Chapter 14
WREN
“ M ilonos, you must put her down. ” Teron’s voice sounded firm and kind of peeved in the darkness.
“No.” The sound of the word vibrated against my cheek, and I smiled.
A huff, and a growl, echoed in the room. “I need to check her and the babies. Please lay her down over there, and I promise, you can continue to hold her hand.”
A rumble deep inside the chest I was pressed against told me it was probably time to swim my way out of this in-between consciousness before there was a fight. I was clutched tightly in Milo’s arms, and there was so much of me, it wasn’t particularly comfortable. But it was warm and safe, and I loved him more than anything at that moment.
Patting his chest to get his attention, I wasn’t surprised he went from noticing I was awake to kissing the ever-loving hell out of me, all in the time it took me to gasp out a breath. Into that kiss, he poured all his worry, fear, love, everything.
“If you don’t let her up for oxygen, she’s going to pass out again,” Demke said dryly, and I pulled back.
Everyone was here. All my guys. And Cy, still in his canine form. We were in Teron’s medical suite, and the man in question was pacing the floor, looking like he was barely moments from ripping me from Milo’s arms.
Reaching up to cup my Minotaur’s cheek, I smiled reassuringly at him. “I’m okay. You can put me down.”
He rubbed his cheek hard against my palm. “You almost died.”
Well, that’s true. But it wasn’t even the first time this year. “I didn’t die. I’m okay.”
“No.”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “No?”
“I don’t want to put you down. Please don’t make me.” His words quivered, and I melted faster than an ice cube at a frat party.
Looking past him to Teron, I shrugged. “I tried. We’ll work around it. Come on, big guy. We’ll go sit down so Teron can check me out. You can be my chair.”
I spotted Nate in the corner, his face pulled down in a frown. “Is Morrigan okay?”
He nodded. “Healed as soon as the knife was removed. It was an enchanted blade, but she’s not human like you.”
The words human like you echoed around the room like a death knell. If Clio had been in the room, maybe she would have given a soft banshee wail. It was an irrefutable fact that had been sitting there between us, ever since Apollo had delivered that stupid prophecy.
I choked down the emotion that stole my voice, giving a nod. “Good. I’m glad.”
Taking his job as chair very seriously, Milo rearranged me on his lap and leaned back slightly to give Teron room to work. Teron cupped my cheek and ran his thumb across my bottom lip. His face was stern, but beneath that, I could see the worry. “You have to stop losing consciousness. It upsets everyone.”
It upsets me, Griff huffed in my brain. I could tell there was more to it, though, beneath the gentle reproval of his tone.
Well, my heart is beating for four right now, so I make no promises. My tone, even inside my head, was teasing, but the only thing he was sending back was fear and self-loathing. What’s wrong?
Despite the fact Teron was moving away, Griff’s voice in my head stayed steady and strong. That was never going to not be weird.
I can’t protect you. I’m a terrible mate. It was nearly a wail, and I saw Teron wince. I was going to have to get him to shift at some point today so I could snuggle with the big Gryphon.
You’re the best mate. I wouldn’t want any other. It’s definitely not your fault that I come with a lot of drama in the form of monsters and angry Gods.
Huffing, he fell into a sullen silence, and I just wanted to tell him it was all going to be okay. I wanted to tell all of them that, wipe those traumatized expressions from their faces. But it would be an empty promise.
“We should talk about what happens if…” If I died. If my bond to them took them all with me. Who’d care for the babies?
Tryp and Erus looked solemn, and Nate was shaking his head. “Nothing is happening to you, mo stóirín. ”
I tilted my head. “Of course not, but if it does?” I looked at Demke, whose jaw was tense. Arguably, he was the least attached to me, despite the long, thick golden thread that bound us together. Would he survive my death?
Demke’s nostrils flared as he came to the same conclusion. “After the birth of the babies, we don’t know what our fate will be. Maybe the threads will stay with you, or maybe they’ll move to bond us to the infants for their protection. Everything is unknown. This isn’t a situation that has occurred within living memory.”
I understood that. I also understood that the Moirai had stood as the weavers of fate for so long that it was easy for them to gather an army to defeat us.
Well, two of the three. “You think I can get Typhon to eat the other two as well?”
Nate snorted. “Badb—I mean, Morrigan—apparently promised him entrance to the Underworld to be with Ekhidna. I don’t know who is going to tell Hades that.”
“Dibs not it!” Tryp shouted, and I couldn’t help the laugh that burst out.
“What he said.” As Teron took my blood pressure, grinding his teeth because it was high, my smile slid from my face. “I’m serious. We need a worst-case scenario.”
