Jenna gave a faint smile. “Guess I get it from Pap. He used to get all folksy when he was trying to charm people. Always worked too, he could charm a snake right out of its skin.”
“Yeah,” Summer said, shifting her weight. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to the funeral. This winter’s the first time I’ve been back to Brittle Bridge since before—Anyway, I know how close you and your grandfather were. Losing him had to be hard.”
“It was.” A sheen of tears showed in her friend’s chocolate brown eyes for a moment, then her gaze focused on Summer. “God, it really has been since forever since I’ve seen you. How long has it been? Four years?”
“Five,” Summer corrected. “But finishing college, and you know . . .”
“The Sweet Tooth,” Jenna agreed. “And after Pap got sick, selling the bakery and moving home, taking care of him . . .” She waved her hand. “Never mind all that now. Are you okay? I mean . . . no one’s hurt you?”
“Hurt—? Nobody’s raped me if that’s what you’re asking,” Summer said, frowning. “But no, Jenna, I would say I am decidedly not okay.” Her glance went over her childhood friend. She looked healthy, a little heavier than she had been the last time she’d seen her, ’course it had been a while, but Jenna had never been so . . . positively glowing. “You seem all right though.”
“I’m great.” Jenna face melted into a smile. “And Ra’kur is—”
“Wait—” Summer shook her head. “You mean you like it here? You actually want to be on Hir?”
“Come here.” Jenna caught her hand, tugging her along. “You need to meet somebody.”
The bedroom was large, unmistakably feminine with furnishings fit for a princess. In an elaborate hand-carved crib lay a sleeping baby, perhaps a few months old, with warm brown hair and a daintily rippled forehead.
Oh. My. God.
“This is Anna,” Jenna murmured, looking lovingly down at the infant.
“She’s yours?” Summer blurted stupidly. “Yours and uh . . .”
“Ra’kur’s,” Jenna supplied and when she spoke his name she did it with the g’hir roll to it.
The baby responded to her mother’s voice by pursing her lips but didn’t wake up.
“Congratulations,” Summer said faintly, her hand going to her solar plexus.
Jenna lightly smoothed away one of the baby’s curls then indicated the doorway. Summer left the room on wooden legs, waiting as Jenna eased the door to the nursery closed behind them.
“I know this is all upsetting—” Jenna began.
“Upsetting?” Summer broke in. “I mean, Ar’ar kept going on and on about us having children—they all did—like they were sure it was going to happen, but I guess I just—” Her knees seemed to give out and she sank down onto one of the room’s plush chairs. “I just didn’t think it was possible. I didn’t think that g’hir and humans could actually reproduce, but if you—”
“And Hope.” Jenna sat across from her. “She and R’har are expecting a baby now.”
Summer’s brow creased. “Who the hell is Hope?”
“My friend.” Jenna waved it away. “You don’t know her.”
“How many of us are there here?” Summer demanded. “How many women?”
“You’re the third.”
“But there’s going to be more?”
Jenna closed her eyes briefly. “Yes.”
“Did you—” She didn’t want to ask this, she really didn’t. “Have you been helping them, Jenna? Helping the g’hir do this to us?”
“Once they knew about me,” Jenna said roughly, “there was no stopping them. When Ra’kur brought me here, when they knew there were females that were compatible—”
“Jenna,” Summer broke in. “You’ve got to help me! Help me get home!”
Jenna hesitated. “What’s happening here is very delicate, Summer. The clanfather has already denied you sanctuary and—”
“I meant what I said about Mirak! He told me I would be staying with Ar’ar no matter what I decide.”
Jenna’s mouth tightened. “Oh, I believe you. I know what kind of man Mirak is.”
“Then let me stay here! If not sanctuary, maybe as your guest—”
“You could . . . if the Choosing Day had passed.” She shook her head. “Think of it as a human honeymoon. You wouldn’t up and go to a girlfriend’s house in the middle of it.”
“Please.” Summer clasped Jenna’s hand. “I need your help! I need to get home!”
Jenna wet her lips, her chocolate eyes hesitant, and Summer’s hopes rose.
Then Jenna shook her head. “Try to understand, the Erah have no way to keep you in our territory—not without facing a very bloody clan war.” Jenna squeezed her hand as she delivered the devastating words. “Legally you have to wait until your Choosing Day.”
Summer’s throat tightened. Jenna wouldn’t—or maybe couldn’t—help her.
She was on her own here.
But she hadn’t seen Jenna since before she’d taken up with Dean, Jenna had been so busy with her bakery, with her grandfather’s illness—
She doesn’t know about Emma. She can’t or she would have asked about my baby right off . . .