Chapter 18
Chapter
Eighteen
P oe kneaded dough, smiling as he listened to Arielle teach Penny and Tanya a song.
Arielle and Tanya had come up from school, and he had kept Penny most of the day while Beau and Cade worked on something in the basement.
He had a feeling it was baby furniture, since no one had borne triplets before.
They were forging a new path in this, just like they were in everything else.
The girls were outside, the spring truly burning off all the snow, the day warm and sweet but still lovely. The girls sat just under the kitchen window so he could keep an eye on them, but they got to be outside.
Which he loved.
A shadow passed over, a huge one with wings, and Poe frowned. Cade? Did you go outside to fly with Beau?
No, love. Is someone coming to get the girls?
I don’t think so? He headed out to the back patio to shade his eyes and look up at the sky.
Arielle glanced up at the same time, and she scowled. “Penny. Tanya. Get inside.”
“What?” Tanya stopped singing.
“Now! Get inside now!” Arielle roared, and Penny squealed and ran, tugging Tanya with her.
“Arielle?” What is it?” Poe asked, his heart starting to pound.
“Get inside, Poe. Keep the babies safe.” she growled, and to his ever-loving shock, she shifted and leapt into the sky.
His mouth dropped open, and he shouted for Cade out loud and in his head. “Cade! Cade, help! Arielle is in the sky with a dragon we don’t know.”
Whaaaat! Cade’s roar echoed in the walls of the house, making the trees shake. Cade appeared at top of the basement steps, Beau right on his tail. Get the girls. Go below. Now!
Cade.
Now!
He trumpeted, shifting and taking off, Beau a black and red arrow on his tail.
“Tanya. Penny. Come on, loves. Help me to the basement. The stairs are hard for me.”
“Papa.”
“Kadi said so, Tanya.”
Tanya ducked under his arm, helping him, letting him lean, and Penny led the way down the stairs, her breath coming fast as she trotted ahead.
They heard Cade challenge the new dragon above them, but he closed the door at the base of the stairs and locked it, not letting his fear make him jeopardize Tanya and Penny and the unborn little ones.
“Penny, can you call to your Uncle Zeke? Tell him that Arielle is in the air with Cade and your daddy and a dragon we don’t know?”
Just in case something was happening, Zeke needed to be ready up on the mountain.
“Yes, Poe,” she said, her little voice like a bell.
“Kadi, what’s going on?” Tanya asked, her eyes as big as saucers. “Should we go out there and help Arielle?”
“No, no, Cade said he needs us down here so that we can be safe, so that he can do his job. It was very unsafe for Arielle to just jump up and go.” In fact, it made him kind of sick to his stomach, and he wasn’t going to think about that.
They moved deeper into the tunnels, which were warm and dry, lit with thousands of fae lights. He settled on a bench that had been created by a thick root, taking a load off. “Come on, girls. Sit with me.”
The boys were having an absolute fit, rolling and punching and kicking and trying to make themselves known, as if he could forget them, even for a second. He wasn’t sure if it was because his stomach was acidy, or because they felt the sheer fury of their father up in the air, or if it was just that time, because there was never a moment, not a single moment in the last he didn’t even remember how long that somebody wasn’t moving somewhere in his stomach. But they were absolutely promising trouble.
“What about Mhormia and Mhoran? They’re my granny and grampy, and they don’t know if there’s danger. We should go to them.” Tanya’s lips tightened, and she stood, about to run off.
Thank goodness Poe caught her wrist. She could be anywhere by the time he got to his feet.
“Tanya, what did your father say?”
She rolled her eyes and sighed, so dramatic. “To stay in the basement with you and Penny. We don’t want Penny to be worried. She’s little.”
“I’m little!” Penny crowed. “Zee says he comes.”
“Oh good, we like it when Uncle Zeke comes to visit.” Whoever was flying above them was going to be really unhappy when Uncle Zeke came to visit and joined Beau and Cade because that was intense. He knew that Hawk would stay up to defend the portal, while everyone in Puck’s abode would stay to defend up there as well.
Poe also knew that Devon and Brand were going to have an absolute meltdown when they discovered that their teenage daughter had gone up to challenge a strange dragon without even thinking about it.
He guessed he was lucky Sebby wasn’t here, because then they’d still be arguing about which one was going to fly up to defend the babies.
Of course, if that happened, then neither one of them would have gone, and then neither one of them would have gotten in trouble.
And Arielle was totally getting in trouble.
Or maybe not. What did he know? If it was Tanya, Tanya would totally be getting in trouble. A youngling didn’t go challenge unusual dragons. But she’d had her cat with her, and she’d let Arielle go fight for them.
“She’s fine, Papa, I promise, Arielle is magic. She is the strongest.”
“Uh-huh.” He didn’t know about that. He knew that she was amazing, but she was also still a teenager. And it just made him sick to think that somebody could hurt her.
He could smell brimstone, and there was a surprised roar from above, the whomp of giant wings. Even from down where they were, it was obvious.
If it was Poe, he would try to capture the new dragon, to question him about why he was there. Why Poe immediately thought the intruder was just that and not a visitor, he didn’t know, but Arielle, and obviously Cade and Beau, had clearly had the same thought.
He held Tanya and Penny, humming a little, trying to drown out all their worry. It was truly awful not to be able to see what was going on…
“Do omegas always have to go under the ground with the babies and hide?” Tanya asked.
“No, but really, really, really pregnant omegas with super amazing little girls have to go and protect the babies, I can’t move very fast like this, and I can’t fly.”
“That’s because you’re fat with babies.” Penny looked so proud of herself.
“Yes. Do you know how many babies?” he asked her, and she held up three fingers.
“This many? Boys.”
“That’s right.” He beamed at her. “That many boys. Tanya is going to have many brothers.”
Penny nodded. “Many, many I can play with.”
“Once they’re born and they’re a little bigger than brand-new, then yes, you will be able to play with them. They’re going to be your very good friends.”
“Tanya’s my friend.”
Tanya stood and stared, pacing. “I want to know what’s going on. This isn’t fair. I want to see what everybody else is doing. I want to make sure everything’s all right.”
He understood completely. It was hard to be stuck down here, but it was safer.
“I’m not a coward.”
“That’s not what this is about. This is about us being down here so that Cade doesn’t have to worry. So he can focus on taking care of what he needs to take care of because he knows that we are safe. So he doesn’t have to split his attention. It’s like if you have Penny over here and Lia across the room. You can’t keep an eye on Lia and Penny at the same time. You have to constantly go back and forth. This way, we are here and we are safe. He doesn’t have to keep an eye on us. He doesn’t have to worry.”
At least that was how it was supposed to work.
“Okay.” She plopped back down on the bench next to him. “I do understand. I just hate it.”
“Me too, honey. I’m used to fighting battles too. But I need you to help me in case something is happening.”
“I’ll stay.” She folded her arms and hunkered down, and that was good enough.
They would just have to wait to see what happened.