The King

John blew a short, descending whistle, the closest he could come to a no. Then again, if he had gotten a call, they both would have heard the phone.

“Text?”

John shook his head, before remembering he had to whistle again—

Out of nowhere, the vestibule’s bell went off, an image appearing on the discreetly mounted monitor by the grand entrance’s acres of molding.

Beth. iAm. Outside on the front steps.

As Wrath jumped to his feet, John rushed for the access button before Fritz came, whistling in an urgent ascending call so that the husband knew the wife had returned.

The second he hit the unlock, the vestibule’s inner door swung wide.

John would never forget what Beth looked like as she careened into the house: Her face was pale and drawn, her eyes too wide, her movements sloppy and disordered. She was carrying her coat instead of wearing it, and she let the thing, as well as her purse, fall unheeded to the floor.

Such pedestrian objects went scattering everywhere. A wallet. A hairbrush. A ChapStick.

Why was he noticing this—?

And then all he could see was his sister racing across the mosaic depiction of the apple tree in full bloom … as if she were being chased by a madman.

As she jumped at Wrath, it was not in joy.

She was terrified.

In response, Wrath held her effortlessly, lifting her off the floor, the strain gritting his jaw having nothing to do with how much she weighed.

“What is it, leelan?” he asked.

“I’m pregnant. I’m—”

“Oh, God—”

“—having a boy.”

John threw a hand out to steady himself. He couldn’t have heard that right. There was no way—

Wrath slowly let her back down to the floor. And then he took a little TO, falling onto that lowest step like his knees had given out of him.

And gee, what do you know, John did the same, a curious combination of despair and disbelieving joy taking the starch right out on him until he found himself sitting on the floor.

How was this possible …?

In the silence that followed Beth’s big announcement, Wrath couldn’t get his brain to work. Or his arms or legs. As he fell down onto that step his ass had been warming, he felt like he was in some kind of nightmare.

“I don’t … understand.” A son? They were having a son? “Your needing was a night ago—two at the most.”

“I know, I know,” she choked out.

Instantly, he snapped into action. Fuck his own scrambled brain; his shellan needed him. Taking control of himself, he regathered her into his lap, aware that John and iAm were the only ones around—and he was glad of it.

“Tell me what the doctor said.”

The scent of her tears killed him, but he kept tight as she cleared her throat a couple of times. “I was just going there to be told it was too early. I wasn’t supposed to be four months along—”

“What?”

“That’s what she said.” Beth shook her head against his chest. “I mean, I know I’ve felt weird, but I thought it was just because the needing was coming? Instead, I was already—I mean, I guess I got pregnant before it even hit me.”

Jesus … Christ.

She inched back. “Honestly, I noticed my clothes were getting tight about a month ago. Maybe a little longer? I thought it was stress eating, or because I wasn’t making time for exercise? And then my moods starting getting wonky—and now that I look back on it … my br**sts were sore, too. But I never got a period or anything. So I just don’t know? Oh, God, what if I harmed the baby by being with Layla? What if—”

“Beth, shh—Beth, listen to me. What did the doctor say about the young?”

“She said…” His mate sniffled. “She said he was beautiful. He’s perfect. He’s got the heart of a lion—”

At this, Beth collapsed in a fit of sobs, the kind of thing that was a release of emotion more than anything else. And as he held her, he stared out over her head.

“A son?” he said roughly.

“The doctor says he’s big and strong. And I saw him move,” she said through tears. “I didn’t know it was a baby, I thought it was indigestion—”

“So you were pregnant before the needing.”

“That’s the only explanation I have,” she wailed.

Wrath held her even closer, right to his beating chest. “…a son?”

“Yes. A son.”

All of a sudden, he felt the biggest, widest, happiest grin hit his face, the goddamn thing stretching his cheeks until they hurt, making his eyes water from the strain, pulling at his temples until they burned. And the joy wasn’t just on his puss. A flush so great it burned him alive flooded through his body, cleansing him in places he didn’t know were dirty, washing out cobwebs that had crept into his corners, making him feel alive in a way he hadn’t been in a very, very long time.

Before he knew what he was doing, he burst to his feet with Beth in his arms, leaned back, and hollered at the top of his lungs, with more pride than his six-foot-nine frame could hold.

“A soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon! I’m having a soooooooooooooooooooooooon!”

SIXTY-FIVE

Beth fell in love with her son at that moment.

As Wrath howled at the moon with fatherly pride, she smiled through her tears and worry. It had been so long since she’d seen him well and truly happy—and yet here he was, in the midst of news she’d expected him to freak out about, shining like the sun.

And their son was the cause of it.

“Where the hell is everybody,” he bitched as he glared up the stairs.

“You just called them about two seconds ago—”

People came at a dead run, a traffic jam forming at the top of the stairs in spite of the fact that the thing was huge, the sound of big feet thundering down to the foyer as the Brothers came with their mates in tow.

“Here,” she said, taking out a flimsy slip of paper. “Show them this—it’s a picture from the ultrasound.”

Wrath shifted her around so he was holding her with one arm—and he took that pic and thrust it out like it was billboard size and made of gold.

“Look!” he barked. “Look! My son! My son!”

Beth had to laugh even as her tears ran harder.

“Look!”

His Brothers formed a circle around what he was holding out, and she was astonished … every one of them had a sheen across their eyes, their manly, tight smiles proof they were holding their emotions in check.

And then she looked at Tohr. He was hanging back, with Autumn close to his side. As his mate glanced up in concern, he seemed to brace himself to come forward.

“I’m so happy for you,” the Brother said roughly to both of them.

“Oh, Tohr,” she blurted, reaching out her hands.

As the Brother clasped them, Wrath dropped his arm as if hiding the picture.

