“Tired?”Jannike asked.
“Yes.”
Jannike sat with a heavy sigh.“Me too.”
Mogens and Ry reappeared, appropriately gowned in medical white.Ry pushed past the medical staff to get to Camryn while Mogens approached them.A stripe of black raced across his face when his gaze came to rest on Jannike.
“Gweneth, please escort Jannike to her suite.Both of you look exhausted.The babies will not arrive before morn.”
“Babies?”Gweneth demanded, her words echoed by her friends.
“Two,” Mogens said.“I have seen the signs in the clouds, and the medic has just confirmed.Jannike, you require your rest.Gweneth, you will see she gets back to her suite, com either Lynx or Shiloh and once they arrive, you will sleep too.”
“All right,” Jannike said without argument.“I am tired.”She rubbed her belly.“The babe likes to kick.”
Gweneth forced herself to stand, wincing at the sharp aches in her bones.Yes, she required sleep.“Call us if the babies arrive.”
“I promise,” Mogens said.
With nothing but willpower, Gweneth walked Jannike to the royal suite, thankful of Shiloh’s presence when they arrived.
“Camryn is having two babies,” Jannike said.“By Jupo’s teeth, I’m glad I am only having one.She bounces and kicks inside me.Never still.I need to pee.”
Shiloh smiled after his mate.“Thank you for saving my brother.”
“We saved each other.”Gweneth’s mouth opened in a yawn she couldn’t control.“Sorry.Mogens will contact us when the babies arrive.”
Shiloh nodded.“Go.You need rest.”
“Yes,” she said, and with a tired wave, she pushed her feet into motion.
The short journey down another corridor—the castle layout confused many visitors and Camryn called it a rabbit warren—past a suit of Peravian battle armor that glinted an unlikely pink under a spotlight and around a corner, she arrived at her suite.The door slid open to her palm print and Gweneth headed directly to her gel-bed.As she passed a looking glass, she paused to study her face.The cuts had almost healed, but that wasn’t what made her stare.She leaned closer to peer through blurry eyes.The cat tattoo that had caused so many problems with her father had disappeared, leaving her cheek bare.
She blinked.Once.Twice.
The tattoo didn’t reappear.
She shrugged, the lift and fall of her shoulders squeezing a groan free.Grata, that had hurt.Deciding to ponder the peculiarity the next cycle, she dropped onto the corner of her gel-bed and struggled to remove her boots.
Each boot clumped to the floor, followed by her inner linings.Too exhausted to remove her clothes, she crawled into the middle of her gel-bed and sighed at the relief of not having to hold her body upright.Her eyes closed and she sank into sleep.
She dreamed of a cat.A lone black leopard—a male—stepped his way confidently through a forest.Gweneth didn’t know how she knew the leopard was a male, but she sensed it, smelled it, and accepted the instinctive knowledge.
Gweneth followed, slinking low, trying to follow without detection.The leopard stopped and turned to face her.Detected.Undeterred, she rose from her dropped position and stepped daintily across the forest floor to join him.She rubbed against his flanks, marking him with her scent.
Mine.
Mine.
A sharp pain cut across her awareness, making her freeze in the action of rubbing noses with the leopard.
Gweneth’s eyes flicked open, her vision wavering.Something burst within her chest, pushing, pushing, pushing while the ache and throb of her bones increased until she cried out with the pain of it.She groaned, too fatigued to resist the force that seemed determined to detonate her weak body.
She closed her eyes against the burst of brightness, the intensity of the colors and textures.Every one of her senses—smell, sight, touch, sound, and taste—cataloged impressions, bombarding her brain with information.So much information.
Intense pain burst through her arms, her legs, her torso, and she cried out, but that sharp jolt had done something, eased the pressure.The discomfort faded, and Gweneth took a deep breath.She opened her eyes and squeaked, instantly squeezing them shut again.
The squeak emerged as a throaty growl, and she froze.
