Niko swept the cool cloth over her face and neck as she relaxed once more, so caught up in Renata he hardly heard the knock on the door. Rafe slowly opened it and took a step inside.
“How’s it going in here?”
Nikolai had only one answer. “I’m mated to an incredible woman.”
Rafe smiled. “No one would ever argue that point with you. Renata, can I do anything for you?”
She shook her head on the pillow, her fingers still entwined with Niko’s. “I’m good. The baby’s almost here now.”
Rafe glanced at Niko for confirmation. Although it wasn’t unusual for Breed births to occur privately at home, without medical attendants, having a healer present at the command center was a comfort Nikolai could not deny. But he was loathe to share Renata and this moment with anyone else.
Almost anyone.
“Rennie?” Mira peeked in around the half-open door.
“Mouse.” Renata’s face lit up at the sight of the former orphan who had become a daughter to both Nikolai and her in the past twenty years they’d been together. She held out her free hand to Mira. “Come in with us. You belong here too.”
They were family, the three of them. More recently, Kellan had brought their number to four.
And soon, a few minutes at most, they would welcome another into the fold.
“We should call D.C.,” Mira said to Rafe as she stepped inside the room. “They’ll want to know the baby is finally coming.”
Nikolai smiled at the air of command in her. She hadn’t been born from Renata’s body, but Mira had grown up under her wing and guidance to become a force to be reckoned with.
Rafe smirked. “I made the call on the way here. Lucan’s had the jet fueled and on standby for more than two weeks. They’re already en route as we speak.”
Niko nodded at Rafe and his daughter. “Thank you. Both of you.”
The warrior healer departed in silence, closing the door behind him. Mira rushed to the other side of Renata’s bedside and pressed a loving kiss to her temple.
“What can I do?”
Renata smiled tenderly. “Take my hands, Mouse.” Then she glanced over meaningfully at Niko and gave a mild nod. “He’s coming now.”
There was barely a moment before the next contraction seized her. Together, he and Mira helped her through the last of her ordeal. Then, when it was time, Nikolai was the one to receive the slippery, squalling miracle that was his son.
He held the crying baby in his palms, rendered mute and practically useless for the wonder of what he had just experienced with the two women he cherished more than anything else in his long life . . . and now this, the precious gift he cradled in his hands.
Renata told him what to do next, somehow clear-minded enough to think and talk and do the right things for their child after all she’d been through, while Niko could hardly do more than stare and marvel, silently thanking whatever god would hear him for the blessings he could never hope to fully deserve.
“Our son,” he said as he carried him to Renata and carefully placed the cleaned, naked infant on her chest. Nikolai didn’t care that his cheeks were wet with tears. He felt no shame in his weakness when it came to this woman . . . and now, this child.
He glanced over at Mira, whose own eyes glistened with wells of tears. Nikolai nodded, overwhelmed with emotion when he looked at this grown child of their heart too. “Mouse, meet your little brother.”
“I love him already.” She beamed, cupping the baby’s head in her hand. “I’ll let you two enjoy him while I let everyone know he’s finally arrived.”
CHAPTER 20
The Montreal command center vibrated with energy in the couple of hours following the birth of Nikolai and Renata’s son. As if the baby wasn’t enough to send a ripple of excitement through the place, preparations were also being made for the arrival of the Order’s founder, Lucan Thorne, and several other warrior elders and their mates currently on the way to celebrate the birth in person.
Kaya was thrilled for Niko and Renata. She was thrilled for her friend Mira, too. The tenacious team captain had immersed herself completely in her new role tonight--that of the elated older sister. Mira had been practically walking on air since she emerged from her adoptive parents’ sides in the infirmary to announce the baby had made his long-awaited entrance.
As for Kaya, she couldn’t help but think of her own sister and the child she carried.
In truth, she’d been thinking about Leah constantly all day. Even more so, now that Angus Mackie and his entire gang had apparently gone to ground ahead of the Order’s raid.
Standing alone in the mansion’s kitchen, Kaya put a kettle of water on the burner, guilt raking her when she relived tonight’s mission. Not only because it was likely her visit to Leah at the tavern that had spurred Big Mack to run, but because of her silence about that visit when she and the other warriors prepared for the raid.
