She shook her head, trying to pull away. A snort of laughter, so out of place, slipped out. God, she was losing her mind. Clapping a hand over her mouth before she laughed out loud, she struggled to breathe. Great. Now she was the one going hysterical.
“No,” she finally managed to get out, delayed but firm. “No. Don’t be ridiculous, Gideon. That’s impossible! It’s been less than twenty-four hours. There’s no way to—”
“Maggie!” He cut her off, lowering one hand to cup over her abdomen, his touch so very gentle. She could feel a spark of something kindle low and deep. A flutter of power. As if something—something separate from her but something inside her—were reaching for him. “I can feel him, Maggie. I can feel his power. Power, individual and separate, from yours. I’m not mistaken.”
She opened her mouth to argue, but nothing came out.
“You’re pregnant, Maggie.” His gaze held hers. Determined now. Protective. Unflinching. And very, very possessive. “You’re carrying my baby.”
She stared up at Gideon, unable to process his words. They just kept buzzing around in her head. No. The buzzing was in her ears. Her throat was suddenly, inexplicably dry as a desert. She forced a swallow, vaguely aware she was swaying on her feet like a drunkard. But that wasn’t right, because she was floating. The room began to spin.
And then everything went blessedly black.
Chapter Fourteen
Gideon stifled a curse as he swept Maggie up in his arms. He shimmered them back to his bedroom and gently lowered her to the bed. A quick check of her pulse revealed its flutter entirely too fast to be healthy. That couldn’t be good.
Oh, dear God, please no!
What if there was something wrong with the baby? It wasn’t as if he could just take her to the emergency room. Heaven only knew what a doctor would find. What if the babe wasn’t compatible with Maggie’s body? What if carrying his child ended up killing her?
Another panic attack hit him like a tidal wave. Nothing had ever been mentioned about what happened to the Halfling upon the Chosen One’s birth. Would she…could she even survive?
It was in that instant that the magnitude of the situation fully hit him. In seeking her out, in bringing her under his protection—in losing control of his overwhelming desire for her—he’d unwittingly created the fourth relic.
He’d created the Chosen One.
What do I do?
He began to hyperventilate. No, he couldn’t panic. Maggie needed him. Gideon clawed his way back from the edge. He would do her no good if he continued down this road. He had to figure this out.
First things first. He needed to make sure she was physically all right. Maggie and the baby were top priority. He swiped his phone from the nightstand and thumbed in Mikhail’s number.
The Demon of War answered on the first ring. Gideon was so shocked it took him a moment longer than necessary to remember how to speak.
Mikhail filled the silence. “Is she with you at the plantation?”
“Yes,” Gideon said, frowning. How had he known this was about—
The phone line went dead. Gideon held the device away from his face, staring at it incredulously. Before he could hit redial, he heard massive feet pounding up the grand staircase and then thundering down the hall. Gideon went instantly into a defensive crouch when the door burst open. He relaxed infinitesimally, straightening and extinguishing the plasma ball in his hand the moment Mikhail cleared the doorway.
Mikhail took in his surroundings in a split second. He’d never had cause to be in Gideon’s bedroom before, hence the reason he hadn’t shimmered straight there. Demons never shimmered to someplace they’d never been before. The potential of solidifying halfway in the middle of a wall, or three steps past the end of a cliff, was something to avoid at all costs. Mikhail rushed to the bed, and Gideon could only look on in disbelief. He’d not seen the Demon of War look so…concerned.
Hell, he’d not seen Mikhail look anything before. Mikhail didn’t do emotion.
Although Mikhail had defected from Lucifer’s rule with Gideon and the others, he’d always held himself carefully apart. He’d gone about this business of seeking forgiveness in his own way, on his own terms, never relying on the others for help unless it was absolutely necessary. Even then, he’d been known to Lone Ranger it to the point of suicidal inclination on more than a few occasions. Gideon had never wondered about that before, having been caught up in battling his own demons. After all, they all had their own crosses to bear.
Now, however, certain things were starting to click into place. Like the way Mikhail had known something was wrong with Maggie without Gideon having to utter a word. Or the way he’d flown to her side and instantly placed his healing hands over her abdomen without anyone telling him what had happened. Sometimes, Mikhail just seemed to know things.
“How long has she been unconscious?” Mikhail asked, interrupting his musings.