Claimed by Her Panthers (20 page)

A
smile flittered across his features as he thought of why she was so hormonal.
Pregnant.
Their
mate was pregnant.
Damn.
Even the
temporary stitches he had couldn’t bring him down from that one.

“What
is that smile for?” Angelica
asked,
a bemused
expression on her face. “You have stitches, and you’re not on pain meds since
you’re a Shifter. So what gives?”

“You,”
he replied simply.

Her own
smile faltered
a little, and he growled. “No. No more blaming from any of us.”

“Oh,
I don’t know. I’m quite content to blame
Draken
for
my injuries,”
Jenika
added happily from her bed. The
woman had received a few stitches herself, but however, unlike him, she was
high as a kite on meds.

“You
were the one who decided to step in front of claws.”
Draken
smirked down at her as a flush crept up her cheeks. “Just admit it … you wanted
to save me. The thought of me getting hurt upset you.”

“
Pffft
.
Keep
dreaming.” If it
weren’t for the skip in her heartbeat, Stephan might have believed her. As it
was, he hadn’t been the only one to hear the telltale sign.
Draken
was wearing a grin from ear to ear, as
Raziel
sat on
Jenika’s
other side mumbling under his breath.

“You
all seem to be doing much better,”
came
a voice from
his right. Turning his head slightly, he saw a tall man, largely built with
spiked blond hair and bright blue eyes.

“Sir,”
Raziel
said, suddenly standing to greet the man.

“Ah,
Raziel
.
I hear you have
found your mate.”

Jenika
snorted, but
Raziel
ignored her.
“Yes, Sir.”

“I’m
happy for you.” The man’s smile seemed genuine before he turned to address the
rest of them. “Most of you don’t know me. My name is Quinn. I’m
Raziel’s
team leader. I was in the building with the rest
of you, but I and a group of others entered from the other side. Good thing,
too, as we ran into a few of the enemy trying to gain access from there. We
were able to take them out before they reached the inside. However, it raises the
question…”

“What
the hell were that many different paranormals doing working together?” Owen
asked from beside him.

“Exactly.”
Quinn nodded,
his brows furrowing. “Thing is, apart from a few indirect comments here and
there, the only lead we have is that the woman was after you,
Draken
.
Any ideas?”

It
was more question than accusation.

Still,
Draken
snarled. “No. I don’t have to tell you that
with my age and given
who
my father is, that I have a
great deal of enemies. But none that would be so bold.”

“Or
so you thought,” Quinn added. “Either way, it doesn’t bode well. I’ve written
up a brief for you men to take back to the Elders. They need to be informed.
Something of this magnitude today could change everything for us.”

Silence
descended on the room as they all absorbed the news. Hearing it out loud like
that just brought home the dangers they now faced. Reaching out, Stephan laced
his fingers with Angelica, tugging her to him. He smiled as she came willingly,
sitting beside him on the bed and snuggling into his side. Meeting Owen’s gaze,
he saw the same promise he silently made himself. He would do anything to
protect their mate and their child. She was everything to them. They were lucky
to have been blessed with her as mate, and he couldn’t wait to enjoy their
future together. He just hoped they all
had
a future.

Epilogue

Angelica
held the back of the hospital gown as she waddled back to the ultrasound room.
She was huge, bigger than she should be for eighteen weeks with twins. Because
she was having Shifter babies she had to go to Shifter doctors, but apparently Shifters
bred like rabbits so it was hard to get appointments. Owen and Stephan thought
there were more than two, and Angelica prayed they were wrong.

This
was her first ultrasound, and Angelica was excited. She came back to the room
to see both Stephan and Owen pacing. The doctor by the machine smiled as she
came in. “Mrs.
Deven
, come and
lay
yourself on the lounge chair.”

Angelica
got up on the chair with her mates’ help. The doctor lifted her gown.

“Now
this will feel a little cold on you.” She squirted the gel on her stomach and then
reached for her wand and moved it onto her round stomach.

Owen
and Stephan each held on to her as they all stared at the screen to see the
little bodies.

“Congratulation,
Mrs.
Deven
, you’re having a litter … triplets.” The doctor
pointed each baby out and measured them and their heartbeats. “Would you like
to know the sexes?”

Angelica
gazed at her two mates and saw the eagerness. “Yes, please.”

“Well
this one here at the front is a boy. He is the biggest. The one behind him, see
here … is a boy, too, and proud of it by the looks of it as he spread his legs
to show me. And this one at the back and the smallest … she is a girl.”

Angelica
could feel the tears rolling down her cheeks as she watched the screen and her
babies.
Wow, three
. She’d only just
come to terms with two.

The
doctor wiped her stomach and the gel off. “Everything looks fantastic for
triplets at eighteen weeks. With you being human I want you under the least
amount of work. I need your stress levels down. I also need you to eat every
two or so hours. With you having a litter I will need to keep a closer eye on
you. Cats usually have more than one, but you’re human so I need to watch you
closer. I want you with an appointment every two weeks and when we get to
thirty every week. You can only fly for a couple more weeks, I say three max.”

Angelica
nodded, taking in everything. She glanced at her mates and saw their determined
faces. They were going to be hell to live with. There was no way they’d let her
go back to work on Monday.

