you all right? I have to admit, I never thought I would see a time when you had absolutely nothing to say.”
I wasn’t known for not having an opinion and expressing it fully. But now it was hard to even get a breath in. “He said I’m…”
I couldn’t say it. I’d done everything I could to make it happen, but now I couldn’t say the word.
“Pregnant,” Bris confirmed. “I believe Devinshea explained to you that pregnancies brought about with strong fertility magic can happen quickly. In a normal human pregnancy, even a supernatural one, it might take days for the fertilized egg to implant, but I assure you, your son is already safely inside his mother’s womb. My magic ensured it. He’s tucked away and growing properly.”
“But that is a problem for us if this is a place where wights convene,” Marcus continued. “The undead will sense the child growing in your womb and you would be their target. We must move away from here if only for the night. We need to find shelter and protect you.”
I was pregnant. Was that morning sickness? It was definitely my gut turning because somehow I hadn’t thought it would work. Except I’d known it would work. I had. Even as I’d lain there after Devinshea had left the honeymoon suite, I’d thought about the fact that I could be having Gray’s baby. My demon boy. I’d seen him once. His and his sister’s faces were the pictures I’d held on to the night I helped my husband transition to his dark prophet status. I’d seen many of the possible futures of the people close to me. Most were nothing more than obscure thoughts now, but those two children—a demon boy and a she-wolf—were clear in my head. My children with Gray and Trent, and one of them was on his way.
Panic threatened in a way it never had before. I’m cool under pressure. No shit. I can handle the apocalypse coming down on my head and I don’t break a sweat. I was sweating now because there was something infinitely precious inside me, and I could break him. I hadn’t considered how easily I could break him. I broke lots of things. I often said the wrong things. God, I wasn’t ready to be someone’s mom.
Except I was Fen’s mom. I hadn’t counted on that tiny, one-day-would-be-king-of-the-wolves boy. I hadn’t realized how quickly I would come to love him. “I’m not on the same plane as my son. I can’t even call him. I was supposed to call Fen when we got to Hawaii. What the hell is he going to think when I don’t call him?”
I was on some weird plane and there were undead people and Zoey clones and armies who wanted to steal the Zoey clone.
“Calm down, Kelsey.”
I could feel Marcus’s persuasion playing at the edges of my mind. I could shove him out or let him in. Panic, irrational and overwhelming, threatened, and I needed to breathe so I opened myself up to him.
I could do this. I was ready. This was a wonderful thing to happen.
Marcus sent those thoughts my way along with a lovely sense of warmth. Like a hug for my brain. He was happy for me. He was proud of me. Damn, if that didn’t make me tear up.
I couldn’t help but smile at my former mentor. “You’re not the one who has to shove a baby through her hoo haw. Gray’s baby. Do you know how big he is?”
My man was not of average height and muscle. Grayson Sloane was a big hunk of demon, and I was betting he hadn’t been a tiny baby.
“I am well aware,” Marcus replied. “I think somehow you will handle it. You’re better?”
I nodded and felt him recede, but he’d done his job and I was calmer now.
It was then I realized we’d lost Summer again. I groaned. “She ran.”
Bris shook his head. “She walked and I can track her. She’s an odd child. The trees follow her. Look.”
I glanced up and sure enough, the branches of the trees were gently moving in the same direction, as if there was a strong breeze making them sway. But the air around me was still.
Who the hell was this chick?
“Are you sure they’re following her?” I asked.
Ancient eyes turned on me.
“You know what the trees think, don’t you?” It brought up a couple of questions, but at least we didn’t have to run screaming after Summer. Apparently all we