Chapter 22

“Ye made it!” Brian exclaimed when he saw Kieran enter the nursery.

“My spirit didn’t give me a lot of notice, but I told macushla I promised you I’d be here. Not that I didn’t want to be here because I do, especially to welcome your Nessies into the world, but I told macushla I had to keep my promise, so he got Remy to use his magic, and a voilà …here we are!”

“Who’s Remy?” Reif asked.

“That’s me,” Remy said, entering the room behind Logan. “I hope you don’t mind if I crash the birthing party.”

“Brian and Reif,” Logan said, “this is Remy…Ruler of the Mystic Realm. And, Remy, meet the two fathers-to-be, Reif and Brian…who is otherwise known as the Loch Ness…”

“Don’t say that word,” Kieran whispered. “Brian isn’t one and I don’t want his babies hearing you say it about their daddy.”

Wrapping his arms around Kieran’s waist, Logan kissed his neck before murmuring, “You’re right, mo anan cara . No child should ever hear their father called that.” Then glancing at Brian, he said, “Remy, meet Daddy Nessie.”

His eyes filled with merriment, Reif chuckled, “So now you’re Daddy Nessie…good to know…I always wanted...”

“Ye stop right there,” Brian warned his mate .

“Perfecto!” Kieran exclaimed, bouncing on his toes. “Daddy Nessie and Papa Nessie…absolutely perfecto!

“Now wait a minute…” Reif started to object.

“Yer right, Shaman…Papa Nessie…canna done better meself.”

“The first egg is hatching,” Dr. Luna announced, standing next to the incubator nearest to the group.

“Oh…oh…oh! Look at the tiny fang!” Kieran exclaimed as the first piece of shell fell onto the padded cushion beneath it. Then, within minutes, the shell cracked in half, and out slithered a tiny sea serpent with wings. Looking up at Kieran, he stuck out his forked tongue and hissed a greeting. Reaching down, Kieran gently touched the baby sea serpent’s head before letting it wind itself up his arm. Holding it up to Brian and Reif, Kieran murmured, “Lukas…say hello to your daddy and papa.”

Flicking his tongue several times, Lukas flapped his wings and then suddenly flew to Brian, landing on his chest.

Quickly raising his arm, Brian cradled his son in its crook, smiling down at Lukas. “Ye a mighty strong laddie, Lukas.”

Running a finger down Lukas’ different shades of green scales, Reif murmured, “Look at his color…so beautiful.”

“Here comes the next one,” Dr. Luna announced.

Leaving Lukas in the care of his fathers, Kieran moved to the next incubator, watching as the egg shook several times before another tiny fang broke through. Then nothing happened for several moments. “C’mon little one,” Kieran crooned softly. “Your brother and daddies are waiting for you.” Reaching down into the incubator, Kieran laid his hand on top of the shell, closing his eyes in concentration. Sending a message of love and acceptance to the tiny sea serpent, he then removed his hand, grinning at the egg. Within a second, a wing poked through, followed by another on the opposite side, then several flaps of them broke the shell apart. Inside was a sea serpent covered in rainbow-colored scales with bright blue eyes.

“You are adorable, Christos,” Kieran murmured, letting the tiny sea serpent slither into his hand where he promptly curled up. Walking slowly over to Reif, he held out his hand and said, “Go give Papa Nessie some love.”

Christos raised his head, flicked out his tongue, and then tightly coiled his body before springing through the air and landing perfectly in Reif’s outstretched hands.

Raising his hands until they were level with his face, Reif leaned forward and touched the tip of his nose to the top of Christos’ head. “You are as beautiful as your brother, my son.” After receiving a lick from his son’s tongue, Reif placed Christos in Brian’s arm. “Here’s your Daddy Nessie and Lukas.”

“Kieran,” Dr. Luna said, “the next one is ready.”

Joining the doctor at the third incubator, Kieran peered down at the egg inside, noticing that a large piece of shell had already fallen off. He glimpsed a purple wing, but before he could say anything, the egg broke open, and out emerged the third sea serpent.

“Julius! What a perfect entrance into a world just waiting for you!” exclaimed Kieran, softly petting the tiny sea serpent’s head. Then scooping him up, he walked over to Brian and Reif. “Julius, here are your daddies and brothers.”

In a hurry to meet his family, Julius took off, circling before landing on Reif’s shoulder. Then lowering his pink head, he rubbed it along the side of Reif’s face before hopping over to Brian and doing the same.

“Purple wings and a pink body! What a stunner you’re going to grow up to be,” Reif murmured, touching Julius’ nearly translucent wings.

