Healing His Soul's Mate Page 14

“Why?” She loved the way his voice rumbled in his chest against hers.

  “Sarka will have pulled twelve other witches for the coven’s protection circle. On a good day, there are fourteen of us on the island. One extra in case of emergency. Sage is down here, as obvious am I. Cemil is off island, so she will have pulled two from our guests. Not ideal, but I’m sure worth it for the bragging rights. Not many are invited into Sarka’s circle, and to protect Rekkus’ babes, you can imagine. But that means there are fewer staff in the kitchen and for classes.” Cyrus focused up the hill in the direction of the Haus. “Sarka sent word this afternoon to Cemil, letting him know Dana’s labor had begun, so he is close to the portals in case he needs to reopen them to return.”

  “Wouldn’t it be safer to keep them closed until morning?”

  “Word will travel and get out. Reopening the portals can be dangerous. Best to have it done when no one is ready.”

  From then, no one spoke. Shade listened to the souls in a bit of a trace as he held tight to Ashlynn. Cyrus paced, pausing from time to time to stare at the cottage. Her father stood near the water, smoking a cigar, a bad habit he had promised to quit after the babies were born. But he stayed close in case his daughter needed him. Serena returned and entered the house as her husband jogged up the hill, to lock down the barracks, he said.

  Ashlynn listened for high-pitched sound of a newborn’s first cries, praying for something to prevent the full moon from cresting. She wished she could be in the room with her sister, helping in whatever way was possible, but she knew there was simply no room in their small bedroom for one more person who would just be in the way. “Will Rekkus change into the tiger when the moon rises?”

  Cyrus paused. “No, he becomes more powerful during a full moon, but it doesn’t force a shift. Teenage shifters can’t regulate it. Their hormones are out of whack as is the problem with newborn and unborn babies. Rekkus will teach them to control it. Usually at about two they can get a handle on the need. And then all hell will break loose again around thirteen.”

  “So the teenagers I keep seeing are shifters.”

  “Yep, and some have been coming here every month for years. Rekkus is kind of an uncle to the boys.”

  A scream erupted from the cottage followed by a long deep grunt, both from Dana.

  All became eerily quiet. As if no one occupied the cottage. Then the door opened and Serena walked out with a swaddled bundle. Smiling, she handed the baby to Cyrus. “There aren’t enough idle arms inside. Rekkus insisted I give him to you. Meet Rhys Cyrus Duteigr.”

  “They named him after me?” Cyrus asked, his eyes glistening.

  “Who else would they have named him after?” Serena asked as if it were the only choice they had.

  Cyrus reached for the baby then hesitated. “Has anyone touched the blanket?”

  Serena shook her head and showed him her gloved hands one at a time. “No one. Trixie even wore gloves when she knitted them.”

  He yanked at his black gloves with his teeth and threw them to the ground. Careful of the newborn neck and head, Cyrus lifted him from Serena and tears filled his eyes. She scanned his hands for scars or disfigurement but they were perfect and, to all appearances, normal.

  Serena went back into the house, first dropping a kiss on the small baby’s head, Ashlynn approached and, as she would have touched the child or the blanket to see better, Shade tugged her back against his chest. He whispered into her ear. “The reason Cyrus wears gloves is he can see the lives of those who have touched items. If he were to touch something you own, he would see and live your pain, your trauma.”

  “All of it, even from a second’s contact?”

  “Perhaps not all, not from fabric, but whatever experiences are strongest. Those tend to be painful experiences, not the gentle happy ones.” Shade rubbed her shoulder. “This is heaven for him. This is peace. Because as each of these babies takes their first breath, all memories of past lives leave them. They are clean slates.”

  Ashlynn watched the euphoria covering Cyrus’ handsome face as he held the child close. She turned to see the first edges of the moon over the water. She’d always loved the moon, but not tonight. Tonight, she wished it away, never to return. Two babies still need to be birthed, and Shade had told her that the biggest danger was that the babies would shift under the full moon. They wouldn’t be able to help it and it could kill Dana. As if that wasn’t enough, she didn’t think she could deal with the loss of Shade.

