Only the Strong, стр. 38

“A great many things,” he confirmed, his eyes going to Cormack and Lily, who continued to scream as if she was being tortured. “I take it this belongs to Mistress Mouth.” He moved forward and extended his hands. “May I hold her?”

Cormack immediately tightened his grip on Lily, which made her scream all the louder. “No offense, but I don’t know you.”

“That’s Bob,” Zoe offered helpfully. “He’s okay ... for a dude who lives in a hole in the ground.”

Cernunnos shot her a look. “I did that once.”

“That we know of.”

He sighed. “I keep thinking age will mellow you. Apparently that’s not the case.”

“Nope. I plan on being one of those old ladies who says whatever comes to her mind while wearing inappropriate leggings and drinking bourbon in my tea in the middle of the day.”

“That will be a nice look on you.” Cernunnos offered up what he probably thought of as a friendly smile to Cormack. “I want to help your granddaughter.”

Cormack looked caught. “I ... um ... .” He shifted his gaze to Aisling, unsure.

“How about we compromise?” Cernunnos suggested. “Samantha, please come here.” He motioned to the spot on the other side of Cormack.

“I’ll go over there but you can’t call me Samantha.” Sami made a face as she shifted to join Cernunnos. “You have to call me Sami. Samantha is a stupid name.”

“He could always call you by your middle name,” Zoe suggested.

Sami’s gaze darkened. “Don’t go there.”

“What’s her middle name?” Redmond queried, joining the fray. His gaze was speculative as he eyed Cernunnos and his stance was protective as he moved closer to Sami. “I’m only asking for my own edification because I would like to torture her the next time she uses magic against me in a game.”

“It’s a lovely name,” Zoe drawled, clearly amused.

“Don’t,” Sami hissed. “I hate that name. You only did it to torture me.”

“That’s true,” Aric offered. “After hours of the most horrific screaming and crying you can ever imagine — and that was from me, not my wife who was in labor — we decided to saddle her with a truly unimaginable middle name as payback.”

“Oh, I’m practically salivating,” Redmond drawled.

“Don’t tell him,” Sami warned, the chandelier flickering.

I cocked my head. “Did she do that?”

“Yes, she’s a regular Carrie at the prom when she wants to be,” Zoe replied. “Sami, knock that off.”

“Then don’t tell him my middle name.” Sami was adamant. “I don’t like it.”

“Fine.” Zoe threw up her hands. “I won’t tell him ... Samantha Gertrude.”

“Ugh.” Sami stomped her foot, earning an amused look from Cernunnos. “I can’t believe you did that!”

“Gertrude.” Redmond barked out a laugh. “I’m going to torture the crap out of you with that later.”

“Ah, children.” Cormack mustered a smile. “Can you really help Lily?”

“I can, but Sami is going to be the one providing the power this time,” Cernunnos replied, putting his hand to the back of Sami’s neck and prodding her forward. “You know what to do, little one.”

“Don’t call me that either,” Sami groused. “I have a name.”

“Sami.” Cernunnos appeared to have infinite patience. “You can make the infant feel better.”

Sami’s small brow furrowed. “But how? I thought she was just upset.”

“She is. There are visions of needles the size of hammers in her head and each one of them hurts.”

“Oh, geez.” Aisling slapped her hand over her eyes. “Don’t tell me that.”

“Please don’t tell us that,” Griffin agreed.

“We’re the worst people in the world,” Aisling said morosely. “We tortured our baby.”

“Oh, knock that off,” Cormack said. “She won’t even remember it in two days. Just ... she needed the vaccinations. Don’t be dramatic.”

“She’s a Grimlock,” I offered. “I don’t think she has any choice in the matter.”

“True story,” Braden supplied on a grin.

“She’ll be fine in a few seconds,” Cernunnos promised. “Sami is going to make everything better.”

“Oh, but no pressure,” Sami muttered.

“You can do it,” Cernunnos reassured her. “In fact, your instincts are probably telling you exactly what to do.”

“Yeah.” Sami’s fingers ignited in blue fire as she moved her hands toward Lily’s legs. “I know what to do.”

“Good.” Cernunnos folded his arms across his chest and waited. “Show me what you’ve learned.”

Cormack looked wary, but since it was Sami providing the magic he merely watched as the teenager made contact with his precious granddaughter. Almost immediately, Lily stopped screeching.

“What is she doing?” Aisling asked, craning her neck.

“Something I should’ve thought about when the baby first started screaming,” Zoe replied. “It didn’t even occur to me.”

“And that is?”

“She’s healing her,” Aric replied, a small smile playing at the corners of his lips. Despite his bold talk from before, I was certain he wouldn’t trade his child for anything ... even in bad moments.

“Really?” Aisling looked so hopeful I felt impossibly sorry for her.

“And look at that,” Cernunnos intoned as Lily shifted to look at Sami. Tears still rested on the baby’s delicate eyelashes, and the occasional sniffle escaped, but she was no longer wailing.

“Hello, baby,” Cormack crooned to his granddaughter. “Are you feeling better?”

Lily sniffled again, her eyes wary as she looked between faces. Ultimately she focused on Sami ... and smiled.

“Good job, Gertrude,” Redmond offered, clapping Sami on the shoulder. “You’re a hero.”

Sami scowled at him. “I’m going to beat you ten times worse next time we play a game,” she warned, crossing back to her former spot and grabbing her licorice. “I’m going to make you cry.”

Redmond winked at her. “Promises, promises.”

“Now that we’ve gotten through the niceties, I have a few questions,” Cernunnos said as he crossed to an open chair and sat in it, shooting Zoe a fond smile. “You crossed between worlds today. I would like to know how you did it.”

“And hello to you, too, Bob,” Zoe drawled. “I can’t tell you how much I’ve missed you. Wait, I can. Not at all.”

“Hey, give him a break,” Aisling intoned. “He healed my baby.”

“Sami healed your baby,” Zoe countered. “Honestly, it’s my fault we didn’t think of