“Oh, I hear the next egg cracking!” Kieran exclaimed. Rushing over to the fourth incubator, he grinned at Dr. Luna before looking down at the baby sea serpent already squirming out of his shell. “Welcome to the world, Tobias…your daddies are so happy you are here. Shall we go and meet them?” After receiving several bobs of Tobias’ head, Kieran reached down and gathered up the biggest of the baby sea serpents and hugged him to his chest.

Before Kieran had taken more than a few steps, Tobias had launched himself at his daddies, flying around the room before landing on Brian’s shoulder. Giggling at the sea serpent’s antics, Kieran exclaimed, “Perfecto! Papa Nessie and Daddy Nessie meet your precocious son, Tobias.”

“Ouch!” Brian muttered, carefully extracting Tobias’ fangs from his ear. “I see ye like to bite things.”

Chuckling, Reif moved Tobias off Brian’s shoulder and placed him on his. “Bite away little one…ears are particularly tasty, as I discovered when I was your age.”

Raising an eyebrow, Brian said, “Ye canna encourage him…I’ll nae have any ears left. ”

Sticking out his forked tongue, Tobias flicked it several times before chirping at his brothers. Then, he licked Reif’s ear before draping himself over Reif’s left shoulder.

“He licks ye, but bites me,” grumbled Brian.

Petting the midnight-colored scales, Reif murmured, “You’re special, little Tobias, and I can’t wait for us to fly together through the night sky.”

Before Kieran could reach the last incubator, a small piece of the shell went flying through the air, landing on his forehead. Laughing, he removed it and then said to the last hatched sea serpent, who was looking at him proudly, “Well, Georgios…that certainly was a dramatic entrance! Come, let’s go say hello to your daddies and brothers.” Picking up the sparkling sapphire-colored sea serpent, he carried him over to Brian and Reif. “Georgios is eager to meet you.”

Taking his son from Kieran’s hands, Reif placed Georgios onto his right shoulder. “The last born, but worth the wait…he’s the color of the sea around my homeland.”

Brian reached over and lightly ran a fingertip over Georgios’ scales. “Ay, I’ll bet Papa Nessie’s gonna spoil you.”

Chuckling, Reif said, “ All of our sons are going to be spoiled.”

“Ay, yer right abut that,” Brian replied, admiring the three adorable sea dragons nestled in his arms. Then looking over at Kieran, he added, “Thank ye, Shaman, the names are guid.”

“Congratulations, Your sons are quite beautiful,” Remy said .

Logan wrapped his arms around Kieran and whispered to him, “Good job, babe!”

“I should examine them,” Dr. Luna announced, “since Ian is going to expect a full report, especially when he finds out they’re a new species of shifters, but that can wait until after their naps.”

“What do you mean, ‘new species’?” asked Remy.

“The boys have the body of a sea serpent but the wings and feet of a sea dragon.”

“A hybrid!” exclaimed Remy.

“Yes…I suppose that’s correct,” Dr. Luna said. “But it remains to be seen how much of each father is in them. For instance, we have already seen they can fly but what else will they be able to do…I don’t know that yet.”

“When will we find out?” asked Reif.

“I can’t answer that…only time can,” the doctor replied.

Looking at Brian, Reif found the same fear he was feeling reflected in his mate’s eyes. After what happened to him and his people, Reif was only too aware of what could happen to his sons if the word got out about them and their abilities. Now, he finally understood why the Shaman had begged them to move to the Blackwood Pack. It was a topic he and Brian would have to discuss again in the near future, but for now…

“We should put them down in their bed,” Reif murmured, moving slowly to the round stuffed cushion under the heat lamp. “Shaman, would you take Tobias? ”

“Right!” exclaimed Kieran, hurrying over to Reif and scooping Tobias into his arms. “Come to Uncle Ki…you pretty little baby.”

After settling Julius in the center of a heated, padded cushion, Reif walked back to Brian and took Lukas, putting him next to his brother before turning to get Tobias.

Walking over slowly to his mate, Brian carefully held Georgios and Christos against his chest, softly crooning an old Scottish lullaby to them. After they were placed with his other sons, Brian stared down at the sleeping babies, feeling tears welling up in his eyes. Less than a year ago, he had finally become reconciled to spending the rest of his life alone, but now he had a mate and five sons…“Nessies,” he uttered. “They are Nessies…nae anything else.”

Pulling his mate close to him, Reif murmured, “I agree, my mate…our sons are Nessies.” Then, shifting his gaze to the doctor, he added, “I don’t want you writing any of this down…not for the record, or for Ian. Nor do I want you reporting it to the High Council…no one but the ones we trust must ever know.”

Nodding, Dr. Luna replied, “As to the High Council, that’s your choice to make, but on the other matters I agree with you…the less the world knows about your sons, the safer they will be.”

