Page 65 of Blood of Night (The Thorne Hill)

I melt against Lucas, feeling so much for him. “Our daughter will probably wake up soon.”

“Our daughter,” Lucas repeats, voice deep and gravely. “She’s looking more and more like you, my love.”

“I think she looks like you.” Lucas tails kisses along my neck. “She’ll have your eyes.”

“You think?” I ask, feeling my own eyelids flutter shut.

“If we’re lucky.”

“You want her to look like me?”

Lucas stops kissing me so he can meet my eye. “I want our daughter to embody everything good about you, Callie.” He brings one hand up, thumb brushing over my face. I want nothing more than to relent to him, to accept this as our new normal and gently shove him down, encouraging him to lay down on the swing. The sunlight hits the front porch in the morning, and when the air is slightly chilly like it is this morning, it’s perfect for napping.

“Don’t sell yourself short,” I add, closing my eyes. “You have much more patience and wisdom than I do.”

“A thousand years from now and you’ll have the same.” Lucas brings my face to his again and he gets so far as slipping his tongue in my mouth, making me instantly wet—again—before we hear our baby cry from inside the house. Gathering our clothes, we go inside and Lucas picks up Juliet as I use the bathroom and clean myself up.

“Why can’t it stay like this?” I ask, not talking to anyone in particular. As bad as things can be, they seem manageable when Lucas is with me. Putting my hands on the counter, I lean forward, listening to the water running. Where the fuck are Lucifer and my dad? Lucifer knows, for fuck’s sake. I grimace at my own joke. He knows and he hasn’t been back to check on me.

“I trusted you,” I whisper, shaking my head. Sucking in a breath, I wash my hands and leave the bathroom, joining Lucas and Juliet in the family room. My daughter wants to nurse right away, and once her belly is full, she falls asleep. Lucas takes her from me, and it’s like everything was back to normal beforethat night.

We cuddle up together on the couch after doing a few minutes of tummy time, and Juliet nurses herself to sleep. Slowly, I pass her to Lucas and grab a blanket from a basket beside the couch. We’re in the family room, and it’s one of my favorite rooms in the house, with a cathedral ceiling and a wood burning fireplace. It’s perfect for Christmas and is right off the kitchen and dining area. I thought we’d spend more time in here. We haven’t had a ton of downtime to just chill and watch movies.

And I don’t think we will anytime soon.

“I can take her,” Eliza offers, coming into the room.

“You can join us,” Lucas says and Eliza’s face lights up. She sits on Lucas’s other side and leans over to kiss Juliet before settling back on the couch. Barely one second passes and then she rounds on Lucas, fangs drawn.

“What the fuck was that all about? Going out into the sun before being sure you wouldn’t crumble into a pile of ash?” She looks more annoyed than mad.

“If I started to burn, I would have made it into the house on time,” Lucas replies, his tone level.

“Still, you should have opened the door first and stood inside to be sure. And you could have fucking let me know you weren’t on some suicide mission.”

“Why would I be on a suicide mission?” he deadpans, purposely not reacting just to irritate Eliza. They have an interesting dynamic to say the least, and it took me a while to fully figure it out.

“Because who the fuck knows what becoming a Horsemen did to your head?”

This time, Lucas stiffens. I didn’t want to even allow myself to think it, but I did as well. I was terrified the version of Lucas I got back wasn’t really him. People can lose their shit after being possessed by a demon. Who knows whatbecomingone can do to your mental health.

“I’m fine,” he says shortly.

“You were very fine just a few minutes ago,” I mumble under my breath and Eliza huffs.

“I will never unsee that, thank you very much. Though I do have a good minute long clip of you two going at it to sell.”

“Do it,” I say with a snort of laughter. “But you have to leak it as Senator Martin’s daughter.”

“Didn’t I just say you’re for my eyes only?” Lucas leans over and kisses me. A sense of peace washes over me, and I rest my head against his shoulder. Maybe half an hour later, I’m asleep, and the next thing I know, Lucas is pulling me down onto him.

“Where’s Juliet?” I ask, slitting my eyes open.

“Eliza has her.” Lucas pulls me against his chest and covers us back up with the blanket. I feel so safe, so comforted, and loved when I’m wrapped in Lucas’s embrace. I doze off again, getting a good half hour nap in before I wake up to Binx jumping on me.

Lucas is dead asleep under me and I sit up, blinking.

“What is it?” I ask Binx, reaching up to stroke his fur. He’s sitting on the back of the couch, tip of his tail curled in and shaking a bit. Something is wrong, and I sense the weird shift in energy right before Binx tells me there’s a demon standing right outside my property line, and he knows who sent him.

---