Obsidian Music (Lion Security Book 3) (15 page)

Ember, honestly and surprisingly, was a huge outlet for me. She and Grigori almost weren’t here when Dr. Walker made that phone call because she and Grigori had been touring some of the ‘women’s shelters’ around the US for a couple of weeks—I was sure that was code for whatever agency they worked for on the side. They had only just gotten back the day before. It appeared that someone had been looking down on me when I escaped that day.

After our lessons together, Ember and I would walk outside in the backyard, pointing at things and saying them in Russian. Ruslan would walk with us, telling us if we said them correctly or not. I had been assigned—ahem—ten new bodyguards, who all milled around, but I didn’t want to see or meet them. Not after what had happened with my last ones. Not yet, anyway.

Ember and Ruslan seemed to understand this and kept to our discussions of what a tree or plant was called in Russian. Ember also seemed to understand—her uncanny ability to read people—that it freaked me out to be outside for too long…but the sneaky woman always made our walks just a little bit longer each day. She also did it to build up her own endurance again, though. She was healing very well—and too quickly in Grigori’s stubborn opinion.

Daniil would always be waiting for me when I came inside, an hour before dinnertime, and he would take me into the music room—per my request—and play me music from any instrument he felt like playing. That was the calmest part of my day. Sitting there. Watching him. Seeing his fingers work their magic. Loving how his eyes lit up while he played. And feeling a relaxed sort of comfort when Roman would come home earlier and find us in there, and play along with his dad, both of them giving each other happy, contented looks—a musician in his relaxed element, dad and son furthering their bond.

Yeah, it was my favorite part of the day.

Dinner was much the same as breakfast. Everyone was subdued, but cheerful. Although Daniil did test the waters almost two weeks into my recovery inviting my cousins and the occupants of the house across the way over for a much larger dinner. It wasn’t…bad. It just took a little getting used to. Although it was entertaining to watch Brent and Cole, who had deigned to re-enter this house for the first time when not in an emergency situation. Time had…changed them some. It was as if they had adjusted to the life they had without Ember. Just as she seemed to have adjusted without them. Even if I did catch a few covert looks Brent and Ember gave one another, but they weren’t exactly sexual. I mean the looks they gave each other simmered with “I want to talk with you again, but I don’t know how.” Like…well, like they were old friends wanting to reconnect, a bond there that would never be broken.

I rested back in the formal living room after dinner and watched as Grigori maneuvered Ember closer to Brent. Quietly, I asked Daniil, “What is he doing?”

“Loving her,” Daniil said quietly.

“Isn’t he jealous?” I asked dumbfounded, my emotions completely back on track, which I was eternally grateful for.

“Yes. But he trusts her. And he knows she needs this friendship.”

I smiled up at him, after seeing Grigori back away once he got Brent and Ember talking. “You raised some good kiddos.”

He was still watching Brent and Ember, but he nodded.

“Worried?”

“I trust Ember. It’s Brent I don’t trust so much.” He nodded toward them, and I looked back to see Brent touch her hand, possibly a second too long while he spoke to her. “He’s a good man, but he’s also very smart…and patient.”

I glanced at Grigori where he was speaking with my dad about something, but his eyes were watching Brent and Ember’s every move even if he had brought them together. “I don’t think Grigori misses much, either.”

Daniil shook his head. “No. I taught him better than that, and I believe he’s going to surprise everyone tonight with the way he’s acting.” I hadn’t noticed anything different, so I glanced at Grigori again. I still didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but Daniil had turned his attention to Roman, and I followed his gaze. “Now, Roman… Well, he’s going to be a handful. Probably worse than Grigori.”

I ran my fingers under his chin, and turned his face my way, staring at him with two working eyes since the black eye and puffy face had finally vanished. “Quit worrying tonight. I want you happy, not upset.” I kissed his jaw lightly when I saw his eyes soften from fatherly worry to tender love for a partner in life. “Thank you. Thank you for being patient and helping me. I feel ten times better already.”

