had just responded to the sharp noise.
I frowned, wondering if an alarm clock would help, then I cast a look at the bassinet at the foot of the bed where Knight was sleeping.
Since his birth, I could count on two hands how many times he’d actually slept in there, because he was always with us.
At first, I’d been scared that we’d squash him, what with so many bodies on the bed and all of us taking up a shit ton of room except for Sabina. But she slept with her arm at an angle so that he was tucked into her side, mother and child pretty much glued together throughout the night, until she had to breastfeed, with us tucked around them in a protective circle.
I was grateful Knight wasn’t responding adversely to the distance between them both, but equally, it was concerning too.
They were so attuned to each other… Had what Sabina experienced hurt him as well? His appetite was down that was for sure, and while we were feeding him formula, his desire for it was at a zero.
A knock sounded at the door, making me jump. I wanted to shake my head at myself, but I didn’t bother. Instead, I sniffed, inhaling deeply to discern the visitor’s identity, and called out, “Come in, Lara.”
The door creaked open as she peered inside. “How did you know it was me?”
“By scent,” I said simply, and though manners and politeness that was ingrained in me after years of tutelage indicated I should stand, I didn’t. I stayed where I was, watching my woman, cataloguing each flinch, hoping that she’d wake up.
“That’s a neat trick,” she whispered, which finally had me casting her a glance because she sounded as distressed as us. I wasn’t sure if that was possible, but I was glad for my mate’s sake.
“It isn’t a trick. Our senses are more developed,” I corrected, well aware I sounded like a wet blanket and not giving a damn about it as I watched her edgy movements, the way she played with her fingers, her nerves transmitting to me loud and clear.
I knew why, as well.
Blame.
She was scared we blamed her, and she’d be right. I did. A little. I figured my brothers did as well, but Sabina had forced this. She’d forced this moment, and it wasn’t Lara’s fault.
She’d brought her sister here after she’d actively urged us to seek her out.
She’d touched Lara, had started the snowball tumbling downhill… Even if Lara was at fault, it wasn’t as if I’d hurt her, but I understood her concerns. Both of them shared the same abusive past, after all. Why wouldn’t she be fearful of entering the den of three alpha males? She didn’t have to know we were alphas to recognize who and what we were. What defined us.
Wasn’t that what she could read in a person anyway?
What made them tick?
But she’d still come, she’d still wanted to see her sister, and that made me respect her more than she could ever know.
If she stared at me warily, I did nothing to ease that wariness, nor did I do anything to cause it. I kept my gaze averted, glued to my mate, and waited for her to wake up.
“Do you know what happened?”
Austin’s question had my brows rising, but I didn’t bust in and tell him to shut the hell up. Even if I really fucking wanted to.
“I know that she took some of the burden off my shoulders for a while,” was her soft reply, and her words were loaded down with a wistfulness that I couldn’t help but hear. You didn’t need to have skills with empathy to know that whatever Sabina had done, she’d appreciated it.
“Did you hear her give that prophecy?” Ethan’s tone was calm, which was BS, because I could hear his heartbeat from over here.
Just like mine and Austin’s, it was racing and rampaging, and would continue to do so until Sabina opened her damn eyes and could explain things for herself.
Until we knew she was okay, and we could see it for ourselves.
“I know what Maribel told me,” she whispered softly.
“Whose spirit did she invoke?” I asked, trying to stay calm when I was feeling anything but.
She cleared her throat. “I’ve always believed it’s Kali Sara. Do you know who she is? Did Sabina explain—”
My mouth dropped open at that, and I graced her with all my focus as I stared at her. “Your saint?”
Her shoulders hunched high beside her ears. “Yeah.”
I