Owen
and Stephan asked the doctors a bunch of questions as she slipped out, still in
a daze, to get changed back into her clothes. As she came back in, dressed, the
doctor handed her a script for nausea tablets and wrote down the right vitamins
she needed to be taking.

Stephan
and Owen walked out each holding her hand. Owen left go to go pay, and Stephan
walked her to the car. He helped her in, and she sat quiet until Owen got in.

“So
… I’m having triplets.
A litter like
a cat. What the
hell, Owen and Stephan? You said I was human and wouldn’t turn into one of you.
Well I’m sure as hell breeding like an animal.” She winced as she even heard
her own screeching, and both her men winced, too.

Owen’s
hand came and rested on her arm. “Sweetheart, you need to calm down.”

Angelica
raised her eyebrow at Owen. “Really you did not just say that to me.”

“Owen,
not cool. Not a word.” Stephan shook his head.
“Seriously.”

Angelica
smiled at him. At least she had one smart mate.

The
drive home was quiet, and she was thankful. Angelica felt like all she was
doing lately was processing. She discovered she was quite adaptable. Her mates
ushered her inside and straight to the lounge, and Angelica went with a sigh.

“Do
you need anything?” Owen asked.

“A
couple of pillows would be nice to prop myself up with,” she admitted. Owen
rushed to do her bidding, and she smiled. “I’m kind of thirsty, too.”

“On it.”
With a nod,
Stephan left to go fetch
her a
drink.

Chuckling
to herself, she shrugged. There had to be some benefits to this. She wasn’t
above milking it. Absently she wondered if she could squeeze a foot massage out
of it, too.
Couldn’t hurt to try.

“Well
don’t you look all smug,” Joel chuckled as he entered the room.

“I
figure if I have to rest I may as well get something out of it.”

“Wise woman.”
Her brother
took a seat opposite her. “So I hear we have three babies on their way.”

“How
did you know?”

He
smirked. “Stephan couldn’t wait to get on the phone and tell me.
On the upside, three of you, three of them.
Should even it out.”

“I
know of parents who barely survive one,” she groaned. “We have three.”

“Yeah.”
Joel winced. “I
was trying to make you feel better. Clearly that didn’t work.”

“Hey,
man. You hear the news?” Owen asked as he stepped into the room. As her brother
went to answer, the doorbell rang. Handing her at least half a dozen cushions,
Owen said, “I’ll get it.”

It
didn’t take long for her to work out who was there when her mate’s first words
were, “Oh no. The doctor said no stress. You need to go.”

Angelica
threw her head back and laughed. “Owen! Let my best friend in now!”

She
heard
Jenika’s
murmured voice and suspected her
friend was taking the opportunity to make a dig. Seconds later
Jenika
walked into the room, laptop in hand.

“Um,
why do you have that?”

“Well,
I wanted to see how today went. Do we know what if I’m getting nieces or
nephews?
Oooh
, and how many?” she asked eagerly,
setting the laptop up on the coffee table in front of her as she took a seat.

“Two nephews and a niece.”

Jenika
squealed,
clapping her hands. “Great! So you know what comes next?”

Angelica
frowned.
“The birth?”

“No,”
Jenika
sighed before her eyes light up.
“Shopping!”

Angelica
giggled a little. “Oh yes.”

Now we are getting
to the fun part.

“I
figure
Tweedledee
and
Tweedledum
wouldn’t want you going out shopping, so we can do some online.” Booting her
computer up,
Jenika
rubbed her hands together
gleefully,
then
shouted, “Owen, Stephan! One of you
get your little kitty
arses
in here with a credit
card for your baby momma!”

Joel
cringed. “Could you not?”

Jenika
seemed to make
it her life’s mission lately to be there every day and annoy Stephan and Owen.
Angelica loved seeing her best friend all the time, but couldn’t help but think
Jenika
was just using it as an excuse to not have to
deal with her own two, very persistent, mates.

Jenika
considered her
brother’s request for a moment. “Probably, but where is the fun in that?”

Both
her mates joined them, looking extremely disgruntled, though Stephan did hand
over a card, one that
Jenika
snatched up before Angelica
could reach it. Another ring of the bell cut off any comment her men were about
to make.

“It’s
like central fucking station,” Owen muttered.

The
curses continued and grew in volume as he stomped back into the room. Angelica
hid her grin when both
Draken
and
Raziel
followed behind her mate. While
Raziel
got along with
Stephan and Owen to a point, she didn’t think her men really wanted anyone here
at the moment. And
Draken
was … well,
Draken
.

Her
best friend barely spared either of her mates a glance as she brought up store
after online store for them to look at.
Jenika
had
been keeping her distance from both men since they had returned from the Gold
Coast. At first
Raziel
had stayed behind, presumably
to organize his move here, but
Jenika
hadn’t given
either man the time of day.

“What
are we doing?”
Raziel
asked as he flopped down into
one of the arm chairs.

“
We
aren’t doing anything,”
Jenika
muttered. “My best friend and I are doing some
shopping for the babies.”

Jenika’s
face softened
when she mentioned the
babies,
and Angelica wasn’t the
only one who noticed.

“You
like kids?”
Raziel
asked.

Jenika
shrugged. “Who
doesn’t?”

While
trying to act like the matter didn’t faze her, Angelica knew for a fact her
best friend loved children and wanted plenty of her own one day.
In the future.
In the far future.