Only the Strong, стр. 48

“That’s definitely the answer I was looking for.” She filled a glass with ice and then topped it with soda and vodka before moving over to Aric’s couch. His eyes were filled with concern, but he didn’t immediately jump all over her and demand answers. “You’re not keeping that baby,” she warned him as he rubbed Lily’s back. “You’re also not getting a different one for our house.”

“I’ve already told you I’m fine with it,” he said. “I just like having a kid who doesn’t yell ‘Omigod’ every time I kiss her mother.”

“I don’t yell that because you kiss,” Sami shot back. “I yell that because you guys have sex in public places.”

Cillian lifted his chin. “They do?”

“Oh, now you’re interested in the conversation,” Jerry lamented. “Apparently all I needed to do was mention sex. I should’ve seen that coming.”

“You definitely should have,” Aisling agreed, reappearing in the room with a pair of black pants. “Are these okay?”

Zoe took them and offered up a grateful smile. “I appreciate it. I’ll get them back to you.”

“Don’t bother. I could barely fit into them before I got pregnant. It’s fine.”

“Why do you need different pants?” Aric asked, craning his neck to get a better look at his wife. “What happened?”

“That’s what I want to know,” Braden barked as he stormed into the room, Cormack close on his heels. Where they’d come from, I couldn’t say. Neither one of them looked happy.

“What are you doing here?” I was bewildered. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”

“Dad called me off and stuck Aidan with my jobs,” Braden replied, moving directly to my side. “He said there was an emergency. Are you okay?”

The only thing I understood about the statement was his fear. It was written all over his face. “I’m fine,” I reassured him.

“Actually, she took a hard fall,” Cernunnos countered. “She also might be bruised from the initial grab. It happened fast and looked brutal.”

“Grab?”

“I can fix her,” Sami announced, dancing closer to me. She seemed to be in relatively good spirits for a girl who thought she’d been passed over for some great adventure only hours before. “Where does it hurt?”

I stared at her for a beat. My first instinct was to suffer through my aches and pains — be a total martyr about it. Then I thought back to the way Lily had recovered the previous day, and gestured toward my back.

“Let Dr. Sami and her magic hands fix whatever ails you.” Her bedside manner wasn’t the best because she slapped her hand to my back, causing me to cringe. Within seconds, a soothing cool wave washed over every part of me and I felt as if I was floating.

“She was knocked on the head, too,” Zoe offered. “Make sure you fix that. I don’t want her to get a brain bleed. We’re going to need her the next time we head into that basement.”

“There isn’t going to be a next time,” Braden argued. “It’s not going to happen. Like, never. She’s done.”

I patted his arm as I slid onto one of the empty couches. “It’s fine,” I reassured him, hoping I wasn’t slurring. After Sami’s magical intervention, I felt slightly drunk. “Everything is totally fine. I’m good.” I shot him a thumbs-up, and then got distracted by the memory of the revenant’s hands as it grabbed me. “Revenants have opposable thumbs. Should they? Let’s discuss.”

Zoe chuckled. “Ah, it’s always fun to have a healing newbie in our midst.”

“Yes, it’s like being drunk,” Aric agreed. “I still remember the first time.”

“Who cares about the first time?” Sami challenged. “You guys still play the healing game every Thursday. You don’t think I know, but I do. Dad always does some lame thing outside without his shirt on so he can pull a muscle and have an excuse to go to bed early. Then I don’t see you guys after seven but I hear ... noises.” Her expression was dour. “They’re gross noises, too.”

Despite the intense way he had entered the parlor, Cormack looked much more relaxed now. He stroked his hand down Sami’s hair, took a moment to study the clips, and then directed her toward his chair. “There are peanut butter cups in the drawer.”

“Oh, yay!” Sami clapped her hands and walked in that direction as Cormack fixed his gaze on me.

“You’re okay, right?” he queried.

“I’m awesome,” I reassured him. “In fact, I’m the awesomest of awesome. Wait ... is that a word? Awesomest.” It felt weird on my tongue. “I think I just made up a word.”

Cormack shot an accusing look toward Zoe. “How long is she going to be like this? We need to talk about whatever happened.”

“It won’t last more than ten minutes,” Zoe replied. “Leave her be. She was in pain and now she’s not. Sami might’ve given her an extra jolt because she’s a little overzealous but I swear she’ll be back to normal in fifteen minutes tops.”

“Fine.” Cormack strode to his chair and flopped in it, holding out his hand to Sami as she dug into the bag of candy. The teenager handed him three pieces without him having to ask, then proceeded to shove two pieces in her mouth and methodically chew as she watched the show. “Who wants to tell me what happened?”

Zoe darted her finger toward Cernunnos, and since I found the action funny, I followed suit. If the god was upset about being pinpointed, he didn’t show it.

“A few unexpected things happened,” he acknowledged, offering up a rueful smile before launching into the tale. He didn’t leave anything out — including making Julia Grimaldi posable — and when he was finished, Cormack looked furious.

“She could’ve been seriously injured,” he hissed. “What were you thinking?”

“Technically I don’t believe we were thinking anything,” he replied. “All we wanted was a look at the room. We had no idea that the revenants could cross the way they did ... or that their first instinct would be to drag Izzy back