Epilogue 2

Bexley Blackforge

Three years later…

"Ms. Bexley?—"

I put a finger up to my lips in warning as the labor and delivery nurse slipped into the room, offering me an understanding smile while closing the door quietly. It wasn't that I had any intention of sleeping right now, but my mates were finally sleeping for what was probably the first time in two days. I was extremely glad I had three large reclining armchairs brought into this wing of the house, because there was absolutely no way any of them were going back to the normal wing of the house where our primary bedroom and the nursery were located. Not until we did so as a family—all eight of us.

"I just wanted to properly introduce myself," she said. "My name is Veronica. I'm part of the new team they just sent over to relieve the others."

"It's wonderful to meet you," I said sincerely. "I was actually hoping you could help me out of bed. I would love another shower, especially while everyone is sleeping."

"Of course," she whispered, helping me off the bed. I gave a big stretch, my back practically singing in relief. Veronica stayed with me as I made my way to the primary bathroom, just in case I needed help.

I'd considered giving birth at a medical center in the city, but at the end of the day I knew I would be far more comfortable at home with my mates. I was happy to see my instincts were right on this one.

"Anything else I can get you?" she asked after turning the shower on for me. Luckily, and despite what I'd just gone through, I was finding it pretty easy to do most things for myself.

"I would love some food, actually. I haven't really been hungry until an hour or so ago."

"Food, on the way," she promised, leaving me to undress and get into the shower. I'd already taken one shower today, but I'd been so panicked at the idea of being away for more than a second that it hadn't been a very good shower. This time I made sure to scrub and wash my hair and body before wrapping myself in a cozy robe. I had no doubt it would take a while to feel back to myself but honestly, I felt pretty good.

Once I was dressed in fresh, clean clothes, I made my way back to bed. The medical bed had already been removed, leaving me with a massive, double-king size bed to crawl into. Almost exactly at that moment, before I could even get comfy, Veronica returned.

"Food is on its way. I brought you a smoothie," she said happily and placed it down. "How are you feeling?"

"Really good," I said, my brows drawing together. "I'm not sure if that's normal, but I feel like I could run a mile or two right now, or even go flying."

Veronica let out a laugh. "We'll give it a little more time before we try that, but I do understand. I felt like I wanted to move my body so much right after birth. Mind you, I didn't give birth to four babies—just one."

I smiled proudly, looking at the babies who were sleeping comfortably on their dads. It was hard to imagine that it'd only been months ago that we'd learned about our growing family. Even though they'd only arrived hours ago, it felt like they'd been with us our whole lives. As if the world couldn't have existed before they did.

My mates' reactions when they'd found out had been adorable, even if they were stressed. After all, knowing that female storm dragons had litters and being confronted with the reality of it were two very different things.

"What wonderful news for a Monday! They're all so healthy," Rebecca said. I had absolutely no idea the mechanics behind being able to use magic to hear the babies' heartbeats, but she was able to both hear them and broadcast them throughout the room. She offered a hand to help me sit up, but Breaker rushed forward to support my back, the only one of the three who was still functioning somewhat normally. Gage was pacing, and Jagger was sitting with his elbows on his knees.

They weren't worried about the babies' health; it was the plural element that had them worked up. I hadn't been surprised ten minutes ago when Rebecca had announced finding four different heartbeats. I was a freakin' storm dragon! And we'd been trying so hard! I mean, seriously—like all the time.

"Four babies," Jagger said. "There are only four of us to begin with!"

Breaker made a sound of agreement, his hand smoothing up my back in a soothing pattern. Something I was appreciative of, since my body was totally sore this morning.

"How are you feeling?" Gage asked. "I can't imagine good—four babies? Four of them?"

"I'm fine," I sang happily. "Seriously. When can we tell if they're boys or girls?"

"Oh, I already know that. Would you like to know?" Rebecca asked, seemingly amused with their reactions.

I sat forward with interest, wincing slightly as I adjusted my position. "Yes please!"

"Okay, so we have—boy, boy, boy, and girl. How lovely."

"A girl," Breaker grunted. "Shit."

A giggle almost slipped out because it appeared my dad was going to be right—my mates were going to understand what it was like to be a girl dad.

"I love the little blanket swaddles you had made for them," Veronica said, pulling me from my memory and returning my attention to the real stars of the show—the four newest additions to our family. While Jagger and Breaker each had one baby, Gage had both Ava and Leo.

The first was wrapped up in a pale lavender and the second in a deep green. While I hadn't had a chance to study their adorable little faces obsessively for hours, I had a feeling that both of them were going to have dark eyes like Breaker's one or Gage's dark green eyes.

