It took about two seconds for my shock and confusion, and my eyes going from Clayton to the empty mattress beside him, for him to launch up and drag me with him. I told him as we headed into the kitchen, Clayton following Elena's trail, that we'd just been outside and he and Elena had headed off for Stonehaven together. Which they naturally hadn't, of course, if he was here.
He kicked Lucas awake and headed outside, gazing around, waiting impatiently for Lucas to get up. If I'd seen Clayton then I wasn't seeing a werewolf. We needed a different kind of backup for this one.
Paige came out, Lucas was going to wake Savannah and Adam and keep the house watched, and the three of us headed into the forest. Clayton was sensing and hearing things I couldn't, I trusted his nose, and Paige was quick to release whatever had been messing with my senses.
"Stay behind me." He said, softly, and spoke a little louder. "Elena? If you can hear me, that ain't me."
I understood- a magic user may not hear that. Elena, if she was close enough, she would. He was repeating this, softly, his feet barely making a sound, Paige and myself doing our best to copy him and step where he had. Clayton was moving at a fast lope, still in his boxers, ignoring the wet bushes and the dampness, focused on chasing down the person who'd lured his mate away.
The barriers between races in this world was starting to fall down big time. We knew how to deal with a mutt. But with a sorcerer or something? This was a new thing, a very new thing, and something we clearly had to address another time.
The bush crowded in around us, the rain getting a little heavier again and effectively making Clayton's voice drown out a little bit. He raised it, shoulders and neck so tense the veins were standing out, the head injury apparently a long forgotten 'disability'. Paige was doing something with her hands behind us.
Suddenly his pace went from jog to run. I heard it when we got closer to Stonehaven, the sound of grunts, skidding feet on the ground, muffled bangs, some kind of odd scuffle. A car running nearby.
We burst into the clearing to see Elena and a woman struggling as she tried to get a syringe into her arm. It was an incredible sight- Elena was naked, blonde hair glowing in the moonlight, muscles rippling, her fists flying like a pro. The other woman was clearly struggling, the syringe getting knocked back, pain in her face as she dealt with hand to hand combat without any real experience in how to handle it. As we ran closer across the field, Elena and the woman kept it up, Elena keeping the woman's hands lowered for as long as possible.
Not forever though. There was a flash of magic, Paige suddenly ahead of us, panting from the jog and run, her face red and taunt with concentration, but her eyes were fixed on the other woman. I had to assume she was a witch, maybe, because she was using her hands to make things happen.
We ran right into some kind of barrier. There was another woman, sliding out of the car, her own face bloody and nose crooked. Probably Elena's beautiful work. She had her hands up and was trying to stop us from getting close. Clayton swore and with every damn muscle he had slammed his fist into the magical barrier.
"Give me a moment." Paige was working, her eyes fixed on the woman, and for the first time I saw exactly why Paige was the coven leader. She wasn't weak.
Elena and the first woman were still going at it, even as the woman counter attacked with spells rather than fists, Elena's eyes very clear now. Her eyes were narrowed, she didn't look at us, but I suspected she knew we were there- she was backing up towards us.
A ball of energy hit Elena, or something did, as the witch's hand touched Elena's head and 'zapped it'. It was the only description I had for it. Elena's eyes widened then shut, body slumping down on the grass, just as the barrier was released.
The woman, about to lift Elena up, took one look at Clayton and was running backwards, the car screeching around in a mad circle, tyres digging into the mud, a door flying open as they tried to get away.
I moved then, trying to grab the woman before she got her arm free of my hand with a painful zap, made it into the driver's seat, collapsing awkwardly across the other woman as the car took off again. Clayton was faster than I was. Clayton slammed his fist down on the bonnet, the top of it flying up. They skidded, him grabbing onto the car door that was still swinging, their vision blinded by the big metal cover.
Just as they were about to miss a tree, I watched with amazement as he suddenly shoved his legs down into the ground, the fury fuelling him, muscles bulging suddenly as his feet dug deep into the ground, shoving the entire bloody car into the direction of the trees. With the driver's impaired control- she had her friend in her lap- they didn't miss those ones. With a sickening crunch of metal they crashed into the tree and he got up out of the muddy ground, wiping his muddy hands on his thighs, glancing at me.
"What's wrong with you?" He glared, I flinched, and rushed over, trying to shake my shock free. He meant, why had I lost grip of the woman. But there was no time to argue about 'no time to tell'. The women were getting out, struggling with the air bag, looking bruised, sore, and pissed off.
He and I approached, Paige pausing behind us to check Elena, and whatever expression he was giving them was intimidating them pretty damn good. Or maybe they'd heard about what he did to intruders. I wondered if that applied to witches?
Then the fighting started again, as they tried to keep us away from them, eyes almost mad with the realisation that they were more or less cornered and screwed. Another powerful explosion, right in my stomach, it sent me flying back hard onto the ground, Clayton grasping a tree and hanging on till he could move closer again, circling around them slowly. I got up, circled the other way, eyes fixed in theirs. Intimidation was the best weapon sometimes. The woman I fixed my eyes in, her eyes were almost white, wide, her breathing fast, and I knew if I'd had the normal sense of smell she'd be reeking of fear and blood right now. I didn't need to smell it to feel that hunter excitement come. I'd never attack a human, never.
"I got an idea." Clayton drawled, as he stalked around them, keeping his distance. Not out of fear, he was scaring the crap out of them too, having judged how far their spells worked. "We let them run and we hunt them."
They flinched, the witch with her eyes in his face saying something I couldn't make out. It was either a plea or an insult that had failed under the weight of her own fear. Clayton must have heard it though.
"You trespass on my land, attack my A lpha, so you deal with my laws." He growled, a low angry growl, the sound vibrating through the dark heavy night, the rain quietening again. "Those laws don't mean nothing out here. Paige doesn't get a say."
There was a sudden last desperate attack on us, fire, zappy ball things, and the world shaking under our feet, I wasn't sure what it was, but from the way the wind suddenly screamed, it didn't sound like 'white magic'.
And then suddenly they were both knocked out. Just like that. Spells vanished, world went back to normal, and I saw what Clayton must have seen while he was distracting them- Paige was standing unnoticed on the car itself, holding onto a branch with one hand, the other still extended at the unconscious witches, her entire arm shaking.
Clayton strode over to kick the women onto their backs, and then glanced up at me, that same annoyance from earlier. "Something wrong with you?"
"The cure stopped working."
"You probably should have told me that earlier." Another annoyed look, as he moved away towards Stonehaven. No word to Paige, and that was probably a good sign that he approved of what she'd done, or I hope so.
Clayton bent over Elena, who was now lying on her back, Paige had probably moved her. "What is it, Paige?"
"Nothing harmful. She'll sleep a few hours." She called from the trees as she bound up the unconscious witches. No rope as far as I saw but they weren't going anywhere. More spells probably. This magic thing needed a 'sightseeing guidebook'.
"They were trying to inject her with this." I had spotted where the little plastic tube had fallen and went over to pick it up. "It's still full."
"Paige can carry that. You carry Elena, I'll carry those two." Clayton lifted Elena up and pushed her into my arms. She was much heavier when I wasn't strong but I could cope. I was determined to cope. After how useless I'd been tonight... "Jer will cure you when we get back." No, 'Would you like it' or 'we could...' it was a pretty clear order from him. I was a liability if I wasn't able to defend myself.
