“Cross my heart.” She dutifully made the gesture. “So…?”
“Danill Volkov.”
The void yawned in Linus’s head, the howling madness screeching its fury. “I see.”
“She got a bee in her bonnet after Grier found out she was preggers.” He rolled a lean shoulder. “I figure she decided to go about tying off loose ends before the baby got here.” A grim smile stretched his lips. “I imagine your wedding fiasco was fresh in her mind when she made the call to have me assigned to the team already in pursuit.”
That explained why it cost so many favors to retrieve him for this mission. Volkov was a wanted criminal, and Linus couldn’t fault his mother’s logic. They would all sleep better at night once he was recaptured.
“I don’t see Volkov’s hand in this,” Linus said as Grier paled and cradled her stomach.
“We’ve confirmed he’s in Russia.” Clem ruffled his hair. “I’ve seen him with my own eyes. I just can’t get a lock on him. The man is slipperier than a rotten banana peel.”
“He has allies everywhere,” Linus agreed. “I hope you’ll keep us updated on your progress.”
“In for a penny, in for a pound.” He studied them then prompted. “The note you got through skimped on the details.”
Quickly as he could, Linus gave a rundown of recent events.
“I see why you wanted to keep a lid on this.” Clem’s troubled expression tightened. “Still no word from Boaz?”
They had been sentinels together, and they were still good friends.
“No,” Adelaide said softly. “Not yet.”
“We’ll find him.” Clem crossed to her and slung an arm around her shoulders. “He’s too stupid to die.”
“I hope you’re right.” She hugged him. “The idiot part I already knew, but the not dying would be nice.”
Woolly flickered her lights to warn of an incoming visitor, but Cletus tipped Linus off early.
Hood entered the kitchen, stole a muffin, and shook his damp head.
“What’s with the smell?” Lethe stalked over to him. “You showered? With what? Lysol?”
“Some helpful soul doused the rental in bronze filings after Linus left.” He sagged against the wall. “I had to call the cleaners in to decontaminate me.” He ate another muffin. “They just cut me loose.”
Lethe plastered herself against him. “Why didn’t you call?”
“Forgot my cell. It’s with Eva. She was letting Kaleigh watch cartoons on the drive home.”
The cleaners wouldn’t have let him make calls on their phones. They locked victims of exposure to dangerous substances down hard. Experience had taught them any calls to loved ones would only result in said loved ones demanding to see the victim and generally giving them a headache.
“I couldn’t breathe past the entryway,” he confessed to Linus. “I can’t confirm Marchand involvement.”
“That’s not important.” Linus clasped him on the shoulder. “I’m glad you’re all right.”
“Here.” Lethe shoved another muffin into his mouth. “You’ll feel better after you eat something.”
“I’m okay,” Hood soothed her. “You don’t have to stuff me to the gills.”
“I’m ordering takeout.” She stroked his cheeks. “You’re so pale.”
Alphas showed no weakness in front of pack. Lethe’s obvious concern was proof she viewed the motley gathering as family, as trustworthy when her mate had been dealt a blow.
“Humor the woman.” Grier winked at Hood. “You’re gwyllgi. You can always eat.”
Resigned to being fussed over, Hood claimed a seat at the bar and submitted to his mate.
Another call came in, and Linus took it in the living room so as not to bother the others.
“I’m done evaluating the feeds you sent from the garage,” Bishop announced. “They’re both clean. Neither shows any signs of tampering.”
“All right.”
“You don’t sound happy about this guy coming up clean.”
“We’re burning hours with nothing to show for it.” Linus rubbed his forehead. “We’re no closer to locating Mother or Boaz than we were when we started.”
“I’ve got more news.” He hesitated. “The blood samples?”
“Yes?”
“There are trace amounts of both your mother and Boaz’s blood types. The rest is a hot mess that points toward vampires who fed well and recently. It will be days before I can tell you more than that.”
Days he didn’t have to spend, time he couldn’t afford to waste. Confirmation vampires were responsible for the attack on the bunker didn’t mean much, given how easy they were to employ, but the news gave him hope his mother and Boaz had escaped without much harm.
“I wish I could help more,” Bishop said into Linus’s thoughtful silence.
