I laughed.
“Want to hold her?” Beth asked.
It would be rude to say no, so I nodded and lifted my arms awkwardly. I wasn’t good with the whole holding-babies thing, even after they weren’t newborns and could easily hold their heads up. I just never knew what to do with them once I had them in my hands. Like, should I rock them? Bounce them up and down? And dear God, what was I supposed to say to them?
A second later, the little bundle of Origin was in my hands, with big, purple-colored eyes fixed right on mine, and I seriously hoped the kid wasn’t reading my thoughts and understanding any of what I was thinking.
Because I was a little concerned about accidentally dropping her.
As I lifted little Ashley closer to my chest, she was quick to grab hold of two of my fingers and squeeze. Hard. I laughed. “Wow. She’s got a grip on her.”
“She’s pretty strong.” Dawson smiled as Beth sat beside him on the couch. “Just the other day, she threw her teddy from the living room clear into the kitchen.”
“Damn,” Archer murmured.
“Maybe she can be a softball player,” Dee suggested.
Beth’s laugh was light and surprisingly carefree. “If she gets any stronger, I’m afraid she’s going to throw something through a wall.”
“Well, that would be awkward,” I said to Ashley, who just giggled in response. Her gaze flickered over my shoulder, and I could feel Daemon drawing closer. Her stare was serious, curious as she studied him. “I’m not sure she likes you.”
He laughed. “Everyone likes me.”
Archer snorted.
Daemon brushed his lips over my cheek as he circled his arms around my waist, holding me as I held Dawson and Beth’s child. Ashley reached out with one short arm, splaying her chubby fingers alongside his jaw.
Like always, she was absolutely fascinated with touching his face.
Maybe one day, I’d be holding our child. Who knew? But it would be a long, long time from now, like decades from now, and I wasn’t sure that day might ever come. The idea of raising a child was still something foreign to the both of us, and we preferred it that way. As Daemon’s arms tightened around my waist, I knew we’d be happy if it was just the two of us, or three of us. But I was really hoping that the third member of our family would turn out to be a puppy or a kitten. Babies seemed like a lot of work.
Ashley’s gaze trailed back to mine, and as I cooed and smiled at her, her little bow-shaped lips parted in a big grin and the dark pupils in the center of her eyes suddenly lightened, turning a brilliant shade of white.
“She’s special,” Daemon murmured.
That she was.
“You’re still more special,” he whispered into my ear, and I laughed as I leaned back into his embrace.
I looked up, my gaze traveling over the faces of those sitting in the room. Dee. Archer. Dawson. Beth. And then I found myself staring into Ashley’s glowing eyes. She’d finally stopped feeling up Daemon’s face and rested her head under my chin, making little murmuring noises as she appeared to soak everything in like a sponge.
Dee and Beth started talking about the wedding—my wedding—and what colors they hoped I decided on. I think Dee was praying for pink. Archer and Dawson sat between them, looking thoroughly confused by the whole conversation. My smile felt permanently plastered across my face.
No matter how rough the future got, this was my family, and I would do anything to keep them safe, even if one of them was currently drooling all over my shirt.
A knock on the door pulled me out of my thoughts, and when my gaze swept across the room, it landed on Archer. He was grinning like a fool.
“Who could that be?” Daemon asked. “We’re all here.”
Dawson stood. “I have no idea. Let me check.”
I kept staring at Archer and my stomach tumbled. Is it?
Archer’s grin spread.
Turning toward the entryway, my breath held in my throat, and then Dawson was strolling back into the room. Behind him was someone we hadn’t seen since we’d left Montana.
Luc strolled into the room, his long-legged pace easy and fluid, and holy crap, he’d grown even taller since the last time I’d seen him. “How dare you guys have a get-together and not invite me.”
My lips broke into a wide grin, and I almost—almost—ran over and hugged him, because of so many reasons. But I didn’t, because I knew Luc wasn’t the hugging type.
Dee, however, didn’t get that.
She jumped up from where she sat like there was a spring beneath her and got to Luc before he could react, enfolding him in one of her epic hugs. His slightly wide eyes met mine over Dee’s shoulder.
It was hard calling Luc a friend, but I liked to think he was one, and my heart ached for him. As far as we knew, the serum—the Prometheus serum—hadn’t done what he’d hoped for Nadia. That was the sucky thing about Daedalus. In some ways, they’d had good intentions, and maybe if they’d had more time, they’d have been able to craft a medicine that would eradicate most human diseases.
But not everyone got their happy ending.
When he finally got free of Dee, he ended up in front of Daemon and me. He wasn’t really looking at us, but studying Ashley like I was holding a new species in my arm.
Which I totally was.
In a low voice, I asked, “How are you doing?”
Luc shrugged. “You know, I’m doing my thing like a chicken wing.”
My brow arched.
Daemon sounded like he choked. “Did you seriously just say that?”
“I did and I’m cool like that.”
I smiled as I watched him tilt his head to the side. “Are you still with the Origins?”
He nodded as he squinted at Ashley. “For the time being. I think it’s good for them, because like I said, I’m pretty damn cool and they’re learning from the best.”
No one in the room responded to that, because well, Luc was . . . Luc. Yeah, the Origin kids were better off now that Nancy wasn’t around and neither was Daedalus, but what in the world could Luc be teaching them?
I was pretty sure I didn’t want to know. And I also didn’t want to know who was watching over them while he was here.
“Can I?” Luc asked, extending his arms.
My gaze found Beth’s and she nodded. “Sure.”
Luc took Ashley from my hands like he had a lot of experience holding really small people. He hoisted her up, and Ashley seemed to look back at him like she was studying him.
“Hey there,” Luc said.
Ashley responded by smacking a baby palm against his cheek with one hand and then grasping his hair with the other.
“That means she likes you,” Dawson said, hovering between Beth and Luc.
“Interesting,” he murmured.
Ashley hooted or did some kind of weird baby laugh, and Luc cracked a grin. “You’re something special,” he said, echoing what Daemon had said earlier.
Watching Luc turn with Ashley, facing Dawson and Beth, I was only vaguely listening to the conversation they started. Something to do with potato chips, mayo, and awkward locations, and that was all I wanted to hear about that.
“Kitten?” murmured Daemon.
I turned my head slightly and, like always, I was simply struck by him, had been from the first time I’d knocked on his door and wanted to punch him in the face. He was mine, all of him—the prickly side and the warm, playful, and loving side.
“What?”
His lips brushed my ear as he whispered a string of words that widened my eyes and scalded my cheeks. And I recognized the words.
They were what he’d written on the note he’d passed to me in class so long ago.
“You game for that?” he asked, eyes burning a luminous green. “I’m really hoping so. Been thinking about it for, like, two years. Don’t let me down, Kitten.”
My heart thumped like thunder in my chest as I said the truest words ever. “I’m game for anything with you, Daemon Black.”