So I just nodded and hoisted her up carefully, trying to support her head, relieved to see she was more or less uninjured. If he trusted me to carry her then he wasn't completely mad with me.
We headed back slowly, my arms aching fast and faster as I tried to keep up with Clayton's jog, because he kept glancing back with impatient looks. He wasn't leaving Elena alone till she was awake again and I wasn't moving as fast as he was.
There were lights finally and I knew we'd made it. All the lower floor lights were on now when we got to Forestwatch and Jeremy already coming out with a blanket to cover Elena up. She was stirring, trying to fight it, probably really pissed off and still fighting them in her head. It would explain why her hands kept twitching.
"You got a basement cage still?" Clayton asked, as he stopped in the hallway with the two witches slumped under each arm, his face still tense with fury.
"They're not mutts, Clay, you can't question them." Jeremy said softly, and Clayton's face darkened.
"They come onto my land and attack our Alpha. They know what happens. You got a cage or not?"
I did still, though it had stuff in it from being unused for so long, and I went downstairs to empty it out so he could dump the two of them in there. Savannah went with him and did something with the basement to prevent them from doing magic.
"They probably expected Elena to be struggling with the drugs in her system." Jeremy thought aloud as he gazed at the two women unconscious on the concrete ground. He handed me a towel and I wiped the mud off my back as fast as I could. The top was ripped up too, probably from whatever they kept hitting us with, scrapes and scratches here and there, nothing too big.
"The one pretending to be you wanted me to go with them for a run." I muttered as I met Clayton's face. " I should have realised then. First run together, of course you two would want to go alone." It was the ideal time for fun in the forest without kids at the door.
"You acted fast. Jer, she's lost her strength." Clayton glanced at him. "We need to get the injection into her."
"No rush. I'll get it before breakfast. It's just after five now, I'll head over soon."
"You should go now and check Stonehaven." I spoke up, eyes going from one to the other. "Seeing as they were there." The image of it burning danced across my eyes when some mutt had set it on fire several years ago. The last thing we needed was for that to happen again.
Jeremy froze, nodding, and Clayton gave the witches a glare.
"Savannah can come with us." Clayton decided. "Paige stays down here."
Neither of us argued with that and they went upstairs, Clayton accepting pants from Nick who'd finally woken up to the activity below, while I saw Reece sitting outside and watching the forest. His head was poking up through the window.
I went to sit with Elena on the couch, her eyes fluttering, hands twitching, like she was really fighting the sleep and wanting to get her hands on those women again. It might have been funny another time. It had been too bloody close and it might have been worse. They must have snuck up on her while she was trying to change. It was lucky they hadn't got her mid-change. Or maybe they had? She had pretty good control and might have reversed it in a hurry.
She woke before Jeremy, Clayton and Savannah returned, flying up as the spell shattered, eyes narrowing till she caught sight of us. Elena blinked, staring around her, getting her bearings.
"Welcome back." Nick flopped down on her other side. "Want some clothes?"
"Where's Clay?"
"Checking Stonehaven for an infestation." I smiled somewhat, and she tried to return it, her smile tense. "You ok?"
"Annoyed." She slid up higher, tucking the blanket around her chest, rubbing her head. "Were they witches? Get any answers out of them yet?"
"Seems they were. Paige's watching them now. But we haven't had time to question them. They're probably working for Demetruis." I replied, a soft shrug, I was unsure. "We've got them downstairs and asleep. You knew it wasn't him?"
"He was complimenting you too much." She made a wry face at that. "I guessed pretty fast but had her lower her guard. Funny how people think being naked means you're suddenly weak."
I wasn't offended by that, because she was right, if he had been openly complimenting me then it was clearly not Clayton. I viewed Clayton's world as a pyramid. There was Elena and his kids, Jeremy probably there, right at the tip. The smallest group. We were just under them- his pack- and then under that was a tiny layer, so tiny it was practically impossible to tell it was there, where a few trusted non-pack people got to rest precariously. Paige and Lucas, maybe, Adam, Savannah... people who'd bled and sweated and suffered to get some grudging respect from him. Below that sat the entire damn world, humans and supernatural alike, who he preferred to dislike than like. Under that was everyone he loathed and that layer wasn't a small one. I had to assume Cassandra was apart of that not so exclusive world.
So no, while he liked us as his pack-sisters and brothers, the chances of him being openly nice about us so bluntly was very unlikely. Clayton had other ways to show it, show his trust, ones he never openly acknowledged. I'd realised that pretty fast and had learnt to watch for them, those tiny gestures that were easy to overlook, learning to read the superior wolf's body language so I knew when to duck back and when to come closer. It was an instinct that came with being pack. Allowing me to carry Elena, that was no small thing, or letting Logan and Kate stay overnight here from time to time.
"They're mad to come here at all." Nick said as he stroked Elena's arm, leaning against her, and she caught him peeking down the blanket and hit him. It was playful though. We'd all seen each other naked. That wasn't as big a deal to us as it was to other races.
A soft rumble of my stomach reminded me about food. "I'll get some breakfast. Nick can help." I decided, standing up, and Nick followed behind me obediently.
The three returned from Stonehaven just as breakfast was ready, flopping into the dining room table with the rest of us as I put the pancakes, sliced ham, bottle of syrup and other goodies on the table. The kids ate in the living room with the TV on, cartoons on, completely oblivious to what had just gone on. Elena wanted to tell them later with Clayton and she asked if she could be the one to tell Matt. Matt was so adoring of Clayton that it wasn't a bad idea. As long as Clayton made it clear he was in control, which he usually did, Matt wouldn't rush into the forest and try and rip legs open again.
We sat there, eating breakfast quietly, trying to not speak about it or who was in the basement. Clayton was itching to get downstairs but Elena had told him to wait a little while. They were witches and Paige wasn't keen on his 'questioning' just yet. Technically she still was more or less the big wig for their race. I was so used to men being the bad guys that I was a bit shocked, I'd forgotten that women could be and usually were equally as deadly or dangerous. Werewolves were primarily male, so naturally the bad ones had all up to now been male, but this wasn't going to be true for most races.
If the lines were blurring between our worlds as they were then I'd have to change my perception of who was a threat and who wasn't.
We were clearing the dishes up when Lucas got a phone call and Clayton had to go outside for a while, in order to resist the temptation to go do his brand of questioning, frustration there.
A phone call had Lucas leave for a while. Jeremy took me upstairs, even if I wanted to wait and see if this was about the twins, and he had me lie on our bed, Nick beside me to hold me down, so that he could administer the 'cure' and get me back to full strength for a while. How long, we had no clue, but it was better than putting everyone at risk if I couldn't fight.
It was a quick injection. Quick and ...as it started to flood through my veins, like fire, I felt something else in there. A tiny amount, maybe to reduce the pain, but I knew it was there. I swore, body convulsing, limbs thrashing as the fire spread throughout my limbs through the veins, so painfully aware of the stuff. Nick held me down, face draining of blood, lips pursed tight.
When it was over, the morphine addiction came into it, and I groaned, clutching to Nick, the words "I need more..." escaping before I could hold them back. I grabbed the stupid syringe, throwing it hard against the wall, the plastic container just bouncing back. Damn him. Fuck, fuck, fuck...
