"What if the rings indicate stages?" Dr. Tiff wondered aloud. "Like growth rings of a tree. The rings themselves are not the same width, but if another appears, we can start tracking the rate and maybe even get us a more accurate due date."
Anything would be more accurate than what we had now. No due date.
"Can I guess that since you came into my room without your alpha shadow, he doesn't know about this?"
I sighed. "He will. He might right now. He's very nosy. If he doesn't, I'll tell him. But after…after…"
"After you finally get to leave the house?" she offered kindly.
"Yes," I breathed. I loved the hotel. I felt safe there, both because the guys were always around and because I knew the hotel well enough so I'd be able to at least hide if there was ever danger. But the last time and only time I'd left had been to get hygiene supplies during that first trip to town. I needed out, if only for the afternoon.
Which was why it was so lucky that Knox and the others had been out on a training exercise when I spoke to Dr. Tiff. They'd left Dog, who I met in the hallway outside of the doctor's room.
He'd looked me once up and down, disapproving as ever, before grunting and heading down the hallway toward my room. He stopped a few paces down and looked over his shoulder, clearly waiting.
The dog was as bossy as the rest of them.
Dog stood in the hallway while I changed. He turned his head at the exact moment the others stomped up the hallway. I hadn't been expecting all five of them, even Diesel, dressed in combat-black from head to toe.
"I thought we were going baby shopping? You look ready to start a coup," I said.
Knox gave me shifty eyes.
This was going to be an experience.
***
The clothes were my first clue. Knox parking furthest from the Rockshell Food and Drug store entrance and unfolding a battle plan over the dash was my second.
"Like we practiced," Knox barked to the others.
Practiced?
Diesel sat in the front passenger seat, I was sandwiched between the twins, and Faust had the back row to himself. He'd left Dog with Dr. Tiff, though neither had looked thrilled by that.
"You guys, we're just here for diapers and a crib, if they have that sort of stuff here."
"A crib?" Faust croaked. "Why would you buy a crib?"
Did shifters sleep with their children? Like wolves in a den? That was a cute image, but not very practical. "For the baby?"
"Psh, I'll make you a crib before we buy one."
I searched for Knox's eyes, finding them in the rearview mirror. He just shrugged, agreeing with Faust. "Any of us could make a crib. A bed, a rocking chair, most furniture." He smoothed out the large sheet of what looked like blueprint paper. There were already marks, X's and dotted lines that reminded me of a football play. "Luckily, the baby items are all centered here." He pointed at the map where the majority of the X's were. "We'll concentrate our security to this section. If worse comes to worse, it's a straight shot to the exit, and we can fight our way—"
"Fight our way?" I squeaked, my heart pounding. "Guys, we're baby shopping. Not assassinating a foreign dictator."
Knox rotated in the seat, but only so he could shoot me a disapproving glare. "You are much more important than some asshole foreign dictator. If we take that sort of care killing him, imagine how much we should take protecting you."
I didn't understand why that meant we had to Navy SEAL our way through the drug store, but if we ended the trip with some bottles, diapers, and formula, I'd feel a little better about this glowworm in my stomach.
He unlocked the doors, the sharp click filling the men with determined vigilance.
The twins opened their doors on either side of me, sliding out of the Hummer in a synchronized motion.
"Stop!" I lunged for Huntley's wrist, pulling him back in. It wasn't until they'd gotten out that I noticed they were armed, their matching dual sword handles stuck up over their shoulders. "You can't go into the store armed like that. You'll cause a riot. You're both scary enough without the swords."
The twins' eyes flitted to Knox, whose face had dropped into full-brood mode. He sighed. "Leave the swords."
With matching sour faces, the twins removed the weapons from their backsides, grumbling all the while that if they ended up needing them, they wouldn't hesitate to say I told you so.
That was a risk I was willing to take.
Minutes later, the twins announced via the earpiece that it was clear for entry. Walking across the parking lot felt like being transported over a war zone, but we finally made it inside. The soft background music tinkling over the speakers set a backdrop that only made the guys' actions all the more ridiculous.
While over the top, their decisive military movements meant in less than thirty minutes we had nearly everything on our list.
Knox pushed the cart while I trailed ahead, Faust a few steps in front of me. I stopped suddenly, realizing too late that I was about to get a shopping cart to my ankles, but Knox had a tight grip on the handle.
"What is it?" His words were sharp as his eyes flitted in every direction.
"Nothing. I just thought ice cream sounded really good. And peanut butter."
Knox's eyebrows softened from the angry accent marks that they'd been.
"I'll get it," Faust said, like he could sense Knox's weakening resolve.
He swiftly took off toward the wall of freezer doors while the twins came out of nowhere, sliding into his spot.
"I thought I recognized those shoulders," Hallie said happily. I couldn't see her yet—she was too far away from the mouth of the aisle—but I heard her and witnessed the twins' covert glances toward Knox.
"Silently menacing as ever, good to see. If you're here, does that mean…"
The twins tensed, but short of blocking her way or carrying her out, there was nothing they could do to stop Hallie from walking down the aisle. "Hey, Jazz! I was wondering when I'd come over again to…" The word dropped like a rock falling down a well. She'd walked half an aisle's length to get to me. Plenty of time to look me over. Maybe a stranger wouldn't have noticed the change, but Hallie had seen me recently.
She stopped a few feet away. Knox stood flush by my side.
"Do I need to know something?" she asked quietly.
Knox held my hand, his forearm coiled with trepidation. "Hallie, this isn't the place," he said in a low voice.
I watched Hallie's face at Knox's unsurprising reply. Her eyes, round with worry, hardly paid Knox any attention. Her mouth was soft, turned down in a look that was so caring and motherly that I couldn't help the tears that burst forth.
My face crumpled, and I tried to say I was fine, but what came out just sounded like a garbled whine.
"What did she do?" Diesel barked angrily from the mouth of the aisle.
Hallie stiffened. "I didn't do anything. Stop it. You're upsetting him more." She gestured at my face, where I couldn't get the tears to stop. "C'mere, baby," she soothed, dropping a warm arm over my shoulders.
I didn't look at Knox, couldn't see him through the tears, but knew he'd stepped back to give Hallie space. Either that, or Hallie had just pushed him back. Her arm didn't feel at all like Knox's did. When he held me like that, I felt cherished, safe, and turned on. With Hallie, it felt like a hug from a mother I'd never known.