"You are so crazy, Carlos," she said, touching his leg and then let�ting her hand fall away for more comfort. "I love you." Her smile came out with a wince. "You're gonna be one of those dads that has to stay in the waiting room, aren't you?"
"What are you talking about, D? This was major. A battle bite? Having a baby is different. That's the culmination of-"
"Sheeit," she murmured, chuckling as she dozed. "I guess sitting in an all-male throne from a sterile vamp might not've had this info, but lemme tell you, brother. The way Inez, Mar, and Marjorie told me, this ain't nothin'. Try eighteen hours or more of hard-down work, your body convulsing in agony every three minutes without relent, a masked doctor standing over your stuff-your legs spread-eagle and all you hear is metal and all you see is lights, and dude is leaning way too close with a scalpel ready to put a stem-to-stern incision in a place youdefinitely don't want any loss of sensation or keloid scars, or maybe he'll just go through your stomach, move your intestines and whatnot out of the way-lay 'em on your chest to get the baby out, then will stitch you up later-just put a zipper right in your-"
"Oh shit!" Carlos stood up and began to pace. "They do a f**king Vamp Council wall on women in broad daylight like that, in this day and age?"
"Those are the better hospitals, not always found everywhere on the globe... and in those countries where women are having babies faster than you can spit it's in the bush with no clean water or meds, okay."
"How did we get on this subject in the first place, Damali? Can't they numb it up before-"
"Only if they get to you fast enough; otherwise, no drugs. You gotta suck it up like a woman or the baby is at risk, so you bite the bullet and holler. Then, after it's all said and done, you walk like you're tippin' on eggshells for a few weeks, they say" She looked at him hard. "That's why you guys have to wait six to eight weeks- who in their right mind would feel like all that after dropping an eight-pound baby and getting cut?" Damali sucked her teeth and then cringed as the mere action made her head throb. "Y'all are lucky to ever get any more in life, after that."
"Baby, I knew, but I didn't, you know what I'm saying... I-"
"Oh, please. The girls told me that your stuff hurts so damn bad as the painkiller wears off you can barely breathe, much less take a pee, with a hundred and fifty stitches in your ass... and there's sometimes this numb spot right in the most inconvenient place. But, you still gotta get up and take care of that little baby and nurse it, too, on real sore ni**les." Damali sighed as she peeped open one eye to glimpse Carlos's stricken expression. All the blood had drained from his face, and she stifled a chuckle. "Life goes on."
"In this day and age? Oh hell to the no. A numb spot? For real, D, you ain't lying about that? Not my baby girl. That sounds like-"
"Medieval science. I know," she said, laughing softly to herself as she closed her eyes again, becoming peevish that her body hurt so badly from his drama. "Women go through some wicked shit in the name of love and life, brother... going into it, it's great," she added on a heavy exhalation. "Mind-blowing, life-altering, climb-the-walls fantastic. It's the aftermath that's the bitch. So a little roughhouse battle bite ain't nothin'. I can hang. Just don't do that shit again, or I'll cut you. I'm serious."
The man was so undone from the night before that he simply helped her into the Hummer, pecked her cheek, got in on his side, and drove. She couldn't keep the sly smile off her face. Dang, all she'd meant to do was use the truth to temporarily cool his ardor so he wouldn't get all rammy again and try her while she was healing. But in the morn�ing, she was fine, and hadn't been able to coax him near her for one last round before heading home. Her bad. Damali sighed out loud. Carlos didn't even respond.
"Okay, listen, before we get back to the house and everybody swarms us, can I at least have a kiss?"
He leaned over and kissed her on her cheek and traced his finger over her silver wedding collar. "I love you, baby. Until I figure out what got into me, that's it. I'm done. I'm not putting my hands on you. Something like that is nothing I ever want to revisit."
"Carlos, your skin is still practically leaking silver-so it's not some dark influence. You're just a strong-ass male Neteru, and if you didn't have fangs, that would have simply been a love hickey... but, given the circumstances and the little issue of you having fangs, it got crazy. Baby, you just came out of an apex not that long ago and your body is probably still-"
"Damali," he said, swerving the vehicle to the side of the road and bringing it to a hard stop. "No. My original mark is still swollen on you... the place that Irevered on your throat. My baby's sweet spot, and I dawged it like that? Me? Inever made you cry out in pain,always pleasure-no matter what was running through me. Something hap�pened, and I'm going to Ausar about this, because the last time we kept things all secretive, mad-crazy bullshit went down. This time you got hurt bad, and no. Uh-uh."
She opened her mouth and then closed it, and pressed her hand to her chest, staring at him. "Please tell me you are not taking our per�sonal business up to no Ausar on the Neteru King's Council." Her voice had come out in a panicked whisper. "Oh, Carlos, you will em�barrass me down to the toes of my shoes, if you-"
"Then what the hell happened?" He folded his arms over his chest with a look in his eyes that told her he would not be moved. "Sloppy, like that? Uh-uh. Nearly battering my brand-new wife's skull into a headboard 'til it split? Me? You crazy?"
Damali rubbed the top of her head, trying to make him laugh. "Did a sistah complain about that part?"
"Stop," he said, pointing at her. "A seduction fang entry is sup�posed to be dripping sensuality and feel so good on skin break that you bust a nut before the enamel is in your jugular full hilt, and-"
"Okay, okay," she said, hiding a wide smile behind pursed lips for a moment. "That part was a little rugged... but maybe it's your sys�tem converting back to not using that as a part of-"
"Shit... you think so, baby? You think I'm losing my bite?" He looked in the rearview mirror so fast and had pulled it so hard to turn it to him that it came off in his hands.
"Oh, Lord have mercy... no... but-"
There was no talking to this man.
"The other part was real good," she said, resting her hand on his arm.
"No, it wasn't," he said, his voice still laden with panic. "I had you in a caveman grip. Didn't do nothing to-"
"I was ready," she said, kissing his cheek. "Don't take no mess like that to Ausar. I'm healed, it's over, and... it's husband-and-wife stuff."
He let his breath out hard and rubbed his palms down his face. "I wasn't gonna go into that level of detail, but I need to know what that power surge I felt was all about. It was seriously go-to-war, pure adrenaline anger vibe all in it. But at the same time-the other side we try not to discuss-I was horny as shit, like I'd just done thirty years in the joint, or something."
Now it was her turn to just stare at him.
"You didn't tell me about that part," she said carefully.