"More cure?" Nick wasn't sure what I meant.
"No, no more. Don't touch me with that shit again." I shut my eyes, squeezed them, shut, trying to fight through the need for the pain killer. My body had grown so used to morphine that it didn't take small doses- it was used to them- and it required huge amounts. More than most humans could safely take. This was a teaspoon when I was craving for a litre. A teasing amount that drove my body mad. It was too little for anyone to really notice, not with the residual pain the cure left in the body, but I noticed big time.
Nick was still holding me down, though for different reasons this time, confusion clouding his face. He glanced up at Jeremy.
Jeremy seemed to get what was going on before I did. He went over to the syringe and left, going downstairs, without another word. He needed a bitten wolf to smell the contents.
When he came back he told me. He didn't need to. I knew that it had morphine in it, just a tiny amount, Clayton had smelt the trace of it easily.
"I know. Fuck, fuck... can't we get it out?"
"Drink this. It might help." Jeremy was offering that charcoal drink again, anger there, but not at me. I had just started to really get in control again and Demetruis had just fucked me over. He kept doing it, kept slipping me that shit one way or another. "I didn't think to check it for that."
"You shouldn't have to."
I drank it, the desperation in my body, craving it not just with mind but in my actual physical body as well. Still I tried to push it down, tried to hold it back, sitting up slowly. The next few days was going to be hell. Slowly I inhaled, shutting my eyes, awareness of the world starting to come back in bit by bit. Nick and Jeremy's scents. The sound of voices downstairs, and the cartoon. Older smells of other things.
Lucas was coming. I heard him faintly, heard his steps coming, and tried to get the scowl off my face as he came in.
"We may have a way to get them but you'll have to fly to Miami. Are you okay?" His eyes went over my shiny skin, the sweat there from the pain, my shaking arms, and then to Nick's angry face.
"Yes." I tried to stand up. Screw the morphine, I had twins to get back. Nick stood up with me.
"I'm coming too." Jeremy added, glancing at me, a hand on my arm. He leaned closer as Lucas left with the phone. "We'll make sure you get through it again." His eyes met Nick's eyes.
"What about the attack on Elena?" I asked, softly, not wanting to take Jeremy away from her.
"There's more than enough protection here and she's fine. We'll go, get your babies, and return as fast as we can. Nick, pack up a bag of things for the babies." Jeremy glanced at Nick who nodded, moving away to find a bag and stuff it with stuff.
Benicio Cortez had sent that private plane again, a body guard waiting to stay with Lucas, his gratitude for my help a few days before apparently not giving up any time soon. Or maybe he just liked to know where his son was and who he was with? I wasn't sure. I sat there, body stiff and my stomach churning, the cravings and withdrawal a little less...but still frustrating.
"Because what she's doing is illegal, we can call the police." Lucas explained. "My father hoped to avoid doing it this way, hoped she'd see that, and we could avoid the messy side. But she's been stubborn about it. He's already got the police meeting us at her house when we get there. We wait outside, they go in, and she has to give the child up or face charges."
I nodded, hand in Nick's hand, the twin carriage- which had been the triplet's one but we'd taken the top carrier off- sitting in the back of the plane. Some part of me doubted it'd work, the other half was as desperate for it to work as I was for that stupid chemical. He'd gotten them clothing, food, and nappies, and I could see he was determined to get them back today.
Jeremy spoke with Lucas as I shut my eyes, trying to not throw up, the last of the flight passing by in a blur. Whatever tiny amount of the painkiller had been there, it was going now, the body getting rid of it quickly.
A car met the plane, a long limo complete with baby seats, whisking us through Miami, and the closer we got to the bridge, the more my heart raced. This time it had nothing to do with the drug. It was entirely to do with the twins. There was a police car waiting when we got there and the policeman told us to stay in the car while they handled it.
She might have been willing to attack us, it seemed, but a police man was a different thing. She had a reputation to uphold, she wasn't an unknown face here, and she put up no resistance. Lucas warned me softly that she might try for custody, if she knew about the morphine, but he'd be around if she did. He'd handled Paige's custody battle for Savannah. I didn't even realise he was a lawyer, not till now, and I was relieved to hear that. I wouldn't have known where to start.
I inhaled slowly when I saw the door open again, the policemen coming out with the two small bodies, I heard them whimper their distress as the sun hit their faces. They'd probably been woken up. The nanny was carrying one of them, the police man with the other, and they brought them to the car as Nick double checked that the baby seat things in the car were safe.
The nanny passed one to me, her eyes fixing me with as dirty a look as the older woman had, but I didn't give a damn what she thought. They weren't her children. I took Reece carefully, lowering him into my arms, as he squirmed and frowned and whimpered about how this was not a nice way to be woken. He'd start to cry soon, I saw the signs, and I shut the door in her face and held him against my chest, singing quietly into his ear, until he quietened down and was falling back asleep. Nick took Rose on the other side, thanking the police, and she easily quietened down in his arms with no effort.
Once we had them in their seats, cosy and tucked up, they quietened down and went back to sleep, my hand resting over Reece as I watched Rose. Jeremy's lips curled up in a soft smile.
"How you feeling now?" He asked as he reached over to take Rose's tiny hand, it curled around his finger.
"Calmer." I admitted. I did feel calm. Their smells were washing into me, filling up the empty places, removing all remaining panic. I was just looking forward to getting that clothing off them, checking them for problems, making sure that they were uninjured, happy, well fed.
Lucas told the driver to get going and we took off from the house. I was so caught up in watching them, fascinated by their yawns, by their secure grip on their thumbs, that I barely noticed we were at the airport already till Nick was lifting the car seat up and Jeremy was unhooking Reece's car seat.
"I'll carry him. Go on ahead." He reassured me. I nodded, flutters of anxiety returning for the brief second we were out in the open, and I suspected they wouldn't really fade until we got them back into Forestwatch.
It helped to have Jeremy there though, and Nick, the two of them on either side of the twins, Lucas keeping watch, his body guard equally as watchful and careful. I climbed in once they were safely secured, finding a seat just behind Nick and Reece. We took off again, neither baby caring much about the plane apparently, and made our way back for New York.
We hadn't even gotten there before there was news about the older woman, who's name was apparently also Rose, filing for custody. I frowned but Lucas told me to focus on it another day. He'd look into it and see what he could do.
That was fine by me. It was enough of a stress to get them home safely without worrying about legal bullshit.
I realised, as we were lowering for the other airport, that morphine in the treatment could have served Demetruis with an additional purpose. If it was in all treatments he could have people 'hooked' onto the treatments with not just the psychological need to be normal again but also a physical need for the contents.
Jeremy froze as I repeated this to him and he nodded a fraction. "It would have to be larger amounts than what you had today. It could explain some of the behaviour we've heard about."
"Like?"
"Attacks on humans that are close to exposure. Crime. Begging on the streets, for some. Some are offering their bodies now. They're getting desperate." He sighed. "How is your body doing?"
"I feel fine." No, I felt sick, my head hurt, my body was aching, but I was fine. I rested my head against the back of Nick's neck and felt him lean back a little. There'd be no morphine at Forestwatch or Stonehaven to tempt me. I'd just have to deal with it. Maybe I'd borrow Jeremy's cage if it got worse than this, that was how desperate the feeling was, that the panic I felt in any 'cage' was nothing compared to the physical and mental longing for a drug I loathed. I could happily be sedated in a cage if it meant I'd get back to control.
