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  Finally, Elain’s mom stepped in. “All right. Everyone with a penis and who is over the age of two years, get out of this kitchen. Right now.”

  “What?” Cail asked.

  Carla started shooing them out. “Elain needs space, and you guys aren’t giving it to her. You, too, Brighton. All three of you. Go on over to Mai’s house and let her feed you breakfast.”

  Elain’s gaze still didn’t flinch from Brighton’s. He finally looked away first when Cail slapped him on the shoulder.

  “Come on,” Cail said. “I need to run into town to get some stuff anyway. Let’s go grab breakfast there. Mom’s right, we’ve been hovering.”

  “But what if she goes into labor while we’re gone?” Brodey protested.

  “Town’s only twenty minutes away, if that,” Cail said. “Come on.”

  Once it was just her mom, the babies, the dogs, and Elain, her mom smiled as she slid into the chair Brighton had occupied.

  “Want me to ask Ain for you?”

  “Ask him what?”

  “To send Brighton on his way. Honestly? He needs to go. He’s getting on my nerves, and your father can’t stand him.”

  “I don’t think he’s fond of Dad, either.”

  “He’s not. If Brighton gives Liam one more of those fucking snide looks, I’m going to clock him myself.”

  Her mom didn’t usually drop the F-bomb in such a casual way. “So it’s not just my imagination?” Which Elain already knew from discussions with Lina and Mai, but she’d hoped her parents hadn’t noticed.

  “Not even close. I know the boys said Brighton took a few headers off horses, but it’s not just that. It’s more than that. I really feel like there’s something…unsettling about him. Like he’s looking for something. Something here. Frankly, I don’t want him around the babies.”

  Elain thought about how Brighton had fixated on cockatrice hunting.

  And the secret that she alone in her household knew about Connor.

  “Agreed,” Elain said. “We don’t want someone who might be unhinged around the babies.”

  A scowl filled her mom’s face. “I didn’t say unhinged. Why did you say that? Did you see a vision about him or something?”

  “Sorry, poor choice of words.”

  Elain’s mom stared at her.

  “Really poor choice of words,” Elain amended.

  * * * *

  Brighton let Brodey and Cail load him up and take him with them, even though town was the last place he wanted to go after what had happened that morning.

  Still, it would have looked odd to refuse.

  What he wanted to do was retreat to his room and continue his research, and be able to observe what was going on. If that coyote woman had similar powers as Elain, that likely meant she was just as much a danger to his brothers as Elain was.

  Brighton knew the only way he could save his younger brothers from whatever dark forces had embedded themselves into their lives would be to get hard proof he could show them. Since it was their mate he was dealing with, Brighton knew only incontrovertible proof would sway their opinions.

  He hated that it would break their hearts, but they’d see reason when he showed them.

  Their sisters were murdered by the fecking cockatrice. He knew Liam Pardie had to be involved with the evil creatures here in the States. No way Pardie could have supposedly hidden from Rodolfo Abernathy for all of those years. More likely, he’d been involved with the man. Rodolfo Abernathy had too many contacts and too much money for someone to escape him for so many years.

  And Brighton knew Rodolfo Abernathy bore the stink of the beasts in him, somewhere in his past bloodline.

  Now just to find Rodolfo.

  Convenient that Pardie had chased the man in Maine, and yet Abernathy, a much older wolf, had supposedly eluded him? And the jaguars? And was still on the run?

  Doubtful. And highly convenient.

  Then there was the matter of that Carl Shupe, who was a known cockatrice involved in several supposedly legitimate businesses in the Northeast. To date, that particular evil had managed to stay under Kitty Blackestone’s radar because Shupe wasn’t involved with a nest, and he didn’t get involved in things like meth operations. He also had a lot of money and protection afforded to him by that very same money.

  He was on Brighton’s list of targets, but he wasn’t a priority.

  Not yet, anyway.

  It didn’t help that his sources told him Shupe was now indirectly inquiring about buying property in Arcadia.

  What cockatrice in their right mind would purchase land near a stronghold of wolves if not assured of his safety amongst them?

