SKIN (Demon Chaser 4) (11 page)

“Both babies at the same time?” he could
hear the shock in his voice.

Devlin made a sound of confirmation.
“Just a little bit more if you can Gaby and I’ll be able to reach in.”

“Reach in.” He fumbled for the chair,
his legs suddenly felt shaky beneath him.

“Stay there. For dragon’s sake just stay
on that side.” He raised his head. “There are some things a mate should never
see.” He looked back down. “That’s it Gaby. I’m going to get baby one. Doctor
Lisa stand by please.”

Gaby made a strange noise as Devlin
reached in. He pulled out a tiny...baby. His pup. Pink, so perfect he hardly
noticed that the little one was covered in mucus and blood.

Gaby moved up onto her elbows. “What’s happening?
Is the baby okay? Devlin? Phoenix?”

A tiny wail.

A gasp for air.

A louder wail.

Phoenix could hear Gaby crying, but he
couldn’t take his eyes off his precious pup.

“Congratulations, it’s a healthy baby
girl.”

“A girl,” he mumbled. Too dumb struck by
what was taking place. Devlin handed his squirming daughter to Doctor Lisa who
wrapped her in a blanket. Something tickled his cheek so he swiped a hand
across his face. It came away wet. Damn, he was crying. A grown ass wolf
drizzing, but there was nothing he could do about it.

“Ready, Gaby,” said Doc Devlin.

She nodded, tears still streaming down
her face.

“Doctor Lisa will perform the required
tests on baby one while baby two is born. Please don’t be concerned, all looks
great at this stage.”

As if in answer, his daughter let out a
loud wail. Gaby laughed. She sounded relieved but also a little panicked.

Phoenix kissed her forehead. “You’re
doing great.”

“I need you to open up again for me,
Gaby.”

He couldn’t help it, Phoenix growled. An
all out loud, deep warning that had Devlin darting his eyes up at him. “Relax
big guy. You’ve got another daughter that still needs to be born.”

He gave Devlin a hard stare but managed
to gain control of his rampant emotions.

“I don’t know if I can do it again.” Gaby
slumped back down on the bed. Her eyes were shut.

“Look at me, sweetheart,” Phoenix leaned
in close. “Gaby...,” he prompted a second time.

Her eyes fluttered open for the briefest
second. She made a sound of denial.

“You need to do this. You can do this.”

Their daughter wailed in the background.

“You’ve done so well already. I’m so
very proud of you, but it’s not over please, Gaby.” He squeezed her hand. “If I
could do this for you I would but I can’t sweetheart.”

She cussed. Hissed. Cussed some more but
hey at least she seemed to have snapped out of the sleepy haze. Then out popped
her teeth. Sharp. Deadly. Scary as Hades during a slice and dice convention.

“That’s it, Gabs. Good girl.” Devlin
talked from behind the hospital gown curtain from between Gaby’s legs.

She hissed. A sound so loud and
deafening he had to stop himself from covering his ears.

“Here we go.”

His second daughter was squirming in
Devlin’s hands. She let out a loud yell as she was handed to the panther.

Gaby sagged back into the mattress. She
was slightly out of breath.

“Can I get you anything? Water? Pain
killers?” Phoenix had never felt more like a third wheel in his whole life.

“Water would be good,” she spoke with
her eyes still closed. “It didn’t and doesn’t hurt. Very tired...it uses
enerrrrgy...,” she slurred the last word. “Need...rreeest.”

“I have to warn you guys.” It was the
panther. “They’re extremely small but fully developed so I’m going to assume
this is normal for skins given that twin pregnancies are par for the course.”

Gaby opened her eyes.

The panther continued. “I have them in preemie
clothes which are a bit too big, but I have to say congrats on becoming parents
of two healthy, little girls.”

The female handed one of the babies to
Gaby while Devlin handed Phoenix the other. “Baby two. Congratulations on
becoming a father.” Phoenix felt his eyes prick but refused to give in to tears
a second time.
Not going to damn well happen
. He looked down at the tiny
human looking pup that had been placed in his arms.

