Page 45 of Midnight Sanctuary

I suppress a smile and let him adjust my pillow. He doesn’t place it exactly right but if I try to do it myself, he’s probably gonna burst a blood vessel. So I just shimmy in place until the pillow obeys.

“When can we go home?” He shoots me a quick glance that makes me feel immediately self-conscious, so I rephrase. “Er, what I mean is, when are we going back to your place?”

“The moment Emily clears you.”

“Where is she, by the way?” I ask. “Wasn’t she supposed to do her rounds an hour ago?”

“That’s the annoying thing about doctors,” Uri growls. “They have other patients.”

“I thought she was the official Bratva doctor. That doesn’t translate to exclusivity?”

He snorts. “You would think, but Emily’s always been a bleeding heart. She likes to volunteer here whenever she has the spare time. Which is currently pissing me the fuck off.”

“Uri,” I say, reaching out and catching his arm, “leave it. It’s not like I’m in pain or anything. Just bored.”

“Boredom is a kind of pain.” The corners of his mouth turn up slightly. It’s the closest thing to a smile I’ve seen from him in days. No—weeks. I’d almost forgotten just how handsome he is when he smiles. Those blue eyes seem to get so much bluer.

“Are you comfortable?”

It’s the third time he’s asked me that in the last hour alone. “Yes, I am.Verycomfortable.”

I already know he’s going to follow up with his other favorite question:Can I get you anything?But before he can get to it, the door swings open and Dr. Popov walks in with her clipboard in hand.

“What thefuck, Em?”

She stops short at Uri’s bark, her eyes going wide. “What’s wrong?”

“You were supposed to be here to check on her forty minutes ago.”

She exhales. “Jesus, Uri—I have other patients here, you know. One of them went into labor. Emergency Cesarean.”

Uri rolls his eyes. “You couldn’t have fobbed off the job on some other schmuck?”

“Uri,” I snap before turning to Emily. “Ignore him. I was happy to wait.”

Pursing her lips, Emily gives Uri an amused glance and floats over to my bedside. “How are we feeling today, my love?”

I’m getting really sick of that question.

“Fine. I feel fine. A little tired, but that’s to be expected.”

Emily consults her clipboard. “Okay, so everything’s looking good. You’re definitely cleared to leave today. However—”

“‘However’?” I interrupt before she can finish. “‘However’ is not good!”

Uri grabs my hand and gives it a little squeeze. It’s amazing how fast that tiny gesture succeeds in calming me down.

“No need to panic. This is just something you need to be aware of,” Emily reassures me, looking between Uri and me. “The scans show that your babies are sharing a placenta. That’s totally normal for identical twins, but it does mean that we will need to monitor you closely going forward. Especially considering the recent episode that brought you here.”

“Is this a reason for concern?”

“Not at all,” Emily insists. “It just means you need to be careful. Take it easy. Put your feet up. Avoid stress at all costs.”

I snort through my nose. “Yeah, okay.”

“Alyssa.” The seriousness in her voice catches my attention. She looks me dead in the eye. “I mean it.”

I nod. “Okay. I hear you.” The only problem is actually executing her advice. It’s all well and good for people to tell me to relax. It’s a whole other ballgameactuallyrelaxing.

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