Chapter 28
“TEN?” questioned Reif, not sure he heard right. “The Fates were going to give me and Nessie TEN babies? All at once?”
“Yes, but then decided that might be a bit too many,” Oracle smiled.
“Ay, that it would be,” agreed Brian. “But five is just perfect.”
“Wha…?” Reif’s eyes grew big as he stared at Nessie.
“Ay, this being our first time as parents and ye being an older father…”
“I’m not an older father,” Reif snorted indignantly. “My dad had me when he was 1,500 years old.”
“Ye dinna say? Well, then five is a perfect number for a young parent like ye,” smirked Brian.
“Five is four more than my dad had.”
“Ay, but less than ten and certainly less than what serpents can have,” Brian said, with a twinkle in his eyes.
Reif’s eyes widened. “How many…you know...”
“Can a sea serpent have…normally?” asked Brian.
Holding his hands up, Reif shook his head. “Don’t tell me anymore. Five will be just fine.” Shifting his gaze back to Oracle, he said, “Anything you can do to help…I’d greatly appreciate it.”
“I will be in touch,” Oracle said, leaving the room.
Rising, Reif pulled Nessie up next to him, and said, “Well, we’ll be on our way. Thanks for everything tonight.”
“Wait,” Logan said, “I think it’d be better if you stayed here tonight. That way we can get an early start in the morning and start searching for the green diamond right away.”
Glancing at his mate, Reif caught the imperceptible nod Nessie gave him. “Okay, but all my research is back at my cottage in Inverness.”
“We’ll get it tomorrow. Do you need anything before Groose shows you to your rooms?” asked Logan.
“Naw, we’ll be fine,” Brian replied. “Thank ye for helping.”
“No problemo, Captain,” said Kieran. “C’mon, Groose is waiting for you,”
~/~/~/~/~
Reading the response from the lawyer representing Fionn’s uncle, Penn wasn’t surprised at the objections to his motion.
Douchbag! Normally, he’d have called the attorney before he asked the court’s permission for video testimony, but the dickhead would’ve played games so he just filed it for the judge to decide.
Fucking asshole! He knew lawyers like this, always fighting everything just to rack up more fees for their clients to pay. Fuck ‘em all!
Then clicking on the email from the court, Penn smiled.
The court had seen through the lawyer’s bullshit and granted his motion.
After dashing off a quick email to Fionn to let him know the results, Penn looked up, staring out at the San Francisco skyline, his mind now back on Fionn’s white dragon and the Alpha who would control him.
~/~/~/~/~
After locking the door to their suite, Reif leaned against it, his eyes roaming until they landed on Nessie. “You know, I never did ask how you feel about having five babies. I know you said you were freaked out too, but…”
Brian turned, studying his mate and saw the worry in his face.
Walking over to him, he grabbed his hips, pulling his mate to him.
Looking him in the eye, Brian replied, “We need a house. My boat’s nae meant for wee ones…
better to find a place near some loch. I have some money saved up that’ll cover it, but I’m nae sure aboot all the baby stuff. ”
Blinking at his mate’s comment, Reif finally chuckled. “I take it you’re okay with it?”
“I left home for good, after I came out of the closet when I turned 50, telling my parents I was attracted to men. Back then, ‘gay’ or ‘coming out of the closet’ wasn’t used but that was what I was and did.
Ye know why it took so long? Because all my life, I was told the gods did nae make shifters like me…
only Satan did…so I hid who I was from my family, my friends, my community.
I spent years prayin’ to the gods to save me from the evil that had taken control of my body, making me into somethin’ I was ashamed of.
During all that time, do ye know what I wanted most? ”
Holding his breath, Reif shook his head. He wanted to hear more about his mate but was afraid of interrupting his mate’s story with words; instead he wrapped his mate in his arms.
“A mate…a Fated Mate…someone who would love me…someone I would love…someone who I could count on nae matter how tough life was. So I did everything I could to be straight…tried my damnedest to act straight…surely, I thought, if I did it enough I’d become straight and the gods would give me what I wanted more than anything else in the world… a mate.
