of a witch on a switch,” she whispered. “You’re nothing but skin and bones. You can’t be expected to fight a big bad ugly.”
“It’s okay. We have two days to get me well.”
Molly made a grieving laughing sound. “Well, in that case, no problem.”
I released her and led the way indoors, closing the big, well-balanced wooden door behind us. The door was carved with a grapevine heavy with bunches of wine grapes, the vine coiling on a wooden fence. I had fallen in love with the carving. I might be falling in love with the house now that the screams of children and the noisy stomping of running feet were echoing in the vaulted ceiling so far overhead.
Evan handed off the baby to Molly, and my BFF brought my namesake to me. Cassandra Evangeline Jane Yellowrock Everhart Trueblood was tiny. Cassandra for one great-great-grandmother, and Evangeline for another (not for her demon-calling aunt), and Jane for me. For all the weighty names, she was a little smidge of a baby.
Kitssss, Beast thought again.
Molly leaned in and snuggled the baby into my arms. “Say hi to your godmother, Cassy.”
Holding a baby always felt awkward, but Beast reached out and encircled the bundled baby into my/our arms and against my/our chest. My eyes filled with tears. “Hey there, Cassy,” I whispered. The baby was redheaded like her daddy, a bright copper-penny red, and her skin was peaches-and-cream. She would be nothing like me, not in looks or temperament, but I adored her and I adored that she carried my name.
Cassy opened her eyes. Looked right at me and smacked her lips. Something turned over inside me, something warm and joyous and full of life. Something that had been missing for a long time.
From the corner of one eye, I glimpsed Eli as he entered the elevator with Shiloh. I figured he was going to place the vamp in a tub. The blood would have a nice place to drain and no furniture would be ruined. And the kids wouldn’t see the body.
I grinned, holding the gaze of the infant. “Hey, beautiful,” I crooned. “You got your mama’s eyes and your daddy’s hair and . . . Well, I’m sure you got lots of something from them both.” Molly’s and Evan’s witch X gene, one from each side. I could see the witch magic coursing through her and it was waaaay too early. I glanced at Molly. “Really? Three of them? Three witches at once?”
Molly sighed. “Yeah. It’s going to be challenging. So we’ve agreed. No more ankle biters for me.” The baby made smacking motions again. “She’s hungry. Anyplace private where I can nurse?”
Bruiser said softly, “I put aside two suites for the Everhart-Truebloods.”
No more babies? Yeah, sure. That was never going to last. I handed the baby back to her mama and leaned my bony spine against the door, the cold shut out, watching as Bruiser led Molly to their rooms. Alex had already started the kids making s’mores at the biggest fireplace. And this was . . . this was amazing. My clan gathering under one roof. If we weren’t all in danger, this might be fun. Except that Molly and Evan needed to go back home, out of danger.
Kitssss, Beast thought at me.
Yeah. Kits. Family. Clan.
Big Evan pulled off his coat and hung it on one of the hooks by the front door. He walked to me, his eyes studying me. I could tell he was using a seeing working and knew he’d be able to discern the shape of the magic in my middle. I let him look. He stopped in front of me and crossed his arms over his barrel chest, folding them over the tail of his bushy red beard. “Pentagram-shaped? When did that happen?”
“Not long ago. The cancer came shortly after I had been timewalking. I’ve been assured by Soul that timewalking is not an activity meant for a human body. Or a skinwalker’s body.”
“You working with a traditional healer?”
“An Elder of The People has been contacted and we’re supposed to start sessions soon. Eli built a sweathouse. One of the first things he did when he got here.”
“He was almighty pissed at you for running away.”
“Yeah. We had that conversation. It wasn’t pretty.”
“Hmmm,” Big Evan said, the vibration more like the rumble of boulders rubbing against each other than a human larynx. “Thanks for the warning about passing the bloodsuckers. We had just enough time to get pulled over and a hedge up. Two