Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
Lila
“So why are the children toddlers? From my guess, I’d say they are about two.” William’s eyes are narrowed as he reaches out and tickles Cally in Link’s arms, distracting her while Link does a hand scan of her. “That’s not what you were expecting, was it?”
Cas shakes his head. “No, I was expecting them to be a little younger.” We all watch as Link finishes his scan of Cally’s body.
He then passes her back to Xavier and untangles Cordy’s little fingers from Echo’s fur and does the same thing to her.
She bats at his hand, whining slightly because she was taken away from the soft kitty.
Echo grumbles too, but Maxsim just headbutts him gently, and they sit and wait patiently while their baby is examined.
Link is giving nothing away with the blank expression on his face, and I feel the urge to shift and bite his fucking head off. My fangs click down, and I start to growl. Saxon hands Jack off to William and comes over to me.
“When was the last time you ate?” he asks, gripping my arms and making me look him in the eye.
“I can’t remember, okay? What with the kids and trying to learn everything Link wants me to learn and just trying to remember to put my underwear on the right way every morning, I may not have had any blood for a couple of days,” I snap at him, and his eyes soften, but he purses his lips.
“Come on, Lila, you need to do better. When you don’t drink blood, your temper gets shorter, and you would feel very sorry if you attacked one of us out of bloodlust.”
“Fine, but if Link doesn’t hurry the fuck up and tell me what’s going on, it’s his vein I’m going to drain.” I glare at my cyborg fiancé, who slowly looks up from Cordy and finally pays attention.
Frowning, he drops his hand away from her naked body. “Xavier, can you put clothes on the kids? Now that they’ve changed, their bodies are having trouble trying to regulate their temperature, and I don’t want them to get sick,” he asks, still looking at me with that same, infuriatingly blank look.
Xavier waves a hand, and all three of the kids are instantly clothed in adorable matching onesies.
They are all black and covered in stars, with the Galaxy Circus symbol on them.
Xavier then waves another hand, and a playpen appears over in the corner of the room.
It’s filled with toys and soft mats, and he stands up, goes over to it, and places Cally inside before waving his hand and telekinetically floating Jack and Cordelia over to it as well.
They clap and squeal with delight. Cally pulls herself up on the railing and waves as her siblings float to the mat.
“There, that will keep them occupied while we talk about them.”
Echo and Maxsim move to the playpen, where both stretch out in front of it and put their heads on their front paws, listening but guarding the babies as well.
I’ve seen how Echo looks longingly at them when he’s in his bipedal form.
I think he’s dying to have a litter, but it hasn’t happened for him and Maxsim yet.
I mean, it wasn’t really a stable environment for breeding with Natalia always gunning for him, but maybe now that she’s gone, they will be able to conceive with his next heat. I would be so happy for them.
“Lila, stop growling,” Link snaps at me, and I flip him off, but I take a deep breath and sit down, waiting for him to give me the results of his scans.
He just frowns and shakes his head with disappointment.
“I would like to do more tests back on the ship, but as far as I can tell, they are fine. It is possible that you bonding with Saxon may have had something to do with their accelerated growth. They are showing a few Vilaxian markers, and as far as I know, Vilaxian growth is faster than most.” He turns a questioning gaze to Saxon who nods.
“Yes, our children grow rapidly until they hit their teens, and then their bodies practically freeze and growth slows completely.”
“As far as I can tell, that’s what happened to the babies. Their growth will be quite rapid. Caspian says he was expecting six-month-old babies, whereas these three are probably closer to two. That seems to be an accelerated growth rate four times that of a shifter baby.”
“Once our children shift, their growth rate is probably twice as fast as a human’s, so within six months of hatching, they are roughly the size of a one-year-old from Earth,” Caspian explains, and I feel like my head is about to explode with all these different numbers.
“So you are saying that by the time they are four years old, they will look like teenagers?” I ask, trying to wrap my head around it all.
“Do they mature mentally at the same rate, or is it just physically?” My panic has not eased.
I thought I had plenty of time to get this parenting thing right, but it seems like I only have as short period of time to try not to fuck up their lives completely.
“Again, I’d like to run a few tests, but considering the fact that they are talking and can recognize each of us, I’m going to go with yes, they seem to be.”
My gaze leaves the damn cyborg and flits toward my babies, who look to be entertaining themselves just fine inside the playpen.
Cordy and Jack appear to be building something out of blocks, but Cally has a little cardboard book in her hand, and she is turning the pages, her little pink eyebrows furrowed in concentration.
Frustration and fear and worry all batter at my emotions, and I feel angry and unstable and I have no idea how to fix it.
