Chapter 18 #2
Costas chuckled. He peeked around Maxwell, both hands on Max’s shoulders.
“You have a very good excuse to be a bit distracted,” he said.
“You’re all closed. There was some tearing on both sides—it couldn’t be helped, unfortunately.
I did use magic to close that up. And I added a bit of magic to help your omega line close a bit quicker since you’re not really contracting all that much. ”
“Thank you,” I said.
“You are most welcome,” Costas said. “And congratulations to the both of you.”
“Thanks, Costas,” Maxwell said as he glanced at his friend. But his attention was quickly redirected back my way. “Do you want help to sit up a bit?”
“Yeah. Especially since I can’t feel my legs. Or my bum either.”
“It will start to wear off soon,” Costas said.
“That’s good to know.” I held out the baby, and Maxwell took him before quickly passing him to Constantine.
Maxwell was there in a moment, helping me to sit up.
There were suddenly a lot more pillows behind me than was normal, but I didn’t even question it anymore.
I simply went with it because it simply was how things were when you were mated to a warlock.
“Here he is,” Costas said as he moved up beside Maxwell and held out the baby. I took a now quiet bundle from the older warlock.
“What did you do?” I asked. “He’s quiet now.”
Costas grinned. “Nothing. He’s just had time to calm himself now. “He’s quite healthy. Seven pounds, two ounces, so he’s a very good size. He’s not quite twenty-two inches, but very close.”
I looked down at the baby, who was now staring up at me with his bright blue eyes.
“Little man, you really do look like me. You’re going to be taller than I am though, and that’s okay.
But I have to wonder if you’re going to be into everything because you decided you needed to put yourself into a pike position right before being born. ”
That had Maxwell and Costas both chuckling. “That very much describes how he was,” Maxwell said.
I grinned at our son. He definitely had my eyes and hair and lips. “No more causing chaos,” I told him. “At least not for a while. Give it a decade or two.”
“Just wait until he’s walking,” Constantine said.
I looked at the older warlock and nodded. “Yeah, I can only imagine. I don’t know that I caused a lot of chaos, but I’ve heard stories of all sorts of things that walking toddlers get into.”
“Multiply that by three, and Miles said each day that it was a good thing that I was a warlock and could stop things before they became too extreme.”
I shook my head. “I know fox shifters often have multiples, but I can’t imagine having three at once.” I turned to Maxwell with wide eyes. “I don’t know if I could handle that.”
“We will have to worry about that if it happens. For now, we’ve had one.”
I smiled at my mate. “True.” I smiled back down at the baby and found that he’d closed his eyes.
“I’ll file the paperwork with the council,” Costas said. “Let me know what his name is when you decide.”
That was the thing. I had names I absolutely loved, but they didn’t feel right. Our son didn’t look like a Garner. Or a Wilcox. They just felt…too formal. Yes, he was a warlock, but he was also a little baby, and it wasn’t the 1700s. “We have a few names, but I’m still torn between some.”
“That’s all right. The council isn’t going to be upset if you wait a week or a month to come up with a name that seems as if it’s best for your little guy,” Costas said.
That was a relief. I had names. I just didn’t know what I wanted to name him. I’d just met him. I looked up at Maxwell. “Why are there suddenly so many things that we absolutely have to do?”
“Because we’re now parents.”
“True.” I smiled down at our son once more.
“I’ll be downstairs for a little while if you should need anything, but Maxwell is more than capable of taking care of anything that I could,” Costas said.
“Thank you, Costas,” I told him. “I’m sorry our little contortionist here decided he needed to change positions a few days ago.”
“And I’m sorry I hadn’t picked up on it. I should have been checking Camden more closely.”
“We got the baby delivered, and that’s all that really matters.” Constantine nodded before he walked toward the bedroom door.
“Was it bad?” I asked. “I wasn’t in any danger, was I?” I couldn’t feel anything. I was still completely numb from about mid-stomach down. Obviously, I couldn’t see.
“It wasn’t that bad. Our little guy there was sideways, which actually helped. He was backwards but then rolled to the side. It just made things a bit more difficult when it came to pulling him out, that’s all.”
I looked down and shook my head. “We should just call you Merlin and be done with it. You’re a warlock and not a wizard, but you are troublesome.” I smiled up at my mate. “What?”
“That wasn’t on your list of names.”
I shook my head. “No. And I wasn’t serious about it either unless you liked the name.” I sighed. “It fits better than Burton, or Garner, or Wilcox. But Merlin King is cute. We can name him after you. Merlin Maxwell King. I would hate for him to be picked on though. Who names a warlock baby Merlin?”
Maxwell sat down. “We do,” he said. “That name has had the best response from you out of all of them so far. Your aura turned sort of yellow. That’s usually a sign of happiness. If you want our son to be called Merlin, we’ll name him Merlin. But we need to pick a different middle name.”
I thought about it for a moment. “All right. Merlin Luke. We’ll name him somewhat after Lukyan. Do you think that’s all right?”
Maxwell nodded slowly. “Yeah, I think that’s perfectly fine. We’ll name him Merlin Luke King.”
“Are you sure? You don’t think that’s weird?”
Maxwell shook his head. “We can keep thinking about names if you’d like.
I’m fine with whatever you wish to name him.
You carried him, and he was difficult during delivery, so if you’d like for him to be named Merlin, I think it will work out.
If he doesn’t care for it in the future, he can always go by Luke. ”
I was torn. I actually really liked the name, but Merlin was…well, from King Arthur. “You don’t think it’s…odd? Seriously.”
Maxwell shook his head. He got up and went to the door. “Costas!” he called out. I looked down at the baby, who was still sleeping in my arms. Maxwell moved away from the door, and Costas came into the bedroom.
“Is something wrong?” he asked, immediately in doctor mode.
“No. Please settle something for us. Camden hasn’t liked any name. Not really. He’s liked some, but he’s not been in love with any. But he just happened to spit out Merlin. But he’s worried because our little guy is a warlock, and Merlin is the wizard from the King Arthur story.”
Constantine was smiling. “It’s cute. He and Lancelot can be best friends when they’re older.”
I blinked at the warlocks, who were smiling at me. I was completely confused because why were they smiling like that? “Who’s Lancelot?” I asked.
“My son. Who happens to be a warlock. He was also named after my carrier father.”
I gasped.
Maxwell smiled at Costas. “On the paperwork, please put the baby’s name as Merlin Luke King.”
Costas’s smile grew. “I’ll do that.” He glanced back at me. “Are you all right? Feeling well?”
I nodded, still in shock about what I’d just learned. I slowly turned my eyes back down to my little guy.
“Hello, Merlin. Welcome to the world,” I whispered as I ran a finger down his warm cheek.