We lowered down, touching down on the runway, the smell that indicated it was nappy change just in time to make it awkward. Luckily the pilot didn't mind, we paused there, changing them on a blanket on the seat, before we lifted them up. Nick might have brought the pram but I wanted to cart them both around in my arms. Wanted to. I couldn't do it, my arms were shaking, so I let him push them through the airport to where we'd left the car, carrying the bag instead. Jeremy carried the seats behind us.
Clayton wasn't around when we got back. I had to assume he was downstairs, didn't care, I wanted to crawl into bed, put those babies beside me in a crib, and nap. No such luck for several hours though, the triplets were hysterical and needed to be calmed down, then they wanted to see the babies, then we had to make lunch, I craved that damn drug and my body ached from head to foot, the twins needing changing and feeding, and finally I only managed to get to lie down when the triplets went for their nap and I could lie down for mine.
Elena and Jeremy had vanished into our study to probably catch up, now that she was more or less raring to go, Antonio going to join them. Nick crawled into bed beside me, leaning across my back and stroking my shoulders as I groaned.
"We got them." He murmured against my back.
"Now we hire a nanny." I joked, though it felt less like a joke right now, and I heard him laugh above me. "You've got to go back to work."
Nick didn't answer for a while. He'd more or less used up his 'vacation days' and I knew he was trying to take his job seriously. But then he nodded against my back. "Dad and I have to go back tomorrow. We've been doing as much of it as we can from here but it's easier there."
Of course it was. I rolled onto my back and he smiled apologetically down at me, stroking my face, sliding closer. I knew he had to work in the city. We'd already made up our minds about this, that it was fine, but I suddenly wished he wasn't going away so far right now.
"Want a nanny?" Nick was serious now, stroking my face slowly, and there was concern there.
"It's okay. I'll manage." I smiled weakly. I hated the idea of any non-pack member touching my kids. Me, I could handle it, but my kids? No way. "I can't come with you tomorrow."
"Not yet." His eyes went from me to where Reece and Rose were asleep, their bodies pressed up against each other, one of them awake and watching the dangling mobile. One of them was asleep, lungs moving slowly, heart rate peaceful, and I wondered if they knew they were home. Knew that they were with me and it was safe here.
"I'd still like to live with you there when they're older." I admitted, loving his reaction to that, the smile that crept across his face. "But I'd like to see you too."
"I'll try to stop the late nights." Nick agreed, brushing hair out of my face as I touched his arm, his chest, running my hands down his stomach .
Those words made me sight a little. I shifted up, kissing his neck, wrapping arms around him. Truth was, this was part of him. He liked going out. I wasn't going to force him to stop. "You can still do it. Just a few less."
"I'll try a few less then." He relaxed against me, arms coming around me as well, shoulders slumping. "Want to go for a run tonight?"
"We'll ask Elena if it's fine. I need to go for a run." I nodded, kissing the taunt skin there, his soft shudder responding to my teasing.
"Thought you wanted a nap."
"I do." I yawned, laying back, curling up. If he tried anything I'd probably fall asleep halfway through. Nick laughed and slid over to lay beside me, arm across my side, pulling hair out of his way to reach the tender skin at the back of my neck.
"Then nap."
I did, finally letting go of the last clingy bits of anxiety, eyes closing and the sounds of Nick's heart and the twin's hearts in my ears, and the voices of triplets down in their own room nearby.
Someone when I woke up, things were peaceful still, a small miracle. I lay there, the triplets now in the room with a book between them, Matt downstairs doing something near the pool... something about a mud fort around the house... and Nick was in the study downstairs, I could hear him if I strained my ears enough, hear him speaking to someone at work.
I sighed slowly, relaxing, letting the sounds and smells of the world merge in the back of my mind, rolling onto my back. The most problematic thing, it seemed, was that I'd drooled on the pillow. Not a big problem.
The babies themselves were both awake, somehow having gotten their hands on a soft toy, their small hands holding it and dropping it... then picking it back up. I kept thinking of them as newborn but they really weren't any more. Time was already flying by and I'd missed the first few months of their life.
It made me more determined to hang onto them from now on.
Custody battle. Shit. The words made me sit up, three pairs of eyes catching the movement, but the triplets were too engrossed in their story book. Lucas would tell me more when he knew more. What else was I trying to avoid by being 'too relaxed to care'? Now that I was sitting up I knew that the disease, the witches, all of it... they were all going on outside the room.
Instead of rushing downstairs and joining in that chaos I lowered a baby mat thing onto the ground and lowered the babies onto it. I read to all five of them then, even of the babies were too little to get it, letting one toddler at a time sit in my lap with a baby.
The sudden though, I wished my parents could be here for this, it made me freeze on the spot, a kind of grief I'd ignored coming back. Their faces, if they'd seen me with all these kids under four... I couldn't imagine if they'd laugh or pretend to have a headache and run for the car. My sister would have been delighted. But then, she'd spaced her kids out with years between, so she could be.
And my parents. They'd be reminding me that it was time to think about school for the triplets. School! I wondered if they were even old enough for preschool. I remembered I'd gone when I was four, though I barely remembered it, but who knew these days. Acutaly, Dad would think the idea was stupid. Three year olds needed real life experience, not chess lessons in a preschool, and Mum would be more concerned with the cost of the school.
I shut my eyes, leaning back against the wall, wishing that they were alive. It would be easier. Not just because I could ask for help, but just ...because, sometimes all you needed was to talk to your mum or your dad about things. Or your sister even. However much Susie had mothered me, I could have told her anything and known she wouldn't pass it onto our parents, and I could ask for advice on topics knowing she'd never gossip about it later. At least not to Mum and Dad. I'd never known that was so important till they suddenly weren't on the other end of a phone line.
"You all right?" Lillian's voice came through my thoughts. I opened my eyes as she sat down on the other side, accepting Lily's snuggle, the two of them bonding so fast over their names it would have been funny another time.
"Just thinking about my parents. How they would have pretended to have a headache after a few hours and gone to find peace." I smiled weakly. "It would have been nice for them to see these five."
"Where are they? I mean, if you-"
"They died three and a half years ago." I reached down to pick up Rose. She let me prop her up on her behind, looked almost delighted by the sudden copy to us, and Lillian did the same with Reece. For the first time in their lives, I assumed, they were suddenly sitting upright and their heads were steady enough to stay there. They both seemed a bit shocked by this sudden change in the way the world looked.
"How did they die?" She asked softly. I met her eyes, briefly, remembering that she wasn't young. Lillian was already in her seventies and getting close to her eighties. It was kind of sweet that Antonio was back with her again, unoffically. But that was my mind trying to sidetrack me from her question.
"They were murdered. Their house was set on fire and no one but Matt got out." The words were easy to get out but the feelings of grief and rage still tore each other apart. The half brother of these babies did it. What a messed up family.
She breathed out slowly. "I'm sorry to hear that. It must have been hard."
"We got who did it. But ...they never knew about the triplets." I leaned Rose back as her neck got tired, letting her rest against my legs half propped up, her hands coming up to try and grasp my hair as it swayed across her.