Placing a gentle hand on my head, his eyes scoured mine as he ran his fingers through my hair that had grown enough to become itty-bitty tight curls. “I want you feeling a hundred times better, not just ten. I want you back. And I’ll be as patient and as helping as I can be.”

I stopped his hand with my gloved one…my nails were only growing back, and they were hideous, so I wore the gloves so I didn’t gross anyone out. “Daniil, I may never be that same person I was before.” He knew this…didn’t he?

His soft smile turned a little evil, and he bent down, whispering in my ear, “Do you mean how you now have a possessive streak to rattle anyone’s cage, and you have no issues killing anyone who threatens your babies?”

I nodded. Yes. That was exactly what I meant. I wasn’t a ‘kill all’ type of person, but my eye-for-an-eye…well, I didn’t even bat an eye now when I thought of my kidnappers trying to harm the babies inside me again.

I felt him grin against the shell of my ear. “That works for me.”

I snorted, pushing at his shoulder lightly with my cast. “I’m happy I can accommodate you.” I said it with enough sarcasm to make it sound real, but truly, I was happy he liked this harder side of me.

He started trailing small kisses behind my ear. “I knew you would get there, anyway. I just thought it would be after our sons were born.”

I snorted again, but it came out in a half sigh/half moan. “We are not finding out what the sexes are.”

Daniil groaned low in his throat, and he whispered against my heating skin, “Please, don’t say any word that involves ‘sex’ in it.” He sighed heavily against my neck. “I’m already dying here.”

Lifting my hand, I gripped the necklace that he wore. He made it out of the bolt I had killed my jailer with. He melted the bolt down and shaped it into a heart and threaded it around his neck in twisted black leather.

Morbid, yes. But Daniil all the way.

I lifted my brows. “You’re not the only one dying here, so quit doing that.”

He groaned again even lower in his throat and started to pull me in tighter against him so he didn’t see my mom walk up to the loveseat where we sat. Nor did he see the hand she raised to swat him on the backside of his head, banging his face into my neck. He grunted, and his head snapped up, seeing my mom’s twinkling eyes staring down at him.

Softly, she stated, “A little decorum, please. I know what that doctor said. And that,” she pointed between my neck and his mouth, “isn’t going to help.” Her lips thinned, but she stated quickly, “And it’s not fair for a man to achieve release when the woman’s left high and dry for months on end.” She pointed at Daniil. “So keep that in mind when you’re trying to finagle something out of her.” She nodded once curtly, then turned on an embarrassed heal and walked quickly over to my dad.

“My mom did not just say that,” I muttered, my mouth still hanging open.

Daniil rubbed the back of his head where she had hit him, and he glanced at me…appearing a little sheepish.

I stared. My mom had been right. Daniil was going to try…

I laughed outright. It was loud. And it was joyful.

And it was the first time I had really laughed in months. Pretty much the entire room stopped whatever they were doing and looked my way. Nikki came over while I was trying to get control of myself, and put her arms around my throat, leaning on my round belly, whispering in my ear, “I’m happy you’re feeling better.”

I smiled against her black hair and hugged her back. “Thank you, Nikki. That’s very sweet of you to say.”

The babies kicked at that moment, pushing against Nikki. She squawked and jumped back, pointing at my stomach, squealing, “Her stomach! It moved!”

Beth bumped her shoulder and rolled green eyes. “The babies moved, Nikki.” She placed a hand over my stomach, hesitating, and then asking, “Can I feel?”

Still smiling, I nodded, but also grabbed Daniil’s hand since he hadn’t been around when the babies were active. Placing both their hands on my stomach, I pressed a little on Daniil’s…and thumpity-thump….thump, thump, thump! They really got active in there.

Beth’s eyes grew almost as large as Daniil’s, and they both gasped.

Daniil grinned broadly after a few moments and told the room at large, “Boys. They’re all boys.”

I couldn’t help my chuckle, and Nikki barged into the fold, placing her hand between Beth and Daniil’s. There was a pause, and then, one of the babes punched or kicked her hand, and she squealed again, jumping back, staring at Ember with huge eyes, pointing at my stomach, almost shouting, “They’re coming out!”

