Zach, hurry.Jessie, herworryoverwhelming.
Help her.Kade, as powerful in his mind as he was in person.
Kitani’sfear. And herpanicyammered at him. His heart accelerated.
“They’re shifting,” Cara warned.
“Everyone, quiet!” The yell was as much mental, as vocal. Kade vanished from his mind. Jessie pulled back, and he sensed herhurt. But he needed to focus on Kitani.
He reached for the unborn children, and their terror swamped him. Squeezed with every contraction, they didn’t understand what was happening. And their natural defensive reaction was to shift form. Which could have deadly consequences, as they thrashed their way to their new world.
For just a moment, Laura’s chaos flooded his brain. He’d tried to help her, and it hadn’t worked. What if he failed at this too?
No.No way he’d let that happen. Not this time. He grabbed hold of their fear. Reached deep into himself and radiated a calm he didn’t feel. The babies hesitated, but another contraction hit. They began to fight him, in their stubborn Were way, sure that they were right to be afraid. As Zach struggled with them, Jessie reached out to wrap her hand around his arm.
It was like being attached to a rocket booster. Zach tried to pull his arm away, but Kade’s mindvoice slashed through him.
Dammit, Zach. Just take it and help Kitani.
Kitani wailed in pain and fear. Zach used the boost to wrap the babies incalm, soothing them. For a moment, it hung in the balance. Their little hands and feet had sprouted claws, and Zach pummeled them with wave after wave.
“It’s all right, little ones,” he crooned. “You are safe. Just hang in there.”
Another contraction. They were almost on top of each other. The babies’ fear surged again, and Zach worked hard, with Jessie’s help, to lock it down. Somewhere in the middle of it, he forgot about the walls, and the individuals he was so determined to keep out of his mind. Jessie was right there, cheering him on. And Kade, who’d come upstairs to lean on the wall of the room, offered an unending wellspring of strength.
It provided an anchor for them, while Jessie boosted his empathic ability. The three of them worked together like a well-oiled machine to keep Kitani’s children reassured as they passed from one reality to another.
“There we are,” Cara whispered, busy beneath the sheet. “Another push, Kitani.”
Kitani gritted her teeth and pushed. Zach, linked to her firstborn, felt the baby’s shock at the brightness, the surge of cooler air.
The twin, however, panicked at the sudden sense of being alone. Zach redoubled his efforts.
“Easy there,” he muttered. “Almost home. It will be okay.”
Cara handed a wrapped bundle to Kade and refocused on the other twin. Zach stayed with it through the entire passage through to daylight. It shocked him, even as it triggered long buried memories of his own journey into the world.
“Well done, my dears.” Cara wrapped bundle number two. “Well done, indeed.”
Jessie let go of Zach to take the baby from Kade. The power faded, but her presence remained strong in his head. Her sense of wonder flooded their link as she leaned over the bed and handed Kitani her firstborn.
Cara moved to bring the second baby to the mother. Zach stared at them. So small. So perfect.
“They’re beautiful,” Jessie whispered.
Zach met her gaze. Enraptured, she was beyond gorgeous. Transcendent.
Feet stampeded up the stairs, and suddenly the bedroom was full of excited Weres as Cody and Ryan bounced in.
Zach pulled away from the mental onslaught. He snapped his walls up so fast it was almost painful.
Zach... No...
She belonged to Kade.
Zach shoved her out. So brutally that she recoiled, her eyes reflecting her hurt. A burst of rage from Kade, who stiffened, bristling.
“Dammit, Zach,” Kade growled.
