Page 39 of The Baby Hex (Mori’s Mementos #2)
Crilus
A few hours later, we all gathered around the kitchen table to finally discuss what Pierce and I had missed during our matingmoon.
As much as I hated to admit it, the little feast signaled the end of our being locked away together.
While Pierce cooked, I had taken down as much of the elven spell as I was comfortable with doing.
Sucking the magic back inside me gave me the pop of energy I needed to deal with what would undoubtedly be upsetting news.
Teddy had gone home to his pregnant mate and daughter but everyone else was there.
Us, Teal, Pierce’s parents (Cion and Beck), Mori, and Preston.
We all chatted while the food finished cooking.
We kept the conversation as light as we could.
I only paid half attention as I was texting all three of my parents to thank them for their help and writing a several paragraph apology text to Medwin.
Sharon Claudis and her son didn’t come up until the dessert dishes were clear, and we all sipped coffee.
Well, they sipped coffee. I had a bloodshake infused with orange juice.
I found the recipe in a little box behind the blender and the citrus complemented the blood better than I thought it would.
I sat with my legs draped over Pierce’s lap.
With most of the magical tension gone he hadn’t tried to bite Teal again, but I didn’t want to repeat the situation that unfolded upstairs.
“It took them a few days to track her down after what happened in the GGB,” Mori began.
“Venal was arrested of course. There was a lot of arguing over whether or not Teddy was going to press charges over the bite. In the end, he didn’t officially, but Venal still got assigned community service.
She’s his mother and all but she’s also a violent magic user who is probably operating while not drawing with a full box of crayons.
Othoni wanted two of his toes in retribution but that’s not how the GGB works.
I would’ve given them to him but that’s because I saw how that nutjob he calls mom had him tied up in the basement. ”
“Moving on,” Preston sighed, resting his hands on the zenith of his pregnant belly.
“We’re not going to talk bad about him around the baby.
Obviously, growing up with that woman has left him scarred for life.
They tracked her to Hemlock Mountain and then to the Nightshade Bear Territory.
I think she thought perhaps we went home.
She got into a magical duel with our carrier.
She lost and hauled ass. She slipped through the Other World gateway there.
She showed up in France and was spotted in Spain too.
Once she tried to go back to her house but she slipped the guards.
It was Patrica, one of the people at Teal’s warehouse, who figured out she’d gone through a gateway in the north and is probably hiding out on a world Earthside hasn’t officially explored yet.
I still have a trimester and a half left.
I think she’s waiting for the baby to be here. ”
“She never showed up here, right?” Pierce asked.
“No,” Mori answered for his brother. “I think the blood magic hides him here. That’s why we’re hoping even though we think you’re matingmoon is over, that we can still hang out here.”
“Of course you can,” I nodded.
Mori glanced at Pierce who nodded his agreement and asked if Xenos and Barry were okay.
“They’re fine,” Preston said. “At first, our sire thought a ghost was attacking. He flung a pan of frying sage, rosemary, and sea salt at her thinking she’d disappear. Our carrier is still cracking up over it.”
“Should’ve hit her with the pan,” Mori grumbled, and I let out a long sigh and took another sip of the tasty bloodshake.
“So all we can do now is wait?” I asked.
“And be careful,” Teal said.
“Maybe we’ll get lucky and she won’t come back,” Preston shrugged.
“I’m not taking any chances but it’s like the whole of Earthside is watching out for her.
At that point, I’d cut my losses and try to have a baby of my own.
It’s not about the baby. Not really. She wants the power.
She wants a baby who has magic like her and then some.
My kid isn’t someone’s instrument of power or destruction.
My bear cub is going to be a chubby wubby little furball who spends hours rolling down hills because he’s silly. ”
The chatter continued but I lost track of the conversation. What would my baby be like? Would they be just a crow with pointed ears? Would they pick up the vampyric gene and the wolf? None of the above? Would they like to fly and play loud music? Would they have my eyes or Pierce’s?
I made my way away from the table with the crow still prattling on in my thoughts.
Pierce tried to follow me but I waved him off, saying that he should catch up with his parents.
When he finally came up to the attic a few hours later after everyone had went back to their own homes, I was curled around the nest which now housed a blue-green egg with little black speckles all over it.
I stroked the egg’s hard shell and grinned up at him.
My bird had known what to do and when to do it.
Pierce stretched out behind me and spooned in.
I leaned back against him, happy that he stayed despite me taking my shields down.
Happy that he still wanted to be here with me.
I dozed on and off thinking of my grandmother.
Had she used such magic because she feared everyone would leave her?
Had it started out so simple? My sire used it because his mate was dead, and he had been lied to about why he was killed.
“You’re not that person,” Pierce whispered into my dreams. “You’re you and you’re mine. You don’t need some magical walls to keep me with you. I’d spend all eternity by your side, if only you let me.”
His words swam through my thoughts dragging me down into the deep abyss of true sleep.