The tall, thin Apollite would look at him guilelessly and ask, "Do I know you?"
It irritated Wulf but amused everyone else.
As the pregnancy progressed, Cassandra realized another reason why Daimons couldn't have children. She became increasingly needful of blood. Her biweekly transfusions turned into daily ones, and for the past two weeks, she'd needed two to three of them a day.
The increase worried her. Did it mean the baby would be more Apollite than human?
Dr. Lakis had told her it really had no bearing on the baby's biology and that she should relax. But it was hard for her.
All night long, Cassandra had been rather depressed and too tired to move. She'd gone to bed early, even before dawn, wanting to rest and just be comfortable for a few minutes.
Wulf came in and woke her up long enough to ask her how she was.
"I'm sleeping," she snapped. "Leave me alone."
He'd held his hands up in surrender, laughed good-naturedly, and then curled up around her. She had to admit she loved the feeling of him there. The sensation of his hand on her stomach.
It always seemed like the baby knew when it was Wulf's hand on him. He would immediately become more active, as if wanting to say, "Hi, Daddy, can't wait to meet you."
He also reacted to his father's voice.
Closing her eyes, Cassandra tried to go back to sleep, but it wasn't easy since Little Bigfoot started dancing the fandango and decided to knee her in the ribs a few times.
She lay there for about an hour until the lower back pain set in. Within twenty minutes, she realized her contractions had stabilized and were steady.
Wulf was sleeping peacefully when Cassandra woke him up.
"The baby's coming," she gasped out.
"Are you sure?" But one look at her exasperated face and he knew the answer to that asinine question.
"Okay," he said, trying to wake up and clear the fog in his mind. "Stay here and I'll summon the troops."
He ran from the room to wake Kat and to send Chris for the doctor, then he ran back to the bedroom to be with Cassandra who was up, walking around.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm pacing to help with the pain."
"Yeah, but-"
"It's okay, hon," Kat said as she came through the door. "The baby won't be born on his head."
Wulf wasn't sure about that, but had learned not to argue with a pregnant Cassandra. She was rather tense and emotional, and could let blood with her tongue when she wanted to.
Better to just give her what she wanted.
"What can I get you?" Wulf asked.
Cassandra was panting. "How about someone else to have this kid for me?"
He laughed at that. At least until she gave him a murderous glare.
Sobering, he cleared his throat. "I wish I could."
By the time the doctor came, Wulf was standing behind her, holding her stomach and trying to help her breathe through the contractions. He could feel each contraction tighten against his palms and knew exactly when she was going to curse in pain from it.
He hated that she had to go through this. She was already sweaty from the exertion and she had barely begun the labor to bring their son into the world.