Out of Smoke and Ashes

  “Sorry about the mess,” Mai said.

  Elain headed for her phone. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it. I’ll also call Dr. Alberto for you.” Everyone in the house now had the doctor’s private number on speed dial.

  “Thanks, Elain,” Micah called over his shoulder as they headed down the hall.

  She was on the phone with the doctor when her three men tumbled out of the bedroom together, in various states of dress.

  “She okay?” Brodey asked as he stumbled into the kitchen, still zipping up his jeans as he ran.

  “Where is she?” Cail asked as he pulled on a shirt.

  Ain seemed to be the only one who’d managed both a shirt and pants before getting out to the kitchen. “Did anyone call Dr. Alberto yet?”

  Once she got off the phone, she answered them. “Yes,” she said to Brodey. “Getting ready,” she said to Cail. “And done,” she said to Ain. “Although if one of you wanted to clean up that,” she said as she pointed, “so I can go get ready, that’d be great.”

  The three men crowded around the chair. “What is it?” Brodey asked.

  “Her water broke.”

  As one, all three men stepped back with squeamish looks on their faces.

  She jammed her fists against her hips. “Really? Really? You guys birth friggin’ calves all the damn time!”

  “She’s a coyote,” all three said at once before looking sheepish.

  “Argh! Fine, get out of here and see if Micah and Jim need help or want you to pull the cars around or…something. And wake up Mom and Dad.”

  She grabbed a roll of paper towels and a bottle of spray cleaner from under the sink and started cleaning the chair and the puddle on the floor. “Oh, someone call Callie and Lina,” she hollered after them.

  A few moments later she was standing up to throw the paper towels away when she turned, letting out a shriek.

  Callie stood behind her, leaning against the counter and grinning. “Hiya. Brodey called.”

  “Holy crap, a little warning, huh?” Elain let out a laugh and washed her hands before hugging her friend.

  “Sorry. Couldn’t resist. Sir shooed me out the door when Brodey called. Said since I was coming down solo I could cheat with the travel method.” She had a backpack slung over one shoulder. “I’ve had this bug-out bag packed for a week now,” she said with a playful smile. “Didn’t know I’d get to use it so soon.”

  Elain got dressed and within twenty minutes they were taking three vehicles up to Tampa.

  Callie and Elain rode with Mai.

  “Please tell me this is going to be okay,” Mai tearfully asked Callie.

  “Sweetie, this is going to be one of the best days of your life,” she assured her. “You’re finally going to get to meet your little girl.”

  “The Princess,” Elain said, using the nickname they’d all started using to refer to the baby. “This Christmas will be for the Princess and the Beasts.”

  Mai managed an uncertain smile before another contraction contorted her face in pain.

  Dr. Alberto quickly reassured Mai once they got to the hospital. “It’s all right, Mai. The last ultrasound showed she was already over six pounds. It’s not like she’s a tiny preemie.”

  Getting her settled in the same birthing suite Lina had used took less time and preparation than for the birth of the Beasts. Twenty minutes later, Dr. Alberto was studying the baby’s monitor feed.

  “There. Strong heartbeat. She’s doing great, Mai.”

  She didn’t even have time to ask for painkillers, because twenty minutes later, the baby was crowning. Lina burst into the room just in time to take her place next to Elain and offer encouragement and emotional support.

  And then…a loud, strong cry filled the room.

  Micah and Jim let out whoops of joy as they kissed a sobbing Mai. “You did it, sweetie!” Micah said. “You did great!”

  Dr. Alberto was all smiles. “You have a beautiful daughter, Mai.”

  “Is she okay?”

  “Give us a minute to get her checked out. Daddies, you want to come cut the cord?”

  Elain and Callie swapped places with Jim and Micah and held her hands. “Is she okay?” she tearfully asked again. “Please, tell me she’s okay!”

  The newborn let out another screaming cry.

  “So far,” Dr. Alberto said, “she looks great.”

