Page 68 of Loving Nightmares
“Crap,” Arabella mumbled and went to go inside, but I just lifted her up and carried her through the french doors. My son followed, looking angry at his little sisters, but that didn’t surprise me. He was extremely protective, as he had been over each baby in the household, so right now Liana took up a fair amount of his focus.
“Son, sit here and make sure your mom drinks another cup of coffee.” I messed with his hair in passing and went towards the nursery. The way we had built the house assured that we had more than enough space between the massive master wing on the first floor with its attached nursery, to the ten bedrooms on the second floor. Right now, Elce and Liana were both in the nursery, but I knew soon enough the first would be wanting her own bedroom.
“They woke her up?” I asked Zain, who I found standing in the nursery doorway looking amused.
“I wouldn’t say that. It may have started like that, but…”
My eyes widened. “Well, now we know what type of terror she is,” I mumbled. Liana hadn’t shown her powers…until today.
“Razar!” I shouted, my voice echoing through the house. I walked into the room, taking a place near Blackwell and Damian, who were standing in the right corner of the room, arms outstretched to catch one of the three children suspended near the ceiling. I couldn’t help the chuckle that escaped me as I realized what had prompted Liana to use her power. Shifted into her night terror form, she was able to hold Elce and Rose up andaway from pesky siblings and grown-ups alike as they played with their dolls, completely ignoring the group of us.
“What’s going on? I was doing the balloons— Shit.”
“Ooooo,” Elce sang. “Daddy swore.”
“Razar,” I admonished. He glowered at me as he approached, his expression softening when he looked up at the girls on the ceiling, Liana babbling like her normal self as her form grew larger and larger.
“I’m going to let you handle this one, buddy,” I said, clapping him on the shoulder as I left the room to get Arabella. She would be able to help. After all, she was amazing at what she did—soothing nightmares.
Stepping into the hallway, I nearly ran right into the twins.
“What are you doing?” I eyed the eight-year-olds, their silver eyes filled with mischief.
“Nothing,” Zeena said, a little too quickly.
“Just wanted to do something special for Liana,” her brother said, nodding as if it would make me agree with them.
“Right.” I shook my head. “Maybe go help the others. Liana shifted into her night terror form. She’s got Elce and Rose up there—And they’re gone.”
Shaking my head, I couldn’t help but love the sound of our busy house. It wasn’t something I ever thought I would want, but as the years passed and we had more and more kids, I found that it was comforting. I also knew that Arabella wanted to have more kids than this house could probably fit, so in another five years, it would be even more of a chaotic storm. One I would love, though.
“I think you should try out for the team, even if it’s just the juniors,” I heard Arabella say to Bax in an understanding voice. “Worst case, it’s not a good fit.”
“Worst case they tell me no,” Bax grumbled.
The minute I stepped into the kitchen, Arabella arched a brow at the expression on my face. Bax turned sharply and frowned. “Did she go back to sleep?”
“Nope.” I popped the ‘p’ and went to grab a cup of coffee. “In fact, she shifted into her night terror form.”
“What?!” Arabella’s voice was an excited squeak, and I watched as she sprinted out of the room like some fairy, Bax in tow. I poured myself the coffee and wondered if there was anything I could do to help—hadn't Razar said something about balloons? I had wrapped the gifts yesterday, but maybe I could do that…
“Why is it so loud?” Amun asked as he came from upstairs.
“Liana shifted.”
Amun’s eyes widened.
“Into what?” Ashur asked, appearing on the stairs behind him. “Night terror? I have a feeling she’s a night terror.”
Fucking creationist know-it-all.
“Yeah, she’s a night terror,” I said, annoyed I didn’t get to tell them. I had gotten to tell pretty much everyone else…maybe I would find Cy and tell him. Just then, the back doors opened and I groaned, realizing that our ‘guests’ were already arriving.
Although you could hardly call Eve and her mates guests—they were our kids’ aunts and uncles. My sister pushed through the doors with a ton of gifts in hand, the room exploding into chaos as her little spawns rushed to the nursery, her mates following after. I offered a nod of greeting as Eve groaned and dropped her presents.
“It is so early,” she complained.
“It doesn’t start for five hours. Why are you here?” I asked, pouring her a cup of coffee.
