The King

SIXTY-FOUR

As John paced around the foyer’s mosaic floor, he was acutely aware of two things: One, his sister had been gone for hours. And two, Wrath was at the end of his rope.

The King had taken up res on the final step of the grand staircase, his torso moving back and forth like the passing of seconds was being measured by his whole body.

For no good reason, John went over to the plastic draping over the archway into the billiards room. Work had progressed the night before—in spite of the size of the square footage, the floor was almost entirely up. Tonight, they were supposed to bring in a load of the new marble and start laying the stuff. Then they were going to have to work on the walls, which was going to probably take longer—

Wow. He was actually trying to distract himself.

Letting the sheeting fall back into place, he glanced over at Wrath. You’d think that at a time like this, John would be the worst person to sit with the guy, what with him being mute and the King being blind.

But Wrath didn’t want to communicate, so, hey, it worked.

Everybody else had fled the scene after Beth had left with the Shadow—and John had meant to follow suit. Husband totally trumped brother, especially when it came to shit like this. But once upstairs, even after he’d had a sesh with Xhex? His footfalls had taken him back down here.

And so he waited.

It was funny, he had the sense that if he’d been anyone else, Wrath would have thrown him out.

“Has your phone gone off?” Wrath demanded without looking up.

John blew a short, descending whistle, the closest he could come to a no. Then again, if he had gotten a call, they both would have heard the phone.

“Text?”

John shook his head, before remembering he had to whistle again—

Out of nowhere, the vestibule’s bell went off, an image appearing on the discreetly mounted monitor by the grand entrance’s acres of molding.

Beth. iAm. Outside on the front steps.

As Wrath jumped to his feet, John rushed for the access button before Fritz came, whistling in an urgent ascending call so that the husband knew the wife had returned.

The second he hit the unlock, the vestibule’s inner door swung wide.

John would never forget what Beth looked like as she careened into the house: Her face was pale and drawn, her eyes too wide, her movements sloppy and disordered. She was carrying her coat instead of wearing it, and she let the thing, as well as her purse, fall unheeded to the floor.

Such pedestrian objects went scattering everywhere. A wallet. A hairbrush. A ChapStick.

Why was he noticing this—?

And then all he could see was his sister racing across the mosaic depiction of the apple tree in full bloom … as if she were being chased by a madman.

As she jumped at Wrath, it was not in joy.

She was terrified.

In response, Wrath held her effortlessly, lifting her off the floor, the strain gritting his jaw having nothing to do with how much she weighed.

“What is it, leelan?” he asked.

“I’m pregnant. I’m—”

“Oh, God—”

“—having a boy.”

John threw a hand out to steady himself. He couldn’t have heard that right. There was no way—

Wrath slowly let her back down to the floor. And then he took a little TO, falling onto that lowest step like his knees had given out of him.

And gee, what do you know, John did the same, a curious combination of despair and disbelieving joy taking the starch right out on him until he found himself sitting on the floor.

How was this possible …?

In the silence that followed Beth’s big announcement, Wrath couldn’t get his brain to work. Or his arms or legs. As he fell down onto that step his ass had been warming, he felt like he was in some kind of nightmare.

“I don’t … understand.” A son? They were having a son? “Your needing was a night ago—two at the most.”

“I know, I know,” she choked out.

Instantly, he snapped into action. Fuck his own scrambled brain; his shellan needed him. Taking control of himself, he regathered her into his lap, aware that John and iAm were the only ones around—and he was glad of it.

“Tell me what the doctor said.”

The scent of her tears killed him, but he kept tight as she cleared her throat a couple of times. “I was just going there to be told it was too early. I wasn’t supposed to be four months along—”

“What?”

“That’s what she said.” Beth shook her head against his chest. “I mean, I know I’ve felt weird, but I thought it was just because the needing was coming? Instead, I was already—I mean, I guess I got pregnant before it even hit me.”

Jesus … Christ.

She inched back. “Honestly, I noticed my clothes were getting tight about a month ago. Maybe a little longer? I thought it was stress eating, or because I wasn’t making time for exercise? And then my moods starting getting wonky—and now that I look back on it … my breasts were sore, too. But I never got a period or anything. So I just don’t know? Oh, God, what if I harmed the baby by being with Layla? What if—”

“Beth, shh—Beth, listen to me. What did the doctor say about the young?”

“She said…” His mate sniffled. “She said he was beautiful. He’s perfect. He’s got the heart of a lion—”

At this, Beth collapsed in a fit of sobs, the kind of thing that was a release of emotion more than anything else. And as he held her, he stared out over her head.

“A son?” he said roughly.

“The doctor says he’s big and strong. And I saw him move,” she said through tears. “I didn’t know it was a baby, I thought it was indigestion—”

“So you were pregnant before the needing.”

“That’s the only explanation I have,” she wailed.

Wrath held her even closer, right to his beating chest. “…a son?”

“Yes. A son.”

All of a sudden, he felt the biggest, widest, happiest grin hit his face, the goddamn thing stretching his cheeks until they hurt, making his eyes water from the strain, pulling at his temples until they burned. And the joy wasn’t just on his puss. A flush so great it burned him alive flooded through his body, cleansing him in places he didn’t know were dirty, washing out cobwebs that had crept into his corners, making him feel alive in a way he hadn’t been in a very, very long time.

Before he knew what he was doing, he burst to his feet with Beth in his arms, leaned back, and hollered at the top of his lungs, with more pride than his six-foot-nine frame could hold.

“A soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooon! I’m having a soooooooooooooooooooooooon!”