After getting the confirmation he sought, Reif turned back to his mate and murmured, “Let them sleep while we tend to our guests.”

Brushing a stray tear away, Brian nodded before turning on the nursery camera so they could keep an eye on their sons. Then glancing at Kieran, he asked, “How long are ye stayin’? ”

“For a couple of weeks… macushla and I have to meet the head of the English and Welsh wolves and he also has to show Angus the plans for the new pack houses,” Kieran replied.

“Guid,” Brian said. “That will make the Nessies very happy. Come.”

Following Reif and Brian out of the nursery, Remy glanced back at the Nessies, thinking about what he could do to protect them.

~/~/~/~/~

At first, taken aback by the huge size of the kitchen, Remy then realized it was perfect for a family of seven. Shaking his head, he said to Dr. Luna, “I can’t imagine having five babies to take care of. When my parents died suddenly and I became the guardian of my three brothers…suffice to say, it’s a miracle they survived while I learned how to take care of them.”

“That’s what usually happens when parenthood is forced on you by unforeseen circumstances,” said the doctor, accepting a cup of coffee from Reif. “However, in this case, Brian and Reif will learn as their sons grow, so it’ll be easier.”

“Or, in my case,” Logan remarked, before sipping his coffee, “I grew up taking care of all my younger siblings, so I’m an old hand at changing diapers and giving bottles.”

“It’s different with our Nessies,” Reif explained. “They’ll stay in their serpent form for a couple of months so no diapers or bottles…just lots of small fish for their meals.”

“That certainly will make it easier,” Remy replied .

“Yeah, we found that out when my fathers came to visit us,” Reif said. “They were kind enough to build us a fish hatchery down by the loch, so we’ll have plenty of fingerlings to feed our sons.”

“Is that all they eat?” asked Logan.

“Until they shift…then they’ll eat the same food we do,” Brian said.

Remy then said, “Thank you for allowing me to stay to see your Nessies. And I’ve thought about what I can give them…”

“You don’t have to…” Reif started to say.

“I know that, but let me finish and then you can decide if you want to accept it.”

Reif glanced at Brian and, after seeing him nod, asked Remy to continue.

“Even though I have complete trust in everyone sitting here,” Remy began, “I’ve found that no matter how hard you try to keep something secret, someone in our world will find out and tell others. For that reason, I would like to put protection spells on your Nessies that will prevent anyone who might do them harm from finding them.”

“Can ye do that?” asked Brian, doubtfully.

“I can…I have done that for my own brothers because, as Ruler of the Mystic Realm, I have some enemies who would not hesitate to threaten to harm them to make me bend to their will.”

Brian looked at his mate and saw the same hope he felt. Turning back to Remy, he said, “We would be pleased to accept yer gift for our Nessies. ”

“Done,” Remy said, with a wave of his hand. “Also, do you mind if I ask a question about the naming of your sons?”

“Naw…I bet yer wonderin’ abut the Shaman doing it,” Brian answered.

Nodding, Remy asked, “Did you tell him the names before the Nessies were born?”

“Naw…we asked him to choose.”

“Why?” asked Remy.

“It’s an old custom with my people,” Reif replied. “Whenever there was a sea dragon born, the Shaman would be the first to touch him.”

“Why is that?” asked Remy.

“I had to be the first so the gods could tell me their names,” Kieran said, smiling.

Surprised, Remy asked, “How does that work? Is magic involved…I didn’t sense any.”

“Nae magic,’ Brian said.

“My mate’s right,” Reif said. “Kieran is blessed by the gods and his powers come directly from them.”

“It’s just part of who I am,” Kieran explained. “My spirit is my connection to the gods and they are the only ones who can decide which Nessie gets which name.”

“Why does it matter?” Remy asked, shaking his head before muttering, “Gods, I’m sounding like Eamon now, with all these questions.”

Giggling, Kieran replied, “The names describe who they are. Lukas is filled with so much light it’s nearly blinding. Christos is the anointed one.”

“Is that because of his rainbow scales?” asked Remy .

“No…it’s because the gods have chosen him to lead the way,” Kieran replied.

“Lead who?” asked Remy.

“I don’t know that…maybe Oracle can tell you,” Kieran said.

“What about Tobias, babe?” asked Logan.

Nodding, Kieran smiled. “Tobias is strong and was picked by the gods to represent them.”

“And Julius?” asked Remy.

“Julius is all about love,” Kieran answered.

“And that leaves Georgios,” Remy said.

“He is of the sea,” Kieran explained. “Georgios was selected by the gods to protect everything in the sea.”

“Guid names,” Brian said, gruffly. “Very guid names for our Nessies.”