I stared at her foot as it started thumping in irritation at our silence.
“Um, no?” Ezra asked slowly, also watching her closely, his nostrils flared.
She snorted. “Apparently, there’s some really good wine in here King Nelson wants.” Her gaze wandered to the broken wine bottle on the floor, rolling her eyes, before her attention returned to us. “Roughly, I turned away fifteen people, only six of which were sneaking back here to do what you two were already doing,” she glanced at her watch, “for the last forty-five minutes.” She rubbed her ear, glancing at me. “The spell doesn’t work for the person who creates it. No one will ever claim you have weak lungs.” She chuckled, gaze to Ezra. “Or you.”
My wolf’s nails disappeared. “You aren’t going to say anything?”
She blinked. “I’m a physician. I’ve seen many things in my lifetime that I’ve never once divulged information about. Besides, if I was going to say something about you two, I would have done so when I determined he was the father of your twins.”
We both stilled.
“Excuse me?” I asked gently. “How the hell did you know that?”
Her eyebrows rose. “You mean other than the fact that he acted like the father trying to not act like the father?” I growled, and she stated hurriedly, “During my exam, I knew the babies were hybrids. Their power signatures were in their DNA, unprotected and new. Vampire and Shifter. I didn’t just scan you, Ms Ruckler. I also scanned them when I did the internal exam.”
My whole body stiffened. “Did you treat me any differently, knowing they were hybrids?”
Instant. “No, I did everything I could to save them. I’m not the Executioner. That isn’t my job, thank God.” She actually scowled at me. “I save lives, not take them.”
Truth.
My whole body relaxed.
Ezra cleared his throat. Twice. Quiet words. “Do you know what their genders were?”
Her lips pinched, her gaze instantly softening before lowering. “Are you sure you want to know?” She motioned to the room. “You’re both moving on. Why stray to the past?”
“Please…,” he whispered softly, eyes avidly on her.
She cleared her throat. “A boy and a girl.”
My breath caught, and my knees weakened to the point that Ezra had to slide an arm around me, holding me close so I didn’t crumble.
Bindi’s gaze met ours, and I saw only the medic in her expression. “When you plan to have children again,” her tone was matter-of-fact, her gaze flicking back and forth between Ezra and me, “make sure you see a doctor immediately, once you believe conception has occurred. She has a weak cervix, an incompetent cervix. There’s a procedure the Coms do — we sometimes perform it on the few Mysticals who need it — to sew the cervix.” She glanced at me. “It can’t be done once you’re dilated to four centimeters,” her gaze again flicked between Ezra and me, “but before that, it can be done to help the cervix from dilating. That procedure and bed rest will give you a better shot at a healthy baby being born.”
Thoughts flying through my head in damning implications, I wheezed, “It was my fault?”
Ezra’s grip on me instantly tightened, his gaze flying to mine. “That’s not what she said.” His voice was gruff, his eyes steadfast as he brushed a tear away from my cheek, which I hadn’t even realized had fallen. “She said it was your cervix, which we didn’t know about before.”
My breath came in pants, incriminating thoughts slowing, and I nodded jerkily. He was right. We hadn’t known about that. If we had, we would have fixed it. My body shuddered, my head falling against Ezra’s chest. It hadn’t been my fault.
Bindi spoke carefully. “As I said, with the proper care, it can be treated with successful rates for full-term children.”
Ezra didn’t even blink, glancing at her. “Thank you. For everything you’ve told us, and for putting a protection on the walls.” He began rubbing my back soothingly, my heart rate gradually decreasing with the motion.
She pointed at the door, her blank expression turning into a scowl. “That thing is so thin, I will have nightmares about growling people screaming ‘sweetheart’, ‘baby’,” she snorted, “and my personal favorite, ‘little wolf’.” Ezra’s said growl returned, but she only chuckled. “Be smart in the future if you two want to keep what seems like a good thing going.” And she slipped out the door without a backward glance, the golden protection disappearing with her.
Ezra bent his head, sighing heavily against my head and holding me close. “I’m not straying to the past, but I just needed to know. I’m sorry if it hurt you to hear, though.”
I tilted my face, kissing his jaw. “It’s better than always wondering.”
“Exactly.” He hugged me tight before moving to open the door a crack, peeking out. “I’ll go first.” His gaze met mine, then darted over my face. “Go straight to the bedroom. We’ve got missing time to make up for.”
My lips quirked. “Say please.”
“Please, sweetheart?”
My grin grew. “Okay, since you asked nicely.”
“That’ll be the only thing I ask nicely.” He grinned when I huffed in exasperation — the man never let me win — then made a quick kissing motion at me, just to irritate me more, before ducking and blurring so fast he left a backdraft.
I crept back to the wine bottles and snatched one. Ezra and I could drink it together later. Or hell, maybe even save it as a keepsake of this place. I blinked at that soft thought, not knowing where the hell it had come from, right before I ducked and secretly made my way out of the bar.
Ezra growled against my neck, sounding more like he purred, gently thrusting into me. Our bodies were slick with sweat from our two-hour marathon since leaving the bar. We’d made it all the way to the couch when we’d first arrived. Then to the floor by the dressers. Each time just as fierce as in the supply closet, but this time, haphazardly sideways on the bed, it was different.
Slow.
Soft.
Decadent.
Honestly, I wasn’t sure we had ever had sex like this. It felt more like making love. Something I had only ever done before with Dominic.
“Ezra?” I whispered, moaning softly as our hips met in a sweet glide. Sliding my feet over the backs of his legs, my inner thighs smoothing across his hips, I arched against him as he filled me again. I cried out, my body trembling from the delicious friction.