Three Months Later.
Astonishment.
Surprise.
Elation.
They all blossom from my chest and flow through my body like an out of control river. He did it. He swore he did. I just refused to believe him. But Atticus did it.
He got me pregnant.
We’re having a baby.
“Well?” Talia calls from the bedroom.
I open the door, and all three girls are standing there waiting for the results.
“It’s positive,” I whisper. Half afraid to say it out loud. After watching Ariel and Luther suffer through a miscarriage two months ago, I was afraid to be happy, but she smiles at me. She glows, in fact, and I gasp. “You are, too!” I point to her.
“What?” She shakes her head. “I’m not.” Tears hover in her eyes.
Walking to her, I grip her hand and drag her back in the bathroom. I hand her the two extra tests I bought. “Pee on them. Both. Right now.”
“You’re insane, Cat.” She smiles, and I see the pain.
“Do it, Ariel. Please do it.” I’ll keep begging if I have to.
Sighing, she gives in. “Fine, but you’re wrong.” I leave the room, shutting the door behind me.
“I’m so glad I wasn’t the only one who saw it,” Lilith confesses quietly, rubbing her swollen belly. “She’s been radiant for a couple weeks now.”
Clasping hands, we wait past the toilet flushing, the loud gasp, and hold our breaths when the door opens, and tears are freely flowing down Ariel’s cheeks.
“I’m pregnant,” she cries openly.
“Talia’s turn!” Lilith says excitedly as we all hug and huddle in a circle.
Sisterhood was never something I expected to have in my life. Not like this. These girls are so much more than friends. They’re my family, and as we console Ariel while she worries about another miscarriage, I just know that these babies are going to be loved and protected with everything we all have.
Atticus
Pregnant?
I hadn’t meant to eavesdrop. I knew the girls were up here doing something, but I missed my Cat after a morning at the docks. With the McCray clan gone, life has gotten back to our typical kind of normal.
Now, another baby.
My baby.
“Lamb?” I call quietly as the girls cry together. She looks startled when she sees me. The women have bonded far better than any of us thought. “Atticus.” Her tears spill over as she runs to me. “You did it. We’re having a baby.” The happiness in her voice and body can’t be masked.
Overtaken with emotion, I drop to my knees. I can feel tears hanging onto my lids as it hits me. “A baby,” I murmur into her hair.
“We’ll leave you be.” Lilith kisses Cat’s cheek and pats my back as she and the other girls leave.
“Atticus?” I’m quiet so long she worries.
“We’re good, little lamb. So fucking good.” In my arms is every-fucking-thing I never dared to want or imagine I was going to have.
“I fucking love you, Catalina, so much.” My mouth crashes down on hers, and we spend the rest of the day making love and celebrating.
Carver
Three Months Later.
I stare around King’s office—the war room—as we wait for him to speak. I have no patience to be here. Not now. She’s waiting for me. Or more likely, I’m jonesing to see her.
Meadow doesn’t know that I watch her nearly as often as I do. She sees me. Sometimes. Other times she’s lonely.
The past nine months have been hell on the Empire. Thomas McCray waged war on our family, on the innocents of this world, and had Atticus and Catalina not taken him out in Alaska, I’ve no doubt that he’d be back to flesh-peddling in the underworld. And that we’d never tolerate.
To say I was disappointed after being told that I wouldn’t get to introduce him to Mercy—my Jagdkommando tri-edged blade. The twisted titanium makes gutting a man easier than any other. Death comes swift or prolonged depending on my mood.
With Thomas, it would have been as prolonged as I could have made it.
“Can we get on with this already?” Luther looks to the door expectantly.
“Got somewhere to be, Luth?” Dimitri laughs. The man is braver than I thought him to be. Luther still wants the man’s head on a platter for what he facilitated with Timothy.
“More like someone.” Luther smirks, and I see D’s gaze slide to Danny-boy. Something’s going on there. Much as I’d like to find out what, I don’t really give a flying fuck.
“King!” Lilith screams as she bursts through the door looking frantic as she waddles her pregnant belly over to him. Frightened. There isn’t much that will do that to her. “Get out. All of you. Out.”
“Lilith.” King’s tone holds a warning.
“They need to leave, King, right now. They have to go. Please.” Tears stream down her pale cheeks, and I know immediately what it is.
“What’s happened to her?” I snap, walking closer to her.
“You have to go, Carver. Please. You all have to leave.” Her insistence won’t sway me.
“Where’s Meadow, Lilith?”
She looks to King, as if for permission. We all know she’ll do what she wants. It’s all for show. “Tell him,” King says.
Turning her phone with shaking hands, she hits a button to play a video.
“Lilith?” Meadow’s sweet voice precedes her face, and before another word is said, Luther and Atticus have their hands on my arms. Holding me in place as fury and murder shoot through me.
“Lilith, I don’t know what’s happening. I stayed away like he told me. I’m sorry.” Her frightened voice plays through my mind as I search her face for every bruise, every little nick and cut on her perfect porcelain flesh.
“You see, King, I’m not gone.” Thomas’ laughter follows his voice. Shock courses throughout the room. Even without finding his body ourselves, we all stupidly assumed he was dead after a body was found a little over a month ago. The elements and wildlife made identification nearly impossible up there, so we’ve been waiting on confirmation. Now we fucking know. “I have the last piece of innocence in your life, all because you told her to stay away.”
“Carver?” At the sound of her voice saying my name, red rage takes over my entire being. He’ll die for this. I’ll filet his ass and watch as he takes his last breath. There’s nowhere he’ll be able to hide from me.
“I’ll bathe in his blood, King. He’s mine,” I snarl as the video ends with Meadow’s tears tracking down her cheeks.
Lil gets in my face. Her features a mask of dismay. “You’ll slaughter him, Carver.” While her eyes are filled with worry, her voice is as deadly as I’ve ever heard.
“He’s going to die by my hand alone.” It’s a vow I will hold onto until the end of time. “When I find her, she’s mine. No more fucking around, Lil. You’ll give her to me.”
“She’s yours.”
“D and D, you’re with me.” I point to Daniel and Dimitri as I leave the room. No destination in mind but finding out where McCray could be. Looks like Mercy gets her fun after all.
The End.
Carver will meet you in your nightmares.