Healing His Soul's Mate (17 page)

Shade, Ashlynn, and Kaleb, sitting in the sand, still watching and listening, were joined by Sage and Dr. Stone. “Myron said it’s time to get her into the house. The moon is rising. Let’s hope these babies are more agreeable than their da.”

Sage soaked the bottom of her skirt, approaching the trio as she entered the shallows of the lagoon. “Serena, how long will your song affect them?”

“It’s hard to tell. They are so little but they’re strong willed like their parents. I can assure twenty minutes, but not much more.”

“Go rest and get something to drink, but we might need you again.”

She nodded. Kaleb jumped to his feet to assist his wife out of the water.

Shade informed Ashlynn, “She has never sung so long. I also suspect there might be a slew of men in the vicinity who have all been lulled to sleep. Shame her song doesn’t work on everyone. It might be a better means of having people sleep through the portal opening.”

“Come on, Dana. Let’s see if you can’t walk into the cottage. Unless you have changed your mind and wish to deliver here?”

Dana shook her head and took three steps before Rekkus lifted her high into his arms.

“Rekkus, I said for her to try and walk. It’s good for her to—”

“Sage, I have her.”

Sage glanced at the sky. “Give me strength as I deal with protective men.”

Despite his overprotectiveness and surliness, he alone inherently knew what she needed. Ashlynn had been surprised to see her sister so peaceful, almost as if asleep in his arms as they passed. Sage and two other women Ashlynn had never seen before followed him into the cottage. The doors and windows closed behind them as if by…magic.

Cyrus came out a second later, pulling his earplugs out. “All right, Sage,” he called over his shoulder. “No need to be bossy.”

“So now we wait.” Shade settled on one of the Adirondack chairs near the house. “I need to stay close to read their souls in case Serena needs to come back, but you are welcome to take a walk if you need to, Ash.”

“No, I want to stay. With you.” She climbed into his lap, laying her head on his shoulder.

“I am betting the Haus is an understaffed place right now. Poor Myron is forced to hold down the fort tonight.”

“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 family 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.