She stared back at him with big, round
eyes. The little one had a tiny button nose and dimpled hands. She yawned and
his mouth fell open.

“Oh yes, I forgot to mention,” Doctor
Lisa took a small step back. “The infants have a single row of sharp, little
teeth already fully formed and ready to go. They look to be a cross between
canine
”—she
said the word like it offended her. She glanced at Gaby—“and demon skin. I
might skip breastfeeding if I were you.” The panther’s eyebrows knitted
together in concern.

Phoenix ignored the female and glanced
at Gaby who was crying again. “I think I’ll manage.” She hiccupped. His female
stared up at him over long wet lashes. “Damn it. Demon skins don’t cry.” She
sniffed wiping her eyes with her free hand. “They’re perfect. They’re
absolutely amazing, I can’t believe this.”

Phoenix slid his arms, as best he could,
around his future mate and looked her straight into her tear filled eyes. Her
nose was red and running, her eyes were red rimmed and her skin was blotchy. In
this very moment, she had never looked more beautiful. He felt complete. “Thank
you for this gift. We are officially a family.” A tear tracked down her cheek.
He didn’t have hands so he kissed it away. “I know I’ve been banned from saying
this, but I have to anyway...” Her eyes became stern. “I love you Gaby.”

She sniffled, “You promised you
wouldn’t.”

“I guess I lied.”

“Stop.” The side of her mouth had pulled
into what had to be the start of a smile.

Devlin cleared his throat. “I need to
check that...well...check that everything is back to normal down there.” He
gestured with his eyes to Gaby’s nether regions.

“It’s all back to normal, Doc.” Gaby was
slow blinking again. “I need to feed the little ones and we all need to rest.”
She pushed a button on the remote and the bed lifted. With one arm firmly
around the pup in her arms, she reached behind her and pulled the string that bound
the gown pulling the garment from her shoulder.

“Leave.” His eyes were firmly on Devlin
and the panther and his voice came out in a gruff bark, it held warning. If
Devlin so much as caught the tiniest flash of breast Phoenix would be forced to
gouge his eyes out with his bare claws. “Now.” The second word was delivered
much softer but with more deadly precision than a venom tipped arrow.

Both doctors turned and left.

When he turned back to the bed, Gaby had
removed the gown from her chest. Her breasts were swollen, her dark, wine
stained nipples were tight. He swallowed hard.

****

Her breasts ached with the need to be
emptied. Gaby pulled her baby up and placed her perfect, little mouth to her
nipple. The little ones eyes were open, they focussed instantly on her nub.
Drops of milk formed at the tip as her daughter’s lips rubbed against her.

The little one’s mouth opened and took
the entire nipple into her mouth. There was first a sucking sensation and then
a sting as the child sank its teeth into her breast. The pain lasted for a beat
or two before being replaced with a feeling of calm and contentment.
Alrighty
,
so the milk blood combination was obviously a thing for baby skins. That would
explain the teeth. Her eyes felt heavy. The need for sleep beat on her like a
ten pound hammer.

She gestured to Phoenix to bring her the
remaining baby. The little one would also need to feed before Gaby passed out,
which surprisingly hadn’t happened yet. At this point, Gaby was running on pure
adrenaline and it wouldn’t last long. 

A knock sounded at the door.

“Stay there,” Phoenix growled in the
general direction. His eyes turned dark. They softened the moment they landed
on her as he handed the baby to her.

Phoenix disappeared. There was a muffled
exchange. He returned pushing a crib on wheels. It was not unlike a miniature
version of the hospital bed complete with fully enclosed see through sides.

Gaby winced as her daughter bit down on
her breast. 

“Going okay?” he asked, his eyes darting
between the babies and her face.

“They’re biters.”

“Oh good, so they do take after me after
all.” He bobbed his eyebrows at her and she laughed ending on a yawn.

The first baby to start drinking had
just nodded off. As she let go of her nipple, several drops of blood trickled
down her breast.

“Hounds, you weren’t kidding.” As they
watched, her flesh knitted.

