them to stop it they’d need all hands on deck. As Rome and Nick’s firm provided the bulk of the finances to the Stateside Assembly so far, X figured his best contribution was to work full-time in developing new technology to help support their endeavors. And this way he could keep an eye on his mate, the one who was determined to become a guard even though she’d also accepted a part-time teaching position at the Dance Institute of Washington.
They’d been home for about two hours when Kalina had called Caprise. Ary was officially in labor.
So, packing an overnight bag, they’d headed back out to Havenway—and had just arrived to pure chaos.
Shifters stood to the side as Nick gave orders. Rome had been just coming down the hallway as they entered. He looked to X and shared a knowing sigh. Both men moved to Nick, clapping hands on either of his shoulders.
“Come on, let’s go get a drink,” Rome said.
“No.” Nick shook his head. “I’m going back in there. I’ve got to be with her.”
“Sure you do,” X said. “Let’s just get you calmed down a bit. We’ll let the women go make sure she’s comfortable and we’ll join them in a few.”
Over his shoulder X nodded to Caprise, who smiled as she started down the hallway toward the medical center.
“I don’t want a drink,” Nick continued to argue.
But Baxter, the Overseer who saw and knew every damn thing, had already appeared with a tray. “Have a drink, Mr. Dominick. Dr. Papplin said a couple of hours at best. You don’t want to be worried out of your mind by then.”
Nick, who knew just like the rest of them that ignoring Baxter’s request couldn’t end well, took the glass from the tray. He drank until it was empty.
“Happy now?” he asked all that were looking at him.
Rome shook his head. X chuckled.
“You’re a smooth talker in the courtroom and a definite player when you were on the prowl for women, but now you seem to be losing your cool. Where is the Nick Delgado we used to know?” X asked.
“Ha. Ha. Very funny,” Nick said snidely, turning so that they would be walking toward the medical center. “You have no idea how this feels. It’s not like anything I’ve ever expected.”
“A lot of responsibility comes with having a child,” Rome told him.
“That’s why we’ve got to get these Rogues in check, man. The world has to be safer for my daughter,” Nick said sincerely.
“I hear that,” X told him. “And we’re going to get it together. We’re not going to let anything happen to her.”
The three men walked into the medical center side by side, ready to face whatever happened next, just as they’d always done.
Two hours later Ary pushed one last time. With a scream that threatened to break the small windows in the room and any other glass item, Shya Delgado was born.
Shya echoed her mother’s sentiments by letting out a huge wail of her own.
Beside Ary, holding her hand and leaning forward to kiss her lips, was Nick. “She’s gorgeous,” he told his wife when Dr. Papplin held the baby up for them to see.
Ary, who was drenched in sweat, lifted her head, breath still heaving, and cried, “Perfect. Look at her, Nick, she’s absolutely perfect.”
“I’ll bring her right back,” Dr. Papplin said, taking the Delgado baby over to an incubator they had set up just in case they should need it. By this time they had four nursing assistants in the medical center. Gisela was their most experienced and she tended to Ary.
Although this was not a human baby, Papplin still performed the Apgar testing. He watched her activity, posture, breathing, behavior, and color. All looked normal at the first minute of evaluation. As he waited for the next recording at five minutes Papplin touched along her spine. He counted her fingers and her toes and looked at her eyes once more. They were blue, which wasn’t terribly abnormal. Lots of babies were born with blue eyes that later changed to their permanent color. He aspirated her, checking her nasal cavity and her mouth for any blockages. She was breathing just fine and had stopped crying immediately. Now she lay quietly staring directly at Papplin even though he was sure he was nothing more than a blob to her. Except her glare looked way too clear.
At the five-minute mark he recorded her results, pleased with the perfect score. He was about to take her over to her proud parents because he knew they were getting anxious and the last thing Papplin wanted was to endure Nick’s wrath. But something told him to take a blood sample—something like the fact that the Assembly had voted to store samples of every shifter’s DNA. He quickly found a needle, clamped on a vial, and pricked a tiny vein in Shya’s foot. He almost looked away since this was a normal task, but something kept his eyes riveted on that vial.
“Is everything all right?” Nick asked from behind him.
“Ah, yes. Yes,” Papplin said, sure his tired eyes were simply playing tricks on him.
He finished, labeling the sample and setting it aside. Wrapping the gorgeous little girl in a pretty pink blanket already provided by her mother, he carried her over and placed her in Ary’s arms.
“Hello, Shya,” Ary said.
Nick leaned over both his lovely ladies, kissing his daughter on the forehead. “Hello, my precious little girl.”
And as they cooed and ahhed over this joyous event, Dr. Papplin took the vial of blood and carried it back to his office.
Epilogue
Three Months Later
The Grand Ballroom at the Willard InterContinental in Washington, DC, was the location for the kickoff to President Wilson Reed’s reelection campaign. As staunch supporters of the current president and his administration, Reynolds & Delgado had purchased a table of ten seats to the fund-raising event that started at seven thirty on a chilly winter evening.
Priya Drake, columnist for
She’d taken position just inside the entrance, standing near a pillar that gave her access to everyone as they walked in. This way she’d get first attempts at interviews with DC’s most powerful. And she was not disappointed as she stood back to watch the newest arrivals.
At seven fifty-three in the evening, Roman Reynolds, dressed in a classic two-button Gianni Versace tuxedo, entered the large ballroom with its thick white pillars, golden accents, and crystal chandeliers. On his arm was his wife and former MPD detective, the lovely and never overstated Kalina Reynolds. Mrs. Reynolds wore what Priya was certain was Vera Wang. In Priya’s other life she had to have been a fashion designer, and her obsession had simply carried over. Even though she couldn’t afford half the items she gawked over, she knew them all name by expensively designed name. Kalina’s dress was a fabulous A-line V-neck in a very alluring teal color that accented the ex-cop’s gorgeously natural golden skin tone.
The Reynoldses had been pictured before as they’d been out to dinner or at some other social event the millionaire lawyer was invited to. And Priya had to admit they made a stunning couple.
