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Three &039;s normal," said Dr Merrick as she stared at thetable, my shirt pushed up to reveal my rounded tummy Gel was smeared all over it, and Dr Merrick merrily pushed her little wand all overmy hand

"Scales?" I asked "Is there smoke in there? Or is she covered in fire?"

"No," she said, chuckling "Most shifters deliver their babies in hu to happen once the baby arrives I&039;ve never dealt with dragons"

I had already been ias that would set off fire alar a new house where the old one had stood It wouldn&039;t be finished until the suer: five bedrooms and two and half bathroo pool and a fort for the boys Everything would be fireproof, including our clothes Like Dr Merrick said, no one had dealt with a baby dragon in a long ti our dragon daughter was both terrifying and exhilarating I never thought of Ash as the sentiifts for the baby Her fashion wizard had created some very cute flame-retardant baby clothes And even Brady had offered to e techno-whatsits Dr Merrick turned the e I could make out the teeny tiny form of a baby Oh my God I squeezed Ralph&039;s hand as excitehcircle "The heart," she said softly "Very strong Healthy"

We stared at our baby girl There she was, against all odds (An undead dad and a dragoninside rinning "Wow"

He leaned down and kissed on to vampire, thanks to Ash He didn&039;t have fire, not since she&039;d taken his dragon soul Without the answering passion of his dragon to igniteon fire All the same, we&039;d switched to a platform bed custom made by Brady I wasn&039;t sure what the bed was made out of, but it looked like that carbonite stuff Han Solo had been frozen in The mattress was out-of-this-world comfortable More importantly, it couldn&039;t be set on fire even if you poured gasoline on it and threw on a litMy heart skipped a beat The boys were staying with their favorite babysitter, Ta them After all, I was their mother A duty I shared with Therese, e visited every Sunday I wouldabout love - it had no limits

"Is it Tam?" I asked anxiously "Are the twins okay?"

I had found that parenting held a lot of joy, frustration, and fear I was constantly worried about Michael and Stephen, especially when they weren&039;t with us

Ralph looked at the phone display and frowned "Nope," he said He flipped it open "Hello, Patsy" He paused and his eyebrows shot upward "What? Well, okay"

He ended the call and looked at et to her house pronto"

Dr Merrick gave ot dressed, Ralph ith her to schedule the next appointet a refill of my prenatal vitamins Twenty minutes later, we presented ourselves at Patsy and Gabriel&039;sand he returned it lightly Vampires had quite the squeeze, so they had to be careful Patrick and his faood friends We&039;d spent ht with him and Jessica and their children

Anyway, I&039;d turned into a hugger My hormones hacked out and I felt either really affectionate or really weepy Everyone got hugged, even the scary olf guys They were a sucker for a pregnant woman&039;s embrace

"What&039;s up?" I asked as Patrick led the way into the living room It had been rebuilt and refurnished Patsy had thankedmy accidental de process

"You&039;ll have to see it to believe it," said Patrick He stopped and let o ahead of him Patsy sat on an oversize black velvet couch At seven nant, she was the picture of health Or to hear her tell it, the freaking picture of ill-these-children-get-out-of--womb exhausted

On the opposite couch, which was also oversized and velvet, but rather an eye-popping red, sat a teenaged boy and two older woons," I whispered

In the middle was a tall woman dressed in blue robes Her silver hair was plaited into a single braid that was so long it was piled on the seat behind her Her eyes were an odd shade of blue-green I could sense her fire My eyes were drawn to her gold-rope necklace, and to the fire red jewel that rested just above her boso, but kneas ancient, pried boy He wore black jeans, a Cure T-shirt, and studded black boots His eyes were black Not dark brown Black So was his hair, which fanned over his scalp in a Mohawk His eyebrows, lips, and nose were all pierced His aura told me he was a huons keeping odd coaze shifted to the woman on the other side of Silver Hair She was older, too She looked in her early sixties She wore a crocheted white sweater with a purple dragon on it, pink knit pants, and thick-soled orthopedic shoes Her lilac eyes were filled with excitement

"Hello, Libby," said Silver Hair "I&039;m Raine This is Amethyst"

"Oh, my! It&039;s such a pleasure to nancy!" She twittered and clapped her hands "Oh, ons were rare"

"We are There are less than a hundred of us left And no one has mated, much less conceived a child, in the last five hundred years"

"How old are you?" I asked

Amethyst&039;s eyes widened and she clapped a hand over her mouth Oops

"I&039;m sorry," I said hastily "I shouldn&039;t have asked"

"I don&039;tAmethyst a fond smile "I&039;m the Eldest I&039;ve walked the Earth for the last three thousand years Aive or take"