8. Family

About six weeks after I’d woken, my body was beginning to feel like mine again. Instead of feeling like a stranger occupying my old skin suit, life felt good, but changes were just around the corner.

Blake took me out of sleep with a shout down our family link.

Kade is shifted! Help! I think the babies are coming!

Woah, hold on. He could be shifted in preparation. Is he doing anything else? I got out of bed, looking longingly at T with his beautiful platinum hair splayed along my pillow. He belonged in my bed.

He’s literally spent all night making a nest.

All night? And you’re just telling us now? Chase butted into the conversation.

He wouldn’t let me before! Said it was fine. His wolf just wanted to build the nest for the babies. He can’t shift back! I can feel him freaking out and I’m trying to hide my own freak out.

Blake did seem like he was on the brink of a freak out.

Casually, I wondered how many times I could use the term freak out before it ceased to make sense. Okay, maybe I was losing it, too. There wasn’t time for that.

Shit!Chase was succinct for a change.

Call Dakota and Jasper. You should call Aldrin, too.It was time for me to take over this shit show. Blake was not in his right mind. Never was when it came to Kade. He loved his omega more than he loved anything. If asked to stop breathing to keep Kade alive, he would.

Yes! Do that, Chase urged. We’ll be there soon. Do you need anything?

There. That was the Chase I knew and loved.

Just you both and maybe some more blankets for the nest. Kade isn’t happy.

The link closed off as Blake made the call to Kade’s parents.

I quickly got dressed and searched my rooms for suitable blankets to place in the nest. Kade would want our scents on them, as they would soothe his wolf with the smell of family and pack.

Teárlach finally roused as I approached the bed. “Where are you going? Get back in bed.” His pout was so cute! His turquoise eyes were dark as he scanned me head to toe. If I got back in there, I wouldn’t be leaving any time soon.

“Can’t.” The Luna help me, I really, really wanted to. “Kade’s nesting. Can’t shift back.” If it had been for any other reason, I would be under T again right then.

He moved to sit up. “No, you stay in bed. Blake has asked for me and Chase…”

Thankfully, T seemed to get my meaning. “This is for family. And we are not.” Sadness tinged the words.

The yet hung in the air between us as ludicrous as it was to even think of us two together forever. It was what my heart wanted, what I was sure Teárlach wanted too.

Instead of saying anything else and risking hurting him more, I leaned down to kiss him. He cupped my neck and kissed me back hungrily.

“Would you send me one of those messages on your phone?”

T was trying to kill me with cuteness. “Yes, I’ll text you,” I said in a patient tone. He was always losing the damn phone. “Keep your phone close, okay? I’ll keep you as updated as I can, though if you are close to any shifters, the pack link will have news too,” I said as I stroked his hair.

“I will.”

Leaving him looking so gorgeous in my bed was hard, but necessary. If my niblings were coming, I wanted to see them be born!

Chase caught up to me in the hallway just outside of the Alpha Pair’s suite. As I was Second and shared the job with Chase, who had his extra ability to detect lies, we were important to the pack, so we also had suites in the house, or rather, mansion. Really, as Second, I should be pushing for the Alpha Pair to move out of this house. It was too crowded with many of the single alphas living here, too.

All of us living in the main house was a security nightmare. I’d learn how true that thought was later.

That was another day’s problem. First, I had niblings to meet.

“Can you believe we are going to be uncles?” Chase chattered excitedly. “I can’t wait to meet the pups.”

“Be nice to have someone on your wavelength, huh?”

Chase shoved me into the wall. “Dick.”

“Uh-huh, less of the language! There’s gonna be impressionable pups soon. You gotta put a lid on the cursing,” I chided mockingly.

All I earned was another shoulder check into the wall as Chase entered into the suite, without knocking, of course.

Blake met us outside of their bedroom in their sitting room. “I’m so glad you’re here,” he said, pulling us both into tight hugs. “I hate seeing him in pain.”

“So it’s really happening today?” I asked.

“Aldrin seems to think so.” Blake ushered us into the bedroom where the alpha doctor was setting up. He and his mate, James, were Dakota’s parents and now ran the medical facilities for the pack. Aldrin had struck up a firm friendship with the elf, ívarr, which I found surprising. He was the only elf I just couldn’t get a handle on. I was pretty sure he hated me for some reason.

