Page 110 of The Monster's Desire

“I love you.” She stretches her head over to rest on my chest while patting my stomach. “And because of that fact, I’m going to ignore how you just insinuated that midwives, much like myself and Nan, don’t have the qualifications to safely deliver babies.”

“Oh shit,” Ridge snickers. “You walked right into that one.”

“I’m youngish and reasonably healthy. I’ve had no complications that indicate we need a doctor, but I also agree that I feel better knowing Willa is here. Oh, hell. Another one is coming,” Nadia groans.

I run my thumb over her inner wrist, trying to give her comfort, but she squeezes my hand to the point I’m pretty sure she would be breaking my fingers if I was human. I’ve experienced much worse agony in my long life, especially when Imogen was on a decade-long torture bender.

God, what I wouldn’t give to take Nadia’s pain away.

* * *

“I’m pretty sure itispossible.” Ridge holds Violet in his massive hands. He’s got her pulled up close to his nose. “You said you were the only one of Imogen’s progeny without an ancient gift.” He shrugs, pulling our daughter down and resting her in the crook of his arm. He nuzzles his cheek to hers. “I’m fairly sure we figured it out.”

“Power of the super semen,” Knight snorts.

“There’s no possibility.” My head shakes. “It quite literally defies the laws of nature.”

“Laithe fathered Larke.” Nadia gives me a soft smile. “And Violet clearly has fangs. If you’d like to blame that on what happened to me when I was a teenager, then I’m fine with that.” She cuddles closer to my armpit.

“They’re both mine,” I assure her. “Because they’re ours. I still can’t fathom how my DNA got all muddled up with the mutt’s, though.”

Ridge laughs, cooing down at our daughter. “She’s got a tail and fangs. She’s a whole new breed of monster.”

“It’s clear Nadia’s magic somehow combined mine and Knight’s essence.” Wraith shrugs, rocking Hazel against his chest. “Blood magic does weird shit. I don’t know what to tell you.”

“It does awesome shit,” Knight corrects. “She’ll be practically unstoppable when she’s older.”

“I’d love it if I could hold Hazel now.” Nadia raises her eyebrows at Wraith. I can only see part of her face because of how she’s lying on my side.

“No,” Wraith says vehemently. “Not yet.”

Nadia scoffs.

“To be fair, she did try to devour Willa’s soul.” Knight grimaces.

“Yeah, but you two caught it in time.” Nadia sits up. “She’s my child. Whether or not she needs to nurse is irrelevant. Skin on skin contact is important.”

Malice appears in the corner. At first, he’s just a dark, smoky mass. “May I?” He gestures to Hazel. “I have experience because of Gemma.”

Wraith cuddles the baby closer to his chest.

“Let your clustermate hold our daughter,” Nadia says, huffing like she can’t believe it’s an issue.

Wraith eventually hands off Hazel to the nightmare.

Malice’s eyes widen as he stares down at her. “She’s a devourer.”

I frown because I’m completely unfamiliar with the term.

“We did realize that,” Wraith grinds out. “The major concern is that she could accidentally hurt Nadia.”

Malice disappears in a smoky cloud and reappears, handing Hazel to Nadia. Wraith moves to push himself out of the chair, but Malice raises a hand. “She spent four months growing inside Nadia’s body. I’m sure she was just overwhelmed, and that led to the unfortunate incident with the doctor.”

“Exactly.” Nadia snuggles Hazel to her cheek, and we all hold our breath.

Well, except for the nightmare.

“You wouldn’t hurt Mommy, would you?” Malice coos, booping Hazel on the nose. He looks at Nadia. “Congratulations, little witch. They’re beautiful.”

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