Mate Claimed

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

The cub is coming.

Iona dressed in record time, Eric right behind her. Iona charged out to find Cass in the kitchen in sweatpants and T-shirt, hanging on to the breakfast bar while she leaned over it, her breath coming in slow gasps.

Diego wasn’t there, having already departed for his office, Jace said, but he was on his way back.

“Iona,” Cassidy panted.

“I’m here.” Iona put her hands on Cassidy’s shoulders and nearly jerked away. Cassidy’s skin was roasting hot through the shirt. “You okay?”

“Except for being about to drop a cub in the kitchen? Fine.”

“You’re hot.”

“Supposed to be.” She looked up, her eyes full of both fear and excitement. “Say you’ll come, Iona. I need someone with me besides a bunch of males.”

“Hear the gratitude,” Jace said.

Eric was already out of the house, starting up Iona’s pickup.

“Time to go,” Jace said. “Diego will have to meet you at the clinic.”

“Probably a good idea,” Cassidy said, her voice nearly a whisper. “Iona?”

Iona thought about how Nicole had looked both glad and apprehensive when she’d confirmed that Iona had been right about her pregnancy. Cassidy’s scent conveyed the same kind of happy worry—and that this cub was on its way.

Iona kissed Cassidy’s burning cheek. “Of course I’ll come. I’ve got you.”

Cassidy looked relieved that Iona walked out with her, though Iona was uncertain how effective her help would be. Iona had been very young when Nicole had come along, and she was certainly no expert on children—let alone Shifter cubs.

But she could be a friendly face and a hand to hold. Iona slid into the middle of the truck’s cab next to Eric, and Jace helped Cassidy wedge herself into the seat. Jace leapt gracefully into the truck bed behind them, and Eric gunned the pickup into the street.

“Where are we going?” Iona asked.

“Clinic,” Eric said, as they shot down the road. Other Shifters seemed to figure out what was up, because they came out of houses, waving and looking excited. Eric acknowledged them with a return wave as they raced through Shiftertown and out the gates.

“A clinic?” Iona prompted.

“One that will help Shifters,” Eric said. “Not state-of-the-art, but better than nothing. We’ll have doctors and nurses standing by in case anything goes wrong.”

“I hate doctors,” Cassidy muttered.

“So do I,” Eric said, “but they can help if we need them to, and they have antibiotics and things.”

“And epidurals,” Iona said.

“It doesn’t hurt that much,” Cassidy said. “Except I want to shift, so bad.”

“Don’t,” Eric said. “Your cub will come out human, so stay human.”

“Why will her cub come out human?” Iona asked.

Cassidy answered, her words breathy. “Pure Shifters are born animal and learn to shift later. Half-human Shifters are born human. Mixed species come out whichever species happens to have the dominant gene.”

“What will my cubs come out as?” Iona asked. “He or she will be three-quarters Shifter.”

“Hell if I know,” Eric said. “But I guess we’ll find out.” He sounded smug.

“You won’t have long to wait,” Cassidy said with a laugh, “the way you two were going at it last night.”

Iona’s face went hot. “It’s too soon to tell, isn’t it?”

Cassidy glanced at her with the same knowledge in her eyes Iona knew she’d had when she’d sensed Nicole’s baby. “It’s not. This time next year, we’ll have two cubs in the house.”

Iona realized she was right. Too many distractions—and maybe a little denial—had prevented her from acknowledging what her panther knew to be true. “Crap,” Iona whispered.

Eric laughed. “Yes!” he shouted. He stomped on the accelerator, and they shot through the streets to his whoops of joy.

The clinic, only a few miles away, was so ordinary that Iona had to ask if they were in the right place. Jace grabbed someone with a wheelchair in the front, and he wheeled Cassidy inside a fairly generic clinic full of staff in scrubs or neat uniforms.

Shane and Brody walked in, followed closely by a wild-eyed Diego and his brother, as well as Neal the Guardian with his broadsword strapped to his back. Iona understood why Cassidy had begged her to be there. A Shifter birth was an Event, apparently, and everyone attending was male.

The staff of the clinic seemed to be used to the entourage that accompanied a Shifter mother about to bring in a cub, because they let the group into a large room upstairs in the back without question.

This was a delivery room, Iona saw when Jace wheeled Cassidy in. A delivery table waited in the exact center of the room, leaving plenty of space for family and friends to surround the mother. The walls were lined with counters and cabinets, one with a large sink. A sagging vinyl sofa had been shoved under the one window, the only seat.

Iona started for the delivery bed to make sure Cassidy would be comfortable, but Eric’s hand on her shoulder stopped her. The Shifters hung back, waiting for Neal to approach the bed first.

Neal drew the Sword of the Guardian, touched it to the mattress, and said, “Goddess, mother of all, attend our sister as she brings strength to her pride.”