LIAM (The Rylee Adamson Epilogues, Book 2) (20 page)

I glanced at him, saw the grin on his face as he pushed me. “Shit!”

I fell through the open air and twisted around as the slice in the Veil rushed up to greet me. I blinked, and was through before I truly had time to think about how bad of an idea it was. I landed with a hard thud on the rock of the castle floor in the main courtyard and didn’t move fast enough to avoid Lion. He landed on top of me, knocking the wind out of my lungs. I pushed him off and rolled to my feet. Above me, the slice in the Veil was visible, about fifteen feet in the air. High enough to stay out of the way, but if you knew where it was and could leap, you could use it.

Pamela, Levi, and Mai stood to one side.

And Doran strolled up behind them, a grin on his face. The piercing in his bottom lip glinted. “Well, looks like Rylee isn’t the only one bringing home new faces.”

Mai and Levi spun, but Pamela didn’t even flinch. She was used to Doran sneaking up on us when we least expected it. Being a shaman he often had insider information as to what was going to happen. I had no doubt he’d had a vision, or whatever shit he saw when he half closed his eyes to see the future, of us landing in the castle.

“You have a car waiting on the other side?” I asked.

“Better, I have Ophelia. She felt bad leaving you in Seattle,” Doran said with a shrug.

Pamela shook her head. “Then why are we standing here?”

I pointed to the slice in the sky above us. “Because there are ogres waiting to come through there and they will follow us home like a stray dog looking for a meal.”

She snorted and glanced at Mai. “You said ogres are afraid of heights?”

Mai gave a tight nod. “Yes.”

Pamela looked at me. “I had to push her through.”

I imagined that didn’t go over well. “Then we leave it for now.”

“Actually,” Lion drawled, his white teeth flashing. “I’d like to sit here and wait on a few of them to come through. Give them a little welcoming party, if you don’t mind.”

I held a hand out to him and he took it. We hung onto each other, long enough to give each other a nod. I let go and turned my back on him. “Time to go, then.”

THE TRIP THROUGH
the castle and the mine shaft on the other side was fast with no problems for once. Ophelia took all of us to Bismarck, dropping us off in the backyard of my house.

I hope we are not too late.
Ophelia’s words were soft inside my head, and full of worry.

“We are not too late,” I said, needing to believe the words.

Mai ran ahead without asking, and through the door into the house like she owned the place.

I followed, but Pamela didn’t. I paused and looked back at her, but she shook her head. “Go on. I’ll come in, in a bit. I want to talk to Marco.”

Marco would be hours away, but if she didn’t want to talk, that was okay. I suspected her last run looking for supernaturals who’d survived the battle and the pandemic that had swept through both humans and supernaturals had not gone as well as she’d hoped.

Hope was a good thing until it got crushed over and over.

I found myself reluctant to hurry inside the house. Levi shuffled his feet and I understood. We were down to the wire. The chances of all three triplets surviving . . . it was not good. And I knew it. No matter that I chose to believe we still had time.

But I was their father, the only father they knew, and I wasn’t going to be a coward now. I made myself walk inside. The back of the house was a mud room/laundry room and I stripped off my clothes and grabbed fresh ones from the laundry basket on top of the dryer.

The smell of sickness permeated everything in the house, from the clean laundry, to the walls as I walked between the doors.

A bustle of activity covered the true desperation of the scene in front of me. Louisa was pouring something into a cup and Mai slammed it back like a shot. Twice more she downed the liquid.

Rylee held Kav in her arms, his skin pale, so very pale. Her eyes lifted to mine. Strain, fear, and fatigue etched into the lines around them. The lack of sleep every mother knew when their child was sick. I walked in and wrapped my arms around them both, holding them up. Giving them what I could in that moment of uncertainty.

Mai held out her hands. “Give him to me. It will help the milk come faster if I hold him.”

I released Rylee, but she stood, staring at Mai. I could guess at her thoughts, hell, they were written plainly to see in her eyes. “She’s with us, Rylee. I trust her.”

“He’s my boy,” she whispered.

Mai nodded, her eyes filling with tears. “I know. But maybe . . . he can be lucky enough to have two mothers who love him?”

With a hiccup, Rylee handed Kav to Mai. The ogre sat in a kitchen chair and tucked him under her shirt so his face was still visible, but he was against her bare skin. He made a soft fluttering motion with his eyelids and rooted around. She shifted so he could nurse and the little monster . . . he latched on with a ferocity that made Mai wince.