  A moment later, Serena came outside and, without ceremony, placed the baby into Ashlynn’s arms. “Shade and Dr. Stone, Sage needs you both. I cannot help the girl child.”

  Serena led them into the house, leaving Cyrus and Ashlynn holding two precious babies and staring at the door. “She’ll be fine, right?”

  “Rekkus won’t let anything happen to Dana. You can count on it.” But uncertainty crossed his face. “Rekkus cannot live without her. She is too important to him. She is his reason for everything. And, yet, he has told her over and over she is free to leave. He wouldn’t stop her if she were to get on the boat. If that isn’t true love, I don’t know what is.”

  Ashlynn’s heart seized, and she turned in horror to see the moon as large as she had ever seen it hovering like a large orange ball above the water. She prayed for it to disappear. After the initial jolt, she didn’t feel any different but, then, Shade had said it would be him who wouldn’t feel anymore.

  “You must trust what the Fates have planned,” Cyrus said. “If Shade is the one, nothing will have changed when the moon rose.”

  A feminine growl full of frustration, exhaustion, and power erupted inside the house. The lights flickered on the porch followed by an eerie silence. And then, as the moon rose over the horizon, the sound of another baby’s cry. This one tired but no less powerful. A lump formed in the depths of her throat, and tears rolled from behind her glasses. She laughed as she cried and did the only thing she could do while she waited. She held her nephew tight and told him how blessed he was.

  ***

  Dana might be weak and tired, but her soul is strong. Shade stood across the room to assess. It had been touch and go when the third baby turned transverse breach and Sage attempted to turn her. Serena had been able to keep the boys calm during the delivery but had no power over the girl who portrayed a strong stubbornness and didn’t want to be born yet.

  Moreover, the little one knew when she took her first breath she would forget. She wanted to remember why she had chosen to come back. With Dr. Stone and Shade telling Rekkus the right things to say, they turned the baby. And as Shade sensed the moon crest, he watched the baby gaze up at her father with large blue eyes, inhale, and simply forget. At the same moment, he watched a father fall in love with his daughter.

  And he, Shade, experienced the joy and the peace of a soul healing.

  The moon had crested, and he felt.

  He wanted to run out and wrap his arms around Ashlynn and bask in the feelings growing stronger, but Sage still needed him, and he had to take care of Dana, exhausted and not yet done with labor. She bled, and Shade remained silent on the matter. Sage and Dr. Stone were calm. He would deal with the tiger prime who was anything but. With his little girl in his arms, legs apart in protective stance, he watched, his queen lie helpless in the bed.

  Tonight, she had earned the title, whether he informed her or not, but something else had happened. Something no one, not he nor Myron, had seen coming. The birth of her daughter had unlocked powers she’d hidden and buried. Powers passed down from a grandmother much loved. What powers and how strong would remain to be seen.

  Minutes seemed like hours until Dana’s color returned to normal and she demanded to see her babies. In that moment, she retook control of her life. Shade could leave, his job done. Sage waved him toward the door and followed him out.

  “Dana would like to see her babies. Would you both like to come in and see her briefly? Then we need to leave the fa
mily alone,” Sage announced.

  Ashlynn walked by him with the second baby, Brynn Cemil, in her arms. Fear dimmed her eyes, even behind the glasses. He reached for her with his whole being, brushed her cheek, and smiled. “I still love you.”

  “Oh my.” She grazed his lips with hers and stepped into the very crowded bedroom. Kissing the baby, she handed him over to his mother. “I love you, Dana, but I have to go.”

  “Okay,” she said, but her focus remained on the dark curly head of her second son.

  “He loves me.”

  “Of course he does.” She touched the downy hair then blinked at them both. “He is your soul’s mate.”

  “How can you tell?” Ashlynn inched toward the door.

  Dana shrugged as her attention shifted to her husband.

  Ashlynn didn’t wait for Dana or anyone else to speak. She ran from the room into Shade’s waiting arms. He kissed her in the living space of her sister’s house in view of the bedroom and the full moon. “Be mine.”

