Page 59 of The Baby Hex
“You’ve seen these performed before, right?” Teal asked me and I nodded not trusting myself to speak.
Crilus’s bare belly kept my attention. It rose and fell with his breathing. He claimed that he wasn’t showing but the slightest bump was obvious each time it fell. That was our baby. A baby I had to keep safe from the likes of enraged shebears, those who thought vampires weren’t people, and the sort of person who wanted to use magical people for everything they were worth. I also had to protect them from mundane things like giant oafs.
Teal took a knee by the sofa and smiled at Crilus. The itching in my gums intensified. Never in my life had I been jealous of someone but was this jealousy? Was not wanting him to blunder and harm our child jealousy? Was thinking he shouldn’t turn that smile on my mate envy?
“I can’t say a damn thing to him,” Crilus told Teal.
“Yeah, it’s all instinct at this point,” Teal shrugged, pushing a button to turn his little beige machine on.
“That and I get it. I’m that territorial. If you sashayed in here and flirted with him, I’d descale you and make a cloak, Teal. No questions asked.”
“Well, I’m not flirting. I’m here to see a baby,” Teal chuckled.
“Speaking of babies. How are yours?” Crilus asked, hoping to change the subject.
“All five of the kids are doing great. Getting huge!” Teal said. “And they’re in their biting phase. Steel got ahold of Ciro’s tail the other night and I thought he was going to beat Cobalt’s eyes out because there’s nothing he can do to the baby, of course. Only Cobalt had to go and suggest that Ciro shave the tip of his tail so that it wasn’t so alluring.”
The whoosh-whoosh of the machine filled the room, and I dug my nails into the back of the couch. It was a nice piece. An antique from when my great grandparents were alive. Good care and a little blood magic had made it survive the centuries. I ran my fingers over the fabric, smoothing out the little ruffles my nails left behind. Crilus adjusted on the couch, trying to see the screen as Teal pressed his tiny, little wand to his belly.
“Ouch!” Crilus’s voice cut through the attic and I pounced.
The ultrasound machine flew through the air end over end, tangling in the cord that kept the wand attached and I landed on top of Teal with a thud. My fangs were out as I pinned one of his hands to the ground and lunged for his throat. He blocked with a forearm that my teeth grazed over and touched the end of my nose with his finger.
“Back up,” he said, his voice light. “Back up.”
I blinked, my vision turning shades of red.
“WHAT THE FUCK, PIERCE?” Crilus tugged on the back of my shirt. “Don’t make me tug on you! I’m pregnant and I just cracked the holy crap out of my damn elbow!”
“Back up,” Teal pressed on my nose. “Back up. Personal space.”
“Teal, don’t be annoying,” Crilus said, as I let him pull me to my feet. He put both hands on my face and forced me to look at him. Everything around him was a shade of red or grey.Mostly Teal was red. Teal was red because he was food. He’d done something with his stupid little machine that caused pain to crack through my mate.
“What? I kept him from sinking his fangs into me, didn’t I?” Teal asked, climbing to his feet.
“Shut up for a minute!” Crilus said, speaking to Teal but not looking at him. His voice was softer when he spoke to me. “I cracked my elbow on the spiral woody part of the arm of the couch. That’s all. He didn’t do it. I was trying to see the screen.”
Teal was still red. His heartbeat thrummed in my ears.
“Should I go?” Teal asked but neither of us answered him right away.
“Pierce. Babe. Alpha,” Crilus cooed. “I think I have to tone down the magic in here. I think just maybe it’s closing in on us. Teal didn’t hurt me. Teal wouldn’t hurt me or the baby or you. He’s not even my ex really. We were never romantically entangled. He’s here to look at the baby so we know what to expect.”
I glanced over at Teal to check and see if he was still red, but he was gone. I let out a long sigh. I’d failed at even letting a doctor examine my pregnant mate.
“He’s in the kitchen,” Crilus whispered and a second later I heard the blender. “He grew up around vampires. He gets it. I’m on guard too. Everything that happened before we sequestered away has everyone on edge.”
“Is your elbow okay?” I asked as the shades of grey began to morph back to their rightful colors.
“Bruised but okay,” he nodded and showed it to me.
I massaged the joint as gently as I could. Crilus smiled at me.
“Now what’s this about your magic making me eat Teal?” I teased him.
“It amplifies things, I think. With all our energy locked in there’s nowhere for it to go. I think maybe that’s why things wentsouth when my sire shielded the pack from bad things and then even worse when my grandma used it. It’s meant for short term use. It’s not meant to be lived in.”
“Well, you don’t need it to keep me here. I’m not going anywhere unless I’m chasing after you.”
