“Right outside the Keep by the main house. They didn’t trip the wards.”
I lifted my gaze. “Who found her?”
“Declan on one of his rounds.”
“Anything else?” I asked my Second.
“A trail that disappeared abruptly. Small footprints—a woman, if I had to guess. No scent trail anywhere.” Declan shook his head. “The damnedest thing. Extremely difficult to hide scent from our kind.”
“Could be fae,” Hope mused. “Or a fae spell.”
“I’ll call Mom in a little while.” Evie’s fingers trembled as they stroked the baby’s cheek. “She’s too little to eat baby food, isn’t she? We don’t have any formula, and there aren’t any new mothers here who might spare some milk?—”
Evie was spiraling. “Someone will go to the store.”
“What if she’s allergic to formula? What if?—”
“Evie.” I gave what I hoped was a reassuring smile. “Babies are resilient. We’ll figure things out.”
She let out a shuddering sigh. “Right. Of course.” Evie squeezed her eyes shut, but not before I saw the suspicious moisture. “I’m sorry. I just—I’ve never even held a baby before. She’s so small.”
I knew Evie would be a good mother the moment I met her. Now, seeing her fret over a baby left on our doorstep, my belief only solidified into stone. One day this might be us. I hoped this was us. For now, this child was a complication I wasn’t sure how to handle.
A cute complication, certainly, but a complication, nonetheless.
“I’ll send a few of the den mothers,” Hope said. She nodded to me and touched Evie’s shoulder. Declan rose and followed behind, winking at me once he was past Evie.
I shot him a dark look. Declan’s dark laughter followed him out, leaving Evie and me with the child of a stranger.
Neither of us spoke for a while. Our mingled breaths were the only sounds in the room, that and the baby’s soft suckling noises, and the rasp of skin against cloth as she waved her hands all around.
Evie turned and sank into the closest chair. “Gods,” she murmured, a rasping laugh shaking her shoulders. “A baby. Sometimes I feel barely capable of taking care of myself.”
I placed the baby back into the car seat and went to my knees in front of Evie. My hands rested on her thighs. “Stop selling yourself short. You are amazing and loving, and everything I ever wanted. Someone entrusted us,you, to take care of this child, to ensure her safety. And I can think of no one better equipped to do so.”
A tear slipped down her face. I reached up to brush it away. “I’m sorry we were interrupted.” She ruffled my hair and mustered up a smile. “We were about to get to the really good stuff.”
Warmth suffused me. “To be continued.”
“I hope so.”
“I’ve never meant a promise more,” I swore to her.
Chapter
Fifteen
Mom arrived right when Hope returned, her face a mask of worry when she saw what I was holding. Her gaze snapped right to the bundle in my arms, eyes wide with surprise.
“My gods,” she murmured. “A baby Chimera.” Mom blinked a few times, then shook her head as if to wipe the thoughts whirling through her head away. She came closer and held her arms out for the child.
I let Mom hold her. She swallowed hard as her arms wrapped around the baby, and our eyes met. “How?”
“Someone left her outside the Keep.” My voice caught. “She should be impossible.”
Mom’s eyes filled with tears. “Perhaps a human mother. Or some other fluke of genetics or magic.” Her fingers brushed over the baby’s face, magic making Mom’s eyes glow. “Or maybe you are not the last living female Chimera.”
I’d thought the same thing when I saw the baby, but if there was another female alive, why wouldn’t she announce herself, at least to me? Why would she leave her child alone and defenseless? What if someone hadn’t found her and the cold hadtaken her? The month was still cold enough to harm a child as young as this one.