"It's hard to be without your parents. You never stop missing them." She agreed softly. "Mine knew about Nick but ...they never could accept it. They were relieved when I came home without him and tried to tell me to pretend he'd never happened."
"Like pretending it doesn't get dark at night."
"Exactly." She lowered Reece down. He must have been a fraction stronger than his sister in his neck. "I never thought I'd see him again."
"I think he never stopped missing you." I said the words very softly and I saw a kind of emotion twist across her face at that. Sadness, happiness, something.
"I'm glad he's letting me in his life."
"I think he never blamed you or his father. He tried to understand. He always tries." I reached out to touch her hand briefly.
"He told me that." Lillian admitted. Neither of us spoke a while.
The mood was low, depressing, and I knew that the babies and toddlers were picking up on it fast. So I asked, lighter, almost teasing her, "Antonio's been taking you out on dates?"
That made her flush and for a second she reminded me of a teenage girl who'd been caught sneaking out the window. "You heard?"
"This is a pack. Everyone hears eventually. You two have made up?"
"I'm still upset about what he did." She frowned, but the mood had lightened now, Lillian's eyes less clouded with the grief. "But yes. Now I know what you all are and how lucky I am to know... I just wish he'd told me then. I would have kept the secret for him."
"They might not have let you. The pack was different then." I said it quietly. They would have probably killed her and made him come home.
"No, but it is now. And I get to know all of these rugrats." She laughed softly. Maybe she knew, I wasn't sure, but Antonio had probably told her more or less what danger they'd been in. "I got sent up to send you downstairs while I babysat."
"All five on your own?" Again, she wasn't young. I struggled and I was apparently young!
"Tonio's coming up to help in a few minutes. Go on. We can read a book and play some games."
I heard Antonio downstairs, nodded, and got up as she lifted up the book I'd only half read. Rose was moved around to her other leg, propped up, the toddlers gathering around her as best they could.
Antonio met me halfway up the stairs and glanced back. "Clay wants you in the basement."
Ah bugger. Back to work then. I grimaced, he smiled a fraction, and we went our separate ways. I almost wanted to turn around and face the nappies all over again. As much as I did whatever it took, and I had with the ex-alpha, it was never the kind of thing I liked.
Clayton hadn't started yet and he wasn't alone. Paige was still there, arms crossed, giving him such a look that I was surprised she had it in her to face up to him like this.
"What's going on?" Somehow I didn't need them to answer. I could guess what he wanted to do.
"We need answers from them."
"That isn't going to get you truth. They'll just tell you want you want to hear."
I glanced into the cage. Both witches were tied up against the wall, one with a long cut already along one cheek, blood streaming down her face. It looked deep enough to go into her mouth. I breathed in slowly, trying to ignore the smell of tears and blood, and turned back. Again, it was hard... somehow it was easier to assume and treat male mutts as bad guys. But a couple of female witches who looked like they were in their twenties and thirties? THAT was a mindfuck...
"They'll tell me the truth." Clayton growled. I guessed he didn't see or care what gender or race they were. The 'laws' on this land were extending for everyone. If they'd shown up, they might have gotten a beat up and a warning, but by attacking Elena...
He needed answers. Paige wouldn't let him hurt them.
"What will you do with them, Paige?" I asked quietly. Elena came down then, cringing at the sight of the witche's cheek, then turned her eyes away. Clayton's anger faded at her expression.
"You don't have to see this, darling."
"If you two are about to go at each other, I do." She set her jaw, arms crossed, some of the blood draining out of her face. Maybe she'd never witnessed Clayton's techniques like I had. It probably didn't help their relationship … I wouldn't want Nick to see what I did sometimes. Elena turned to me. "Can you hypnotise them?"
Paige actually flinched, staring at me with an expression that she'd never used before, like she'd never seen me before. "You do that?"
Elena caught her expression too. "She does it sometimes."
"I might be able to." I hadn't done it on a witch. "Not with them in the same place though. You'll have to put one in that shed."
The one we'd used before. Reece had made it perfectly sound proof. I hadn't touched it for over a year and a half.
Paige glanced from me to Clayton with that equally horrified look. Minds or bodies, either way we were going to screw with these witches.
"I don't do it to mess their minds up. I just need to get the answers out." I added, quietly, as she narrowed her eyes at both of us.
"I don't do it to mess up their bodies. I just need answers." Clayton agreed with me, his own arms crossing. "We can do one each, compare notes, then make them change their minds if something doesn't match."
"I can try." She snapped.
Elena sighed. She looked at Clayton, his face darkening, and he strode past us upstairs. Then she met my eyes and I understood. She was going to let Paige try first. At least then she'd have that satisfaction.
Or, I realised, maybe having this discussion in front of the two of the witches had done something after all. Because as I turned to go up after Clayton I saw it- sheer terror in their faces. One was going to get their mind invaded, the other's body invaded, and they had no clue who would get what. The fear was almost dripping off them, clouding the air around me, setting off that hunter instinct all over again.
Clayton was in the kitchen when I came out and I went to stand nearby as he tried to get his frustration out on the marble bench.
"Their fear might be enough to get them to talk." I said quietly from behind him.
"Our way is better." He didn't look at me or say another word. Our way had worked pretty well when we had to go intimidate a mutt. Clayton was muscle and I got into their heads, either by staring at their penis -most mutts knew about me by now- or by literally getting into their heads. Usually the sight of Clayton was enough. Reece tended to come along for those if he wasn't working, he was fast, a good tracker, fast, quiet, strong and young. If they scoffed at Clayton's age then they'd turn around and find Reece standing behind them.
"We got to make it clear to all races what happens if they come here." Clayton said after a while. He looked frustrated now, angry. "We're not just going to let them walk all over us if they're not mutts."
"You want to set an example." I understood suddenly. It had been his idea that I film my own punishment of the ex-alpha, so it was clear to the mutts who I was, so I could set my own example for them. Maybe he was right. Maybe not. We didn't know how to deal with magic users yet and what if it challenged them to come and avenge their friends? If he did it he'd have to make it one hell of an example.
He didn't even have to answer, just turned and strode to the fridge, pulling out some leftovers as he waited.
Elena hadn't come back up. I kept an ear on her, as did Clayton, and we knew she was using her soft but authoritative 'Alpha' voice and energy to threaten them. Threaten them with us. Threaten them that neither would get off this land with their minds and bodies unharmed if we got to them. It stung a bit but she was probably right. If they spoke to Paige then they'd be tried under the Cabal's laws and wouldn't be harmed.
Locked away or tortured to insanity? Tough call. Maybe it wasn't surprising, after what Clayton had done to one of the witches cheeks, that they agreed to be separated and to take their chances with the Cabal.
Savannah took one to the shed. Paige took the other. Adam guarded the shed, Reece went downstairs to stand beside Elena and Paige, Clayton told to stay upstairs for now and was going to listen in. Those were the words. Elena said them softly downstairs, but they were both for the witch's ears and ours, 'Clayton is staying upstairs for now and is going to listen in.'
Despite himself I saw his lips twitch as he heard them plea for him to not come back down. Or me either, apparently, the hypnotherapy had spooked them just as badly.
"What's with their fear of you?" He asked after a while.
