Chapter Two #2
Hector tugged at her arm and got to his feet, taking her away from the alphas.
Hector pulled her out of the nest and down the hall.
A few doors down, he opened a bedroom and led her to his bed, turning the sheets down carefully before tucking her in.
Ax was laughing at him, and he was smiling.
“We will pick out a room for you tomorrow. Preferably, the one next to mine so that we can put in a connecting door or just an archway.”
She smiled, but her lids were so heavy, it wasn’t funny. She mumbled, “I look forward to exhausting you guys one day.”
Hector kissed her cheek. “I can hardly wait.”
She smiled and let sleep take her over.
* * * *
Drift smiled as he watched her body expand to her djinn form. He wondered whether she knew that she went to her normal form when she slept. The sheets were around her hips, and she was glorious. All that muscle and silky skin was quite the draw.
Tekumi flicked his fingers, and they were all wearing wraps around their hips. Hector grinned and gestured for them to be quiet. He eased his door closed and walked with them to the kitchen.
He set up an electric kettle and set out an herbal tea.
Drift grinned. “So, you have a crush on Ax?”
“Oh, yeah. For years. I bought the freaking gym just so it would remain open and she would keep going there.” Hector got three mugs and set them on the table.
Drift blinked in surprise. “You own the gym?”
“Yeah, but don’t let Ax know that. She doesn’t seem the type to take advantage.”
Tekumi grinned. “As you would know firsthand.”
“If I thought it would work, I would have paid her to take advantage. She’s... perfect.” Hector got up to get the tea steeping.
Drift smiled. “I haven’t met a female delta before, but she’s stunning. Not just because I barely need to bend my neck to kiss her while standing.”
Tekumi chuckled. “I find her perfect.”
Hector poured the tea. “See? Two out of three mates say she’s perfect.”
Drift inclined his head. “I never said she wasn’t. It is going to be rough for her with the three of us. She isn’t an omega.”
Hector snorted. “One of those trembling sighs and I can get her all the slick she needs.”
Drift chuckled.
Tekumi asked, “Hector, why didn’t you seek a pack?”
“Never found one that was interesting to me. I am off the roles of the Omega Centre. My parents paid the price to allow me to be sterilized. That was hefty, but I was so much happier without the threat of pregnancy looming over me. Not many packs want a sterile omega.”
“And then you met Ax, and you were smitten.”
“I put myself into her path every chance I had and started inviting her out for coffee. She has a sister who is an omega, so she was comfortable with my clingy habits. Which I suddenly developed.”
Drift laughed. “What does your life look like with her?”
“I want to persuade her to be a fitness model for the gym. When she’s pumped up, she’s amazing, and I want to stare at her all day.”
Tekumi asked, “How much can she lift?”
“She can press three hundred and leg press five hundred. I suppose that should have been my clue that she wasn’t precisely human.”
Tekumi chuckled. “Yes, that would be a clue. She’s stronger than I thought. She wasn’t really trying to injure us then. Good to know.”
Drift sipped his tea. “I think it was just because we all got sweaty. It was hard to get a grip.”
Tekumi summoned his phone and said, “What do we want for our pack? Is this home good?”
Drift paused. “For now. I wouldn’t mind something larger with more space.”
Hector cocked his head. “There are six rooms.”
“And if she gets pregnant, six are taken up with a nursery and a caregiver or family guest. Her sister is in a quad as well, so a visit from them blows out the house.”
Hector paused. “You have a point. And I have one less available room in the nest.”
Drift nodded. “This is a good family home, but it is snug for a packhouse. Will you move when it’s time?”
Hector’s expression got sly. “If I can try for the first baby. Yes.”
Drift paused and looked at Tekumi. “You can have the first hour, if she agrees. She will go into our arms because she wants to, not because she has to. She will not be feeling the same drive that you do.”
Hector frowned. “Right.”
“And if she does carry, it will be with a lot of support from us so that she doesn’t regret it and that it doesn’t stress her out. And it will stress her out. She’s built for battle, not babies.” Tekumi smiled.
Hector nodded. “Right. So, where can we build a house? My parents are still alive and will be delighted at this turn of events.”
Drift grinned. “As will mine. They are loving the influx of grandbabies.”
Tekumi smiled. “The friends I have gained in the last decade are also starting families.”
“Strider and I are the last ones to pair up. No, we are not going to race.” Drift chuckled.
“I hope that one day I will have a child who will have cousins in the same family and both sides of the bloodline.” Drift smiled.
“And then we can have a big picture with little blue kids and send it to the emperor.”
Tekumi blinked. “You met him?”
“We did. Kaido wanted to see his face, so one of their family lines carried the imperial djinn stamp.” Drift pointed at his head. “That would be the Rassmussens.”
Tekumi chuckled. “That explains a few things. I didn’t speak to him. What was he like?”
“Stunned, but he had a grip on the empress that was impressive. Her bracelets, anklets, and collar mean something, right?”
“They mean that she is a dragon and will not be laying any more eggs. She’s not allowed her complete form again, but she is allowed to live. Normally, female dragons are destroyed as soon as they manifest.”
Hector stared. “But baby dragons would be so cute.”
Tekumi paused. “A female dragon can give birth to fifty eggs, which can each lay up to a hundred eggs less than thirty years later. And go three hundred years into the future, and you have a world covered in dragons. At first, they are good partners, and when the good partners start running out, they are just aggressive.”
Hector blinked. “Right. Okay, I see the problem.”
Drift nodded. “Yeah, I can understand that. Holy shit. When Ford told me about dragons being real, I thought it was the coolest thing ever, but now... how do you even stop something like that?”
