“Where the hell are you…” I mutter under my breath as I pull out my phone, ready to send a string of abusive messages to my brothers when I find my screen flooded with calls and texts. I ignore them all except for one that stands out like a punch to the gut.
Ronan:Ciara is in labor.
“Holy shit,”I breathe.
Somehow, this news causes me to feel more panic than I did when I found a dozen of my men shot dead on the lawn.
I quickly dial Riley, my heart hammering in my chest as I feel that helpless feeling starting to tug at my insides.
“Kieran?”
“Riley? Where are you?” I tuck my gun back into the waistband of my pants.
“Kieran! Hurry!” Her voice is light with laughter. “There are two little people dying to meet you. The most beautiful babies you’ve ever seen!”
She rambles on and on, but I barely hear her over the ringing in my ears.
Even though I can hear her voice and I know she’s all right, it takes my body a second to catch up to the fact that she isn’t chained up in a darkened room with an infection that is slowly killing her and our child.
“Kieran? Are you there?”
“Riley, you can’t just disappear like that.” I try to swallow my panic. “I thought you had been taken.”
“I’m sorry, but it all happened so quickly. One minute I was asleep, and the next I was in the ambulance with Ciara on the way to the hospital. Kieran, you need to get over here and see these babies. All I’m going to say is that it’s luck you’ve already got me pregnant; otherwise I would be jumping your bones right about now! What if we end up with twins too? Can you imagine?”
“Let’s just focus on one baby at a time, little dove. Two sounds…terrifying.”
“Get over here so you can meet your niece and nephew,” Riley demands. “God, that’s so weird to say! You’re officially an uncle.”
“But I’m officially the coolest uncle!” Brennan yells in the background.
“Don’t let Brennan hold the babies, he can’t be trusted,” I warn Riley, and she chuckles.
“Get your ass over here, Kieran!” Brennan calls.
“Don’t swear in front of my kids,” Ronan snaps.
“Shit, sorry.”
I catch the sound of Ciara’s muffled voice in the background, which is quickly followed by a high-pitched wail.
“Oh no, they’re going to set each other off.” Riley laughs. “Kieran? Are you still there?”
“I’m still here, little dove.”
“Do you think you can bring a few extra outfits for the twins? According to Ciara, we severely underestimated how many outfit changes they were going to need.”
“Uh…”
“Elena should be around. Just ask her.”
“She is?” I frown as I glance down the hall.
I thought the house was empty, but then again, Elena is like some sort of fairy godmother who only seems to appear when you need her the most.
“I have to go, Ciara wants me to take some more pictures of her and Ronan.”
“Make sure that miserable bastard at least cracks a smile.”