“That’s going to hurt when his teeth come in,” she said. She stroked his head as his eyelids fluttered open. Rylee sucked in a sharp breath.

“That’s the first time he’s opened his eyes.” Rylee bolted from the room as she spoke, her vampire speed taking her in a flash. She was back before I could respond. Bam was in her arms, as listless as Kav had been only moments before.

She and Mai traded babies, and I took Kav from Rylee. Mai set Bam to her other breast, and he did the same as Kav, latching on in seconds and pulling in the life-giving milk. Kav stared up at me, his color not quite back to normal, but his eyes were bright. He seemed to wink at me and I winked back, finally letting my guard down. I put my head to his and closed my eyes as I breathed him in. One of my boys.

And he was going to live.

Rylee had Rut and again she and Mai did a switch. Mai smiled up her as she took Rut. “They’re strong little buggers, aren’t they?”

Rylee laughed, but there was a hitch in there. “Yeah, they are.” She sat by Mai and stroked Rut’s head while he nursed. Bam reached up and touched Rylee’s face and the fear that had been holding us all hostage slowly bled away. Like an abscess lanced, the healing could truly start now.

Kav blinked both eyes, yawned, and stretched before snuggling into my arms. I wasn’t worried, though; his heart beat strong, stronger than before I’d left. I held him tightly and sat on the other side of Mai.

She and Rylee were speaking softly, their heads almost touching as they discussed the boys and a nursing schedule. Mai took Kav from me and latched him on to her breast so she was nursing two boys at once. I stood, put a hand on her shoulder, and gave her a squeeze.

“Welcome to the pack, Mai.”

Her eyes shot to mine, filling with tears. “Thank you. This . . . this feels like home.”

Rylee grinned, her eyes suspiciously wet. “That’s because it damn well is. And don’t you forget it.”

I left them to see Marcella and Zane. Zane saw me first and let out a squeal. I scooped him up and tossed him into the air. His green eyes flashed with nothing short of pure joy and I brought him in close for a hug. He tugged on my hair and tried to jam a finger in my mouth. I laughed and crouched down to Marcella who sat on the floor, Nigel beside her.

She held up her arms, but there was no squeal from her. Just a full certainty that I was there to hold her. I scooped her up in the other arm and kissed her soft cheek.

Rylee was right, again. This was home. This was my pack.

And I was the Wolf.

I LEFT THE BABIES
in the house, watched over by Rylee’s grandparents. There were still a few things that needed dealing with—for one, Levi.

I beckoned for Nigel—the elemental familiar—to follow me out back. Levi still stood outside, as if he didn’t dare come in. His eyes shot to mine.

“Are the babies . . . going to make it?”

I clapped my hands onto his shoulders. “We did it. They’re going to survive.”

He slumped under my hands, and it was only then that I realized how much stock he’d put into coming with me. I tightened my hold on him, just a little. “Thank you, Levi. I could not have survived without you at my side.”

He lifted his head slowly. “Really?”

“Really.” I let him go. “But I think you should talk to Nigel about what you should be able to do, and what you might have yet to learn about your bloodline. Maybe go inside and you can talk to your sister, too.”

He nodded and Nigel grunted. “They’re part-bloods, different than half-breeds, Wolf. What do you expect they can do?”

I lifted an eyebrow at Levi and he flicked his hands at the jackal. Water exploded up from under the smaller canine, throwing him into the air. He yelped as he twisted twenty feet up.

“Okay, okay! I get the point, you’re stronger than we thought. Shit, what is the mother goddess up to now?”

Levi lowered him with a grin, and a not so subtle look over his shoulder to where Pamela sat in the vine-covered gazebo. She wasn’t watching him, much to his obvious disappointment as his shoulders slumped. Pamela’s eyes were on the sky, searching for something. Presumably Marco, but I thought now that perhaps that was just a ruse.

“Go on.” I pushed Levi gently toward the house. He and Nigel disappeared inside and the last thing I heard was Nigel grumping.

“You know, things used to not change. All of a sudden, everyone’s breaking the rules. Nothing’s holding to old patterns.”

I wondered at his words and couldn’t help the saying that slipped from my lips. “Rules were made to be broken.”

Pamela turned to me. “Do you really believe that?”

I sat next to her and slung an arm over her shoulder. “I think the rules of our world are ever changing. That means sometimes we break them without realizing. But you didn’t ask that just because, did you?”

Her lips tightened and she shook her head. “No, I didn’t. I . . . I have to go away, Liam.”

I stared at her, seeing her actual age versus her physical age. “For how long?”