Page 64 of Serendipity

If I’d known kissing you was going to send you into labor, I would have kept my lips to myselffor a few more weeks.

Solomon translated for Judas. “I’d prefer it if you kept your fucking lips to yourself permanently, asshole,” Sol added with a growl, but there was no heat in it. Sol and Marco had bonded. Not because they were both good-natured either. Marco was a prickly asshole, and there was a darkness inside Sol that he hid under that shiny exterior. Might have been having someone else to communicate, which made Marco friendlier than normal. Plus the kids were basically adorable icebreakers.

Marco ignored him.Are you okay?

I leaned forward, resting my forehead on his chest. “It hurts. And I’m scared. So fucking scared.”

He ran his hands up and down my back, the circle of his arms reassuring. Now that I was in fucking labor, all the shit that I’d pushed down started to rear its fugly head. How did I think I was going to balance five guys? Not like they were the sharing type. They were alpha and angry and honestly there wasn’t one clean hand between them. They were all bathed in blood. And I wanted every single one of them.

Maybe I would have to leave, because there was no damn way I could pick one of them. Marco had been my savior when I had needed it most. He’d protected me when I was too weak to walk. Fed me when I was too beaten down to sit up. He’d seen me at my absolute worst after I’d been freed from Purgatory, and he’d still chased me all the way to an Outlaw MC Clubhouse. What I felt for

Marco was all mixed up in those emotions, but I knew that I wanted to explore where they went, and if the guys made me choose… I don’t think I could.

Marco caught my eye, leaning away a little, and I could sense his frustration that he had to give up the closeness between us in order to communicate.You are the toughest bitch I’ve ever seen. Youfaced down psycho angels. Survived purgatory. What is a little childbirth after all that. Stop beingsuch a cry baby.

I laughed, and nodded, letting him hold me for a little while longer. I laid back down, and Solomon laid back down behind me, his presence comforting. I managed to doze for a bit, don’t ask me how. When I woke up, a handsome man in his fifties was standing beside my bed, talking in a low voice with Judas.

“How long has she been having contractions for?”

Marco signed that I’d been rubbing my stomach in his apartment six hours ago, so probably since then. Sol translated. I had to thank him for willingly taking on the role of interpreter so Marco could feel included. Heard.

I blinked awake, as another contraction made me huff out a pained breath. All eyes turned to me.

“Ah, you’re awake. Serendipity, yes? My daughter Hope speaks very highly of you.”

I smiled softly, his slight British accent making him sound very proper. “Hope is a wonderful person. You should be proud.”

A warm smile lit up his eyes. “I couldn’t be more proud. My name is Eli. I’m here to help you deliver your baby. Don’t worry, I have delivered dozens of babies, not that many in this century, but it's a process as old as time itself.”

I blinked, my pain-addled brain obviously mishearing him. Did he say this century?

“Let’s have a look, shall we? May I suggest your beaus shift to the non-business end of the bed?

Take my word for it, fellas.” I noticed Cain was back, and shot him a relieved smile. I held out a hand and he came, squatting beside the bed. I squeezed his hand as another contraction hit me. Fuck, they were so close now.

The doctor pushed up the sheet, talking to himself. “You are fully dilated, but there's no crowning.

Let’s just see what's going on here.” He covered back up my lower half and exposed my belly. He pressed around, his brow creased in concentration. At least I was hoping it was in concentration.

“When was you last ultrasound?”

I shook my head. “There aren’t many ultrasounds in Purgatory, Doc. You know the story of this?” I indicated my belly, panting between contractions that barely let up.

He nodded sadly. “Yes.”

“Argh, I was worried about what human medicine might see. I just couldn’t.”

Eli didn’t say anything more, didn’t chastize me for being a shit parent already. “Luckily, your friends have access to some good equipment,” he said, his tone only mildly sarcastic. He pulled over an ultrasound machine. “No harm done. We can have a quick look now.” Someone must have set up the equipment, because he was squirting some gel on my stomach, and that's when I saw my baby for the first time.

It was perfect. Except, were they...?

“Holy shit, are they wings?” someone whispered. The grainy image didn’t lie. There, on my perfect baby’s back, were two tiny wings.

Holy fuck. I burst into tears. I looked past the doctor to Goliath standing in the hall, his eyes on the monitor as well. Then his eyes shifted to mine. He gave me the softest look I’d ever seen on him.

Fucking beautiful,he mouthed and I cried harder.

Then I clutched my stomach and screamed.

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