“Double, double, toil and trouble. A witch with fur and fangs. Definitely double trouble with you for a mom.”
“Ugh. You are going to make a horrible auntie.”
“You think?” Raven grinned, pulling her friend into a quick hug. “Horrible or not, you’re stuck with me, so go grab your baby daddy before he heads inside. I’ll scoot around to the front and distract Aiden.”
Gabrielle stepped back, her stomach in all kinds of fluttery fury, this time from nerves. “Aiden is in Head-of-the-Sentinel-Brotherhood mode. How are you going to distract him when he’s hellbent on having this briefing?”
Raven smirked. “Remember how I said the walls at the guesthouse were thin?”
“Okay, stop.” Gabby’s hand shot up. “I’d like to look Aiden in the eye without awkward mental images making it weird.”
Ray laughed. “I didn’t tell you how I would distract him, just that I would. You seem to forget you jumped Luke’s bones only hours after you met, Ms. Prissy Pants.”
“I am not prissy, and I blame that small indiscretion on Ghost in the Machine.”
“Beer? Nice try. You two were hot for each other the moment you locked eyes. You connected on a level that had nothing to do with sex, and now that your hottie twosome has become a homey threesome-to-be, you need to acknowledge that bond.”
“I liked you better when your mind was in the gutter instead of the Hallmark Channel.”
“Face it, cher. Me and Aiden, Tanya and Jared, and now you and Luke. We are the perfect trifecta of porn and purity. Maybe even a triple wedding in the works.”
Gabrielle glanced at the balcony again. She was stalling and she knew it. “That’s putting the cart way before the horse. We still have to kick demon ass back to—” She stopped mid-sentence, again.
Luke turned and their eyes locked, same as they did that first day in New Orleans. Time stood suspended, until he climbed up onto the stone railing.
“Holy hell, Ray.” Her heart skipped. “What is he doing?”
“It looks like the boy is going to jump.” Raven pressed a quick kiss to Gabby’s cheek. “And on that note, I’m getting out while the getting’s good. Let me know if he ends up a cream sauce on the gravel. Oh, and for the record. If being a horrible auntie means spoiling that baby rotten, then hell yes!”
“You are so not funny.”
Gabrielle didn’t pull her eyes from Luke as he spread his arms as if setting up for a dive. With a howl, he somersaulted off the railing, landing in the grass with barely a sound.
Luke jogged toward them, waving to Raven as she headed toward the front of the house. He slowed his pace, walking toward Gabby with a shit-eating grin.
“Show off,” she said, laughing as he scooped her into his arms.
“Why waste time with doors, when you can jump in style.” Leaning in for a kiss, his nostrils flared. His self-satisfied grin spread even wider, and he swung her into his arms. “I knew it!” he howled again, twirling her on the grass.
“Luke! Stop! Unless you want puke down your shoulder.”
He put her down, but didn’t let go of her waist. “When?”
“When what?”
He raised an eyebrow, and nervous laughter bubbled into her throat. “Last night. I took four pregnancy tests just to be sure, but the rabbit definitely done died.”
Kissing her hard, he then let go only to tug her toward the path leading to the boathouse.
“What about Aiden and the briefing?”
“I can tell you everything you need to know about our tracking trip. What I don’t know are details about you. I want to hear everything, no matter how small. We’ll catch up with the others, later.”
Her forearm tingled with that strange pins and needles feeling. “You’re not telling me something, Luke.”
“Not tell. Show.” He squeezed her hand, and then raced with her down the path.
“Slow down! I’m a witch, not a wolf.”
He grinned over his shoulder. “But you will be.”
They rounded on the large boathouse off to their left. It sat perpendicular to the dock and boat launch, where a sleek twenty-five-foot Bowrider bobbed in the water.
“You don’t get seasick, do you?” he asked, leading her down the metal gangway.
“I didn’t used to, but our wolfitch might say otherwise.”
“Wolfitch?”
She flashed a sheepish smile. “Half wolf, half witch. I was being creative, but we could switch it around if you prefer. Witcholf works just a well.”
He laughed out loud. “Or we could just say our baby.”
Gabby stopped in the center of the gangway, her eyes welling up. Ray was right. Luke wasn’t going anywhere. Everything in her was sure of it.
“Gabrielle? What’s wrong?” He stepped to her, cupping her face.
“Ugh.” She sniffed. “Look at me. I never cry. I’m the snark queen of the French Quarter.”
He kissed her wet nose. “Never cry wolf, bébé.”
She shoved at him, a soft grin curling her lips through hiccupped sniffles. “I’m not a wolf.”
“Not yet. Once those gestational hormones start raging, you’ll be itching to race the moon. Or we could hurry the process with a nip or two. Might be fun.” He snapped his teeth with a laugh, but then put his hand on her lower belly and that same fluttery feeling winged beneath his palm.
“Holy Flutterby! Was that what I think it was?”
Nodding, she wiped her face on her sleeve. “I thought it was way too soon, but with our magical mix of chromosomes cooking?”
He laughed again and then scooped her up, carrying her the rest of the way to the boat. “We’re going for a spin. Who knows when we’ll get two minutes alone together next?”
“What I want to know is how you knew. Did Raven tell Aiden through their telepathic thing, and then
