and right now she needed to get rid of all the nerves flying around her belly.
Her breathing grew heavier, her heart, newly beating, pounding harder. It felt good. Her hand lifted to her chest to feel it. Gunner really had brought her back to life in every way.
A smile broke out across her face and she didn’t even try to contain it. She looked up, seeing herself in the wall of mirrors in front of them, and barely recognized herself. Her expression was animated, filled with happiness. All her life she’d seen people in magazines, TV programs, movies wearing a similar expression to the one she had now. She’d tried to fake it over the years. Had smiled at herself in the mirror, curious, but she’d never looked like this. Her eyes had always given away the truth.
That’s when she realized Eve, Mia, Grace, and Meredith were all looking at her in the mirror as well, and their smiles rivaled her own. A giggle bubbled up inside Luna, and she had no choice but to let it free.
They knew why she was smiling, and their happiness for her increased her own.
She had no idea where it came from, but the sight of the three females, their cheesy grins so wide, turned her giggle into an all-out laugh.
“We look freaking deranged,” Grace said, barking out a laugh as well.
Meredith burst into a fit of giggles, and Eve threw her head back and belly laughed. They laughed and laughed until tears were running down their faces.
Mia snorted. “Oh man, I needed that.”
Eve was still grinning wide. “Excellent tension release.”
Grace sobered. “We’re just so happy for you, Luna. You deserve this, you and Gunner both.”
Luna couldn’t wipe the grin off her face. “Thanks, guys.”
“You’re one of us now,” Eve said. “And bonus, we won’t be as outnumbered by those stubborn males.”
Meredith snorted. “I waited a freaking long time for all of you. After I mated with Kryos, I thought, yes, finally, I’m going to have sisters. But no, Laz didn’t find Eve for another fifty goddamn years. That’s a long time with these stubborn males on my own, being totally outnumbered. The tables have finally turned.”
Eve patted her shoulder. “You took one for the team, we appreciate it, girl, more than you know. Also, you’re the hottest seventy-three-year-old I’ve ever seen, so there is that.”
Meredith chuckled and shoved Eve lightly.
Eve was right, Meredith was stunning. Her features had been frozen in time, forever twenty-three. This immortality thing was no joke and Luna was so happy that these females would always be here, would always be her sisters.
“I don’t know how you did it, Merri,” Mia said. “They don’t even try and hide their glee when they outvote us every movie night and we're stuck watching some terrible action flick.” Mia rolled her eyes. “Gunner was always the deciding vote, he’d stick with his brothers, then never show up for the actual movie.”
“Well, I have a new appreciation for movies, and I think Gunner does, too, so you most definitely have my vote—”
A tingle shot down Luna’s spine. Not a good one. She winced and grabbed the front of the treadmill. It happened again before she’d fully recovered, and she stumbled.
She yanked the cord out of the treadmill, causing it to grind to a halt as a wave of sticky, oily darkness washed over her. Nausea gripped her belly, and she doubled over, panting, struggling for breath.
“Oh god. No. No.”
Grace was beside her immediately, a hand on her back. “What’s going on, Luna? Talk to me.”
“He’s here,” her mind screamed, unable to get the actual words out.
Somehow Azel had found her. Somehow, he’d found the compound. The males weren’t here. The building was filled with innocent demi, with her friends, her new family.
The fear spiking through her grew until she could barely breathe.
“Luna?” Grace said louder, crouching down so she could see her face. “What is it?”
“He’s here,” Luna managed to gasp out. “Azel. He’s come for me.”
“Contact the guys,” Grace ordered one of the other females. “How powerful is he, Luna? Can he get inside, past the wards?”
Luna gasped for breath as another wave of darkness washed over her. His impatience, his demand for her to go to him getting stronger. “I don’t know.”
“There are children here,” Eve said, her voice breaking. “What are we going to do?”
Azel had come for Luna, just her. She would not let him hurt her family. The fear started to shift into something she’d never felt before.