Chapter 26Jules
CHAPTER
TWENTY-SIX
JULES
We’re having twins.
Even as I struggle to wrap my mind around the news, I’m happy. But I’m scared too. There haven’t been multiples in my family in generations. Both of my parents, and their parents, have siblings but none that they shared a womb with at the same time. One of my cousins had twins several years ago but one baby didn’t survive more than a few hours.
What if... I squeeze my eyes shut and try not to think about it.
Everything is going to be fine. I’m not alone, and if something goes wrong we don’t have to turn a blind eye and let nature take its course or rush down a mountain for help. The local hospital is fifteen minutes away. Gavin drives well enough to get us there in half the time.
“Jules?” Gavin’s voice startles me and I blink before looking at him. “We’re home, sweetheart. Do you want to go in and take a nap?”
“I’m not tired,” I whisper as I rub at my eyes.
“Okay.” He squeezes my thigh, the heat of his palm reaching deep inside and settling my nerves some. “How about some tea and a snuggle on the sofa?”
“Yeah. Okay.” We get out of the car and Gavin catches my hand before we go into the house. When he starts to release me I tighten my hand around his. “I know I didn’t say much on the ride home but—” I’m unable to finish my thought.
I don’t want him to think I’m unhappy. I’m not. I’m excited to have his children, to build our family. It’s just... growing a little faster than I thought it would. Twins. Does anyone ever expect two babies at once?
“Don’t apologize.” Gavin says. I kick my shoes off before dropping onto the sofa and he joins me. “One baby is a lot to wrap your mind around. More so two.”
I lean into him as he wraps his arm around me, tucking me into his side, steady as always.
His heartbeat is strong under my ear as I press my face into his chest. The rhythmic thump has tension bleeding out of my shoulders. I exhale and breathe in his scent. It’s fast and probably doesn’t make any sense to anyone, how we can go from being strangers to being mates in a matter of weeks, but it doesn’t have to make sense to everyone. To anyone else. Gavin feels like the home I never had but always needed.
“It’s not that.” I pick at some lint on his shirt before splaying my palm over his abdomen. “My family... I guess maybe everyone where I’m from—” I try to order my thoughts. Decide how best to explain it. “There’s never more than one baby. My cousin had twins when I was a teenager but the youngest didn’t...” I swallow and shake my head before I burrow into his throat.
“Jules.” Gavin slips his fingers into my hair.
I should’ve asked Doctor Dulany what the chances are that I give birth to two healthy babies. She didn’t seem concerned in the slightest. She even said pikas are some of her best patients. She never worries about them. But if that’s the case why do the multiples born in my village have such a low survival rate?
“Do you think maybe it’s just the village? Like, maybe they’re doing something to the baby?” I choke out around the lump in my throat.
I know the way I grew up isn’t like how most people do. The more time I spend outside of the village—the more of the world I see, and people I meet—the more I know something is wrong with the way I was raised but it’s only as I look back that nothing makes sense. The way I grew up is just... the way things were, and if not for my parents trying to force me to mate, I’d still be there—probably washing clothes, or getting ready to plant for the growing season. Not happy. But... it was just life. No one was happy.
“I don’t know.” Gavin presses his face into my hair and inhales.
I’m not sure we’ll ever really know if something sinister is happening in my village, and maybe it’s better that way. There are some questions we don’t need answers to, right? Gavin says that all the time. Perhaps this is just one of those questions.
“Can I shift, and you just... hold and pet me?” My voice is muffled against his chest.
“Of course.” He pulls away and I quickly undress, tossing my clothes on the coffee table before I close my eyes. When I open them again, the world is bigger, and a little more scary. I’m so tiny, but Gavin’s hands are gentle and warm as he scoops me up before stretching out on the sofa. I scurry up his chest and burrow under his hair, against his neck.
“You’re so soft—such a cute little pika.” He rubs a gentle finger down my spine. I press my nose into his skin and suck his scent deep into my lungs as my ears twitch against his cheek. He finds one and captures it between his thumb and index finger. “When you give birth, I’ll shift and be right there with you. The boys will be nearby too. You and the babies are going to be so safe and well cared for.”
I turn into his finger and rub against it.
He doesn’t need me to tell him what his reassurance means to me, and I can’t like this anyway.
“We’ll spend the next couple weeks turning Baz’s old room into a nursery and building a nest.” Gavin’s voice is soft but deep. I’ll be safe with him. So will our children. These and any children we have in the future. “If one is a girl, I’d really like to name her Wisteria. I’ve always liked that name. But you’ll have the final say.”
