Page 18 of How to Rescue Your Surprise Baby

“I wasn’t letting it go to waste.”

Mav was exasperating, and—well. This part of Telos’ emotions, Mav could have. It would be a good cover for the parts he was trying to hide.

Uriel emerged from his cabin not too long later, his shirt rumpled. There were two wet spots on his chest where his nipples were, almost blending into the dark blue fabric.

Telos blinked. Wasn’t Uriel an alpha? He looked like one. And he wasn’t a shapeshifter. How was he lactating?

Maybe there was a spell involved somewhere.

Mav had noticed, too. They exchanged a look; Telos was the first to look away. It wasn’t any of his business.

“Now, the spell,” Uriel said. “I’ll need you to sit in this chair with your shirt off.”

The spell casting seemed to take forever. Uriel wrote several runes across Telos’ bare back, each drag of his fingertip leaving an electric tingling on Telos’ skin. When it felt like he’d written an essay on half of Telos’ back, he had Telos and Mav both prick a fingertip.

“I’ll need your blood to mix, to create the energy conduit,” Uriel explained. He collected a few droplets of blood from each of them in a small bowl. Then he mixed the blood, and smeared some over a tingling rune.

The spell took a few moments to activate. Uriel stepped back and studied Telos, nodding to himself. “I can’t sense what you are anymore. Your scent is muted, and everyone else will be distracted by your other tricks.”

“Good,” Telos said.

Something whispered at the back of his mind. Then he felt a presence, faint butthere.

Telos frowned, nudging at it with his thoughts.

“I felt that,” Mav said. “Wariness.”

Ah, fuck.Telos breathed out and cleared his mind.Focus on Estie.

She, at least, would think the world of Telos. Telos felt a renewed determination, and an urge to save his baby.

“Thanks,” Mav said to Uriel. “Before we go, could you spell some of our clothes? We’re rescuing a child who is part firewalker and we have nothing on hand for her.”

Uriel’s expression softened. “Just a few pieces.”

Mav nodded and strode to the car. Telos was about to ask how far apart he and Mav could be for the energy draw to still work, when he spotted Mav openinghisduffel bag.

The one with the cum-soaked shirt.

Telos panicked.

Mav looked up sharply, his gaze zeroing in on Telos.

Fuck. Mav had felt that.

Mav raised an eyebrow. “Is there something in here that I shouldn’t be seeing?”

Fuck, fuck, fuck.Telos squashed down his nerves and strode over, yanking the bag out of Mav’s hands. “I’ll pick out the clothes I want spelled. You wouldn’t know which works best.”

He turned away and set the bag on the ground some distance away, carefully pulling out a set of clean clothes. He added an extra shirt to bundle Estie with. “These,” he told Uriel. “Thanks.”

Uriel glanced back and forth between Mav and Telos, before nodding and taking the clothing. “Be right back.”

Telos zipped up the duffel and waited for his heart to slow. This wasn’t going to take long. Soon enough, they’d meet up with Crush, Duke, Ace, and Raptor, and move ahead with the plan. There wouldn’t be time for Mav to grill him over this.

“There’s something in there that you don’t want me to find,” Mav said, striding up behind Telos. “Contraband?”

Telos snorted. “Sure.”

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