“One day, I got a note from the mother of one of my friends. She told me Tommy had died…committed suicide, actually…and she asked if I’d come to the funeral.
I said ‘yes’ and wrote down the time and place.
I left work early that day and rode to the next town; it wasn’t far—back then sea serpent shifters lived close to one another.
When I arrived at the graveyard, next to the church, I looked aboot, wondering was I at the wrong place—there was only an auld horse-drawn cart out front.
“But then, I saw the open grave and my friend’s mother sittin’ by herself in front of the coffin, so I knew twas the right place.
After climbing off my horse, I slowly walked over to her, each step a chore, regretting my decision to come.
If ye haven’t figured it out, I’m nae good expressing my feelings; the only reason I agreed to her request in the first place, was I thought I’d be lost in the crowd of mourners.
“I swear if she hadn’t seen me when I arrived, I’d have ridden away, but she had, so I stayed.
I sat in a chair next to her, starin’ at the coffin in front of me, tryin’ to remember the last time I’d seen my friend.
And ye know what? I couldn’t fuckin’ remember.
How did that happen? We were close for so many years, but then he drifted away aboot five years afore he took his life.
Why did I let that happen? And why did my friend, who had so much goin’ for him, decide to kill himself?
“I wanted to ask his mother these questions but did nae. It was obvious she’d suffered enough and I’d be damned if I was goin’ to cause any more pain.
So I sat there, my misery buildin’ along with my anger at Tommy for doin’ this to his mother.
And out of that anger grew more anger…at everyone who decided Tommy wasn’t worth payin’ their respects to, leaving me, alone, to face his mother and her grief.
Lookin’ around at all the empty chairs at the gravesite finally caused me to open my mouth, giving voice to my anger.
“Instead of offering my condolences or telling my friend’s mother how much I’d miss him, I said, ‘where the hell is everyone?’ Can ye fuckin’ imagine that?
What an asshole I was! To this day, I can still see her tear-filled eyes lookin’ up at me as she told me Tommy’d been rejected by everyone because he loved men.
I never knew any of this! And five years to the date he decided to be true to who he was, he killed himself because, his mother said, Tommy was ashamed of who he was.
“It was at that moment, I faced the truth about who I was and decided to honor my friend by being true to myself. I vowed to make Tommy’s life mean somethin’ by rejectin’ all the bullshit I was taught growin’ up…
even if it meant leavin’ my home to find a place on earth where I could live without hatred.
“When it was time to say good bye, I helped her over to where Tommy was, listening as she told her son how much she loved him and would miss his sunny smile.
My tears fell, my mind seeing Tommy so clearly now, and I knew I would never forget him…
my friend who gave me my freedom at the expense of his own.
“We put wildflowers on his coffin, then watched as he was lowered into the ground, finally covered with earth. By this time I was a sobbin’ mess, but she hugged me, tellin’ me how happy Tommy was now in the presence of the gods and how they would take care of him until she could join him.
Then she told me Tommy had left somethin’ for me and I should follow her home.
“When we arrived, she invited me in and told me she’d be right back with it.
I sat down, rememberin’ the times Tommy and I had spent in that very room.
It was strange…almost like he was sittin’ next to me…
yet I never felt more alone in my life. When his mother handed me a wooden box, I remember looking at it, fearful of what I might find inside.
I thanked her, then left, but not afore she hugged me one more time and told me if I ever needed anythin’, to let her know.
Noddin’, I told her again how sorry I was, and then fled.
“Without a backward glance, I got on my horse and galloped away as fast as I could. I rode for hours, tryin’ to make peace with who I was and finally, when night had fallen, I found myself at a beach, the ocean callin’ me, the moon lightin’ a path for me to follow to the water.
I sat down on the wet sand, clutchin’ the only thing I had left of my friend.
“It was there, as the waves gently broke upon the shore, that I finally could remember my friend, Tommy, as he was when he was alive…before hatred stole his life away. I began to talk, first to myself, then to Tommy…jokin’ with him…
teasin’ him aboot his stunnin’ looks…tellin’ him how much he meant to me…
and how much I would miss him. That night was a turnin’ point in my life.