  Add all of that to the secrecy, the lies, the fact that Aindreas’ memory was altered…

  Dark magick.

  That’s what it had to be. Elain had to be the source of that darkness.

  He would make sure it didn’t infect and spread throughout their family or their bloodline, even if it meant he had to take matters into his own hands.

  “You’re awfully quiet this morning,” Cail said to him.

  Brighton had climbed into the truck’s back seat. “Just a lot to think about right now.”

  “Have you decided where you want to move to yet?” Brodey asked.

  “Not yet. Still thinking about it. Probably nearby, I would imagine.” He forced a smile as he reached down and shifted his knapsack, where it sat on the floor, so he felt it against his leg. “My little brothers are fathers now. I certainly want to be around to be an uncle.”

  He didn’t miss that Cail and Brodey exchanged a glance before facing front again.

  Fine with him. He knew they thought he was barmy. Even better, because it meant he could do what he needed to do with minimal disturbances, because they would discount his actions until it was too late for them to stop him.

  * * * *

  Mai arrived—again—after breakfast, this time walking through the front door the normal way, and with BettLynn riding on her hip. After setting BettLynn down on the floor to play with Juju and Bea, Mai slid into a seat at the table with Elain and Elain’s mom, Carla.

  “Well, that was an interesting way to start my morning,” Mai snarked.

  “How’d Jim react?”

  “You mean besides freaking out? Oh, wonderfully.”

  “Sarcasm. I thought that was Lina’s superpower.”

  “I’m cross-training.”

  Carla snorted.

  “So when do we want to start working on these powers?” Elain asked.

  “Not until after you download your package,” Mai teased. “Let’s let life ease up a little first. You’ve got Connor and the little one to think about, not to mention your own mental health, with three guys to juggle. They’re going to be eagerly insatiable fathers for a while.”

  Elain didn’t bother mentioning to Mai that she was now pregnant herself. She strongly suspected the spike in hormones probably triggered Mai’s accidental poofing earlier that morning.

  Again, not that she’d mention it. Not yet.

  Too soon.

  “Life isn’t going to ease up,” Elain said. “Or have you forgotten what having a newborn is li—” Elain closed her eyes as she suddenly found herself sitting in a puddle of warm liquid. “Shit.”

  “What?” her mom and Mai both asked.

  Elain let out a sigh, opened her eyes, finished off her coffee, and then slowly lumbered to her feet. She pointed to Mai. “Please call Dr. Alberto for me.” She pointed at her mom. “Please call the guys for me. Brodey is going to ‘I told you so’ me over this for eternity.”

  Elain started to take a step toward the kitchen doorway and then doubled over in pain. “Oh…holy…fuck. This baby isn’t going to wait until Tampa.”

  Mai and Carla both swooped in, grabbing Elain’s arms and supporting her. “Just feels like that, sweetheart,” Carla assured her. “The pain makes you think it’s coming, and—”

  Elain fought the urge to crush their arms as another c
ontraction hit her. “No, I mean she’s coming now.”

  “Oh, crap,” Mai said. “The baby really is coming right now!”

  “That’s what I just said! Please get Dr. Alberto on the phone,” Elain ordered Mai, who immediately released Elain’s arm and reached for her phone.

  Carla helped Elain into the bathroom, where Elain stripped off her clothes and dropped them to the floor before stepping into the shower to rinse off.

  Mai hurried in after them. “I’ve got her.”

  Elain leaned out and grabbed the phone. “Get me that birthing suite ready at the hospital that we used for everyone else. Now.”

  “I don’t know if it’s empty or not!” Dr. Alberto said.

  “It’d better be empty in three minutes, except for you and a shifter nurse.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I’m going to be there, with or without you.”

  “What?”

  “Three. Minutes. Just do it!” Elain Alpha-growled before hanging up.

  She rinsed off and grabbed the towel her mom offered her. Then she grabbed her robe off the hook on the back of the bathroom door. “Mai, please get my phone and bring it to me.”

  She ran to do it.