  “Always.”

  “Always could be a long time.”

  “For you. You’re ancient.”

  Leading her from the house, he steered her to the water’s edge. “If you accept me as your soul mate, you will live and one day die with me. You don’t have to decide now. You have until the next full moon.”

  Pushing her hair behind her ears, she asked, “I can’t decide now under this one?”

  “No, it’s a decision to be thought on and not made in the heat of passion. But we have a month to learn and feel. For you to heal and for me to adjust to new feelings.”

  “Sounds like we have a lot to do.”

  “Perhaps we can have a wedding and reception here, on the island, under the full moon as well as our own private soul mate acceptance.”

  Tilting her head, she asked, “Are you asking me to marry you, Shadedor.”

  “Not very romantic. Sorry.”

  “I think it is the most romantic proposal I could ever want and I can think of no other place I would rather be wed than here with my sister and her family. Will they let my dad come back?”

  “Providing your mother doesn’t, I believe so.”

  She stopped in her tracks. “I don’t think my mother will have much to do with us anyway.”

  “Are you all right with not seeing her again?” The inability to read her soul and her emotions would take some getting used to.

  “I will get there. It’s not what I had hoped, but….” She shrugged. “She’s never been the mother I would have hoped for.”

  He didn’t say anything in response because nothing he could say would ease her pain or help her to reconcile her new life. He held her and walked her up to the Haus. They almost collided with Cemil hurrying in the other direction. He waved but didn’t stop, no doubt anxious to meet the newest members of the island because this place was a family. Not by blood but by choice, which made it so much more special.

  “I do a lot of traveling,” Shade said. “Will you join me?”

  “I love to travel, but, at the moment, I would love to feel your arms around me and my legs wrapped around you. Naked, definitely, we should be naked.”

  “Naked is always good.”

  They waved at Myron who yelled out her congratulations to them both.

  “Don’t read us,” Shade said with a smile.

  “I didn’t, it doesn’t take a card reader to see true love and it’s written all over both of you.” Myron went back to her cards but paused. “Dana?”

  He knew what she read in her card—a new beginning for Dana, but it didn’t refer to the babies or her new title. “She will need time to adjust and discover. Allow it to happen naturally.”

  “What naturally?” Ashlynn asked, pushing the elevator button.

  “I believe the birth of your niece unlocked a para element hidden deep in your sister.”

  The doors opened, and she inhaled as she pressed the three. “My mother used to call her grandmother a witch, I always thought she merely insulted her.”

  “Perhaps, perhaps not. But Dana has taken enough of my thoughts. Tonight, I would rather think of you.” Shade looked down at Ashlynn, his desires echoed back at him. He had to get her up to her room before getting her naked. In the end, they left a trail of clothes but managed to get to the bed in the nick of time.

  Epilogue

  Chaos. No other word described the amount of people who had been through the small cabin doors. He suspected another addition to the cabin would be on the horizon. Cemil, who appeared refreshed and at peace, moved from babe to babe unable to get enough of any of them. Sarka made an appearance making the right sounds of oohs and ahhs, but her blessing of protection had been heartfelt and strong. Sage, exhausted from the birth, had been the first to leave when the members of Rekkus’ team came in to meet the newest island’s inhabitants. And everyone from the kitchen staff to the cleaning crews wanted to see the babies.

  Three perfect babies, each with ten fingers and ten toes. The boys, both dark haired and golden eyed fussed when one of them was too far from their sister. They seemed to be connected and, like their daddy, had a protective streak a mile wide. Neither had shown the sign of who would be the alpha and who the prime. Time would tell. Kalina, much like her namesake, remained quiet. Her white-blonde hair led Cyrus to believe when she shifted she would resemble her deceased aunt, a white tiger.

  Myron had been the last to come down. She needed to wait until the babies had been bathed to appease her Romney traditions. Pulling a glass bottle from her bag, she asked, “May I?”

  Rekkus nodded and Dana looked confused. “She wants to place some oil on the babies?”

  Dana’s brow furrowed.