  Twenty minutes later, the baby girl was swaddled and nestled on Mai’s chest. “We’re going to need to do tests to make sure she’s not in any danger,” Dr. Alberto cautioned, “but from the last ultrasound, it looked like her heart was good and strong. And I cannot promise you what neurological or developmental challenges there might be.”

  Mai tearfully nodded as she stared down into her baby’s face.

  “Do we have an official name for the Princess?” Elain gently teased. The little girl had brilliant green eyes, emerald green, a different shade than either Brodey or her dad had.

  Micah and Jim looked like any other proud, awestruck new fathers, huddled in close on either side of Mai.

  Mai nodded, her eyes never leaving her baby. “Bertholde Lynnette Gallatin Dixon Donovan.”

  Lina laughed. “That’s a mouthful and a half.”

  Mai nodded. “I know I never got to meet Bertholde, but I wanted to honor her. Lynnette was my mom’s name. We’ll call her BettLynn.”

  “That’s beautiful,” Elain said as she reached in and stroked the baby’s cheek.

  Lina wiped away a tear. “She would have loved that, I’m sure.”

  “And now,” Callie said, “let’s give the new parents a little alone time.”

  They went to join the others in the waiting room, who let up a small chorus of happy cheers over the news and the name.

  Ain pulled Elain to him and kissed the top of her head. “And our family grows again.”

  She stuffed back her own disappointment that, at least this month, she wouldn’t be growing. “Yeah.”

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  In her matronly form, Baba Yaga silently materialized in the hallway. Around her the house lay still and quiet despite the numerous shifters of various races sleeping around her.

  She closed her eyes and focused until she located the bedroom she wanted. Without making any noise, she opened the door and stepped in.

  The cherubic infant girl, only three weeks old, lay sleeping in her crib.

  Baba Yaga smiled down at her, mindful of the baby monitor on the table next to the crib.

  You are still beautiful, my dear friend. This was the only option. I hope you understand that.

  She carefully picked up the baby, who stirred but didn’t make any noise. As the infant opened her emerald green eyes she gazed up at Baba Yaga with wonder on her tiny face.

  Followed by a gummy grin.

  Baba Yaga smiled back and gently chucked the baby on the chin before disappearing from the bedroom with her.

  In a different nursery to the north and over a hundred miles away, she materialized with the infant girl safely cradled in her arms.

  In their separate cribs, the two boys, only a couple of months older than the little girl in her arms, lay sleeping. One with a shock of dark hair and tan skin, the other fair and blond.

  How to do this?

  She walked over to the blond boy’s crib, knowing he would be quieter. She did not want to attract any attention. When she picked him up, he opened his sweet blue eyes and stared up at her.

  He awarded her with a handsome, toothy smile as she made a silly face at him.

  Barely able to contain her laughter, she carried both babies over to the other boy’s crib and gently laid them there, the little girl between them. The other boy awoke as she did, making no noise as he watched her.

  Baba Yaga looked at the baby monitor sitting on the dresser between the cribs and finally waved her hand at it. The blue light on its front went dark, as did the base unit in the parents’ bedroom next door.

  I don’t need
Lina up my ass right now.

  She reached into the folds of her robe for a silver knife and a small bottle of water. She placed the knife in the crib and carefully gathered both of the girl’s hands in one of hers. She sprinkled the enchanted water over the girl’s palms and traced symbols in them with her other hand. Then she repeated it with the right palm of the blond boy, who lay on the girl’s left side, as well as the left palm of the other boy.

  Working quickly, she offered up the old chant before quickly using the knife to painlessly retrace the symbols in their flesh. Then with both her hands, she joined the girl’s hands to the boys’ hands as a soft, pink glow engulfed their palms.

  “Goddess above, Goddess below,” she quickly whispered, “Holy triad Fate does know. These three souls to each are bound, through webs of Time their threads are wound. As before so shall they be again…” She choked back a sob. “Loves once more, joy returned to them.” She sniffled and blinked to clear the tears from her eyes. “I now right the wrong evil stole from thee. As I spake it, so mote it be.” The glow briefly flared around their hands before disappearing.

