“Can I put her down now?” Kayden asked, and Alec bent to see my mouth.
“I can answer for myself, and yeah, I’m good. Put me down or you’ll be next in the doghouse.” I cocked a brow at Alec. “Both of you.”
“Alec?” Kayden ignored me and Mad Dog’s chuckle.
Alec winked at me, grinning. “Yeah, she’s good.”
Kayden took his time sliding me down his body, making me feel his sprouting erection, and gave me a kiss. I punched his shoulder, rolling my eyes, fighting a smile. I couldn’t stay mad at him for two seconds.
Then I cleared my throat, noticing that we were standing in front of a closed room, and glanced at Mad Dog. “Sorry about that moment downstairs. I wasn’t exactly expecting to be a foot away from bleeding humans, but I can assure you I—”
“No need to apologize. I know exactly how it feels. And you’re showing a hell lot of control already.”
I’d heard a lot about his condition. The tinge. A werewolf with a maddening thirst for blood. But he looked like he got better somehow. “You look fine to me.”
“You should’ve seen me a few months ago. Thanks to Vixen, the tinge is way under control. She’s helped me a lot.”
I took both Kayden and Alec’s hands in mine. “We’re nothing without the people we love.”
Mad Dog pushed down the door knob. “Ditto.”
Vixen’s face welcomed me with a calm smile. Her men circled the bed where she lay with familiar overprotectiveness. I recognized Inferno and the Blood Demons’ President. I’d met him before with Vixen at a party. Damien had introduced him as James Gabel, but the president insisted I call him Slasher. I could tell he wasn’t very fond of me then or now.
The other man with the ice blue eyes must have been Terror. The other father. The angry way he stared at me told me he was nothing like his brother.
I breathed. “Good morning.”
“Good morning, Isabella,” Vixen said. “Please come in.”
With a faint smile, I approached her. My eyes fell on the twin babies swaddled in her arms. A million emotions ran through me, and they all threatened to spill from my eyes. The sight of a mother holding her baby was beautiful in so many ways. Ways I thought I had yet to experience.
Until last night.
A lump clogged my throat as Zavariel’s words echoed in my ears. The idea of never having children hurt, seared, and filled me with destructive sadness. And for a crazy moment, as I looked at those baby girls, I wondered if Damien knew about Heaven’s plans, and taking those babies was my only chance to be a mother.
For a crazy moment, I wondered if stopping him that day was the right choice.
As if they read my mind, with menacing, steal gazes, Terror and Slasher each took one of the babies, shielding them from me.
“Hey, give me the girls back,” Vixen said.
Slasher twisted his lips. “Only after the Devil’s mate leaves.”
“Isabella is nothing like Damien. I trust her.”
“She’s the Devil’s mate,” Slasher repeated, drawling every word.
Bitterness filled my mouth. “Yeah. I’m Damien’sbarrenmate, and he tried to steal your girls for me. Your men are right not to trust me, Vixen. You shouldn’t trust me either.”
“But I do,” she said. “You would never hurt my girls. Right?”
Tears pricked my eyes, and the lump in my throat got thicker. I just shook my head in response.
She forced Slasher to give her the baby back, and then she cradled her, giving her to me. “This is Rina. Mad Dog’s girl. Would you like to hold her?”
I froze. The tears in my eyes frozen, too, as I stared at the adorable, blonde baby girl. Her amber eyes were big and beautiful, and she was smiling. At me.
Suddenly, tears streamed down my face, and my heart squeezed. I wanted to hold her so much. More than I should.