  “I only wish to strengthen them.” She laid the three swaddled infants on the bed before Dana. She spoke in Romani, blessing each child as she rubbed some oil onto their little foreheads. Rhys, who already showed his father’s temperament, made a disgruntled noise. She laid three amulets into Dana’s hand. “Place these over their cribs.”

  She stayed for a bit, loving on the babies and telling them just how best to make their father crazy, making sure Dana had eaten. Cyrus assumed at the orders or the head chef Cherry and her assistant Reese who had sent up more food than Cyrus could imagine anyone could eat. Seven turkey sandwiches with cranberries had been devoured with no hesitation by the new mother.

  “I’ll have a few more sandwiches sent down.”

  “A good idea.” Rekkus took the empty plate and handed it to Myron before climbing in the bed next to Dana.

  Cyrus looked around the room. Everyone left except Rekkus, Dana, and the babies. He hated to leave, but the time had come. He would use the excuse to bring more food down to come back. Besides, they might need extra hands through the night. “I’ll give you some peace.”

  “Stay, please.” Dana halted him as he moved to place the baby beside her. “We need you. Both Rekkus and I are exhausted, and we love everyone here, but you we trust above all others.”

  He didn’t know if the words were spoken for her or because she understood he needed to hear them, but they were a balm for his soul.

  Rekkus slept like a kitten beside the mother of his cubs. Cubs who hadn’t shifted yet. Serena agreed to come over throughout the night to sing to the babies to ensure it. Perhaps tomorrow they could make their first shift when mama’s strength returned, but for tonight she worked on breastfeeding baby A, while baby B slept in a peaceful milk coma on his daddy’s chest, and he got time with the pink-swaddled baby C.

  How did you express the joy of touching someone and something so full of innocence and peace? Even when the babies cried, they did so out of necessity and not pain. When Dana suggested he lay the baby skin to skin, his heart melted. Glancing over at her, he could see her fading. Could he protect for her what she held dear because, in all this world outside Rekkus, she trusted only Cyrus.

  He felt…honored.

  “Can
you bring me my glass of ginger ale?” Dana asked, close to falling asleep, careful not to wake Rekkus, or the two slumbering dark-haired identical twins.

  Of course he smiled and moved around the bed to the side table. As his bare fingers touched the metal filigree decorating the glass, pain as he never experienced ripped through him as he fought to remain standing. He failed, going to his knees as he clung to Kalina still in his arms. Rekkus leaped out of the bed with an instinct of a father, cradling one child while reaching for the one Cyrus struggled to hold on to. In a second, Dana had all three babies safe in her embrace while Rekkus pulled his friend to his feet.

  “Oh my god.” Dana, concerned but held in place by her young, asked, “Are you okay?”

  “How did you endure it?”

  Cyrus was unable to let go of the item, he read, and Rekkus had to pry the cup from his hands. He couldn’t catch his breath as the pain Dana had suffered during childbirth racked through him. Her fear, not of the pain, but insecurities she couldn’t do it, she couldn’t make it, and she wasn’t strong enough. Doubts overrode her need to birth her babies. Fear of letting them all down. Then the overwhelming ripping pain of a contraction all over again, followed by sheer exhaustion. The endless grueling cycle showed no signs of ending.

  Dana’s tears ran down her cheeks as she reached for him. “Touch me.”

  “It doesn’t work like that. It has to be an item.” Rekkus spoke for Cyrus when it became obvious he could not.

  She grabbed his hand, lifting it to the hemp necklace she wore around her neck, a simple yet beautiful design with three stones in it, one for each baby. “Rekkus made this for me out of love. He placed it on my neck as they handed me Rhys. Touch this.”

  “You know my pain already,” Rekkus encouraged.

  Cyrus did know Rekkus’ pain as well as experienced it in ways Rekkus hadn’t seen. He had been asked by the Syndicate to discover the truth of the black tiger streak massacre. He had seen it all. The pain, the hatred, the insanity. But he told the Syndicate one simple truth. Rekkus’ mom had gone insane and taken out the streak. The rest, no one, not even Rekkus, needed to bear.