Amaryllis leaned into him and brushed his jaw with her lips, featherlight, but he felt her touch go through him like a flaming dart. It was all about light, those flames. Solidarity. She was with him. She would be with him through whatever he had to endure. He had that.
The door cracked just enough to allow a shadow to slip into the room and then it was closed again. Cayenne leaned against the thick oak door, her green eyes wide with shock.
“Trap, my water broke. I’m in labor.”
Trap nearly leapt across the room, but then he just stood in front of her, raking his hands through his hair. “This is too soon, Cayenne. You’re not supposed to do this yet.” His voice was sharp with reprimand but blended with panic.
“Well, I am doing it,” she snapped back. “Believe me, I don’t want to.”
“Cayenne, come here,” Ezekiel said, his voice one of complete authority. “Malichai, move all the way over to the other side of the bed. I’m going to have Cayenne hop up for just a minute so I can see what’s happening and if the baby is all right. Malichai, do you have a medical kit here in the room?”
He always had one. “It’s in the bathroom under the sink. A full kit.”
Cayenne looked to Trap to tell her what to do. He stepped back and waved toward the bed. She shook her head. “I want to go home.”
“Baby, you’re not going to make it home and we can’t have the baby in the sky. It’s safest here. You’re surrounded by doctors. Amaryllis is here as well.”
“I don’t like anyone touching me. Or poking at me. I’m not sure I can control myself through this, Trap.” Cayenne sounded haunted. “What if I hurt someone, or kill them?”
Malichai knew it was a very real possibility. Cayenne’s bite was lethal. She had been created in a laboratory and the healthy dose of venom given to her was no joke. She had an hourglass in her hair as a warning, not a decoration.
“We need to get her to the hospital,” Joe said. “I’ll call an ambulance.”
Cayenne turned and rushed for the door. Trap got there just as she tried to pull it open, his large hand above her head, slapping it closed. “Stop, baby. No one’s going to make you go anywhere you don’t want to go. Get on the bed right now and let Zeke examine you. I’ll be right next to you, holding your hand. You have to bite someone, you target me, you understand? I’ll be very unhappy if you do anything but what I just told you to do.”
Trap poured command into his voice, but at the same time, his tone was velvet soft, low, a sound Malichai had never heard before. Cayenne responded immediately, taking the hand he held out to her and letting him lead her to the bed. She skirted around Joe quickly, as if she were afraid of him, and Malichai knew she wasn’t afraid of much. Cayenne was a force to be reckoned with in combat. She could be counted on every time to stand with them. He’d never seen what amounted to terror on her face.
Trap’s hands went around her waist and he lifted her onto the bed and indicated she stretch out beside Malichai.
“I can get up and move to the chair,” Malichai offered.
“We might need you,” Ezekiel said. “Okay, honey, you know me. I would never do anything to hurt you or your baby. I just want to take a look and see what’s happening. Is that okay with you?”
Trap moved in close, keeping possession of her hand. “Look at me, Cayenne. I want you to do this, do you understand me?”
She bit down on her lip but didn’t take her gaze from Trap’s. To Malichai’s horror, her green eyes actually filled with tears. Her nod was nearly imperceptible.
“Go ahead, Zeke,” Trap said.
“Need a light over here,” Ezekiel snapped.
Amaryllis stepped up beside him with a flashlight. “I know you don’t know me, Cayenne, but I’m the same as you. I would never allow experiments on me again either. I give you my word I won’t let anyone experiment on you or your child.”
She spoke in a low voice, distracting Cayenne as Ezekiel pulled on gloves and slipped a thick pad under Cayenne. Trap had to lift her to do it, but the pad was put in place.
“Zeke is going to help your baby and you. All of us want to help you. Just please keep in mind that always, you have a sister in the room. A woman that will stand with you no matter what.”
Even though Cayenne never took her eyes from Trap’s face, Malichai felt the tension ease out of her just a little at Amaryllis’s declaration. And she nodded.