I was making a sandwich of my own then and glanced up. "Lucas said that hypnotherapy is more effective on minds of supernaturals and it's more or less seen as black magic. Here I was thinking I could make money off past lives, quit smoking therapy and weight loss." I shrugged, smiling a fraction, and he looked almost curious. To him my mind stuff was just an amusing factor in getting questions. "Something about how it affects the part of the brain better because we use it. Or they do, anyway."
"Interesting." He wasn't kidding either. I saw him thinking this over slowly. "Useful too."
"I suppose so. Lucas warned me to not talk about it much." I stuck cheese on the Vegemite and sat up on the bench, wondering suddenly where Nick was, remembering the last time I'd sat on the bench. That... hadn't worked as well as we'd hoped.
"Give you a hell of a reputation though." Clayton sat beside me as he ate his leftover lasagne.
We went quiet as we listened. The one downstairs claimed they'd been doing it alone. That there had been a lot of money put on Elena's head, a little less on mine, and that they'd simply done it for the cash. The one downstairs had a boyfriend who was half-demon and wanted him to be cured, or something, and Clayton scowled. He wanted to make sure. He didn't just want to let them go now, let them give one story, and then leave after.
When it became clear that Paige was going to question her for hours, using the woman's exhaustion rather than Clayton's methods, I started cooking dinner. Clayton shut the door to the basement so the kids didn't go down or accidentally catch some sound from down there as they passed it.
There was an amused look on his face though when all the kids sat down at their lower table. Three older kids, Matt the oldest, three toddlers, and the two babies in the cot. Eight children. Even his grouchy mood couldn't hide the amusement at that sight.
"What?" I asked as he crossed his arms and stared at them as they tried to eat the pasta and sauce.
"Just thinking what the pack would have said if they could see this." He replied, shaking his head slowly. "Four girls with the four boys. No pissing contest between the kids for who was strongest. Not sure how Dominic would have taken it."
"Four more werewolves." I added, quietly, realising how big this really was. Bugger. Four females for the next generation.
The reality of having so many little ones under five was starting to really hit me though. Clayton vanished when the dishes were emptied, Nick showing up and muttering something about how I'd asked for him, and he looked about ready to run away too when he saw the pile of dishes stacked around the one dishwasher. I made him do that while I went into the laundry. Normally domestic stuff was something I used to escape from the stress of attacks, or other things going on outside the world, but I suddenly wished I hadn't come into the laundry at that exact moment. Kids seemed to create the same amount of laundry as a factory full of sick werewolves.
I sighed, wondered if I could retreat to wherever Clayton had gone with the older kids, but just got on with it. We couldn't run out of clothing either. Suddenly... preschool? Not a bad idea at all. There'd be a bunch of them in New York, wouldn't there? Good ones. Expensive ones with security. Ones that would teach my triplets some useful skills and give me a few days of the week to ...I didn't know, chase after the twins when they started to crawl.
Nick slid into the laundry with me, shutting the door behind him, and to my amazement started to stuff clothing im the machine beside me.
"Sh." He put a finger to his lip. I heard it before him, three pairs of feet pounding after him, and just as the triplets tried to get to the handle, Nick got to it and held it. He grinned, thirty seconds later they were bored and going off to play somewhere else, before I was pulled over to the door and pinned against it. "Love you."
"Love you. Nick?" I let him lift me up onto the washing machine, the machine rumbling under my behind, Nick trying to yank clothing out of his way.
"What?" He gazed up at me, the hungry look back, Nick's hands tossing my panties out and sliding the skirt up before he reached for his button.
Whatever I'd been thinking... the thought was gone. "I forgot." He laughed, undid his pants, and moved closer. That look on his face had thrown it away and replaced it with the familiar throbbing ache he could do with just a look. We had about five minutes. I dragged him against me, legs closing around him, and pulled him into me.
It was kind of incredible, vibration under us, his hungry 'creativity' at work, the two of us groaning softly in each others ears as we took advantage of this precious few minutes we had. I was first, the release sending me flopping back against the machine, some button pressed under me and the machine suddenly changing cycles. Nick laughed, bent lower over me, his face tensing as he moved faster, and I watched his release in his face, hands tightening around my thighs, pressing up hard against me.
He had only just got his pants done up when the triplets came back, and I slid up quickly, pushing my skirt down. They got to the door before he did, pulling it open, crowding in around us and asking us if they could have cake again.
"What was it you wanted to ask?" He asked as he lifted up Dominic. I went to get the panties off the doorhandle to the backyard, shoving them into the pocket in my skirt... then after a thought, slid them into his pants instead. Nick watched them, lips twitching, leaning down to kiss me. I felt Dominic do the same thing, kiss my cheek from the side, the two girls wandering away when they saw Jeremy. Jeremy usually gave into them .
Dominic made Nick put him down and chased after them.
I checked the machine, fixing it onto the right cycle all over again, and turned to face him. "Preschool."
"I wanted to talk to you about that actually." His smile faded and he shut the door gently, before leaning over to wrap arms around me. "Dad mentioned it might be a good idea."
"Antonio?" I should have been annoyed, that he was already commenting to Nick about it, but Antonio always seemed to be ahead of us about things like this.
"We were talking about how well you did with three babies but how hard five would be, while you were napping upsairs, and we thought that you already struggle with the triplets. Five would be a very hard job." Nick's voice was soft, very careful, his hands stroking my thighs slowly. "I have to go back to work tomorrow and you won't have support from everyone."
"I'm doing the best I can, Nick." I snapped, the words bursting out before I could stop them, and he flinched when he saw the hurt in my face. "I'm not lazy. I've been working hard to do it."
"No one's saying you're a lazy mum, Liz, or that you don't try hard. One baby's hard work and you had three. Now you've got five."
I tried to glare at him. It really annoyed me, that he was saying I wasn't coping, when I was trying my bloody hardest. Other mums could do this, I was sure, people in the stone age didn't have contraceptives. But it was true. There was going to be a lot more work now and I wasn't sure how to do it. "I try my hardest." I repeated, lowly. "You're not even here three days of the week."
"I thought we agreed... never mind. You're right. I'm not and you did great before the world fucked itself up around our heads again. Point is, we're both struggling to cope, and it's going to get harder now." Nick shook his head a fraction. "There's a few preschools in New York that have good programs and it leads into the private schools there."
"You already looked?" Maybe that had been what he was doing on the phone earlier. I tried to give him a look. Tried, anyway, it was hard to do with Nick.
"Dad and I found one that would be good. It's five days a week, regular school hours, and they can take them second week in September. They were happy to offer us a place."
Wait, what? "Five days a week? Nick, they're three years old! They aren't ready for five days! They can't even be without us for a car ride without getting upset." I couldn't believe it. He'd not only looked, he'd already picked a place with Antonio, and called them.
"Liz, we can't even be out of their sight for ten minutes before they get anxious. One day they'll have to go to school, they'll have to make friends out of that trio, and they'll have to get used to not having us there from dawn to dusk." Nick sighed softly. "I know it's important for them to be apart of our pack but they'll have to go to school, it's good for them to get to know humans, it's good for them to be used to that world. I want them to be able to be in it without needing a guide that speaks pack and human."
Of course he was right. It had been part of the reason I'd been thinking it over. I shut my eyes, breathing in and out fast, trying to push down the anger at him. "They'll be upset. To be away so much."
