“I couldn’t do anything to help,” he said. “Before.”
Keeping his touch professionally neutral, Hugh slid his hand under Connie’s shirt, resting his palm against the soft cur
ve of her stomach. He closed his eyes, concentrating.
The energies involved in reproduction were strong…but he was stronger now himself. Now that his unicorn no longer flinched away from sexual energies, his questing mind could navigate the powerful forces surging within Connie’s abdomen.
There was a tiny spark of potential there. It struggled to cling on, to put out roots that would allow it to grow. But the environment that should have supported it was slightly off. A little tilt in the hormonal balance…easily shifted back again…
“Hugh, what are you doing?” Chase said, in a not entirely friendly tone.
Hugh started, coming out of the healing trance. Chase and Ivy had returned with drinks. They both wore matching tight, fixed expressions of barely-controlled jealousy. Shifters didn’t cope well with other people touching their mates.
“Oh, don’t look at me like that, both of you. This is strictly for medical reasons.” Hugh withdrew his hand, flexing his fingers to shake out the tingle of using his healing powers. “I’m just helping Connie stay pregnant.”
A glass slipped from Chase’s hand. “Did you say…stay pregnant?”
Hugh tried not to look too smug. “Allow me to be the first to congratulate you both.”
“We’re going to have a baby?” Chase breathed. He seized his mate, hugging her one-armed. “We’re going to have a baby!”
Connie looked like she didn’t dare to believe it. “We can’t celebrate yet—it’s still too early, anything could go wrong.”
“I’m fairly certain it won’t.” To Hugh’s senses, that tiny spark of potential was now beating strongly, shining with vibrant life.
In fact…
“Ah,” he said, rubbing his chin. “Hmm. Chase, you said that you wanted three children, right?”
“One would be a miracle,” Connie said quickly. “Don’t worry about more. If you can only help us just this once, that’ll still be more than enough.”
“Yes, but you wouldn’t be upset to have three babies, would you?” Hugh said cautiously. “Like, oh, just hypothetically speaking…identical triplets?”
Chase dropped the other glass.
“Triplets?” Connie squawked.
“I may have slightly overdone it,” Hugh admitted.
“Triplets.” Hugh’s mother shook her head in amusement. “Well, it seems Hugh could have a lucrative career as a fertility consultant, should he ever tire of being a paramedic.”
“I wouldn’t hold your breath on that one,” Ivy said, smiling. “He loves what he does too much to ever give up Alpha Team. Just look at them.”
Across the room, the firefighters of Alpha Team were gathered at their usual corner booth. Broad-shouldered Dai, so gentle and soft-spoken despite the fiery dragon in his soul. Kind-hearted Griff, laughing as his three boys clambered all over him. Swift Chase, his black eyes lit up with exuberant joy. Towering John Doe, solemn and severe but with a gleam of wry humor hidden under his knightly discipline. Ash, quiet and contained, at the heart of the group and yet somehow still apart.
And Hugh, her Hugh. He sat in their midst, relaxed and at ease. He didn’t flinch away now from the press of Dai’s elbow against his, or Chase’s open, spontaneous backslaps. He might still growl and glare at his friends, but his sharp-tongued banter concealed true, brotherly love. Ivy knew he would have died for any one of them, as they would for him.
Lady Hereford’s face softened as she watched the group. “I cannot tell you how much it means to me to see that he has found a true home here. Much as I might selfishly wish for him to come back to the estate.” She hesitated, casting Ivy a sidelong glance. “Though he will inherit one day, you realize.”
“I know. We’ll deal with that when it happens. But for now, we’re staying in Brighton.” Ivy made a face. “Which means I really need to work out what I’m going to do. Hugh’s not that happy with me continuing to scrub toilets.”
“I had a suggestion on that, if you would indulge me,” Lady Hereford said, sounding uncharacteristically tentative. “I was talking earlier with Hope’s delightful young friend Betty. What she told me of Gaze’s charity piqued my interest. I would very much like to start a new organization, with similar aims. Wyverns and hellhounds aren’t the only ones who face discrimination from other shifters.”
“I think that’s a wonderful idea,” Ivy said warmly. “I don’t want vulnerable shifter kids like Betty to get scooped up by some other crime boss now that Gaze is out of the picture. So you want me to find you some contacts to get started?”
“No.” Lady Hereford took a sip of her mulled wine. “I was hoping that you would run it.”
Ivy stared at her, slack-jawed. “Me? I don’t know the first thing about running a charity!”