CHAPTER 24

The familiar scent of antiseptic assaults my nose when I wake up. There’s also the beep, beep, beep of machines to clue me in as to where I am. Dan’s sitting next to the bed, his focus on the phone in his hand. Next to him is a familiar face—Eli.

“Hey.”

They both look up, and relief washes over Dan’s face while Eli grins.

“Hilda, you love giving me gray hair, don’t you?”

“Gray hair?”

He points to his temple, and sure enough, I can see a few gray hairs mixed in with the dirty blond strands.

“You can’t blame that on me.”

“Sure can. How else do you think you’re walking out of here unscarred? Do you even realize how ripped up your flesh was?”

Nope, but I don’t want to either. I remember the pain of feeling the little monster’s talons shred my skin. That’s more than enough.

“I came to keep you alive and went to sleep to wake up to you being kidnapped, and then I’m told you’re out hunting genetically modified monsters, and then you’re in the hospital. Think you can go a week without landing yourself back here?”

I grimace. When he puts it like that, it does sound insane.

“I’m sorry.”

He smiles harder. “Wouldn’t have you any other way, Hilda.”

“Where’s Cass and Papa?”

“They’re having a meeting with the Hunters. Seems your father and your brother are upset one of them tried to kill you. Cass is threatening to pull Foundation help from this crew.”

Ouch. Cass is as passionate about providing resources to the Hunters as I am. For him to threaten to pull those resources says a lot about how he’s feeling.

“How are you feeling?” Dan’s face creases with his frown.

“Sore, but not awful, all things considered.”

“I do my job well, Dan. I told you she’d be fine.”

“I know you do, little brother.”

“Uh, Dan…” My thoughts turn to Squishy. “Squishy?”

“Is fine. Your father is angry we didn’t tell him, though.”

“Your kid’s fine, Hilda. I made sure of that.”

“Was she not fine?”

“He,” Dan corrects me.

“They.” Eli laughs at both our stares of horror. “You have two little Squishies growing in there, Hilda. I don’t know if they’re boys or girls, or one of each, but there are two. They’re fine. Didn’t even need healing when I got here.”

Two?

Dear God.

“That’s it. We’re going home. I know we talked about it, but we need to be home with people who can help us.” Dan’s nodding. “I’ll call my LT and put in my two weeks’ here. That should give us enough time to say our goodbyes to everyone and pack up the apartment.”

“I don’t get a say in this?”

The war on his face is comical. Eli cracks up.

“I don’t think so, Hilda. I agree with Dan. You should be home.”

“I’m not sure New Orleans is home, though. It’s Papa’s home, but…”

“Then we’ll figure out where home is, whether that’s New Orleans or somewhere else, but right now, we need our family.”

“Home will be wherever our family is.”

“You’re thinking about when Eric gets drafted?”

None of us thinks he won’t be.

I nod. “I am not abandoning him to a city where he and Ethan will be alone without help. Without someone to stand up for them.”

“I know,” Dan says softly, understanding me entirely. There are so many out there who throw vile, nasty, hate-filled vitriol at Ethan and Eric simply because they love each other. I will never allow them to face that alone. I’ve worried constantly about them since I’ve been in Chicago.

And then there’s Mary. She’s not doing well.

We need to be home.

“Now that you’re awake, I’m going back to Zeke’s to sleep. His beds are softer than yours.”

“Gee, thanks.”

Eli laughs, his aqua eyes warm and sparkling. “I’ll see you later tonight when they release you. Just wake me up this time before you go hurtling into another dangerous adventure.”

Not sure that’s going to happen any time soon.

Tonight’s adventure scared me more than enough when it comes to Squishy. Squishies.

“Get some rest, little brother.” Dan hugs him and walks him to the door before closing it and coming back into the room, falling heavily into his chair. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

He leans over and kisses me so gently, it brings tears to my eyes.

“Hey, now, what’s this?” he asks, alarmed when he feels my tears hit his face. “Why are you crying?”

“I don’t know!”

He smiles slightly. “Hormones.”

“What?”

“Amy used to break out in tears all the time when she was pregnant with Bran. It’s normal.”

“None of this is normal. Two! Oh, my God. What are we going to do? Two, Officer Dan! There are two of them!”

“We’ll manage,” he assures me. “I’ll be there with you.”

“You’ll be working.” As a cop, he works long hours. There are days when I don’t even see him.

“Men can take maternity leave, too, Squirt. You won’t be by yourself until we get a handle on all of this.”

It makes me feel slightly better.

He wipes the tears off my cheeks.

“I’m not ready.”

“Me either.”

“Two of them. We’re going to be responsible for two tiny humans. I can’t keep plants alive, Dan. How am I supposed to keep two babies alive?”

“The same way every parent does. We make mistakes, we learn from them, and at the end of the day, all we can do is love them and try to teach them right and wrong.”

“What if…”

He puts a finger to my lips. “No more what-ifs. We’ll deal with it together, Squirt. No matter what, in it for the long haul, twins and all.”

I take a deep breath. He’s right. I need to calm down. Mama said getting worked up wasn’t good for me or the babies.

Two.

Dear God.

“Mattie?”

“Hmm?”

“I love you.”

“I love you too.”

He stands and pushes me over a little so he can climb in beside me.

“That’s all that really matters, Squirt. I love you, and you love me, and we both love our little Squishies. That’s more than enough.”

He lays his hand on my stomach, and he’s right.

It’s more than enough.

We’ll go home and deal with the crazy future ahead of us.

Lorivander is a threat that seems to loom over me even more now that I know about the babies.

But we’ll deal with her too.

Together.

Like we always do.