Teron sat back, his stethoscope on my stomach. “We understand, Wren. We do. But this decision could literally change the Mythic political landscape for millenia. That’s without the more personal decision of who we’d actually trust to care for the triplets.”
“Clio?” I asked Nate, but he looked like he wanted to start tearing the room down with his bare hands rather than have a sensible conversation about guardians.
He lifted his chin. “She would help them navigate the politics, but she isn’t a nurturer. I’m also not sure she’s powerful enough to fight anyone who would come for the babes to consolidate their own power. Not without the backing of Morrigan, and possibly the Valkyries.”
I mean, Morrigan had saved my life. “Would she…” I couldn’t believe I was asking if Nate’s ex-wife would look after our children if we died.
“Yes. She would. But again, I don’t know if she would be enough.” He looked around the room, like she was about to pop out of the walls and defend her reputation with a knife fight.
Erus leaned back against the wall he was propping up. “There’s one logical person. Powerful enough to keep anyone who thinks to take the power for themselves at bay. Already invested in the outcome.”
“Cy?” I asked, and Demke snorted.
“He wishes.” The dog-man in question just smirked a doggy grin at me. If a dog could flip the bird, I was pretty sure he would.
Erus chuckled. “No. Not Cy. He is more bound to you than most of us. If you die, there’s no way he isn’t following you.”
I frowned, and looked at Cy. Really looked at him with my other sight. The one that I’d been avoiding, to save myself from the pain, now that I’d kind of learned to control it. The connection between us was darker, more tarnished. Dulled from weathering or time.
I tilted my head at him, and he just echoed the movement. “What does that mean?” I asked him, but he didn’t turn into a man. He just gave me a long look that wasn’t even remotely canine. It was knowing, and next time he was walking around on two legs, we were going to have a long fucking talk.
Saving him from my inquisition, Erus spoke up again. “No, the logical answer is Hades, along with Persephone. No one is fucking with them or their… friends.”
There was a hesitation there that I wanted to investigate too, but Teron stood up. “Everyone needs to leave so I can give her an exam.”
Tryp pouted. “You’re playing doctor without me?” He ducked out of the way as Erus swung a palm at the back of his head.
One of the babies was sitting right on my bladder, so if Teron didn’t move this shit along, we’d be acting out a whole different kink that was a lot messier.
Demke shooed everyone out, though Nate lingered. “Go and check on everyone. We don’t want Teron to get performance anxiety as he’s fishing around in my coochie. I’ll be out in a minute,” I said softly, and he left with one more tortured look. “I really fucked up his life, you know.” I wasn’t talking to either Milo or Teron specifically, but Milo’s hands tightened around my ribs.
“No, you haven’t.”
I nodded. “Yes, I did. He had a good life before me. Friends. A job working with horses and kids. I came in and dragged him halfway across the world, putting his life in danger more times than I can count. And on top of that, there’s all this.” I vaguely waved at the two of them.
Teron knelt between my knees to examine me. I had to shift my mindset between Teron the doctor and Teron the man, who’d had his dick in his hand, jerking off to my moans a few days ago. So weird.
“No, Wren. He was merely existing before you. He was living each day in an indeterminable existence of loneliness. I can only speak for myself when I say I would take all the fear, all the danger, to spend just a day with you,” Teron said vehemently.
That would’ve been so sweet, if he didn’t have his head so close to my vagina in a non-fun way. I chewed my lip and resisted the urge to cry. “Same. Love you.”
He looked up at me, and there was a world of feelings and desire in his eyes, right along with the flash of gold that told me Griff was close to the surface. “You’ve brightened my world.” He frowned. “Have you been having any cramps? Back pain?”
I raised an eyebrow at him. “I’m carrying triplets. My whole body is in pain.”
He hummed. “I don’t want you to freak out, Wren, but I think your body is preparing for labor.”
Lifting my head up, I stared down at him. “Like preparing for, when?”
Shrugging, he pulled my skirt back down. “Days? Weeks?” He cleared his throat. “Hours? Probably not that soon, but we need to prepare for the inevitability that you’ll give birth in the very near future. Your blood pressure is also quite high, so I’m putting you on bed rest.”
The pounding in my ears was my heartbeat. Milo was making a soothing noise in his chest, but it didn’t help. Not at that moment.
Teron threw his gloves in the trash and came over, gripping my chin. “We’ll get through this, Wren. You will live a long life, watch your babies grow, guide them and love them. I swear this to you.” His yellow eyes were molten. “Do you trust me?”
I let out a shuddering, panicked breath. “Yes.”
“Trust me that I’ll get us all through this.” He stroked a fond hand over the large globe of my stomach. “I won’t fail you.”
I believed him. I had to, because the alternative was too much to bear.