Page 52 of Sandro

“You said our baby is a vampire. So you won’t be able to tell if he’s going to be a sire or a carrier, then?”

“No,” Rio said. “Just as with warlocks, that isn’t known until they meet their fated mate. There are, of course, some that you simply know are going to go one way or another, but I cannot answer your question about how your baby will present.”

“I understand. I was just making sure I understood completely.” I placed my hand low on Sandro’s thigh near his knee. “I love that I can see all of his fingers and tiny little toes. I’ve held Tulio and the twins, and they’re all still really small, but I never really thought about tiny fingers or toes until now.”

I heard Rio chuckling. “There’s his heartbeat. You can see it moving to the pulse you hear in the room. His heart is healthy. He also doesn’t seem to be shy,” Rio added. It took me a moment to realize what he was saying. When I did, I laughed. Our son was certainly not shy. At least not from the angle that he was being viewed magically at the moment.

“I see what you’re saying,” I said after I stopped laughing. “Hopefully, he’s a bit more modest when he’s out here with us.”

“He’s a vampire—of course he will be,” Sandro said. I felt him wiggle my head and laughed again. It had been a discussion between us before. I was a shifter. I’d been raised to not worry about modesty when it came to shifting. You couldn’t, really. You got naked to shift. That was simply how it was done unless you were a smaller shifter like Abel. The rest of us, we had to strip out of our clothing because it was never fun to find yourself stuck in a shirt when you were in your feline form. Especially not if you were needing to run away in a hurry for some reason.

I sighed. I was completely content at the moment. The rhythm of our son’s heartbeat was soothing, and I’d picked up on the fact that Sandro was playing with my hair to the same regularity. I yawned and suddenly wondered if Rio had done something again to make me sleepy. “Rio, did you magick me again?” I asked quietly.

“I haven’t, no. Are you tired? Do you wish for us to end the ultrasound?”

“I never want to not see our baby, but between the sound of his heartbeat and Sandro rubbing my scalp, I could probably fall asleep in under a minute.”

“Understood,” Rio said. The sound of the baby’s heartbeat was the first to disappear. It was quickly followed by the bedside light turning back on, and with it, the image of our son in the air was gone.

I sighed but managed to move and sit up. “Thank you, Rio. I have to agree with Mazzi and Abel. The magical ultrasound is really cool. Especially with the way you can spin the baby around and we can see him from all sides.”

“It is indeed. I’ve actually not done that many of them. It wasn’t until the last few years that they’ve really become standard for us. We were doing them the same way as everyone else, but somewhere along the way, someone discovered that we could magically project the aura of the baby, and it appeared much like an ultrasound image. I feel that most parents enjoy them, especially when they want to know what they’re having. It can be incredibly difficult to hide that when you have the ability to see the baby from so many different angles.”

I sighed again. That all made sense, but I was still feeling incredibly relaxed. Maybe I just needed a nap. I was supposed to be full of energy though, and this was not that.

“What was your news?” Sandro asked. He pulled me back toward him, and I went willingly. I felt so safe in his arms, and I had to remember, this was Rio. He knew—in fact, everyone in the coven knew—that Sandro and I had sex. I was pregnant with his baby. I was wearing his claiming bite, and they had all seen it.

“The news is that I found a psychologist that is willing to join the coven. The only downside is that he can’t arrive for another few weeks, as he has things he has to do for his current patients.”

That was amazing news. “That’s wonderful to hear. Do you think he’ll stay?” I asked. I wanted Sandro to get the help he deserved, but it wasn’t just him. Abel had been through so much, and honestly, I probably could benefit from talking to someone trained in that area as well.

“He has no family to leave behind. Only distant relatives, but his parents are gone, and he was an only child. He of course has his prickle, but he said he didn’t mind leaving them as they weren’t an overly large group.”

I sat up, a bit lost. “What’s a prickle, and why isn’t it large?”

Rio chuckled. “A prickle is a group of porcupines. Our coven’s new psychologist is a porcupine shifter.”

Chapter 21

Sandro

“How are you feeling?”

I looked at Leo and tried to smile. “Shouldn’t I be asking you that question? You’re the one who is pregnant and is due in five weeks.”

Leo came bounding over to me. Somehow, he was still able to do that despite his growing stomach. “Yes, but I’m not the one who didn’t sleep well last night.”

I sighed. “Yes, you are, because my nightmare woke you.” I felt terrible about that. I wanted him to have the rest that I knew his body needed. Instead, he’d been up with me for several hours last night.

Leo reached up and cupped my face. “I love you, Sandro. All parts of you. And if that means I’m up for a few hours in the middle of the night because you were stuck back in that warehouse again, then I’m up with you.” He shrugged. “I’ll take a nap later. What was more important to me was that you got what you needed from me. And soon, hopefully the new doctor can help you.”

I leaned down and kissed him. “Ti amo.” I leaned my forehead against his and sighed. “More every day, and more than I ever thought possible.” I kissed his nose and then moved my lips to his forehead and let them linger there. That was how we were discovered. It wasn’t any surprise, though, because we were standing in the kitchen, on our way to the dining room for a meal.

“You two are so adorable together,” Abel said.

Leo turned his head, and after giving me a tight squeeze, he dropped his arms. “And how are you doing? Marcello still being cranky?”

“Is he still Marcello?”