"Only for a little while. It's a small class, they'll realise there are other toddlers their age, and they'll learn to play with other kids. Right now they're used to being the centre of our world and ...they are getting bigger. They can't keep thinking that the world revolves around them alone. They've already been getting jealous of the twins." Nick added the last part, almost reluctantly.
My head shot up. "What?"
"They're down here because they got upset when Mum had to change the twins. Got really upset. If they're getting attention, they're fine, but if the twins get a bottle or a change, they want one too. They want nappies again." Nick groaned softly.
"I didn't notice." Guilt reared up, that horrible guilt, that 'I'd been neglecting them' feeling coming right back to slap me in the face. How could I have not noticed this? The reality that I'd only had the twins for a week, and during that time there was help, it didn't help.
"Because you don't usually do it in the same room and you're exhausted. We've all been trying to help. Liz, you've been through a lot, you've got a lot more to do, and they won't suffer. It'll teach them to make friends." After a pause, he added, "I wouldn't let them go somewhere that upsets them. I don't want to go tomorrow and think you're here almost on your own stressing out about them as well."
Of course he wouldn't. I sighed again, a long deep sigh, trying to release the tension that'd returned when he'd mentioned that they were jealous of their siblings. "So it's a ..."
"Monday to friday. Nine till three. They have nap time, they have painting, games, toys, they get taught about computers even, and there's even foreign language school." Nick smiled somewhat. "Dad liked that. He wants them to know Italian and I thought we could teach them Australian too."
I shoved at him lightly for that. He was trying to cheer me up.
"Five days a week. So either they're … with you for five days in New York or I come there for the five days."
"You can decide that."
"But Matt-" I hesitated. "He goes to school here."
"Already talked to Elena and Clay. He can stay with them. The three kids spend half their lives here or there anyway, and he knows how to call, or to use the computer to get you, and you're a quick flight away if there's a problem."
"You've got it all figured out." I muttered. "When were you coming to me?"
"When I had all the problems sorted." He admitted, a sheepish grin, and moved to lock the door. "Ten minutes. Just watch..."
Nick was right. Like clockwork I heard all three coming back, heard them try and open the laundry door, and knock. Who taught them to knock? It was so cute. I wanted to open the door up and... Nick's expression, the 'told you so', as I reached for the door handle made me freeze.
"Bugger." I muttered.
"Exactly." He agreed.
We tried to ignore them. Now they knew we were here, they waited, their voices going from inquisitive to instant within a minute. Nick and I slipped out the side door and went around the house for the living room, while they tried to get into the laundry.
"Okay. It's probably a good place. I can live there for five days." I wasn't going to spend a second away from them if I could help it.
Nick grinned then, a brilliant grin, it was the exact answer he'd wanted.
"Do I dare ask how much it'll cost?" I suddenly realised. Private preschool? That was not a good sign.
"Don't ask."
"Tell me. We pay half each for them. " I nudged at him hard. "You know I've been trying to hang onto money for them. Education is important. Do we need to be closer to this place?" I didn't want to be in the city while they were out ...somewhere in the suburbs. The closer I was to that school the better I felt about this.
"We don't have to move. The preschool is near the apartment and the older kid school is near our family home." Nick stopped beside the pool and we rested there a moment. The triplets had given up again and were trying to find us, I could hear them checking rooms. "It's around twenty six thousand a year. Plus a little extra … we were late applying, but I explained you had been pregnant with twins and we were overwhelmed." He shrugged slightly.
"What?" God. My mother would have had a heart attack here and now if she'd heard that. I was all for spoiling them, I loved to do it, but ...so much! So what was half of that? Times three? It was more than a new car. I breathed out slowly. The insurance and inheritance still had plenty- I tried to be as sparing with it as I could, I wanted it to last for this. The payout for all their deaths had been huge. I hadn't really wanted to touch it anyway, not when I knew where it came from, but I'd known my Mum especially would have wanted it to go straight to the triplets. The school had good locality to the home and the security had to be good for that price. "Okay. If you're willing to pay that much for each kid. I can."
"I'll pay anything." Nick admitted, grinning somewhat when I gave in. "I can afford it. You sure?"
I nodded.
"Then we'll do a tour next week."
I followed him inside, wondering how on earth we'd do baby and toddler stuff when I was still struggling to cope with 'bad werewolf-sorcerer man' stuff. Or if Matt would be jealous. Probably not... he was so used to this house, Kate and Logan, so used to that school, it wouldn't have been a good idea to take him away. He needed to change once a week as well.
We walked into a training session. Clayton was in the living room with the three big kids and the three triplets, and was literally teaching them to fight. It was adorable, in a way, except for the fact that he was teaching them to fight. He glanced up, giving me a 'you wanna stop me? Go ahead' challenge. I shrugged and slipped down to watch. Clayton taught the three big kids and the three toddlers copied. I should have been annoyed, maybe, but ...somehow I wasn't. I was very happy for Matt to learn it now and the triplets seemed to not be as interested in the fighting part as they were in just copying the big kids.
I'd already decided that Matt was going to go to karate when he turned ten. He'd asked and had been asking for a while now. This was just a... start.
"No news." Clayton said as he instructed them, eyes meeting mine, and then his eyes went down below us. I understood. Paige was still going. I had to give it to her. The woman downstairs would be exhausted by now.
Just in case, I checked, listening carefully in that direction as I passed the closed door. Nothing much was happening. I slipped into the staircase, taking a few steps down, but I could smell Elena and Paige there. The woman too. Clayton's scent was in the staircase. He'd clearly been here too.
"Anne?" Luca's voice came from the kitchen, looking for me, and I backed up slowly and headed back into the kitchen.
He turned around as I came in. "They released Demetruis. I wanted to tell you."
"What, why?" I gawked at him. It made no sense.
"He's the son of an influential woman and man and has done nothing wrong. " Lucas gave me an apologetic smile. "They had to."
"But ...the explosion! The kidnapping! They took Elena." I continued to gape. The news made no sense to me. He'd clearly done a lot wrong.
"Someone came in and confessed. I know-" He added, quickly, "- they were probably lying but they've confessed and taken it for him. They work for his mother, one of the security guards, he's claimed no knowledge of Elena actually being there till you made him get her."
So he was blaming someone else again. I crossed my arms, annoyed. "And my rape?"
"He claims you consented. You did make an agreement about a pregnancy and ...he's using that as proof that you agreed to the earlier sex."
"Rape. I was drugged. I couldn't give consent."
"I'm not saying you weren't raped. I'm saying that he can't be charged or imprisoned like his son. He's done nothing that can be tied to him. Every time we try there's a new person taking the fall for it who's connected to him somehow." Lucas seemed as frustrated about it as I was. "I'm sorry I can't give you better news. Is Elena around?"
"She and Paige are questioning the witches."
He nodded and sat down at the kitchen table. I sat down after a minute, flopping there, irritation at Demetruis returning with full force. "So where is he now?"
"It's hard to say. Not with his mother." He frowned. "He was released this morning and we lost sight of him again. It's better you know now."
My head swung up as Clayton came in. He'd heard every word from the look on his face, and looked furious. Lucas actually flinched a tiny bit.