“No,” Tohr cut in. “You keep that up, you feel that pride. I have a good feeling about this, and I’m rejoicing with you—all the way.”

“Ah, f**k,” Wrath said, yanking the Brother in for a hard embrace. “Thanks, my man.”

There were so many voices, and people congratulating them, but there was one other face she wanted to see.

John was also staying on the periphery, but as he caught her eye, he started to smile—although it wasn’t like Wrath’s. He was worried.

I’m going to be fine, she mouthed.

Even though she wasn’t sure she believed that. She blamed herself for not knowing she was pregnant, for trying to get that needing of hers started falsely—and especially for succeeding. What if that violent nausea had been a miscarriage in the making? What if—

Pulling herself back from the brink, she held on to two things—one, she’d heard that heartbeat, nice and strong; and two, the doctor had raved about the baby.

Abruptly, the sea of people parted … and then there they were.

Bella, with Nalla in her arms, Z standing beside his girls.

Beth broke down all over again as the female came forward. God, it was impossible not to remember how Nalla had started this, putting into motion the need that had become undeniable.

Bella was tearing up, too, as she stopped. “We just want to say yay!”

At that moment, Nalla reached out to Beth, a gummy smile on her face, pure joy radiating out.

No turning that down, nope, not at all.

Beth took the little girl out of her mother’s arms and positioned her on her chest, capturing one of the pinwheeling hands and giving kisses, kisses, kisses.

“You ready to be a big…” Beth glanced at Z and then her husband. “…a big sister?”

Yes, Beth thought. Because that’s what the Brotherhood and their families were. Close as siblings, tighter than blood because they were chosen.

“Yes, she is,” Bella said as she wiped under her eyes and looked back at Z. “She is so ready.”

“My brother.” Z shoved out his palm, his scarred face in a half smile, his yellow eyes warm. “Congratulations.”

Instead of shaking anything, Wrath shoved that ultrasound picture into his Brother’s face. “Do you see him? See my son? He’s big, right, Beth?”

She kissed Nalla’s supersoft hair. “Yes.”

“Big and healthy, right?”

Beth laughed some more. “Big and healthy. Absolutely perfect.”

“Perfect!” Wrath bellowed. “And this is a doctor saying it—I mean, she went to medical school.”

Even Z started laughing at that point.

Beth gave Nalla back to her parents. “And Dr. Sam told me she’s delivered over fifteen thousand babies over the course of her career—”

“See!” Wrath yelled. “She knows these things. My son is perfect! Where’s the champagne? Fritz! Get the f**king champagne!”

Shaking her head, Beth took a deep breath and decided to go with the moment. There was still a long haul in front of them, capped off with the delivery—which, Christ, was scaring the shit out of her already. With so many hurdles ahead, and so many unknowns, it was tempting to get lost in a tailspin.

But for the next hour, she just wanted to live with Wrath in all this high-octane joy—be a part of the celebration of this miracle.

So damn funny: All the while they had been fighting about children … they’d already had one cooking.

Life was really ironic sometimes.

Lounging back in her husband’s arms, she just enjoyed watching him as he clapped his Brothers on the back, and even accepted a flute of Cristal from Fritz.

Her hellren was a tall guy. But right now? He put Mount Everest to shame.

“You can put me down,” she said with a smile.

The frown that got shot her way was a brick wall if she’d ever seen one. “Absolutely not! You’re my wife, and you’re carrying my child. You’ll be lucky if I let your feet touch the floor three years from now.”

With that, he bent in and kissed her on the mouth.

Ah, hell, maybe she should have been all, “This baby is a we thing, not a you thing”—but that wasn’t how she felt. She’d been so terrified he wouldn’t accept and love a child, she was relieved and overjoyed that he was getting possessive already.

Falling in love, already.

Which was the best news for their unborn child: When Wrath, son of Wrath, decided someone was his? He would drag the moon down to Earth if they needed it.

The reaction was exactly what she had been too scared to wish for.

Wrath lifted his glass. “To my son,” he shouted over the crowd. “And more importantly … to my wife.”

As he turned his face to her, the love he felt made his eyes glow so fiercely, she could see the pale green light even through the wraparounds.

The household shouted in joy … and everyone drank.

Except her, of course.

Because she was pregnant, she thought with a bright smile to rival Wrath’s.

Wrath rode the wave for as long as it took him. With his brothers surrounding him, and a new purpose jacking his shit up, he knew that this was one of the best nights of his life. Or … shit, it was still day, wasn’t it.

Who the f**k cared, really.

It was difficult to explain, even to himself, what exactly had changed. But suddenly everything felt different, from the way he shook his brothers’ hands to how he smiled at their mates to the hold he kept on Beth.

And she was the best part of everything.

With champagne flowing, and the laughter echoing around the foyer, he couldn’t believe he had reached this moment in his life. Just a night before he had been throne-less and potentially mate-less. And here he was with the crown still on his head and his wife pregnant with his young.

Four months along.

He thought back, sifting through the weeks and then the months. There had been a night, about four months ago, when Beth had come to find him in the study during the day. They hadn’t been together for a while at that point, what with everything going on—and he’d been shocked, in a good way, by how aggressively she’d gotten on him. Afterward … come to think of it, her scent had changed—deepening, although not in the way a vampire female’s would with pregnancy.

All along, she had been with young.

Destiny had served them both up what she had wanted but feared would never have, and what he didn’t know he’d needed.

As he heard his mate yawn, he went on instant alert. “Okay, time to go up.”

The crowd calmed down immediately, and he could sense the focus on his Beth. She was going to get a lot of that from now on, not just from him but from his brothers. They were protective of her already. Pregnant? She was going to get that shit twenty-fold now.