven held her mate’s niece in her arms, admiring the cooing baby as the baby stared up at her aunt with golden brown eyes so like her father’s. “She’s so sweet Keri, you and Alistair make beautiful babies.” Raven’s fingers traced over the tiny bumps that would one day be a pair of horns. “How are you going to hide these, though?”
“Oh, no one else can see them. You have to have made the crossing or be a daemon to see daemon traits. To everyone else, Molly looks totally human.” Her mother tucked a red curl behind her ear and beamed down at her daughter. “It’s a nifty trick.”
Molla chuckled. “It’s a survival trait, daughter, not a trick. But it does mean when Raven and Malyk have children they won’t have to worry about them fitting in.”
Raven glanced up from the baby to look at Molla, trying to hide the faint feelings of regret she felt whenever she looked at her tiny niece. She loved Malyk with all her heart, and the fact he couldn’t father children had never bothered her until she’d held Molly and realized that she’d never hold a child of their own. Still, it was a small price to pay for the joy Mal had brought into her life.
The sanctuary was thriving, tours and educational classes drawing in donations and community support. Her new ability to communicate with the big cats had grown stronger, and now she was becoming better known in the field, able to heal and rehabilitate rescued cats no one else could save. She glanced over to where Ares was sprawled out on the kitchen floor, now a permanent resident of the household and its designated guardian. Her life was more than she had every hoped for. “Even if Mal and I could have children, they’d be cambions, not daemons. They’d be basically human, right?”
“Something rather more than human I suspect, just as you are.” Molla’s gaze fell to the ring on Raven’s hand. “I did some research, and that is much more than just a talisman of protection you wear. I do not know how Malyk found it, or how he came to choose that particular ring for you, but it would not have been nearly so powerful if it weren’t for who, and what you are, Raven. You are the descendant of a shapeshifter, clearly feline. And that ring is from a culture that also had beings like you. The rings were created to give children of mixed bloodlines the strength and abilities of their shapeshifting parent. Now in your case, the bloodline is greatly diluted, so you are still far weaker than a true shapeshifter, but you are certainly more than human.”
Raven’s gaze drifted down to the ring, then back to Molla. There had been a time when being hit with this sort of news would have phased her, but not anymore. Malyk had brought magic into her life too completely for this to shock her. Mom’s going to freak, though. She added inwardly. “So that’s why the ability to talk to the cats got stronger?”
Molla nodded, and Keri laughingly interjected, “And why Mal calls you his wildcat.”
“He did NOT tell you about that!” Raven blushed as the other two women nodded, laughing.
“Oh he didn’t, but he did brag to the men in the family, and they told us. It’s what started me wondering what had changed.” Molla reached across the table and patted Raven’s hand. “We’re both mated to an incubus, believe me, a few love bites are nothing to be embarrassed about.”
Raven groaned and carefully handed Molly back to her mother. “I’m still going to kill him.”
“And what is this about “even if you could” have children?” Molla asked, her voice softer now.
“Malyk can’t have children, he’s never been able to,” Raven answered, careful to keep her feelings on the subject buried deep were Molla couldn’t sense them.
“Nonsense!” Molla exclaimed. “I swear that boy ties himself into knots better than any other child I’ve ever birthed. He’s perfectly capable of having children, I’m certain of it. He just wanted to have children with someone who couldn’t, or at least she has never been able to do so. If he’d paid attention to such things, he’d have known the truth.” Molla’s halo flickered off and on with irritation. “You and my son are likely to have at least one child together, more if you are lucky. Why doesn’t anyone ask me these things?”
Keri laughed. “Because if we did, you wouldn't get to fuss about it.” She shot a teasing glance at her sister-in-law. “Do you want to be the one to break it to him? Or shall we send Molla in to set him straight?”
Raven couldn’t stop smiling, and her heart was filled with love and hope as she stood up and gestured toward the living room where the men were having coffee. “I think Molla should tell him, right now. I’ll consider it fair payback for him sharing the wildcat story.”
The other two women laughed and followed Raven as she called out down the hall. “Mal? Your mother wants to talk to you for a moment.”
The End
