Page 95 of The Delta’s Rogue (Crescent Lake #4)

“Goddess damn it, my brother is going to kill me,” Sebastian mutters as he glances at the back door, ensuring his back is to Haven and my body is completely covered by his. “Haven, where is Wesley?”

“In bed, I think.” She paces back and forth in front of the stairs, taking deep breaths in through her nose and out through her mouth.

“He’s definitely not in bed.” I point over Sebastian’s shoulder at the back door.

“Haven? Are you all right? What happened?”

Wesley barrels out of the house, with Nolan and Cassandra on his heels. His dark brown hair is mussed from sleep—and sex if the giant, still healing hickey on his neck is anything to judge by—and he wears only sweatpants, which I’m pretty sure are backwards.

Wes stops in his tracks when his eyes land on Sebastian and me, and his concerned and confused frown deepens. “Why are you two naked?”

“I woke Sarina’s lycan up with my aura.” Haven continues her pacing and intentional breathing as she talks to Wesley.

“Then my water broke. And before you start yelling”—she glares directly at Wesley’s wide-open mouth that is clearly about to start spewing loud and angry words—“I’ve been having contractions since before dinner, so using my aura on Sarina did not cause me to go into labor. ”

Wesley’s mouth snaps shut, and his nostrils flare as he holds back whatever he was about to say. Instead, he strides towards Haven. “Are you all right?”

“I’m fine. ”

“What do you need? What should I do? Do you need to lie down? Do you need to get in the tub? Or would you like to go to Crescent Lake and give birth there?”

“I think Sarina and Sebastian would like to cover up.”

Wesley pauses on the top step, his eyes flicking towards us. “That doesn’t answer any of my questions.”

“I know, but I would prefer everyone be dressed before we dive into the specifics of how I’d like to birth this baby, Wesley, and I’d also prefer it if my mate’s throat wasn’t ripped out by his brother because his mate was naked in front of everyone for too long!

” Haven’s aura pulses out of her, hitting us all with its graceful, delicate power.

Wesley launches himself into action again. He grabs Sebastian’s pants from the top step and my blanket from the ground, and brings both over to where we stand at the edge of the forest.

Sebastian snatches the blanket from Wesley and wraps it around me, glowering at Wesley as he does, as if he’s daring him to even think about looking at me.

“I thought exhibitionism was your thing?” Wesley teases.

Sebastian rolls his eyes, and I have to hide my laugh with the blanket.

“This is not the right situation for that,” Sebastian snaps as he grabs his sweats from Wesley.

“Can someone please wake Taryn up?” Haven begs while Sebastian tugs his clothes on and a laughing Wesley jogs back over to her. “I tried mindlinking her but—”

“Reid and Taryn went to Crescent Lake for the night because Savvy hasn’t been sleeping well away from home,” Cassandra tells her.

“And Reid just sent me a text,” Nolan adds, finally moving away from the doorway where he’d been lingering, waving his phone at us. “Taryn’s in labor too.”

For the first time since I joined her outside, Haven displays a flash of uncertainty. Her facade cracks, her lower lip trembles, and her glassy blue eyes lock onto Wesley’s steady brown ones.

“What’s wrong?” he murmurs, taking her face in his hands.

“I want to go home. I thought I could do it here, but if Taryn isn’t able to help, I…” She shakes her head, and a tear falls from her eye as she wraps her hands around his wrists. “Please. I want to have this baby in Crescent Lake. I want our first moments as a family to be in our home . ”

It only takes Wesley a split second to switch into problem-solving mode. “Can we use your transport stone to get to Crescent Lake?” he asks me.

Sebastian angles his body in front of mine as his brother’s attention lands on me once again, even though the blanket covers everything from view.

I grimace. “Rune is already on her way to the trafficker’s headquarters with the other half of the set.”

“I can take you there,” a voice says from behind us.

Sebastian whirls around and stands protectively in front of me. His claws extend, and fur sprouts on his forearms and from his back, his lycan ready to defend me and everyone out here with us.

The other two males growl as well, both of them positioning themselves in front of their mates.

But Haven steps out from behind Wesley as quickly as he placed himself in front of her, staring wide-eyed at the silver-haired and silver-eyed female in front of us.

Wesley relaxes too, and the female strolls towards us, her long white gown trailing behind her through the underbrush and the fabric billowing with the breeze.

As she crosses from the forest’s edge to Wesley and Haven, the dwindling moonlight follows her—emanates from her.

A sense of familiarity fills me in her presence. It’s similar to—but stronger than—the familiarity Haven’s aura gives me. It grows stronger every moment I’m in her presence.

“Selene.” Wesley nods to her when she stops in front of them.

Her eyes are only on Haven. Her daughter.

“You came,” Haven whispers.

“I promised you I would.”

“I know, but…”

Selene takes Haven’s hands in hers. “Grandchildren aren’t born every day.”

Haven swallows, and a hesitant smile appears on her face. She squeezes Selene’s hands as Wesley wraps an arm around Haven’s shoulders.

“Is that why you kept looking at the forest and the moon?” I ask Haven. “Because you were searching for her?”

“Yes.”

Wesley’s jaw ticks, and his fingers drum against his leg impatiently .

“We should go,” Selene says, noting Wesley’s apprehension. “There is still plenty of time, but you should be comfortable,” she adds to Haven.

In the blink of an eye, they’re gone.

I stare at the spot they no longer occupy. With both Haven and Selene gone, the night is darker and colder. It’s not scary or unsafe, just different because of the absence of their celestial power.

“I can’t believe it.” My voice is still reverent even though she’s gone. “I can’t believe Selene is here .”

Sebastian nods, but he’s watching Nolan and Cassandra, who are engaged in a silent, mindlinked conversation on the deck.

“Nolan?” Sebastian prods, pulling his attention away from Cassandra and to us.

“I’ll let Micah know what’s going on,” Nolan says. “I take it you want to go back to Crescent Lake as well?”

“Yes,” Sebastian nods. “I need to meet my niece or nephew.”

Nolan flashes him a rare smile. “We’ll meet you there later.” He and Cassandra head inside.

Sebastian spins to face me. “Do you want to run or drive back to Crescent Lake?”

A grin forms on my lips. “Run. Definitely run.”

He grabs the edges of my blanket, tugs me closer to him, and slams his mouth down on mine. The kiss is heated, frantic, and everything our early kisses all those years ago were when we knew we had limited time together.

Before I can get lost in it, before I can feed my kiss-starved soul, he breaks away from me and spins me out of the blanket and towards the forest.

“You better run fast,” he teases, stalking after me as I take off into the trees. “Because I’m not giving you a head start this time.”