Tekumi smiled. “The djinn. No group of elves with dragons as a component can travel to a world without a representation of djinns. They can stop a dragon in its tracks and kill it if necessary.”
“Whoa. So, Ax can kill a dragon?”
“Not on her own. I will have to ask her if she knows a red djinn. They can kill dragons on their own.”
Hector muttered, “Oh. They sound terrifying.”
“They are always female and always assigned a mate as soon as they manifest. We have a number of races that require certain strictures.”
Hector asked, “What do the ladies think of the strictures?”
“Their guardians are chosen carefully for knowledge and temperament.” Tekumi winced. “The ladies choose one from two options. Their guardian and mate is responsible for any destruction that they create.”
Drift frowned. “What if they don’t get a mate?”
Tekumi paused and looked at him with serious eyes. “Chaos.”
Hector sipped at his tea. “Good thing we don’t have one of those, right?”
Drift nodded. “Right. But, Tekumi, there isn’t a chance of one of those being here, right?”
“Well, they normally occur in battle conditions, and there is a lot of that going on here. The bloodlines are proven to be powerful, which they are on this world, so one or two might emerge. That’s up to Avor to take care of or Vemel. Probably Vemel and Themak in this case.”
Hector frowned. “Why them?”
“Vemel is an imperial djinn, and Themak is his guardian. Asel will eventually take on the concerns of the female djinn, but she is young and needs to learn the ways of politics.”
Drift frowned. “Why is this all happening now?”
Tekumi sipped his tea and said, “Because Kaido protected her family, her mother, father, and sister until they were safe and the Elite could not touch them. Once that was done, she had used up a lot of her magic, and the emperor was able to come through.”
“So this is all happening because she missed her family?”
Tekumi nodded. “Yes. And she was a dragon who seeded this world with magic. One laying. One clutch. The result of those who are here and who carry skills and creatures under their skin... one clutch.”
Hector covered his mouth.
Drift smiled. “And she had enough control to make a line that was always dark blue. Who looked like her mate. And she wrapped us in enough magic that no one ever commented on the colouration. We look like this because she needed to see him in the world. It was humbling, actually, to meet him.” He laughed.
“Terrifying as well. That is one scary dude.”
“And yet, she defied him for centuries. She held him at bay, kept him from his children, while she waited for the souls of the ones she loved to occur again. Her sister’s name is Amiraith, but they call her Ira.
” Tekumi smiled. “She’s adorable and very smart.
I don’t know how Vaayu will feel about the earth-born djinn, but we will know about it fairly soon. ”
Hector blinked. “Why?”
“Because our kind can’t keep secrets, and the djinn are control freaks.”
Drift grinned. “And one of them is ours. Or will be when we figure out a pack agreement. Who knows a lawyer?”
Hector smiled. “My cousin is a paralegal and notary. Good enough?”
“When can they be here?” Tekumi smiled.
“Let me ask her. She spends the evenings working for one of those game companies, and her day job is at a law office.” Hector got his phone and sat typing for a moment.
When the phone chimed, Hector grinned. “She says she’s five minutes away. Wake her up and put some pants on.”
Drift paused. “How did she know that Acina was asleep?”
Hector shrugged. “She just knows stuff.”
Tekumi grinned. “This will be interesting.”
Hector smiled and said, “This is my cousin, Helen.”
Helen sat with her notepad, smiling. “Good evening, lady and gentlemen. Let’s begin with legal names and then the details of the pack and provisions for your omega, or in this case, your omega and your delta, as well as legal inheritances.”
The guys blinked. Ax sipped at her tea and said, “I will go first.”
The next ninety minutes were declarations of assets and distribution plans in case of children.
Helen made her notes then opened her laptop and began to type with astonishing speed. “Cuz, can I use your printer?”
“Sure.”
The printer whirred a second later, and the documents were ready. “If you want to look them over and make changes, I can come by tomorrow after I finish work.”
Hector smiled. “That would be great. I don’t want Acina signing anything without sleep.”
“Give me a call when it’s safe and everyone is dressed, or you can call the practice and get Ark or Marshall or Dante in for finer points.”
Tekumi blinked. “You work for them?”
“With them. There is a distinction.” She finished packing up. “Get some pens and scribble. If you send me the changes, I can bring you letterheaded documentation. Get you all sorted before the end of the week.”
Ax looked at her and smiled sleepily. “Thank you for coming so late.”
“Hector knows I am up.”
Ax got up and came around to give her a hug. “I am just trying out the hugging thing.”
Helen paused and then opened her arms for the hug. The moment they made contact, Ax froze. “You...”
“Have issues. Yes.”
“How long?”
“Left? Six weeks. Maybe. I have a few things to do before then.”
Hector was alarmed. “What? What’s wrong, Helen?”
She sighed and reached up, removing the wig and showing the fluff that was all that was left of her hair. “I am very into planning for estates right now.”
Hector stared. “You are sick?”
“No. I am dying. There’s a difference.” Helen smiled. “All arrangements are made. No one has to fuss.”
Hector’s face was the picture of despair. “I didn’t know.”
“I was selfish. I didn’t tell anyone. This is between me and the brain tumour. It’s on my temporal lobe, so I get some fun visions out of it.”
Hector looked like he wanted to hug her, but she smiled and said, “So, call me if you need changes. Or call the office. Dante is the best at contract law.”
Hector whispered, “Can I just call you?”
“Sure. Well, congratulations on finding each other. I wish you joy, health, and whatever else will bless you.” She nodded. “It was lovely to meet you all and nice to see you again, cousin.”
She left with her bag, and the new pack looked at each other and headed back to Hector’s room, curling up together on the bed. Death had just walked among them, and they needed contact with life.