  She pulled a clean cloth from her robe and dampened it with more water from the bottle. The babies, however, didn’t want to release their grips on each other. The infant girl looked first at the blond boy, then the dark-haired one.

  Baba Yaga stifled another laugh. “It’s all right, little ones. There is all the time in the world now.”

  After the babies let her wipe their palms clean, she checked their hands. Faintly visible, they all bore matching marks. Before she returned the blond boy to his crib, she smiled and kissed each of them on the forehead. “All the time in the world for the three of you now,” she whispered.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  Four days before Christmas Eve, Elain awoke early and knew she wouldn’t be able to go back to sleep. She pulled on her robe and went to get the coffee started before heading down the hallway. She peeked around the doorway into the bedroom now acting as BettLynn’s nursery. The infant lay awake and turned her head to look at her.

  Now spotted, Elain smiled and walked over to her, carefully picking her up. A soothing sense of peace filled her whenever she held the baby. “I will never get over your beautiful emerald eyes, little girl,” Elain softly said.

  The baby smiled at her, giving her a gummy grin.

  Elain walked over to the changing table with her. “Your cousins are coming by today to meet you,” Elain said as she unfastened the pink onesie with Daddy’s Little Princess emblazoned over a gold crown. “Auntie Lina, and Uncle Jan, and Uncle Rick…” She thought about it for a moment. “And Uncle Zack and Uncle Kael.” She giggled as she got a fresh diaper on the baby. “You’ll have a lot of aunts and uncles to keep track of. Sorry about that.”

  The baby cooed.

  While Lina and her men had come for visits since BettLynn’s birth three weeks earlier, they’d left the Beasts at home with Zack and Kael, wanting to make sure not to expose the little girl to too many people before Dr. Alberto could assure them it wouldn’t harm her.

  And Elain had gone up to Lina’s with her men a few times. The Beasts, not too much older than BettLynn, looked like enormous linebackers compared to the baby girl.

  Elain sighed as she picked BettLynn up and the feeling of utter peace filled her once more.

  I really should get back on the pill. Or tell her guys she’d taken herself off it. With so much going on right now, it probably wasn’t wise to add another baby to the mix—or babies, with her luck—to increase their vulnerability.

  Ain had promised a six-month trial period when they got together and she quit her job for them. That he wouldn’t go getting her pregnant if she’d just try doing things their way. Spend the time getting to know them better. If she wasn’t happy at the end of those six months, he’d promised to sit down with her and talk about her going back to work if that was what she wanted.

  She’d long ago decided that, with all the recent events, going back to a “normal” job wasn’t practical, or even possible. Not with her entire world view being shifted the way it had.

  And now her dad was a part of her life. She didn’t want to miss a minute of that.

  Not to mention, the frequent visions of her and her men as parents had shattered her certainty about waiting to start a family.

  Meanwhile, the current events counterbalanced those feelings and clouded her thinking even further. She still had days where she couldn’t believe she had not one, but three husbands, much less that she was a shape-shifter.

  Life had changed in drastic ways from just a few months ago.

  It felt like years had passed since she’d come to Arcadia in July to cover the First Annual Highland Games, where she’d crossed paths with her men. Then again, sometimes it felt like just yesterday. She’d been alone in her life and focused on her career.

  She stared down at the baby. Now I have a whole family I never dreamed of.

  Mai walked in, laughing after being startled at the sight of Elain standing there. “Oh, thank you,” she said. “Aunt Elain on the job.”

  “No problem.” She looked down into the little girl’s eyes again. “It’s good practice.”

  Mai cocked her head at her. “You’re…”

  She shook her head. “No. Not yet. One day.” She gently chucked the baby’s chin before handing her over to her mother. “I kind of did a bad thing, though.”

  Mai frowned. “What are you talking about?”

  As Elain revealed her secret, Mai’s expression softened. “As the Clan’s Seer, I think you’re entitled to get pregnant if you want to. Ain swore to give you six months, but that doesn’t mean you can’t change your mind and get pregnant if you want to. They’re your mates. They’re committed to keeping you happy. Besides, isn’t the six months pretty much up?”