Jagger had Adrian wrapped up in a blue swaddle and was snoring deeply. It was impressive that any of them were able to sleep and hold the babies at the same time, but I had a feeling that if I even uttered a single word for them to wake up, they'd be up instantly.

Noah, who was wrapped in a yellow swaddle in Breaker's arms, had light hair like Ava's, with a golden undertone. Whereas Adrian and Leo had dark auburn hair. I couldn't tell what color eyes Noah and Adrian would have, but I had a feeling they'd be either gold or light blue. I just thought it was amazing that despite being born at the same time, they each had such distinct differences.

Before I could tell Veronica that the swaddles had been a gift from the moms, hand-stitched by them, Ava shifted, letting out a small cry and trying to squirm. Veronica hurried over as I motioned for her to help me grab her. Gage squinted one eye open as he passed her off, then fell back asleep, adjusting Leo to lay in the center of his chest.

I pulled Ava into my arms, burying my nose against the top of her head.

"I'll leave you to it and be back soon with your food," Veronica promised. I nodded, never taking my eyes off Ava, who blinked her wide, dark eyes at me. So beautiful . I hadn't believed you could love someone so incredibly much from the second they were born. I mean, even at my baby shower I'd wondered what it would feel like to hold them…and then I'd promptly gone into labor three weeks early.

That had been a surprise, to say the least.

"This was beautiful," I told my mom and Celine. "Truly. Thank you so much."

"Anything for our girl," Celine said as my mom pulled me into a small side hug. It had been a long, wonderful day, and the baby shower luncheon was finally coming to a close. The party had been held at our property—I wasn't comfortable leaving our home's medical center for long periods of time at this point—but the moms and dads had handled everything. The white tents out back easily fit our hundred closest friends and family members.

It was early September, so leaves covered the ground, and I was wearing a golden velvet dress. The only thing that could possibly ruin today was my back pain and the Braxton Hicks contractions. I was doing my best to ignore those, but they were getting progressively worse.

"Bex," Breaker said, appearing behind me. "Come take a seat, or at least take off the heels."

"I'll sit," I said, refusing to take off my glittery heels. I knew it was impractical, but I'd spent so much of my pregnancy in oversized t-shirts and feeling crappy that I fully intended to embrace fashion today. At least until I really couldn't handle it.

As Breaker led me back to our table, another contraction hit me—but this time it was different. The Braxton Hicks had been growing progressively stronger, and this one radiated through my back. It also had my stomach squeezing uncomfortably. My eyes widened when another one hit only a moment later as we finally reached our table.

Then another.

After five minutes of contractions that were only about forty-five seconds apart, I knew that I had to say something. "Hey, guys?" I called to the three of them. They looked over, the rest of the celebration continuing around us without a care in the world.

"What's up, cupcake?"

I offered a small pained smile as yet another one hit. "I think I may be going into labor. Like now."

There was a moment of silence…before they burst into action.

I'd hated the idea of stopping the celebration, but it turned out I'd been over seven centimeters dilated. My mates really hadn't expected that, but luckily it was a fairly easy labor and delivery considering the circumstances. And now we had all of them here, happily in our arms.

A knock on the door, followed by Veronica returning with the food, had the others waking up and looking around sleepily. Our sons kept sleeping, but Ava was wide awake and resting on my chest.

"We have dinner!" an older man announced before offering an apologetic smile when Veronica shushed him.

"Thank you so much," I said at a normal volume. "I have a feeling they're going to have to get used to noise anyway, so don't feel too bad."

"Let us know if you need anything else," Veronica said as they left the trays of food.

"Hey, you." I tilted my chin up as Gage came to the edge of the bed and pressed a kiss to my nose, laying Leo down next to Ava, who I placed on the bed next to me. They somehow found a way to snuggle into each other even though they were still swaddled and couldn't really move.

"You need to eat," Breaker said with a big yawn.

"And you guys need to sleep," I countered.

"We haven't done shit," Jagger grumbled. "If anyone should be sleeping, it's you. If you need to sleep for a few days straight, you're more than welcome to, treasure."

"As appealing as that sounds," I teased, "I actually feel great."

Breaker placed Noah down next to the other two before going to sort through the food, and when Jagger walked over with Adrian, all four babies were laid in a row. My eyes traced over the four of them as a swell of emotion hit my chest.

"I love you guys," I whispered.

"Love you so much," Breaker returned.

"You did amazing," Gage said, brushing his lips over the top of my head.

Jagger chuckled. "And now comes the hard part."

I smiled. "No way, they're total angels!" I had no doubt that the four of them would cause trouble, and I wouldn't lie…I couldn't wait to see what the future would bring for our family.