Lara woke to a sharp, electric jolt low in her belly.
Not pain. Not exactly. More like someone had flicked a live wire inside her—quick, bright, gone in a heartbeat. She sat up fast, one hand flying to her stomach, the other reaching blindly for Kai.
He was already awake, eyes glowing faintly in the dark bedroom, body tense like a coiled spring.
“Did you feel that?” she whispered, voice cracking with equal parts wonder and fear.
Kai nodded once, hand covering hers on her belly. “The baby. It’s… reaching.”
Another spark. This one stronger. Lara gasped, curling forward. It didn’t hurt, but it felt alive—a tiny pulse of heat and light that made her skin tingle and her heart race like she’d run up ten flights of stairs.
Kai pulled her into his lap, arms wrapping around her from behind, c