“You’ve done enough.” He forced himself to remember his manners. “Thank you.”
Long after the screen went black, Linus stood there with the phone in his hand, wishing a solution would call.
“Linus?”
He turned to find Grier standing between the kitchen and the living room. “Yes?”
“We have a new development.” Teeth sinking into her bottom lip, she raised her shirt. “LJ has learned a new trick.”
Black mist wafted off the skin of her stomach, creating faint shadows that twitched and writhed.
A bolt of ice shot Linus in the spine, and he forgot how to move, how to speak, how to think.
“There’s more.” A frown creasing her brow, she rubbed her taut belly. “Shake.”
The mist coalesced into a small hand protruding from her side, its grasping fingers wrapping hers.
Thud.
Linus searched for the origin of the noise only to find himself lying on the floor, staring at the ceiling.
“Oh goddess.” Grier stood over him. “Are you okay?” She turned and yelled. “Help.”
Corbin and Hood charged into the room, and they knelt beside Linus and performed a cursory exam.
“He fainted.” Hood patted Linus’s cheek. “Otherwise, he’s fine.”
“Good thing you retired from the potentate life.” Corbin laughed. “You’ll never live this down.”
“He is squeamish when it comes to pregnancy-related matters,” Hood agreed. “I didn’t expect that.”
“I…” Linus watched the light show overhead as Woolly panicked for him. “Did you see?”
“See what?” Corbin arranged his features into a mask of concern. “What are you talking—?”
A hard kick from Grier to the back of Corbin’s knee knocked him sideways onto the floor.
“Leave him alone.” She wrapped her arms around her middle and backed away from Linus. “He’s clearly traumatized.”
Moaning issued from the kitchen, and Linus parted his lips to ask when Hood explained, “Lethe fainted too.”
“The baby,” Linus started but words failed him. “Goddess.”
“That ain’t natural,” Lethe whined. “What the actual hell, Grier?”
Her tentative excitement over LJ’s precociousness had chilled into fear over Linus’s reaction and then exploded into panic fueled by the collective reactions to this latest development.
“I can’t help my baby is an overachiever,” she yelled toward the kitchen. “Back off my kid, Lethe.”
“She doesn’t mean anything by it.” Hood stood and caught Grier by the wrist before she escaped. “She was surprised is all.”
“A fist punched through my stomach.” She broke away from him. “My child, who is inside me, stuck his hand out to wave hello.” Her voice kept rising. “Why is no one asking if I’m okay?”
Head pounding, Linus shoved into a sitting position and then stood. “Forgive me.”
“This isn’t about you,” she screamed, tears flooding her eyes. “This is about the baby.”
This was, he knew, more about her terror that LJ was manifesting unknown powers in the womb.
“Grier.” The heaving sobs erupted as he enfolded her in his arms. “I’m so sorry.”
“Call the doctor.” She cried until her voice broke. “Call him now.”
The raw panic in her voice cracked his heart, but his fear was equal to hers.
“Stupid hormones.” Her bottom lip quivered until she growled at its wobbliness. “I’m trying to be strong for LJ’s sake, but I can’t decide if I want to cry, eat, or kick someone.”
“I volunteer as kicking post while you cry and eat if it will make you feel better.”
Easing her upstairs to their bedroom, Linus helped her onto the mattress and propped her up while he placed a call to the obstetrician, who promised to arrive in fifteen minutes or less.
With that done, he climbed in bed with her and cradled her against him until Woolly announced the doctor had arrived and was on his way upstairs.
“Dame Woolworth,” he greeted Grier. “Scion Woolworth.”
Done with the pleasantries, Grier shrieked, “The baby stuck his arm through my stomach.”
Dr. Rogers blinked once, twice, and then he sought out Linus. “You witnessed it?”
“I did.” Linus kept hold of Grier’s hand. “The baby appears to have inherited some of my powers.”
The magically enforced NDAs Grier loathed were the sole reason Dr. Rogers was aware of the true mix of heritages the child carried. Linus’s status as an Eidolon might get him killed. It was best the rest of the world assumed he had bonded to multiple wraiths, not that he was a creature apart from necromancers.
“We all knew this might happen.” Dr. Rogers snapped on a pair of exam gloves. “It’s nothing to fear.”