Page 44 of Great Falls Protector
My eyes widen as I realize what Shade’s wolf has smelled, what—who—he’s been defending. The thought sends such a shock through me that I don’t realize the quint has separated until I see Coal staring at my belly.
And then he faints.
* * *
Part III: The Last Bell
1
Lera
Seven.
The library spins around me, books and faces streaking by in confused flashes, and I stumble from the quint to lean my hip against one of Gavriel’s sturdy wooden tables. The table’s hard edge digs into my backside, giving me something small and concrete to focus on. Which is a good thing. Because if I wasn’t paying attention to the table edge, I’d have to think about the seven heartbeats I felt echoing through the quint bond.
Coal’s. Tye’s. Shade’s. River’s. Mine. And that of the two tiny hearts beating so very quickly inside my womb.
Around me, the world crawls along in slow motion. Gavriel has his hand to his mouth as he stares at the now-unveiled males. A few paces away, Coal stirs from where he fainted upon realizing the truth and now rises as far as his knees before sinking back down to the floor. His normally tan skin is disturbingly blanched, his blond hair in disarray. Tye stands frozen, his emerald eyes sparkling with a mix of joy and apprehension and too many other emotions to read.
Yet it is Shade and River who capture my attention.
Crouching beside the still-unconscious River, Shade stares at me even as his silver magic flows over River’s wound. Golden eyes meet mine with an almost physical intensity.
Wide. Bewildered. Possessive… And filled with the soul-piercing recognition I’ve missed so desperately over the past months.Yes,the magic inside me whispers, tickling my skin from the inside.Yes. Him. Mate.
I lick my dry lips. Shade’s long black hair hangs around his face, framing high cheekbones, a sharp jaw, and full lips begging to be kissed. With the late-afternoon sun streaming through the window and shaping the muscles of his bare upper body to perfection, the male is as beautiful as he is predatory. And once more mine.
“Shade?” I whisper.
“Cub.” The male stretches a shaking hand out toward me. “I’m—the fae I saw in the woods, some part of me knew it was you.”
“Your wolf always knew.”
Shade rises to one knee, his nostrils flared, seeming for all the world like he’s about to carry me off to that stream bank for round two, though there is something haunted in his gaze as well. “Yes. He did. We needed to be with you with every fiber of our being, but only the wolf could make it happen.” His jaw tightens. “I—”
River gives a pained groan from the floor, making Shade flinch. With a curse, he leans over his patient again, his magic and focus now fully on his work.
Right. I swallow. I’ve waited months to feel Shade’s arms around me, so I can wait a bit more—especially when River’s survival hangs in the balance.
Tye clears his throat. “Well, it does appear we now know why Shade’s wolf was more annoying than usual. The wee fleabag must have smelled the pups and decided to take guarding Lera into his own paws.” Crossing the room toward me, Tye grips my hips and lifts me easily to sit on a tall writing table. The new setup doesn’t quite put our eyes level, but it comes close, the male’s pine-and-citrus scent caressing me gently. His sharp, beautiful face is tantalizingly close. In spite of his casual ease, his silver earring glinting jauntily in the sunlight, I can see his freckles in higher relief. The pulse pounding in his throat. “I think this is the Star’s greatest gift, Lilac Girl. Or their grandest jest. Probably both—but I’m happy with either.”
His words reach me through a fog. Pups. Heartbeats. Inside me.
Panic finally rises up my throat, spurring my breath. I’m pregnant.Stars.I’m pregnant and River is unconscious, and the Night Guard hold the mortal world’s kings hostage. Magic is loose in the human realm.
“You said it was impossible, Shade,” Coal’s voice is as full of panic as my own thoughts, the words growing louder with each syllable. Now on his feet, the black-clad warrior has a knife in his hand, his breaths coming faster than I’ve seen even in battle. Blue eyes blazing, he squares off toward the healer. “That her body wasn’t ready. Yousaid—”
“Apparently I was wrong,” Shade snaps. His golden eyes flash at Coal for a moment before returning to River, a complex weave of silver healing magic now spidering over the commander’s skin.
“Who’s the pups fa—” Coal starts to ask.
“There isn’t a way to know.” Shade growls softly. “This would be a good time to revert to your signature silence, Coal.”
As he spins away from Shade with a disgusted snort, Coal’s hard gaze darts around the library before coming to rest on me—on my stomach. He sheathes his blade and nudges Tye aside to stand between my legs, running his hands over my shoulders, my rib cage, my perfectly flat belly, as if he could feel something in there already. I watch him, his sculpted face narrowed in concentration, his broad shoulders tightened with anxiety. Warmth trails in his touch’s wake, his heavily callused palms strangely soothing—though the frantic cast to his sky-blue eyes is anything but. “We need a midwife.”
“I’m fairly certain pregnancy doesn’t work the way you think it does, Coal,” Tye drawls from the chair he’s plopped into. “That part doesn’t usually come for a wee while. And when it does, well, in my experience, midwives are not the kind of creatures one captures in the shadows at knifepoint.”
I’m shocked to feel a laugh bubbling up in my throat and pull Coal’s tense mouth down toward mine to squelch it—
