<b>Chapter </b><b>169 </b>
Noah
Thevender soap warmed in my hands as I worked it into ather, slow and careful. I pressed it gently along Envy’s skin, tracing the curves of her shoulders, down her arms, over the swell of her belly. My thumbs circled as if I could smooth away the bruises, the exhaustion<b>, </b>the pain of everything she’d just endured. Gods, I’d almost lost her. The thought still made my chest tighten, a sharp ache I couldn’t shake. The image of her still body on that battlefield, Elliot screaming, Felix fading, it branded me. And yet here she was, warm in my hands, breathing, ours. I lingered over her stomach, washing softly around the curve that was no longer just one life, but four. Four. The number kept echoing in my head like a prayer and a warning all at once. Four little ones who were half her, half us. My throat thickened.
What would they look like? Would one of them have Xavier’s scowl, softened by her smile? Or Haiden’s sharpness, tempered by her steady heart? Levi’s calcting gaze, bnced by her wildness? Maybe one would carry my eyes, but her gentleness. Gods, I hoped they all held her kindness, her grit, that stubborn light that refused to go out no matter how many times the world tried to snuff it. I slid the sponge over her ribs, careful of every breath she took. She hummed softly, leaning into my touch, and I pressed a kiss to the curve of her shoulder, whispering, “I’ve always wanted kids. Always. And now we’re going to have four.”
She didn’t answer; her eyes were closed, rxed in the water, but my chest swelled anyway.
My thoughts drifted. Macey. Elliot. Elias. How would they handle four newborns crying at once? Macey would probably try to mother them all, bossing them around with that fiery little attitude of hers. Elliot… he’d protect them, no question. Gods, he already had, again and again. And Elias, I wasn’t sure yet, but I wanted him to know he belonged here, too. My hands stilled for a moment, soap dripping from my fingers into the bathwater. The thought I’d buried wed its way back up. The papers. Sitting in my desk drawer for months now, waiting. Adoption papers for Macey. She was already ours in every way that mattered. She’d imed us as much as we’d imed her. She’d imed Envy, maybe most of all. And I’d wanted to make it official. To give her a name and a ce that couldn’t be taken away from her again. I ran the sponge down Envy’s arm, my chest burning with the weight of everything. Maybe it was time. Maybe after this battle, after what we’d almost lost, it was time to stop waiting.
I kissed Envy’s temple, resting my forehead there, breathing her in. “You’ve given me more than I ever dreamed, little mate,” I whispered, voice breaking just for her. “I’ll spend the rest of my life making sure none of you ever slip away again.”
She stirred faintly against me, murmuring, “Hmm?”
10:33 <b>Mon</b><b>, </b>Sep <b>15 </b>
“Nothing,” I said quickly, kissing her again. “Just thinking about our future.<b>” </b>
<b>Levi </b>
43
Noah finally pulled his hands away, his voice steady butced with that quiet reverence he always carried around Envy. “She’s clean enough,” he said, and the way he said it almost sounded like he was dering her sacred. I stood already waiting, towel warmed in my hands. Noah lifted her carefully, water sliding down her skin in rivulets, and passed her into my arms like she was something fragile, though I knew better. Our mate was forged in fire, tempered in blood. Still, I took her like she was the most precious thing in the world. The towel wrapped around her, cocooning her in heat. She shivered faintly and leaned into my chest, and I pressed my lips to the crown of her damp hair. “I’ve got you,” I murmured, carrying her out of the bathroom and back into our room.
Moonlight from the suncatchers spilled across the walls, broken into shards of colour that painted her face in blues and golds. Iid her down carefully on the bed, taking an extra towel Noah passed me. With slow hands, I worked the moisture from her skin, blotting gently until her body was dry. Then came her hair. I brushed it out in long, careful strokes, the tangles slipping free as the strands dried soft between my fingers. She sighed at the touch, her eyes fluttering closed, and the sound alone unravelled something tight inside my chest. When her hairy smooth, I reached for the jar of moisturiser Mum had insisted on pressing into my hand weeks earlier. <i>It’ll </i><i>help </i><i>with </i><i>stretch </i><i>marks</i>, she’d said with a knowing smile. I dipped my fingers in, warming the cream before smoothing it over Envy’s belly, her thighs, the soft curve of her breasts.
I should’ve been thinking only of the practical side of it. But the truth was, I didn’t want to stop the marks. I wanted them. I wanted her branded forever with the evidence that she carried our children. That her body made beating hearts, shifted her organs, bent to the will of life itself to house them. The idea of it, of her, marked permanently by what we’d created together, made my throat tight and my cock stir with heat I had no business entertaining right now. Was it getting me hard? Fuck yes. Did I want to see those marks every day, worship them as proof of her strength, her sacrifice? Even
more.
But not now. Not tonight. Tonight wasn’t about me. It was about her. About them. Our little army of lives is already shaping the future inside her. So I swallowed down the hunger and kept my hands gentle, kneading the moisturiser into her skin until she was glowing in the moonlight. I tucked the nkets around her, brushed onest kiss against her temple, and whispered, “Rest, baby. We’ll take care of everything else.”