“Hey, baby.”
She sat in a semi-reclined position in the middle of a railed hospital bed. Her fingers gripped those rails in a white-knuckled grasp and she roared as the worst of the labor pain poured over her. Nikolai felt it too. Not only because of their blood bond, but because of the depth of his love for the woman who suffered this racking torture because of him.
For him.
And for their child.
He went immediately to her bedside. A collection of terry washcloths rested on the table next to her. He wet one from the pitcher of ice water that sat there too, then pressed the cool compress to her sweat-beaded brow.
“He’s coming so fast,” she panted between contractions. “I can’t slow him down.”
Niko grunted. “First our boy makes us wait nine long months and then some, and now he’s in a rush to get here. Definitely gonna have to talk to him about timing.”
Renata managed a laugh, but her gaze stayed locked and solemn on his beneath the dampened tangles of her chin-length ebony hair. “When you left tonight, I had a feeling he was coming soon. I was afraid you were going to miss it.”
“Never.” Niko shook his head and caressed her warm cheek. “There’s not a damned thing that would stand between me and this moment. You know that, right?”
She managed a wobbly nod before bearing down on another wave of staggering pain. Her cry ripped through every fiber of his being. God, he wished he could bear it all for her. All his jokes about keeping her pregnant with more of his sons dried up like sawdust in his throat as he mopped her face and stood feebly by, humbled and awed by the sheer tenacity of his lovely, strong Renata.
“You’re doing great, sweetheart.” He leaned down and kissed the top of her head as the contraction subsided. “Christ, you’re so brave. So beautiful.”
She snorted. “I’m drenched in sweat and my belly’s as big as a house. I feel like a tick about to burst wide open.”
Niko smiled. “Well, you look like a goddess to me. You are a goddess.Mine.”
“You’re crazy,” she said, but she allowed him to kiss her parted lips. “I love you, Nikolai.”
“Ah, baby.” His voice was choked with emotion he couldn’t contain. “I’ve loved you from the first minute I laid eyes on you.”
“Even in that second minute when I mind-zapped you and dropped you on your arrogant ass?”
“Especially then.”
He grinned, reflecting back on how he’d met the tough black-haired Breedmate with the uniquely powerful psychic ability. He pressed his forehead to hers, holding her watery jade-green gaze. That this extraordinary woman was his, he could hardly reconcile the fact. Nor would he ever want to take a breath without her at his side.
Another contraction buffeted her and she rode it out, settling into the pain. Owning it. Niko could only curl his fingers around her hand and hold fast, willing all of his strength to her even though his warrior of a woman seemed to have an endless reserve of her own.
In the brief lull that followed, she lay back and closed her eyes, shoring up for the next round.
“Talk to me,” she murmured softly. “Tell me about the mission tonight. Did we smoke that son of a bitch down in Dorval?”
He chuckled under his breath, shaking his head. “There really is no stopping you, is there?”
Her mouth curved in a slow smile. “Would you have me any other way?”
“My love, I’d take you any way I can.” He stroked her beautiful face. “And I have, if memory serves.”
Now she laughed, and the sound of her comfort with him--her complete trust in him as her mate and her partner in every other thing they faced together--made his heart swell in his chest. He continued to caress her, needing the tactile contact as much as she seemed to. And if hearing about Order business might give her some measure of ease in the midst of her labor, who was he to argue?
“We were too late closing in on Mackie or his gang. The bar and his residence had both been cleared out not long before we arrived.” Niko sighed, letting his curse leak out of him on the exhalation. “He knew the Order was on to him somehow and he had time enough to evacuate--along with what appears to be substantial amounts of UV munitions. But he did leave us a couple of consolation prizes.”
Nikolai gave her a quick rundown about the live round Aric and Rafe recovered, and the brick of narcotics that was all but certain to be Red Dragon.
“Lucan’s not going to be happy to hear we lost Big Mack tonight,” he confided. “Hell, I’m not happy about that either.”
“You’ll get him,” Renata assured him, her inky lashes lifting to reveal confident, determined green eyes. “We’llget him, Niko. Because we’re not going to stop until every last member of Opus and their followers are erased from exist--agh!”
The contraction rolled over her like a freight train, the worst one yet. Nikolai hated the pain she was in, hated that he had played a role in putting her through it when he planted his child inside her. He murmured tender words of encouragement as her body struggled and fought to the other side of the agony.
