King Cave (Forever Evermore, #2)(74)
“I know,” I murmured as he fixed his pants. I picked up his belt and my panties, which were both ruined, and tossed them deep into a trash can, under a few things smelling horrendous, and used a few of the wet wipes to clean off my own hands. “How does my hair look?” I pitched the wet wipes into the trash, and turned to him.
His lips twitched as he pulled his hood up, which had fallen at some point. “Like you’ve been properly f*cked.”
I sighed, waving my hands at it. “Well, fix it.”
“Calm down,” he murmured softly, running his fingers through my hair, which did, indeed, feel tangled as he tugged through it relentlessly. “Whoever put up the spell did so with our protection in mind.”
“And hopefully not blackmail,” I griped quietly, fixing his shirt, which was crooked. “This is King Nelson’s party, after all.” I paused. “Lots of Mages.”
His fingers stalled for a moment before moving again through my hair. “Do try to be optimistic. Comments like that take years off my life.”
I sighed. “I’m just trying to prepare for who I might have to kill.”
His gaze met mine. “If there’s any killing that needs to be done because we’re sleeping together,” he actually pumped his pec muscles, “I’ll be the one to do it.”
I stared, dry words flowing, “Really? A man thing?”
He sniffed, jaw hardening. “Yes.”
I patted his chest. “Okay, Conan, you can kill the baddies.” I smiled sweetly. “And I’ll scream and run away in terror.”
He blinked, then snorted. “That’ll be the day.” But he positioned himself in front of me as we moved toward the door. He paused for a moment with his hand on the door handle, ear to the door, but his eyebrows came together as he glanced at me with a shake of his head. Cracked the door just a smidge to peek out. He jerked, cursing, as it slammed back into his face from the outside.
Low and behold, Bindi slipped inside the door, shutting it firmly behind her. My lips pinched and my claws literally sliced through my fingers, even as Ezra growled at her, his predator taking voice, while he rubbed at his eye. Bindi placed her hands on her hips, stating bluntly, “Are you two f*cking insane?”
“Possibly.” I smiled at her. It wasn’t pretty, my eyes flashing. “You were the one who put the protection on the room?”
She huffed. “Of course I was. I was here to pass out free condoms to all the partiers, and decided to check the storage closet where people — who are f*cking morons — sometimes sneak off. And imagine my surprise when I hear the Prodigy Shifter and Prodigy Vampire going at it.” She shook her head, crossing her arms. “Do you know how many people I shooed away?”
I stared at her foot as it started thumping in irritation at our silence.
“Um, no?” Ezra asked slowly, also watching her closely, his nostrils flared.
She snorted. “Apparently, there’s some really good wine in here King Nelson wants.” Her gaze wandered to the broken wine bottle on the floor, rolling her eyes, before her attention returned to us. “Roughly, I turned away fifteen people, only six of which were sneaking back here to do what you two were already doing,” she glanced at her watch, “for the last forty-five minutes.” She rubbed her ear, glancing at me. “The spell doesn’t work for the person who creates it. No one will ever claim you have weak lungs.” She chuckled, gaze to Ezra. “Or you.”
My wolf’s nails disappeared. “You aren’t going to say anything?”
She blinked. “I’m a physician. I’ve seen many things in my lifetime that I’ve never once divulged information about. Besides, if I was going to say something about you two, I would have done so when I determined he was the father of your twins.”
We both stilled.
“Excuse me?” I asked gently. “How the hell did you know that?”
Her eyebrows rose. “You mean other than the fact that he acted like the father trying to not act like the father?” I growled, and she stated hurriedly, “During my exam, I knew the babies were hybrids. Their power signatures were in their DNA, unprotected and new. Vampire and Shifter. I didn’t just scan you, Ms Ruckler. I also scanned them when I did the internal exam.”
My whole body stiffened. “Did you treat me any differently, knowing they were hybrids?”
Instant. “No, I did everything I could to save them. I’m not the Executioner. That isn’t my job, thank God.” She actually scowled at me. “I save lives, not take them.”
Truth.
My whole body relaxed.
Ezra cleared his throat. Twice. Quiet words. “Do you know what their genders were?”
Her lips pinched, her gaze instantly softening before lowering. “Are you sure you want to know?” She motioned to the room. “You’re both moving on. Why stray to the past?”
“Please…,” he whispered softly, eyes avidly on her.
She cleared her throat. “A boy and a girl.”
My breath caught, and my knees weakened to the point that Ezra had to slide an arm around me, holding me close so I didn’t crumble.
Bindi’s gaze met ours, and I saw only the medic in her expression. “When you plan to have children again,” her tone was matter-of-fact, her gaze flicking back and forth between Ezra and me, “make sure you see a doctor immediately, once you believe conception has occurred. She has a weak cervix, an incompetent cervix. There’s a procedure the Coms do — we sometimes perform it on the few Mysticals who need it — to sew the cervix.” She glanced at me. “It can’t be done once you’re dilated to four centimeters,” her gaze again flicked between Ezra and me, “but before that, it can be done to help the cervix from dilating. That procedure and bed rest will give you a better shot at a healthy baby being born.”