“You don’t think...” I trailed off and the candor in his expression brought forth an unwelcomed shiver.
“It’s not normal to grow this big overnight,” he said, running his hands over my stomach. “And you did just change into a tigress.” He smiled like he was not at all unsettled by this. “You know, you kicked ass like I’ve never seen,” he added and drew me into a kiss.
I pushed him away, still too preoccupied with the tiger conclusion to get into a romantic tryst with him. “Damian,” I said and his eyes widened into that innocent look followed by the brief appearance of his dimples.
“What?” He didn’t suppress the smirk fast enough.
“This isn’t funny,” I said. “Do you think I did something bad to our child by changing?”
His smirk faded and the first shadow passed over his gaze. He looked down at the symmetry under his hands. “No. I don’t think you did something bad,” he said meeting my gaze. “We aren’t normal, Naomi. To expect a normal pregnancy is asking for a lot, especially since this little bundle is a trinity.” He patted my stomach and I felt more than just a flutter. He pulled his hand away and then placed it back on my belly, awe painted on his features.
“The baby just kicked,” he glanced up at me and grinned. “Did you feel it?”
Dumb question. I felt more than just a kick; I felt rotation, as if the child was moving. The sudden appearance of motion meant my child was alive and I matched Damian’s grin, nodding.
The worry was still present, but it dulled in comparison to the joy I felt. This time when he pulled me into a kiss, I did not resist.
Chapter 9 - Naomi
I lay in bed, staring at the cloud-covered ceiling as Damian rested his ear on my stomach. He giggled a couple of times as a foot or hand passed over, connecting with his cheek.
“What if I give birth to some sort of hybrid?” I asked, voicing my growing concern.
He propped himself up on his elbow and offered a shrug. “We’ll deal with it,” he said.
“Aren’t you the least bit worried?”
Damian sighed and shook his head. “No. Maybe I should be, but I’m not. It’s...” He looked at the ceiling, his eyes moving around the room as he searched for the correct word. “Right,” he finally said when his gaze locked on mine. “I know it’s strange, but I can feel the rightness of this in my soul. Can’t you?”
For the first time since I got the news, a strange calmness settled over me and I nodded. I felt the perfection of this situation just as much as he did. He smiled and studied me for a moment, his features adopting a more serious expression.
“Do you know what prompted you to change today?”
“No, at first I thought it was because I was frustrated by the speculation on the news. But then I couldn’t just will myself back into human form, that’s when I thought there might be an issue in the garage.”
He huffed at me and pressed his lips to my stomach. “You’ve never had that issue before.”
“No, but maybe the hormones are messing me up.” That sounded like the most viable theory, it actually made sense, but who knows, it could be some divine intervention for all I knew.
“Do you think the hormones are giving you some level of precognitive ability? Sensing danger and forcing the tiger out?”
I laughed at his flawed logic. “I don’t think so,” I answered and his eyebrow rose in a silent challenge. “Then where the hell was the tiger when we were at the doctor’s office or at the hospital for that matter?” I asked. While I’d love to believe that, there were just too many holes in the theory. “I think it has to do with getting angry and my not being able to switch back was just a lucky coincidence.”
“You only transitioned back when there was no more danger.”
“I’m aware of that,” I snapped and rolled out of bed. “I need some clothes,” I said with my back to him. The bed creaked and a moment later, he wrapped a bathrobe around my shoulders.
“This is all that’s down here,” he said, crossing into my field of vision and tying the sash to his bathrobe. “Everything else is upstairs and based on what happened today, I think we should get the hell out of here as soon as possible. I already moved the car. It’s in the garage here for now and I didn’t lock the workshop, so anyone can get in.”
“What about the hatch?”
“The truck is sitting over it and surrounded by boxes. I still need to weld it shut along with the door at the end of the tunnel. But, that should take less than an hour. Then we should bolt.”
I wasn’t ready to leave yet, but we really had no choice, not when Lucifer’s hellhounds found us so easily. It stood to reason that he’d soon follow and we didn’t want to be anywhere near here when he arrived.
“What about Ted and Valerie?”
“She isn’t out of danger and he doesn’t have any idea when she’ll be ready to be released,” Damian said. “And I told Ted to find somewhere else to stay until she was good to come home.”