I snorted a silent giggle. “I can’t wait to hear this.”
His eyes went wide. “Remember the bat baby? One third its mother’s body weight, right? A flying squirrel-bear hybrid sounds like a recipe for a bat baby to me.”
“Of all the trivia you’ve heard me spout, that’s the one you remember?”
“Duh. That was the freakiest one. Of course it stuck with me.” River shuddered and sat up. “I should let you rest. Plus, I need to go check on Petey and Natasha. Even though I know we’re safe here, I have to lay eyes on them periodically to reassure myself that I don’t need to kill someone for hurting them.”
Somehow, I knew he wasn’t speaking metaphorically. River really would kill anyone who hurt his babies. Any babies, for that matter. He stood and gave his chain an absent pat, as if to reassure himself it was in place.
It was. It always was.
“Go and check your little ones. I’m fine, I promise. Our guys should be back soon, if everything went like it was supposed to, anyway.”
River’s eyes narrowed. “I still think I should’ve followed them and kept an eye on things. But with all the Novak men going, it was more important for me to hang back and keep eyes on the family here more than going off to babysit a bunch of mobsters who don’t play well with others.” He spoke affectionately, as if proud of our stubborn men. “You sure you’re good? Nothing I can do or grab for you? I don’t mind, you know.”
My chest felt all warm and gooey at the casual way he showed he cared about me. I’d forgotten how good it felt to have genuine friends before River and Leaf came into my life. More than friends… brothers. Leaf was like the yin to my yang and we could giggle for hours, and often had. But River was the protective older brother who liked to tease but would punch anyone for looking at you funny.
I didn’t want to get all sappy and make it weird, so I blinked back my happy tears and waved him off. “Ugh, I’m getting all emo now. The pregnancy hormones are hitting me hard again. I promise I’m fine and I don’t need anything. Go check on your babies.”
Just because I could also play the bratty type of brother, I decided to screw with him. “Yeah… I’m just going to sit here and see if I can’t play whack-a-mole with my belly if I can get Alexei to start poking his hands and feet out again. Did I tell you about the time I woke up to find a huge growth on the left side? I was so freaked out but it was just him headbutting me and looking for the exit.”
River shuddered and backed toward the door. “And… that’s my cue to leave. Keep talking that shit and you’ll guarantee that Natasha remains the baby of my family.” He paused, then shrugged. “Actually, though? Maybe not. I didn’t have as much of the whole creepy trying to burst through my body thing that you and Leaf have had, probably because I’m actually bigger than a pixie. I’m going to think about this… maybe it’s time to have another one.”
I grinned at the idea of seeing River pregnant. “Would Vasily be down with having another baby right now?”
River wagged his eyebrows. “Vas is down with whatever I tell him to be. And he’ll definitely be willing to do the ‘hard’ work of making the baby.” He hummed to himself as he left the room with a wave, closing my bedroom door behind him.
“Your Uncle River is crazy, Alexei. Good thing I didn’t tell him about the pains I’ve been having. He’d probably start ordering all the guards around and have Tony down in the kitchen boiling water and Pavlo feeding me ice chips while he got on the phone and threatened the doctor’s continued ability to breathe if he didn’t get here in the next fifteen minutes. River’s good like that, you’ll see.”
I tried to poke my belly in to see if I could stir the little guy up, but my stomach was as hard as a rock.
Stupid contractions.
I’d been having them for three days, and every time I thought, “This is it! Let’s go!” it turned out to be Braxton Hicks. Practice contractions, I called them.
Oh well. I had an appointment with the doc in the morning. I hoped he could tell me we were a bit closer to the showdown.
I drummed my fingers on my stomach while I waited for the contraction to pass. Badump ba-da-da-dum. Ba-dum. Ba-ba bum.
The ancient grandfather clock chimed downstairs. Two in the morning already. Where was Ivan? Had everything gone okay? Was it good it was taking so long? Bad?
A door opened with a bang, followed by the loud and familiar voices of the Novak men. I tried to spring off the bed, but… springing didn’t happen these days, so it was more like a roll off into a squatted position and then push myself up.
Whoa. I wobbled a bit more than usual. My legs felt pretty weak. Maybe I’d cut off my blood supply sitting too long. I waddled toward the sound and scent of my mate, my underwear feeling a little wet. Maybe I’d peed a little. My bladder control wasn’t the greatest these days. But fuck it. I didn’t care. I just wanted to see my mate.
I clung hard to the railing all the way downstairs. Stupid practice contractions needed to go away. Every step I took had me regretting the choice to get out of bed.
If I could just get to my mate, I’d be fine. Only a few more steps… ouch. Okay, that was one. Ouch, two. Ouchity ouch ouch. Whew. I blew out a breath and wiped sweat from my brow with the back of one hand while I clung to the fancy carved ball at the bottom of the bannister and tried not to pass out from my exertions.
Past me should think with his head, not his heart.
Ivan must have been as excited as I was, because he was the first one coming down the hallway from the garage. “You’re supposed to be asleep.” He folded me into his arms and pressed a long kiss against my lips.
I smiled into the kiss. I knew my mate and how one of the ways he showed his love was by fussing and worrying over me.
“Did everything go okay?” I asked when we broke apart.
“As well as could be expected.” Vasily pushed Ivan’s shoulder to encourage us to clear the hallway. “No, that’s taking it lightly. It actually went better. A little snipping and sniping, but we’re all working together.”
“For the moment,” Don Novak added. “But that is all we can ask of anyone.” He bent down to kiss my cheek in greeting. “I brought your mate home safe, my dear.”
I blushed. The don had been nothing but kind to me, but I always got nervous when he turned his attention on me. “Thank you.”
“Hey, Tanner, did you spill something?” Misha pointed at my feet. “You’re dripping.”
I looked down, but I couldn’t see anything. Stupid belly. “What? I don’t know what I would have spilled.” But I took several steps back and saw a wet spot where I’d been standing. My eyes widened as I looked up the stairs and saw a trail of drip drops I’d left along the way.
Had I been dribbling pee this whole time? Crap. Did I pee while I was kissing my mate? Talk about embarrassing…
“Hey, out of the way.” Joey shouldered through his brothers, took one look, and nodded. “It doesn’t take a genius to put two and two together. You’ve got contractions?”
Wait. What? Was he saying… I gave my head a shake and looked nervously up at my brother-in-law. “Yeah, but I’ve had them—”