  “Next month. But I still need to fess up.” She hugged herself. “There are bad things on the horizon. This is just a respite. Probably not the wisest move for me to get pregnant right now.”

  Mai hugged her baby a little more closely to her. “How bad?”

  “I don’t think Rodolfo Abernathy is really dead. We never found his body.”

  Mai blinked. “You think he’ll come after us again? Or you saw it?”

  “I haven’t seen anything. That’s the problem.” She leaned against the nursery wall. “I am apparently the world’s worst Seer. I don’t see shi—inola.” She laughed. “Lina’s the world’s worst Goddess, according to her, and I’m the world’s worst Seer.” She grinned. “We’re a real pair, aren’t we?”

  Mai looked down at her baby and back up at Elain. “Micah told me we have to go back to Maine in a couple of weeks, after New Year’s. All of us. Daniel said the Clan Council and Andel’s flagyer want to do an official recognition ceremony for all the babies at the same time. And members from other shifter groups will be there. Join the different…whatever you’d call them, and officially merge them to form the new power structure. A mega-Clan. Jan and Kael will be part of the new Clan Council. And they’re planning the biggest Gathering in fifty years in Yellowstone this coming spring.”

  Elain nodded. “I know. Ain and Mark have been armpit-deep in all the planning and communication with Daniel.” She reached out and stroked the baby’s forehead. The feeling of peace returned. “She’s so beautiful.”

  “Dr. Alberto said yesterday she appears to be in great shape, even with Down syndrome. It’s still too soon to tell what her cognitive or developmental delays might be.” She smiled at her daughter. “They think she might have hearing problems, but it’s difficult to know since she’s a shifter baby. She’s got some of the physical characteristics.” She shrugged. “I still think she’s beautiful.”

  “That’s because she is beautiful.” Elain gently grasped Mai’s bare upper arm. A soft, fuzzy image washed through her, of a slightly older BettLynn, sitting up on the floor and playing with two other babies. Lina’s babies.

  Mai’s eyes widened. “Wha
t do you see? You see something, don’t you?”

  She laughed. “Yeah, guess maybe I’m not as sucky a Seer as I thought.” She released Mai’s arm. “It was BettLynn and the Beasts playing together. Nothing bad, I swear.”

  “Oh.” She looked relieved. “I’m a little afraid to let them too near her right now. Does that sound horrible? The Beasts, I mean. Not Lina. I’m afraid when they’re bigger they might accidentally hurt her being too rough.”

  “No, that doesn’t sound horrible. That sounds like a protective new mother. I would definitely exercise caution until we see how they do with her.” She shrugged. “From what I saw they weren’t being rough with her, but that was just a brief snapshot.”

  “Thanks.”

  * * * *

  It was a little after lunchtime when Lina and her crew arrived at the ranch for their Christmas visit. They’d be staying with them until the day after New Year’s, the house once again full to the bursting point as others, Blackie and Callie included, as well as Kitty and Wally, would join them for the holidays.

  Elain loved it. This would be the first Christmas she’d ever spent with this many family members. Sometimes, she and her mom had gone to her aunt’s house in Spokane when she was growing up, but frequently it was just the two of them.

  It would be the first Christmas she’d ever spent with her dad.

  All the adults had admittedly gone overboard on buying presents for the babies. And it was the first time the Lyall men had put up a Christmas tree in their home since their parents’ deaths.

  Elain hurried out to greet her friends and beat them to opening the RV door to see the boys securely strapped in their car seats.

  “There’s Aunt Elain’s little Beasts!”

  Both boys gave her identical wide, toothy grins and started kicking their legs and waving their arms at her.

  Lina laughed. “Glad to know you’re so happy to see them. You can have midnight feedings.”

  “Totally on the bottle now, are they?”

  She snorted. “Oh, hell yeah. Apparently full-blooded dragon women have tits of titanium. Me, not so much. My Goddessly powers don’t protect me from ravenous offspring. I gave up all attempts to breast-feed after we got back from Maine.”