There was nothing more we could say or do about it though. I went to bathe the triplets with Nick's help and put them into bed, leaving them with a bottle each of warm milk, and checked in. The twins were asleep, happy, and Antonio and Lillian were sitting in the sofa near our bed talking softly. Talking? Talking and doing something else. I suppressed a snort, decided I'd tell Antonio later, and backed off. It was pretty obvious why they wanted to watch the twins alone. I left them to it.
The sound of Elena's voice carried up suddenly and I realised they must have finished. I hurried downstairs, Nick still reading to the toddlers, as Clayton came from out of the living room.
I went to get Savannah, who was still working, her own methods apparently ...not like Paige. The witch in there looked fucked, there was no other word for it, like she had been tortured. There was no blood, but she stank of sweat and tears, and Savannah headed inside without a glance back. Adam didn't say a word as to what had happened.
"We're going to compare notes tonight. Reece, can you give them something to eat and drink? There's some soda bottles you can fill with water." Elena looked buggered when we came back. "Maybe a blanket too."
He nodded a fraction and vanished from the kitchen once he'd filled up some bottles of water. When he came back I was the target, Reece leaning against me, yawning.
Nick shoved him lightly and he refused to budge, yawning more pointedly, arms wrapping around my back. "I'm tired and she's soft. Bugger off."
Lucas told Elena what he'd told me as they got dinner out, soft, and she told him to leave the discussion till after the older kids were in bed. So we waited, Reece not going far from me for some reason, and made coffee. When Matt, Logan and Kate were asleep upstairs in his room we finally sat down in the living room... flopped was a better description... and compared notes as we drank large amounts of coffee. Antonio came down, Lillian stayed upstairs with the twins, Elena didn't want to worry her.
Paige told us how we could tell if we were under a spell, Lucas adding his part, and Savannah seemed the expert on dark magic. Dark magic was probably the most likely, she warned, but even 'white' magic could be used as a bad tool. Then they compared notes, Paige, Savannah and Elena, checking the stories.
"You okay?" I asked softly as Reece stayed close still.
"Daniella's refusing to come here. Says she's happy working." He muttered. "She's safer here."
"She'll have to decide." I sighed softly. It was Daniella again. She might have easily dismissed Reece but for him, clearly she was never far from his mind.
"They seem to match." Elena seemed puzzled though. "I mean, there's a few problems here and there, but they were much more willing to talk than let Clayton continue."
"They could have lied." Clayton reminded.
"Mine couldn't lie." Savannah spoke up, voice soft, Paige's back stiffening. "I made sure of it." The sight of the witch in the shed came back to me as she said it. There was a kind of darkness there, almost, as Savannah said the words.
"That possible?" Clayton asked, eyes going to Paige, who nodded stiffly. She didn't look at Savannah for a while after that.
"So it was just to get Elena's bounty?" Antonio asked softly.
"Seems like it. There was no sophistication in the attack, no planning, no backup. They were on their own. There's a bounty for the kids too now." Paige said quietly. "We've got the amount here."
Clayton swore and everyone went quiet. So it was really happening. The kids were wanted and we had to face it.
I went to get more drinks as they went over the figures for each of us, Nick quick to follow, his arms wrapping around my waist as I turned the machine on.
"Got a present for you." He kissed the back of my neck, holding up a box in one hand, his body molding into my back and chin on my head, fitting so easily like we were made to fit together like this. I opened it and saw it was that diamond necklace he'd given me. "I had it repaired as fast as they could do it. Can I put it on you?"
I nodded and he gently brushed hair out of his way, taking the chain of tiny sparkly stones and fixing it around my neck. Nick used it to trace a line around my neck, lips grazing skin, turning me around.
My head swung upstairs as I heard Lillian swear softly, her breathing faster, and headed away as I heard a soft thump on the ground. It wasn't really fair to leave the twins to her, not really, and they could fill me in. I could hear them starting to cry now, probably time for their next feed and change, and sighed softly.
"Your mum needs my help. Can you make the drinks?"
Nick kissed me gently and nodded, before letting me go, and I headed for the stairs.
When I got upstairs, she was on the ground, hand on her chest, cringing in pain. I heard it. Something about her heart was wrong.
"Lill-"
"It's nothing. Anxiety." She groaned, softly.
I knew it wasn't and panic flooded me. Shit... shit... shit... what did I do? CPR? Call Antonio? ...I didn't know what the fuck to do. My head was swimming with panic and it wasn't helping that the twins were now starting to cry in the background loudly. My head swung up as I saw Reece had followed me.
Reece knelt down beside her, glanced up at me, and told me calmly, "Call an ambulance."
I grabbed the phone, unable to stay calm like he was, trying to figure out what it was. Triple zero? Nope. Those numbers did not work. What was it here? In America? I knew it, I knew it was in the back of my head, but...
"Nine one one, Anne. Relax." Reece reached out with one hand to touch my leg as I got the numbers in. "It's going to be okay." His eyes went back to Lillian, who's jaw was clenched in pain, curled up around her chest as her breathing got worse.
Antonio appeared, suddenly, grabbing the phone out of my hand, his face draining with blood as he saw Lillian there. He took over as I stared at her. I was hopeless with this, Reece and Antonio so calm and collected compared to me, Lillian grasping Antonio's hand as he reassured her that they were already coming.
"What do you hear?" He glanced up at me. There it was, a flicker of panic, pushed right back and only showing in his eyes.
"Her heart's funny." I grimaced as I heard it go a bit stranger again. "It's worse now."
"It's just ..." But she didn't complete the sentence. I saw her eyes roll back. Her heart was still going though, going in that strange pace it was in, her hand clutching hard to her top.
Antonio pressed his hand to where her heart was, sudden, and relief flooded his face when he felt it still going. He spoke into the phone and tried to get her comfortable, the babies drowning out the voices on the other end, and I just knelt there. It was Clayton who got them out of the room, apparently also able to think, carrying them downstairs. I heard him say something about them sleeping in the cot downstairs or something but...
"It's coming." I said after a while, maybe two minutes, maybe twenty minutes, I didn't know... I heard it. Sirens. Someone was slumped beside me, I realised, Nick leaning against me, his face as panicked and overwhelmed as mine was. He must have been there a while. My arm was around his and his around mine. Some part of me had known he'd been there the whole time but the focus was on Lillian.
"It's okay, Lily. We're here." Antonio's words, words he had repeated a lot I'd realised, slipping into my head finally. I realised I was saying something similar without having any concious thought about it. Nick was just quiet. Shaking. His head pressed against the side of my head, leaning against me, using me for support.
Elena was the one who took them upstairs to us, and Antonio went with her, hopping in the ambulance, his hand not leaving hers. Not until I heard the fucking awful word, the word I NEVER wanted to hear when it was connected to someone's heart... 'Clear'. Only when they'd zapped her heart back into trying to pump blood did they move. The ambulance sped away, lights blinding our night vision, sound screaming into our ears long after it was gone, leaving us standing there in shock, Nick's fear drugging mine own into new heights. It had been so fast, or it'd felt it, though I doubted it really had been.
"We're driving." Nick said, glancing at me, and then to Elena. "The kids?"
"We've got it. Go." She reassured us. Clayton was coming out and tossing Nick keys.
We got into Nick's car and followed the ambulance as fast as Nick could drive.