Belly of the Beast

Chapter 40

Books about motherhood were all well and good. Most women seemed more than happy to share their child birthing experiences with the world. But there was nothing that truly prepared a person for the real deal. The moment my son latched on to enjoy his first meal, I was a goner. Hook, line, and sinker.

After the little guy had eaten his fill, I ended-up on the bed with a towel under my ass and Wren between my legs with needle and thread. "Okay, Reese. This is going to sting a little. Just try to relax."

"If you'd wanted me to relax, you shouldn't have used the word sting."

"After everything you've been through, a sting will be nothing." Wren offered a motherly smile then set to work, while I distracted myself with watching Amelia dress my baby in a onesie with the words Daddy's Little Angel written across the front. It wasn't ten seconds later that Wren lifted her head to give me a confused expression.

"Reese? I hope this doesn't seem too forward of me, but...I see you had a piercing, and I wondered what provoked you to do it there?"

"What piercing? Where?" The fact that she was looking at my privates had me freaking out. I had never pierced anything except my ears.

"This little bug here on your labia majora. I noticed it during the birth, but I thought it was a mole. It's very discrete. I just wondered..."

"I never had a piercing done there." The fact that I didn't know exactly what part she was talking about didn't matter. I still argued my point. "I wouldn't...I mean...I'm not a prude, but piercings down there aren't my thing."

"Son. Can you please join us?" Wren called to Vincent, who had just been handed his baby and was, clearly, in another world.

"What is it, mom?" It sounded strange to hear Vincent refer to Wren as Mom, and I chalked it up to new daddy hormones.

"Look at this. Have you ever seen this piercing on Reese?"

Vincent reacted as if he'd been pinched, his attention quickly switching from our baby to my open legs. This had me tensing up, which was not my usual reaction when Vincent looked at my sex parts.

"See that little bug tucked under her pubic hair?" As Wren explained, I felt a finger poking around, but all I heard was bug. Was it real?

"What does the bug look like?" I asked, trying not to picture a tick.

"Well, it has tiny legs that have attached themselves quite solidly to your skin," Wren went on. "From this vantage, it looks like a spider."

"A spider? Down there! Get it off!"

"Hold still, Reese," Vincent commanded as he passed the baby over to Wren. "Hand me those scissors."

"Scissors! What the hell..."

Vincent's eyes flashed to my face, and when I saw the storm brewing behind them, my whole body froze. "Calm down, baby. I'm just going to cut some of your hair to get a better look."

As I allowed my husband to give me a porn star trim, I thought about all the reasons a spider would have attached itself to my vagina, and the only logical explanation started with Dmitry and ended with evil lunatic.

"It's made from some kind of metal," he said as he snipped. "This has Dmitry written all over it. But how the hell did it get there?"

Vincent glanced up at me, and I shook my head. "Don't look at me. I haven't seen my private parts in at least six weeks. You were the last one down there."

He knit his eyebrows together, like he didn't appreciate me announcing to his mother that he had been between my legs. "I wonder if this was the reason your temperature spiked before the birth. It probably happened recently. I'm calling Glade. If this is the necromancer's handiwork, she may know how to get rid of it."