Bonus Scene #2
“We are. We wanted everyone to meet, and it is infinitely safer here than in the ocean.” Caspian takes the lead, gesturing to the one in his arms. The little one is a wriggling, purple mass, their tiny little tentacles writhing like they are trying to launch themself from their daddy’s arms. “This is Cordelia, our oldest girl.” He gestures to the little blue one in Lila’s arms, who has one tentacle wrapped around Lila’s neck and another in their mouth like a human child sucking its thumb.
“That is Jack, our son and second born.” Caspian turns his attention to the cats.
“And that is Calypso, our youngest daughter.”
Calypso is a mixture of Cordelia’s and Jack’s coloring, with little flashes of pink, and she’s currently batting at Maxsim’s tail where it flicks back and forth in front of her, no flashes of lightning to be seen.
“Kids, this is your family. That is Daddy Link, Daddy Xavier, and Daddy Saxon.” Caspian points to each of us in turn, and my heart almost beats out of my chest as he calls me Daddy Saxon. I never knew words could be so powerful.
“And that is Grandpa Will and Grandpa Eric,” he continues, and Eric steps forward, holding his arms out, unable to contain his excitement any longer.
“Give,” he demands with grabby hands. “I just want to love on them.”
Lila smiles and passes him Cordelia, who looks more than happy to comply. Eric holds her up and starts to babble nonsense at her, and she paws at his face with her tentacles. He giggles.
“That tickles,” he tells her before tucking her against his chest and walking over to his brother. Neither of them seem to be in the least repulsed that they are not humanoid in form, and I hear Lila’s small exhale of relief.
Caspian approaches Link and me, who have basically been frozen on the spot. “Do either of you want to say hi?” he asks as Jack studies us with wide eyes.
I stutter, unable to get any words out, but Link is as confident as ever. “Of course.” He holds out his hand and runs a finger over one of Jack’s tentacles. Jack winds one around his finger, and Link beams.
“Hello, Jack. I’m Daddy Link. We are so happy you are here,” the cyborg tells him, treating him like he already understands everything we say, but then again, he might. Who knows how these kids are going to develop? They are the first of their kind.
More of Jack’s tentacles wrap around Link’s arm, and he slowly moves up it until he’s snuggled against Link’s chest.
“Oh my,” Link whispers with amazement and beams.
He turns and gestures to me. “This is Daddy Saxon.” My eyes lock with his little black ones as I hold out my own hand for him, moving slowly so as not to startle him.
To my surprise, Jack’s tentacles move fast, grabbing my fingers and pulling me toward his body before a sharp pain registers on the tip of my thumb.
Something pierces the flesh, and when I feel a suckling sensation, a smile stretches across my lips.
“Huh, well, I guess they may have a taste for blood from you then.” Link sounds fascinated, but I hear a surprised gasp, and when I look up, Lila has her hand over her mouth and is staring at her son with horror as he takes nourishment from my finger, but I couldn’t feel prouder.
“I’m so sorry,” she stammers, but I shake my head and puff out my chest.
“Don’t be, it just means they have something from me as well as you two,” I tell her.
Xavier presses a kiss to the top of her head and murmurs something reassuring before she can argue.
Whatever he says seems to work, and her concern fades to affection.
Xavier drifts away from her, moving to the cats and the other little darling who is completely distracted by Maxsim’s twitching tail.
As soon as Xavier crouches down and shuffles closer, her eyes dart to him, and she loses interest in the cat’s tail.
Echo purrs loudly and doesn’t even open his eyes as Xavier gets closer, but Maxsim cracks one open and stares at the warlock for a moment before closing it again, shuffling closer to his omega and relaxing against him, deciding the warlock is not a threat.
Xavier flicks his wrist, and stars start to explode from his fingers, the bright bursts of light sparkling in the air in front of the little female.
She bats at the lights, her tentacles waving with excitement, but the lights quickly fade.
She darts toward the warlock, grabbing his hand and shaking it with her tiny little tentacles.
Xavier bursts into laughter and runs his free hand over her little domed head. “Just like your mama. She liked my fireworks too,” he says affectionately, and my heart fills with love.
Caspian puts his arms around Lila, wrapping a tentacle around one of her legs and hugging her to his chest as they watch with big smiles, his children already as affectionate as he is.
This is going to be wonderful—one big, happy family protecting and loving one another.
We just need to ensure that John Adams heals so he can join in all of this.
Our trip to Rilu is quickly approaching now that the babies are here.
I can’t journey to the surface like the others, so I will remain behind and protect our offspring, while Lila does what needs to be done to ensure our family is whole once more.
No one is going to get a chance to hurt any of our family if I have anything to say about it.