Kade was pacing the length of his nest. My heart went out to him, as he seemed uncomfortable. Blake was reacting to each circuit he made with clear agitation. He kept flinching and wincing low, as if trying to hide it from us.

I handed over my blankets, which Kade took in his mouth gratefully. Thank you, he muttered before adding them to his nest. It appeared to be exactly what he needed as he settled briefly before another contraction hit.

It was a relief when Dakota and Jasper appeared. Jasper went straight to his omega son and spoke in low tones for only Kade to hear as he stroked Kade’s snout.

I couldn’t help but voice my fear for the babies. It felt too soon for them to be here. We’d been told that multiple births were usually early, but what if they were too small? I wasn’t sure we were equipped to handle three premature babies.

Thankfully, Aldrin knew his shit and assured us, well, mainly me, that the babies would be fine. Shifters were resilient. My niblings would be fine with the care we could give them.

Pushing my panic aside was hard. I felt so useless just standing watching Kade labor. I was grateful when Aldrin gave us directions to help Blake manage Kade’s pain.

As betas, this was as close as we would get to experiencing this, so it was a privilege to help the niblings enter the world, even in this small way.

Chase held a wordless conversation with me, not even using our twin bond for fear of it leaking through to the pack link or our family link as Blake focused on his mate.

My twin knew what this meant to me, just as I knew the secrets of his heart. He didn’t have to tell me he didn’t want a mate. I took his share of that wish, wanting it twice as badly as anyone else.

He held my hand in silent support as he soothed our baby brother as best we could.

Greyson was born first. He felt like an alpha and would likely be a handful when he was older, yet he remained calm as his sibling was born.

The omega pup, Felix, made his way into the world shortly behind his brother. This one was an old soul I felt an immediate connection to. Maybe I shouldn’t have picked a favorite, I just couldn’t help it. He was just so cute with his patches of red and those wise eyes. He had Kade’s golden eyes.

After a little delay, the final pup was born. Her arrival was like a punch to the gut. All the air left my lungs when I caught her alpha scent.

Kade and Blake had done the impossible by creating an alpha daughter. Elliotte was a miracle and a danger in one super cute bundle of fur.

All the protective instincts I had wanted to jump into high gear. Nothing could happen to the babies, especially Elliotte. They were all vulnerable at this stage.

While the babies were cleaned, checked, and weighed, the others made plans to discuss Elliotte’s existence with ívarr.

I didn’t care for history or that alpha girls used to happen. My attention was on the moment at hand. There were guard shifts to arrange. Enforcers to check and triple check for suitability. Not just any guard could protect such precious bundles.

The elves arrived in a rush, far too excited to see the babies to worry about their usual show of decorum. My eyes met T’s and caught the humor and joy dancing there. He, like the others, was truly delighted about the babies.

Blake handed me Felix so I could get a snuggle. I wanted each of the babies to get my scent so they would recognize me as family. They were all so precious as I held each pup to my neck in turn. It was a struggle to return them to their parents, or worse, hand them to Chase to hold.

“Okay, the babies are cute and all,” Chase said as he handed Greyson back to Kade, “but Axel is the baby whisperer. Call me back when they can crawl or talk, ‘kay? Until then, I’m going to head to Axel’s office to work out a new security schedule.”

His look for me told me all I needed to know. He wanted me there to go over the plans. We had to take the pressure off our brothers. Kade was our family now, and those babies were ours.

I was distracted from Chase leaving by a hushed conversation. Hakeem was playing peacemaker, a role he tended to take naturally. ívarr was gesturing wildly at Teárlach and speaking rapidly in Elvish. Teagan looked tense before offering her opinion, again in Elvish. While I understood a few words here and there, they were talking much too fast for me to keep up.

Eventually, they broke apart, none of them looking particularly happy. T stood with a mulish set to his jaw, a complete contrast to the man who gave me sweet smiles and pretty blushes on our dates and walks.

ívarr was the first to speak. This time in English, finally. “We have decided that Hakeem and I will return to Abrocaelum to search our archives. Teagan will assume the lead on the research. It is too important to lose time with it. Teárlach will remain with her to work as her assistant.”

Blake thanked them for their help and ívarr took his leave, the air between him and T decidedly frosty. I put it to the back of my mind to ask T about it another time, then focused on what needed to be done instead of my mixed feelings.

I had just witnessed the start of something new. A family being formed. The one thing I so desperately wanted for myself, yet would never have.