“I can feel my demon a bit more.”

“Great news. A meeting I can’t wait
for.” His eyes burned with heat that had things throbbing that really
shouldn’t, especially after all she’d been through. Damned if she could help
it.

Who could blame her since Phoenix was so
over the top delicious. All that muscle and pure power made her insides do
strange things. The way he had growled and shouted was so sweet. She was quite
sure one of her hearts had literally melted in her chest.

His admission of his love for her made
her want to jump, twirl and scream with pure joy, it also made her want to cry
in agony. Gaby had loved Phoenix for a long time, maybe even right from the
beginning. Right when he’d turned into a massive, bristling wolf who had killed
to save her. She’d felt it, even though she hadn’t recognized it at the time.
Even when he’d first sunk deep inside her. Scorching her with his dark eyes
that had burned with more than just lust.

With both daughters satisfied and
sleeping in her arms, she struggled to keep her eyes open.

“Here let me...” Phoenix took each baby
in turn and even tucked them in. He kissed each little girl on their foreheads
before brushing his lips over hers. “I’m so happy. I love you so much...”

She was far too tired to argue.

“Sleep, sweetheart. I’ll be here when
you wake up...”

He may’ve said more, but she drifted off
into a very welcome sleep.

****

There was a buzzing that wouldn’t go
away. Gaby felt cocooned in warm, thick liquid. Somewhere deep, dark and
tranquil. There was more of that irritating buzzing. Someone was touching her
but her eyes wouldn’t open. It felt like someone had glued them shut. Her limbs
felt heavy. The liquid surrounding her was toasty, but it was also too thick to
allow for movement.

Buzz. Buzz. Buzz.

 No, not buzzing, words. It sounded like
someone was saying something to her. Damned if she could make out what they
were saying though. She concentrated harder. Not only to hear, but to move.

Nothing.

The steady buzz continued. This time she
was sure someone was talking to her. Using every last ounce of strength, she
tried to open her eyes, sure her lashes would rip off in the process. Her eyes
didn’t open but she did catch a snatch of what the person was saying. “...come
on...you can do it...” It seemed like whoever it was that was speaking was
miles away.

Again, she used all her strength and
somehow managed to move her pinkie finger.
Success.
Well, sort of. It
was a start.

“Wake up my angel,” the words were much
clearer, much closer.

This time when she tried to move, she
managed to close her fingers into a weak fist. Her eyes cracked open just a
smidgen. It took several seconds for her vision to clear enough to actually
see.

“There you are my sleepy head,” Phoenix
beamed down at her.

“What...,” her voice cracked so she
swallowed. It was difficult to keep her eyes open. She tried again. “What time
is it?

“You’ve been asleep for a couple of
hours. Good news honey, the doctor has discharged you guys. We can go home.”
For the second time in as many hours, Phoenix moved around the room stuffing
items into a bag.

“A couple of hours...it’s still the
middle of the night. We’ll go in the morning.”

“I can’t wait to get you home to start
our lives. I need this, Gaby. We need this.” He walked over and cupped her
cheek with his big warm hand. Something he’d done many times. His touch had the
hairs rising on her arms. Sweat broke out on her skin. Adrenaline pumped
through her system. Her demon clawed at her for the first time in months. It
was still extremely weak. It wasn’t happy. Oh no, suffice to say that it was
totally pissed.

Gaby fought to keep from pulling away
from the contact. She had to work to keep her breathing even. He moved away.
Thank God. She suppressed a sigh of relief.

“Let’s wait please. I’m not ready.”

She was so far from ready it was scary.
In fact, she was having an internal panic session. To think she’d been worried
about Phoenix not loving her once her demon came back. She’d never once
contemplated her demon not wanting him. Was such a thing even possible? She
took him in, all six and a half feet of him, from his massive arms and
shoulders to his muscular thighs lovingly encased in a pair of worn jeans. His
perfectly styled black hair and those dark sinful eyes. Normally her hearts
would race and places she never knew existed would come to life, but this time
there was nothing. Not a single damned thing.