  “Elain, what has gotten into—”

  “Mom, I don’t have time to explain.” Elain pulled the robe on and leaned against the counter as another contraction hit. “Start calling the guys, please.”

  Mai returned with Elain’s phone and handed it to her. Elain punched in the number from memory and waited for him to answer.

  “And how is the mother-to-be this morning?”

  “Ryan, you can home in on me, right?”

  “Uh, yes, dear, I can, but—”

  Elain closed her eyes and didn’t have time to register the cries of shock and surprise from her mom and Mai that cut off in mid-stream as Elain appeared in the bathroom of the birthing suite at the hospital. Ryan appeared less than a breath later.

  “Would you mind telling me what this is about?” he asked as he hung up his cell phone.

  She leaned against the counter. “Please make sure there’s no one out there.”

  He peeked out the door. “Coast is clear. Why?”

  “Help me into the bed, please.”

  He grabbed her arm. “All right. Don’t you think that—”

  “You moved my car. Up in Maine.”

  “Are you all right?”

  “Can you do that with my guys in one?”

  “Yes, I can, but—”

  “Please?” She lay back against the pillows, not letting go of his arm. “Please? This baby is coming, and she’s coming right now, and I don’t even know what the hell I’m going to name her, and I don’t want my guys to miss it. Please?”

  Ryan patted her arm. “All right. I’ll make an exception for you because of your…status.” He smiled. “And because I like you. You’re feisty.”

  The door flung open and Dr. Alberto rushed in. “How the hell did you—never mind. I don’t want to know.”

  “Close the door,” Elain said.

  She did.

  Ryan nodded. “I’ll go to the ranch, then?”

  “My mom and Mai are there, at the house. They’ll round up the guys for you.”

  “Right. Good luck.”

  “Thanks.”

  He disappeared, and Dr. Alberto’s next comment died in her throat with a sick-sounding, mewling sound.

  “Was that—”

  “Never mind,” Elain said. “You’re right. You don’t want to know.”

  Chapter Eight

  Dr. Alberto and one of her nurses—who was a shifter—had just gotten Elain changed into a hospital gown and hooked up to monitors when Elain’s phone started exploding with calls. From Ain first, who wasn’t happy Elain had taken transportation matters into her own hands.

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m at the hospital. Ryan’s going to get you guys here.”

  “How did you—”

  “Can we do the explaining later, please?”

  “Elain—”

  “Oh, so do not edict me right now, Aindreas,” she growled right back with Alpha tone of her own. “I’m about to give birth to your baby. Get my go bag, get the guys, and let Ryan get you up here. If any of you need a shower, just bring your shit with you and take one up here in the room’s bathroom. And grab my purse, please.”

  “How are we supposed to get up there in time?”

  In the background she heard Ryan’s voice. “Ryan will explain it to you. Gotta go. Contraction.” She hung up and dropped the phone onto the bed next to her, grabbing the handrails as a contraction hit her and she ignored the phone ringing.

  “Okay, Elain,” Dr. Alberto said. “No time to give you any pain meds, sorry. This baby obviously has had enough of being inside.”

  “How long?” Elain gasped when she could talk again.

  “Not long. Better hope your men can fly.”

  “Something like that.”

  Dr. Alberto looked like she was about to faint when Elain’s men all rushed in ten minutes later, pushing and shoving their way through the door.

  “And there they are,” Elain said, reaching out to them, crying with relief that they were there.

  “We need to have a talk later, babe,” Brodey said with Alpha ’tude tingeing his tone as he leaned in and kissed her.

  “No, we don’t,” Ain said, dropping the overnight bag he carried before he grabbed her other arm.

  “Where’s Mom and Dad?” Elain asked. “And what about Connor?”

  “Mom and Dad are driving up the normal way with Joss and Connor and the others,” Cail said.

  “Remind me to thank Ryan,” she said as she squeezed her men’s hands.

  “You’re very welcome,” he said from the doorway.

  She let out a tearful laugh and looked over at him. “Want to hang around for the main act?”