I blink and lift my head. What does he mean I’ll have the final say? They’re his children. He’s the father, the alpha-parent. By law, he’s entitled to make all the decisions concerning our children. Including what to name them.
“I’m all out of boy names. Used my best three. I’d say ask the boys for suggestions but we’d get things like Squeaky Paul. Or Whiskers Wyatt.”
I nip at his neck. No way are we naming our children anything like that. But the boys will suggest something worse just for shits and giggles.
Gavin chuckles. The sound shakes my tiny body. “Not a fan of those either? We’ve got time to decide.”
Not as much time as I’d like but I’m too tired to decide now so I snuggle in close as he continues to speak.
I wake still tucked against Gavin’s throat, warm and comfortable tangled in his hair. It’s dark, the sun having set some time ago by the angle of the moonlight. He’s breathing deep and easy as I crawl out of my hiding place and bump along his jaw with my nose. Gavin grunts and settles his palm across my back. I wiggle under his hand and shift before stretching out over top of him.
“As much as I love your ears, I missed your pretty face.” His voice is scratchy with sleep as he drags a blanket off the back of the sofa and around my bare shoulders. “Do you feel better?”
“Yeah.” I run my fingers through my hair before stretching my arms above my head. His gaze is hot as it follows the arch of my body. “Thanks for talking to me. I’m a lot calmer now.”
It’s on the tip of my tongue to apologize for shifting and basically going non-verbal for a few hours but I swallow the words. I know Gavin doesn’t mind.
“I’m glad.” He tugs me down to his chest and curls his arms around my body. “Anytime you need a moment, I’m happy to give you one. The next few months are going to be stressful and you should get some peace where you can.”
I kiss his throat before resting my cheek on his shoulder. He’s so good to me; I’m not sure how I got so lucky to find him. “I love you, Gavin.”
He runs his hand up my spine and clasps the nape of my neck. The hold is strong and possessive but not controlling. “I love you too.”
“I like the name Hemlock for a boy.” I tuck my cold hands against his body. Gavin’s warmth is better than any artificial heat.
“Hemlock is a great name for a boy, but—” he pauses and I can hear the laughter in his voice already. “You need two.”
Two. Because we’re having twins.
“Hemlock and Oleander?” Those are both good names, aren’t they?
He presses a kiss to my forehead. “I like them.”
“You need a second girl name.”
“Wisteria and Juniper?”
“Yeah. Wisteria and Juniper.” They’re different, but good. Like Baz, Altair and Callum. “I hope we have one boy and one girl, then we can each use one of the names we picked.”
Gavin laughs under his breath as he traces patterns into my skin. “I’m not sure the boys can handle two sisters, but it would be hilarious to watch them try.”
I rest my chin on his chest and search his face. It’s not only our future children he has to worry about, but his current children too. “What are you going to do about Callum?”
Gavin has more than just two new babies on the way. He also has a sixteen-year-old son who is now mated to a fifteen-year-old boy.
Gavin sighs. “There isn’t a lot to be done. They’re mated good and proper. Eventually, they’ll have to go to the registry office and declare the union. Not until they’re of age, if they can keep it secret that long.” He doesn’t sound convinced that they can.
“I don’t think they realized they were mated until you said something so... maybe.” No one realized until Callum showed his bite.
Gavin pinches the bridge of his nose and huffs out a deep breath. “Why are teenagers so stupid?”
I snort. “Lack of impulse control. And just think—you get to go through all of this again in sixteen years. Twice.”
“Yeah, but I’m hoping they take after their dad and not their father. Life will be a breeze if they’re as sweet as you.” He traces the frame of my ear as he grins.
I shake my head and whisper, “I hope they’re alphas.”
It’s my only wish. No matter what gender the babies are, I hope they aren’t omegas. Life is much harder if you’re an omega and a prey shifter. They will be prey because I am, so I hope they’re at least alphas.
“Hey—don’t do that.” Gavin cups my jaw and drags his thumb over my cheek. His voice is soft but has a note of command. Not an order from my alpha, but an edge that makes me pay attention. “There’s nothing wrong with being an omega. Life will be harder to navigate in some ways but we’ll give them the tools to do so.”
I exhale and close my eyes as my heart squeezes. “I just want what’s best for them.”
“I know you do, sweetheart. I do, as well. And what’s best for them is to love them just as they are so they love themselves enough to move through the world with their head held high, and with an unflinching belief that alpha, omega or beta they’re worthy of respect and love.”
I’m not sure it’s that simple but Gavin has raised three children—one of them an omega who moves through the world with more confidence than some alphas. Our children will be just fine with him as their father. And I’ll do my best to be a good dad.