She kissed her way down his chest to his belly. He knotted her wet hair in his fist, used his hand to urge her down to her knees. Right there in the shower she loved on him. With her hands. With her mouth. With the water falling like rain all around her. Everything in him settled, and love rose strong. Intense. Far more intense than his leopard’s temper. He knew she would always do this to him. Settle him down when he wanted to wring her neck. The funny thing was—he didn’t mind in the least.

*   *   *

“MOST triplets are formed when three separate eggs are fertilized. Meaning they’re fraternal. It isn’t uncommon for one egg to split giving identical twins and a second egg to give a third baby,” Doc explained.

Elijah waited. Doc hadn’t gotten to the point. Not at all. Siena, tummy still exposed, lying on the exam table, the machine next to them, didn’t move at all. She was tense. More upset than he’d realized. Scared. He moved a little closer to her protectively.

“It is extremely rare, even in shifters, for a monozygotic event. A single egg splits three ways, or two ways and then one of those splits again.”

“You’re giving me nothing, Doc,” Elijah said impatiently.

Siena squeezed his hand, and he looked at her. Her face was very still, and he could swear she was holding her breath.

“Siena.” Doc looked straight at her. “There is one placenta and three babies. The babies will be identical and they’ll all be the same sex.”

Elijah’s breath left his lungs in a rush. Not girls. Three girls looking like their mother would send him over the edge. He’d have to hire a fucking army to keep every male away from them.

“And the risks to Siena?” Elijah said.

Doc again looked at Siena. “Any time you have a multiple-birth pregnancy, the risks go up. With a monozygotic pregnancy, because you have a shared placenta, the risk is greater to the babies as well as to you. You can develop preeclampsia, which is a pregnancy-induced hypertension. Before Elijah panics, and I will admit that a good third of mothers carrying multiples develop this, they now have discovered that two proteins in the placenta may be the cause. We’ll be able to test you and know right away if you’re at risk for this and we’ll be able to treat you if you are.”

Elijah wrapped his hand around Siena’s wrist, shackling it with his fingers while he stared down at her tummy where Doc’s assistant had smeared some goo before doing the ultrasound. To keep his children, he could live with that. If Doc said he could deal with it, Elijah would believe him.

He bent his head and skimmed his mouth over hers. “We’ve got this, baby,” he said softly. “Yeah?”