  He held up his hands. “You have more than enough help. Please keep me posted, and accept my best wishes for an easy and safe labor for mother and child. Although I suspect your men will need their own fair share of safe wishes, based on the strength of your grip.” He stepped inside the room, closed the door, leaned against it, and disappeared.

  “I am in the wrong fucking line of work,” Dr. Alberto muttered.

  * * * *

  Ain took charge of Elain’s cell phone and was the one who received the call from Lina.

  “She’s a little busy right now, Lina,” he gruffly told her.

  Whatever she said made him roll his eyes and he held the phone up to Elain’s ear.

  “Yeah?” Elain gasped after breathing her way through that contraction.

  “Okay. Mai and I have things arranged down here. How about you try doing that Alpha edicting crap you did to me to poof me to Maine to get us up there. Neither of us are sure how to poof ourselves up there. And before you say it, yes, we already tried to do it ourselves. Several times. I ended up in your laundry room, and Mai ended up in tears and covered with peanut butter. Don’t ask.”

  “Okay. Hold on.” Elain looked up at Cail. “Close the door.”

  He did, standing against it.

  “You both listening?”

  “You’re on speaker,” Lina said.

  A contraction started hitting Elain, easily giving her the little extra edge to the edict. “Lina, Mai, get here now.”

  The two women appeared on the far side of the room, staring out the window. They both turned. Lina grinned, but Mai looked a little…sick.

  “I am never gonna get used to that,” Mai grumbled.

  “I don’t even know what to name her,” Elain said to her men as her friends also huddled in close.

  Ain stroked her hand. “Shh. It’s all right. We’ll figure it out.”

  “What kind of mother am I that I can’t even name my freaking baby?”

  Brodey leaned in and kissed her forehead. “Sweetheart, it’s all right.”

  “No, it’s not! Look at L
ina and Mai. They were all prepared when they had their babies!”

  Lina and Mai looked at each other and laughed their asses off.

  “Seriously?” Lina asked. “I felt like the world’s worst mother for a while. Still do, sometimes. That’s normal.”

  “What she said times about a thousand,” Mai said. “Don’t worry. It’s normal to not feel ready.”

  “Think of the bright side,” Lina said. “At least you aren’t going to need us to speed this up for you.”

  Cail leaned in and made Elain look him in the eye. “We love you. You are going to be a fantastic mother. You already are a fantastic mother.”

  “I wouldn’t mind a little edicting, now that you guys are here,” she tearfully whispered. Her grip on Ain and Brodey’s hands was probably hurting both of them, but neither man uttered a peep.

  “Get behind the bed, Cail,” Lina suggested. “Stand at her head. Dr. Alberto, I’d suggest you get the catcher’s mitts ready.”

  “What?”

  Cail got up and moved, leaning in, his lips pressed against Elain’s right ear. “I love you so much, baby,” he whispered. His hands caressed her shoulders. “Close your eyes and relax. We’re here for you. All three of us. We’re not going anywhere. Breathe. You’re about to give birth to our daughter.”

  Elain closed her eyes and willingly surrendered to his edict, trying to tune out everything except the sound of Cail’s voice. She was aware of Lina softly coaching Cail on what to say, but it was only muted noise beyond Cail’s voice.

  Dr. Alberto made a noise of shock. “Holy. Shit. She’s almost crowning.”

  “You cannot feel the pain,” Cail whispered. “Everything’s going easily, smoothly.”

  “Have her push,” Dr. Alberto said.

  Cail kissed Elain’s cheek. “Push, sweetheart.”

  Elain bore down, letting Cail’s edict flow through her, the pain there, but as if behind a curtain. Visible like sunlight, but she couldn’t really feel it even though she knew it hovered behind the veil if the edict’s hold on her.

  “Okay, breathe,” Cail told her.

  Elain did, changing her grip on Ain’s and Brodey’s hands.

  “I’m scared,” she said.

  “Shh, nothing to be scared of, sweetheart. You’re doing great. We’re all here. Lina and Mai won’t let anything happen to you or the baby. Relax and breathe.”