Page 56 of Blood Lust
“Feed?” I croaked out. “What will she eat?”
Zane smiled. “She’ll feed on your breasts. Your body knows the specific nourishment your baby requires. Don’t worry.”
I was helped out of the bath, cleaned up, and wrapped in a warmed up, fluffy robe. Nakia carried me to my bedroom where Zane held our fussing daughter.
“She’s not one for patience.” Zane laughed, his eyes radiating with love toward his daughter first and then to me. “She’s got an appetite like her mom’s had these days.
I was placed in the bed and treated as if a queen. I paid no attention to their expressions, the only face I cared to see was my little girl’s. “Come on, sweet girl,” I held my breast and the most remarkable sensation hit when she latched onto my full nipple and closed her eyes.
I watched her cheeks suck in and out while she whimpered. It was such an overwhelming feeling of love and importance that this precious little life was mine. I felt a connection like none other. My sweet daughter and me—both needing one as much as the other.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
The stress of everything washed away as I held my daughter in my arms. She was so tiny I should have been scared out of my mind that I might hold her too tight. I smiled after she finished feeding, and Zane took her and held her up over his shoulder. She let out a few small burps and snuggled her head into her daddy’s neck.
“Fast asleep. I never thought you’d be the dad-type, but you got this, man!” Bren said as he and the other guys took in the majestic beauty of what Zane and I created together.
“My God, until Elle, I never believed I could love something so much,” Zane said while tilting his head back to catch a glimpse of his daughter making silent whimpers as she settled against her daddy’s strong shoulder. He looked at me, “So long as I’m alive I will never let anything hurt my two girls.” He ran his hand over her soft, black hair. “You both are my life.”
I knew that all my guys accepted mine and Zane’s child as all their own, but the truth was, she was mine and Zane’s, and I saw that in each of their eyes, especially my vampires’ eyes. My guess for the reason that no one was about to kill each other for being the first to father a baby with me was that this merge and bond was so intense.
“She looks just like you, but has the eyes of a dove,” Nakia lovingly smiled at me, “like her mother.”
“What are we going to name her?” I asked, enjoying every second of this blissful moment. “I was sort of thinking since she was conceived while we were bonding and creating that intense alpha power that we’d have a boy.”
Cole chuckled, “Why the hell would you think that?”
“I don’t know, it just felt like all that alpha power would’ve created a masculine child,” I shrugged.
Zac folded his arms, smiling at the baby. “You’ve got a lot to learn then, Ellie.” He glanced over at me, “Her mother is a badass, and truth be told, of every damn enemy we’ve taken down, the most difficult ones were chicks. They seem to have a high tolerance for pain, and they think faster than any fucking male I’ve ever taken down. We’ve got a little girl on our hands because fate knew we needed more strength in this unconventional family.”
“Family?” I questioned every sudden enlightened expression in the room.
Braden grinned, “Your and Zane’s daughter has sealed us all. Instead of mystical bonds and merges, we’re all forever one unit. We’re a family. That’s the simplest way to look at it now.”
“Yeah,” Logan snickered. “We’re definitely a family, and Uncle Logan fits me well, I think.”
A knock at the door had Cole opening it and stepping out with a concerned look on his face. My focus was taken off this treasured moment when I heard grumblings come from outside of the room. Cole reentered with Lucas and Edgar flanking his sides.
“We have a situation,” Cole said. “And it’s a situation that requires all of our asses to move and think fast.”
Shit! Zane and I haven’t even named our kid yet. I still had so many supernatural questions about the baby that I wanted answers to, but it had to wait. I felt the intense energy bleeding off the warlock, and what was about to be revealed was far from good.
“What’s going on?”
Edgar’s dark concerned eyes left the baby and went directly through my soul. “You have to be healed. You need to focus on healing…” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “You can’t.” He looked at Lucas. “She can’t heal herself, or she’ll exhaust the powers she needs to fight.” He glanced around, “I’m going to work on healing her body. We don’t have the time for her to recover naturally. The witch is coming, I saw it in a vision. She’s bringing an army of witches she’s conjured up. She’s aware of the bonds and merges, and she is prepared to kill us all…” he stopped and gulped. When he looked at my daughter, I felt my heart practically stop.
“And what else?” I demanded.
“She will kill the baby.”
“Isn’t this what she wants?” Cole snarled. “She wanted a supernatural baby, the product of a Life Blood and an immortal.”
“Not an immortalshifter,” Lucas chimed in. He looked at me, “Someone needs to get the fuck out of here with the kid, and Elle needs to be back on her damn feet again and focused. Sorry to kill the moment, guys, but being attacked by an ancient and her fucking witch friends kind of tops the charts of things of importance right now.”
“He’s right,” I sat up. “We need to get our baby out of here and prep to finally kill the witch. Apparently, my guard went down, and we lost my protective illusion while I gave birth, but now we have to refocus. We need to get my baby to safety.”
“Alright, let’s get this shit going. We need a plan. I’m pretty sure the fucking witch will sniff out the baby and send half her new fucking coven hunting the munchkin down and kill it just to prove a point,” Logan said with more anger I’d ever heard in his voice before.
