Page 28 of Property of Karev

Wincing, he mutters, “That would have been an asshole move.”

I’m about to reply when someone bellows, “Anyone here?”

Triton jolts to his feet and I take my coffee with me as I follow him into the main room of the clubhouse. I can feel my eyes widen at the sight before us. Levan is standing in the middle of the room with...

“Holy shit, is that Zara?” I whisper, unable to believe what I’m seeing.

Triton points at the couch. “Lay her down.”

Levan seems shocked himself as he carefully places Zara’s unconscious body on the couch.

The shark shifter is staring at Zara while he says, “The pain inside me faded after my second shift and I needed to go hunting to feed, get my energy back. Once I did, I picked up the scent of blood with something else. Before I knew what I was doing I was going fucking faster than ever to a spot in the ocean I was drawn to. A dolphin was floating near the surface. It took me awhile to get her to the shore. When I had her on the beach she shifted back to her human form...but...it’s...she’s not...fuck. I don’t know man, something is definitely off...or wrong...insane, really.”

I keep staring and sipping my coffee. This is impossible. We all saw her incinerate. It’s simply not possible to overcome something like this. Well, Karev did tell me Triton ‘winged it’ when he had a premonition about something involving Levan and Zara.

“What?” Triton asks while checking Zara’s pulse. “She hasn’t regained consciousness after she shifted to her human form?”

Placing my empty mug on the table, I turn and rush into the hallway. One of the crucial things I’ve been told about Zara involved Cassia being her best friend. This is why I pound my fist against Cassia and Sevrin’s room.

Cassia opens the door and has a baby sitting on her hip. The tiny boy looks fully alert and doesn’t resemble a newborn. Which isn’t weird since this baby has parents who are descendants of roman gods, so unnatural rapid growth is totally normal.

“What’s wrong?” Cassia asks with concern in her voice and I need to blink a few times to drag my attention away from the boy sitting on her hip.

“Zara.” I point in the direction of the main room. “Levan carried Zara into the clubhouse.”

Cassia looks shocked and shoves her baby into my arms while she runs down the hallway. I’ve never held a baby, and now I have one in my hands with my arms stretched out in front of me as if I’m holding a freaking bomb. Okay, the grin he’s giving me feels like he can read my damn thoughts.

I narrow my eyes and tell him, “No funny business. Come on, let’s see what your mommy is up to, because I just told her that her best friend isn’t a pile of ash anymore.”

The baby tilts his head as if he understands what I just told him. A freaking baby. Creepy doesn’t cover this shit. Swallowing hard, I pull him closer and place him on my hip the way Cassia had him as I head for the main room. Levan is standing near Zara’s feet when I get closer while Cassia and Triton are whisper-hissing about something.

“What’s going on?” I ask. “Is Zara going to be okay?”

All eyes, minus those of Zara, land on me.

To my shock it’s Levan who states, “It’s not Zara. She might be a carbon copy, but it’s not fucking her, or at least she’s not the same person she was before this happened.”

I suck in a breath while Triton, Cassia, and Levan turn their attention back on Zara. How freaking weird. How can it not be her? She looks exactly like the woman Drexel killed in the parking lot yesterday.

Did Triton’s magic intervene in a way that made Zara come back as a shell of herself? A freaking zombie. Yikes. I take a step back and tighten my hold on the baby sitting on my hip, feeling the need to protect the little one.

Without thinking I place a kiss on his head and murmur, “It’s okay, no worries, I’ll protect you.”

Feeling the need to shield the little one I’m holding, I mentally push the red flames outward to create a dome around us. A soft giggle draws my attention to my left and I smile at Cassia’s son. He’s pointing his tiny finger at the flames and drops of water shoot from the digit to turn into smoke when it hits the red fire.

His weight shifts and I feel pressure on the other side of my waist and arm, along with a tug on my dress. I’m still smiling due to the joy on the little guy’s face when I hear Cassia gasp. My attention slides to Triton, Cassia, and Levan who are staring at me as if they can’t believe their eyes.

“Sorry,” I blurt, not knowing what’s wrong other than, “I just wanted to protect him from whatever is going on here...you know, just in case Zara turns out to be a zombie.”

Levan winces. Shit. Why do I have to say my thoughts out loud?

“I think you found the perfect babysitter for the twins,” Triton states as he points at me.

Babysitter? Twins?

I glance down and feel my eyes widen. “Holy shit, do babies multiply? I didn’t do anything. Oh. Damn. Fuck. Mothertrucker, I shouldn’t be cursing. Sorry. Please don’t repeat anything I say, okay? No, you’re not talking yet, are you?”

If my eyeballs could pop out from widening my eyes a fraction more? They’d be bouncing on the floor right about now, because the baby nods. I kid you not...he freaking nods. He hears and damn well understood what I said. Correction; they understood because I have a baby on each hip.