Chapter 15

Fifteen

The dream is all brightness and dark.

Silence and screaming.

A blinding full moon overhead, wolves glowing wisps of spirits, their essence pulling from them like water toward a drain… toward a darkness I have to look away from to see.

Aphrodite like a black hole at the center of it all.

It's a fractured reality, spinning around me as I stand like a rock in the flow of an eddy. I catch and hold onto what little I can, but most of it slips through the fingers of my mind.

Too many things, all at once.

But there is one image my mind locks onto as the dream fades.

A clock.

Its hands set to eight twenty-eight.

My eyes snap open but I am so still it takes me a moment to be certain I actually am awake.

That dream wasn't Aphrodite's doing.

Whether it was the confluence of days' reading piled up and sorted out in my conscious mind… or a gift from a goddess or ancestor or both… I don't know.

But the time is important.

I just need to figure out why.

Turning over, I snuggle into the warmth of Johnny's chest.

The bed is definitely big enough for all five of us, and it held up to the night's activities.

It will be strange to sleep in it alone when it comes to that.

I have to slide my leg free of Joshua's behind me and as much as I hate it, I slip free of the hands resting on my hip.

Bundled in the warmth of them, it's hard to get out of bed, but I need to pee.

It's a strange task, crawling out of the covers and over them. The bed never seems to end, but my feet finally find the edge, and then the cold floor beneath.

Stretching, I shiver as I leave them, grabbing my robe from the chair and pausing long enough to stoke the fire.

My mind doesn't really catch up with me until I'm standing in front of the sink, splashing warm water on my face.

As drops fall from my chin, the time clicks into place…

The full moon is in four days.

December twenty-ninth.

At eight twenty-eight p.m.

Shivering again, I pull my robe tighter to me and dry my face.

We are running out of time after all.

I need tea and to think…

But a dim glow distracts me before I can get to the kitchen.

The living room is not the way I left it last night.

Like some kind of magic, it's been entirely transformed.

"Surprise." Chase says sleepily from behind me before wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me back to him.

He inhales deeply against my neck before pressing a kiss to my skin.

"Did you steal the set from a Christmas movie?" I ask, a different kind of shiver sliding across my skin as his nose traces a line up and behind my ear.

"I didn't ask where they sourced the decorations. I just hung the snowflakes where I was told."

"Who is ready for pancakes?" Joshua asks before breezing by me with a kiss.

Ten minutes later there's a reindeer pancake on my plate and Thomas points out that I'm eating male reindeer, while the ones Joshua's finishing up are female.

"It's the antlers," He says, picking up the bacon Joshua made the antlers from. "Only female reindeer keep them in the winter."

"Thanks, Teach." Johnny says, rolling his eyes.

"You pick up weird holiday facts when you're surrounded by high school kids."

We finish breakfast relatively quietly. I think we're all tired.

When we move into the living room, I find that they have ignored my request to not do too much, and in short order, I'm surrounded by a mountain of wrapping paper—headed for the kindling basket—and gifts I believe it's safe to say Elaria and my mother helped curate.

The witchy ones at least.

"You guys definitely went overboard."

"It's your first Christmas. We may have gotten carried away."

"You think?" I chuckle and lean back against the chair happy we have nothing planned for the day. "This is actually the first time I've ever bought actual Christmas presents."

"Well, you're certainly good at it." Johnny has already pulled on the shirt I got him.

"There is one more gift." I chew on my lip a moment before I tell them. "But she won't be here for about nine months."

I watch their faces as they tumble through the blank moment of confusion to the wide eyes of understanding and disbelief until I'm met by four smiles that settle all the nerves fluttering in my chest.

"Really?" Joshua says, but it's Johnny who pulls me across the floor to them and wraps me in a hug that manages to sprawl me across the other three at the same time.

"Yes, really." I have to pull back from them for a moment to breathe. "I know we didn't actually talk about… this."

"Hey." Chase cups my cheek and turns me toward him. "You already knew how we felt."

"Do you want to know whose it is?" Because that was an easy enough equation to do.

There's a pause, and they all shake their heads.

"No," Thomas says.

"It's our kid." Johnny says, quickly. "Doesn't matter whose swimmers got there first."

"I'm sorry I kept it from you—not that I've known for long."

"How far along are you?"

"About a week?"

Joshua's brow twists. "How can you possibly know?"

"Is it a witch thing?" Chase asks.

"Yes… I mean, I would have known next week under normal circumstances, but it was one of the only ways Aphrodite could have gotten a hold on me. After I figured that out, it was just a matter of making sure."

Chase twines his fingers in mine. "Best. Christmas. Ever."