“For the first time ever, I said the words out loud. ‘I love men.’ It was scary. I remember waitin’ for the gods to strike me dead, because I truly believed I was an instrument of Satan.
But nae a thing happened. Tommy urged me on and I said it louder; each time I was sure would be my last moment on earth.
Finally I was shoutin’ it over and over. The freedom was overwhelmin’!
“After fifty years of hidin’ the real me from the world, here I was, shoutin’ at the top of my lungs aboot who I was.
I know it sounds crazy, but Tommy was with me on the beach that night, givin’ me strength to accept myself and to help me decide who I wanted to be.
Naw more hidin’…naw more fakin’ interest in women…
naw more worries about Satan controllin’ my body… naw more shame for who I was.
“The sun was risin’ when I got around to opening the box and readin’ the note Tommy left for me.
I found out he was in love with me…not as a friend but as a mate.
Ye know what? Twasn’t news to me. Somewhere in my heart, I always knew Tommy loved me, but I was so determined to be straight, I couldn’t allow myself to admit I loved him, too.
“That morning I rode home and told my parents. It twas an awful scene. My mother was sobbin’ and my father swore he’d lock me up until I saw the error of my ways.
My mother tried everythin’ to convince me otherwise and finally told me I’d never have a Fated Mate because it would be a waste, she said, since I could never have children.
I know what she was tryin’ to do, but it just showed me she didn’t really love me for who I was.
I packed my stuff, and left on foot since my father refused my request for a horse.
If he thought that would stop me, he was dead wrong.
“For the next 300 years, I roamed the earth, lookin’ for my mate but never found him.
That was a very low point in my life; my mother’s words constantly echoed through my mind.
But then I arrived in Scotland. Something was callin’ me here and when I first saw Loch Ness, I knew I was home.
So I stayed, made guid friends and lived a reasonably happy life, setting aside my quest to find my Fated Mate.
But many nights were spent wonderin’ if my mother was right aboot me never findin’ my mate.
“That was, until I scented ye. Then the world I’d made for myself fell apart and my sole focus was on findin’ ye.
After 650 years, my wish finally came true…
I had a Fated Mate. But ye know the best part of havin ye for my mate?
Is findin’ out the Fates granted my whole wish.
You see, I always wanted it all… nae only a mate, but children, too.
Does that make me a greedy bastard? Havin’ baby Nessies was the part of my wish I gave up when I said those words on the beach so very long ago… I love men.
“I never expected my male mate to become pregnant, but the Fates found a way for it to happen and I’m over the moon about it.
Granted, when I saw Ian countin’ the eggs in yer sea dragon’s belly, I was a little freaked…
but in a guid way. One baby…five babies…
doesn’t matter because I’m so fuckin’ happy my wish is comin’ true.
So to answer yer question…I’m overjoyed we’re goin’ to be parents. ”
It took Reif a minute to understand what his mate was saying, but when he did, his lips broke into a wide grin.
“We need a house on the water and better be away from neighbors. First because it’ll be hard to explain why we’re taking care of five very, very large eggs and later because it’ll be hard to hide five little sea dragons swimming and flying around. ”
“Ay, guid point,” Brian murmured. “We should start lookin’ right away.”
“Yes, but in a pinch we could use your cottage…at least, while we’re incubating the eggs."
“Ay, that would do.”
“Food…then…what else did you say we need? Ah, yes, baby stuff, a lot of baby stuff since we’re going to have five babies,” smirked Reif.
“Ay, maybe the Shaman can tell us what we need,” Brian offered.
“Uh-huh.” Rolling his hips against Nessie, Reif groaned, his cock growing hard in his jeans as it rubbed against his mate’s covered one. “Right now, I have to confess something else is occupying my mind. Care to guess what?”
“Food!” Brian said, his voice cracking as his mate nibbled on his ear.
“Yeah, I understand a pregnant person should eat plenty of protein,” murmured Reif, his lips ghosting over Nessie’s as he punched his hips forward. “Did I ever tell you how much I love protein shakes?”
“Uh…uh…oh, gods!"