Grigori laughed, and picked up the frightened Nikki, bouncing her a little. “They aren’t coming out yet. They’re just moving around like you used to do in your mommy’s belly.”

She blinked. “Really?”

He nodded. “Yes. I remember when your mom got real big,” Ember snorted, “and you two would practically do somersaults in her stomach.”

I glanced at Brent and Cole, but they were only watching the interaction silently like they were gauging Grigori’s interaction with their daughter.

Grigori bent down and whispered something in Nikki’s ear, and her eyes turned huge, and she whispered, “Really?” Grigori nodded, and she said, “Yes, I think I’d like that.”

“What?” Beth asked, taking her wide gaze off my stomach, but not her hand. “What would you like?”

Grigori bent down, still holding Nikki in his arms, and whispered in her ear. I didn’t catch what he said, but I saw her eyes go as big as Nikki’s had. She squealed, nodding really big, her blond curls dancing around her face. Grigori cleared his throat, and stood, placing Nikki back on the floor, and beckoned for Ember to come over.

Daniil’s hand tensed on my stomach, but a quick glance at him showed me that his face was peaceful. He even winked at me. Guess I was going to find out what all this was about the good old-fashioned way.

Ember walked through the silent room and stood in front of him with her eyebrows puckered, her head tilted all the way back so she could stare him in the face. She was just as confused as the majority of the room, and Grigori cleared his throat again, and cupped her cheeks, asking gently, “Do you still want to have more children?”

Her breath caught, and like her daughters’, her eyes went huge. She licked her lips and nodded in quick jerky motions. Grigori smiled down at her, and I had to lean into Daniil to see past Grigori’s hair hanging around his face. He said softly, “I’ve been doing some research. It may not be as easy as it was before. Are you sure about this?”

She nodded again.

He cleared his throat again, and then stated in the softest, sweetest tones I had ever heard him use before, “You said before that I’m all you ever want to know, that I was all you ever wanted in a man.” He paused, kissing the tip of her nose. “Well, honey, you’re all I have ever seen as the perfect woman. You’re strong. You’re fierce. You’re shy. You’re sweet. You’re caring. You’re protective. You’re all I ever want to know. You’re all I could ever want in a woman.” He leaned his forehead against hers, his hair barely covering his pink cheeks. “I love you, Ember, and I want to have children with you.”

Oh…oh, my. He had taken the plunge and also made this declaration in front of everyone. No wonder he had no real issues with her talking alone with Brent.

Ember’s voice cracked when she said, “I love you, too.” She was visibly trembling, and she placed her small hands on his heated cheeks. She lifted on her tiptoes and kissed his lips softly. “You’ll be a great daddy.”

Grigori sucked in a big breath, but I still saw the huge smile—a truly contented smile—he rested against her lips.

It was silent for all over a heartbeat as Grigori proceeded to—ahem—start the baby making process right in front of us with a kiss that nearly dropped Ember, but Carl cleared his throat, grabbing everyone’s attention from Ember and Grigori. I made sure to keep my eyes off Brent and Cole since I was almost positive even with the truce they had going on, no one in their situation wanted to hear that.

Carl stood and took Anna’s hand, pulling her up from her seated position to stand next to him. Her eyes were huge, but she was smiling softly as Carl laid the next big one on us. He grinned, tugging Anna in close, looking like a big ‘ol love sap, which was just odd on a man that looked as tough as he did. He stated clearly, and loudly, “With all this talk of babies, I thought it would be a great time to announce that my wife is pregnant.”

Everyone in the room—minus Ember and Grigori, who were still lost in one another directly in front of Daniil and me—cheered and started congregating around them. The loudness startled me for a second, and I know I jumped, scaring poor Beth, who still had her hand on my belly. Daniil shushed her…and me…but I got over it quickly enough. I wasn’t going to allow some damn happy cheers to rattle me for too long.

All in all, it had been one heck of a good evening all around.

I was ready for the party Daniil had been testing and preparing me for. It was time to meet my kidnappers. Mafia style.