“So basically you really don’t know anything, and this is all going to be guesswork?” I snap unreasonably at the doctor, my worry and hunger getting the better of me.
He just shrugs, still wearing that damn blank look on his face. For fuck’s sake, why can’t I get him to react to anything? I’m deliberately being a bitch in the hopes I can get some kind of reaction out of him, but nope, nothing besides continuing blankness.
“Yes, Lila, I am just guessing. I’m not sure there has ever been a case of children like yours before, but I will look through the Skarrian databases again, as well as the notes that the Vilaxian queen sent me.”
I feel all out of sorts. I think the thing that hurts the most is that none of the kids wanted hugs or kisses from me.
I mean, in their kraken form, we’ve barely been apart, but I thought maybe once they shifted, things would be the same.
Maybe they don’t really need me anymore now that I’ve hatched them.
Maybe that was my job, and now I don’t have anything to do with raising them.
I have no idea how Fluxxians raise their children.
Mira and Murphy both seemed to have good relationships with all of their kids, but they have proven to be the exception on Fluxx.
Fuck me, I really need to do better at my research, especially all the species that are in my bond group, but I fucking hate learning via book.
I am so much better at learning through practical means.
I have the attention span of a goldfish, and every time Link puts that damn tablet in front of me, I find something better to do with my time.
There are some pretty cool galactic games on that tablet, and I get distracted by pretty, shiny things.
A big sigh leaves my mouth, and I stand up. “I guess I need to go replicate them something different for dinner,” I say, feeling my body sag with weariness. Cas grabs me and shakes his head, pushing me in the direction of the stairs.
“No, you go take care of your need for blood and leave dinner to me. Between all of us, I’m sure we can work out a meal for them. Right, guys?” He turns to the rest of the males in the room, and my partners all look like deer caught in headlights, but Eric and William are nodding with confidence.
“Of course we can,” William assures me. “We had plenty of experience with Marcus. We’ve got this.”
“That would be awesome, thank you.” I feel tears of gratitude and frustration well in my eyes. “Are you coming?” I ask Saxon, and he looks between me and Link before shaking his head.
“No, I think Link should be the one to go. I don’t think it would hurt for him to have a look at you too.
Since the five of you stepped out of the ocean, your emotions have been all over the place.
” Saxon is a brave man, bringing that up out loud, and I take a step toward him, my hands clenched, but Xavier stands up and steps between us, his hands held up in a placating way.
“Now stop, Lila. He is only saying what we all think. I can feel how chaotic your emotions have been, and even I’m having trouble keeping up with it all.
I try to siphon off the most that I can, but it’s all so confusing.
There’s exhaustion, guilt, and frustration, not to mention overwhelming lust which really should have settled by now according to Fluxx shifter notes for krakens.
You should be feeling joy and happiness at the birth of your babies.
It’s there, but only briefly.” My warlock mate looks worried, and when I look at everyone else, they have the same expression.
“We have been talking, and we think maybe you might be suffering from a little postpartum depression. Will you please let Link take a look at you too? And for God’s sake, can the two of you sort out what is happening between you? Tiptoeing around you is exhausting.” Cas glares at us.
“Yes, fuck or fight, but enough of this avoiding one another crap,” Saxon says dryly. Echo lifts his head and yowls his agreement, and Maxsim just blinks his nonjudgmental eyes. Wow, for once, the big guy is on my side, and I kind of appreciate his silence.
“Fine, I guess you better come too,” I tell Link and start heading to my bedroom, but when I turn around, he hasn’t moved.
“Link,” Xavier growls, and I see Link’s shoulders slump. My stomach plummets. This is it. He’s going to reject me. I feel no burning sensation where our attraction marks are, though, so I still have a little hope.
“Please.” I finally cave and hold out a hand.
I won’t beg, but it doesn’t take much for me to give a little.
At my words, his head comes up and he blinks in disbelief.
Holy crap, have Link and I completely miscommunicated?
Does he feel like I’ve been rejecting him?
I totally haven’t, but I hate being nagged.
Maybe I’m just as much to blame for this situation as he is.
I make an executive decision. I hurry over to the playpen and, one by one, I lift my babies up.
My heart just about melts when they wrap their arms around me as I smother them all with kisses.
“Mommy needs to do something tonight, so your daddies and grandpas are going to feed you and put you to bed. Mommy will see you in the morning, okay?”
“Bye, mommy.” Jack waves his hand, and Cally and Cordy follow suit.
“We love you,” they call out, not concerned in the least, which I’m incredibly grateful for. I grab my wayward cyborg fiancé by the hand and tow him up the stairs to my bedroom. We are going to take Saxon’s advice, but by the time we leave the bedroom, we will either be bonded or broken up.