Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
Lila
Showering with the cats was fun. Echo loved having his fur washed and soaked up all the attention lavished on him.
Maxsim was the complete opposite. He looked at the water with the same disdain he used to look at me.
It took all of my and Echo’s coaxing to get him to step into it and a dual blow job to put a smile on his face.
He grumbled playfully through the whole thing, but I think he secretly loved it.
There’s a huge grin on my face as I go downstairs in search of the rest of my loved ones.
“Mama!” Jack cries the minute I enter the room. He gets up on unsteady legs and waddles over to me as fast as he can. My heart soars with love and joy at the sight. I was still a little worried that Mama wasn’t as interesting as all their daddies.
Both Cordy and Cally follow closely behind, crawling on hands and knees.
I scoop him up and swing him around, his delighted giggles music to my ears as he wraps his little chubby arms around my neck and gives me a sloppy kiss on the mouth.
“We missed you. Did you have fun playing with the pussies?” Holy crap, his language skills are phenomenal.
Caspian chokes on his drink, and Xavier sniggers quietly to himself as I flip them off behind Jack’s back.
“Mama, I want kisses too,” Cally demands, tugging on my skirt, so I drop down to my knees and scoop up the two girls.
There are lots of giggles and childish cries as we all love on each other like it’s been months instead of hours since we’ve seen one another.
It heals my slightly wounded heart, and all is right with my world again. They do love me.
“Have you been good babies for your daddies and grandpas?” I ask, looking around the room and getting a better look at my loved ones.
Grandpa Eric and William are both snoozing on the couch.
Eric is snoring, but it’s not overly obnoxious.
My three husbands and fiancé all look like they’ve been put through the wringer.
“Why does everyone look like they’ve been stomped on by Viggy?” I ask, and Xavier lifts a hand and points to my snuggly, adorable little cherubs.
“Your children are exhausting,” he mutters, putting a hand over his face. Saxon is slumped next to him with his eyes closed, and his pale skin looks even paler and translucent. I’m not sure if he’s even breathing.
“Your children conned Saxon and Xavier into giving them candy.” Caspian is looking at our babies with so much love on his face, I’m not actually sure what’s wrong with that. “Poor guys didn’t realize that candy affects shifters similarly to human speed. It sent them into a hyperactive frenzy.”
Link chuckles. Neither him nor Cas look quite as run-down as the other two. “The kids made their daddies entertain them for hours and refused to go to bed,” Link explains with a slight grimace. “And both of them need to feed.”
“But with all that emotional energy, why are you hungry?” I ask Xavier, surprised he didn’t gorge on them.
He pulls his hands away from his face and looks at me with disgust.
“They are children. We never feed from children.” He sounds aghast, and I hold my hands up.
“Whoops, okay, sorry. I haven’t read that part of Warlock 101.” Or any part really. “But what about when you are children?” I ask, and he rolls his eyes. His exhaustion is obviously making him a bigger asshole than he normally is.
“We feed from adults, of course.” It has a silent, “Duh,” on the end, and I narrow my eyes, but he’s gone back to putting his hand over his eyes so he doesn’t see it. The next free moment I have, I am doing all the research on my husbands’ species.
Link must see me losing my patience, because he stands, pulls me up, and gives me a hug. The children grumble good-naturedly but wait patiently. “You’re glowing. I take it your evening was a success?” He turns my head to the side to see my healed mating marks on either side of my neck.
I hear a rumble behind me and wave a hand to shush Maxsim. He’s going to have to learn to play nice with everyone.
“Yeah, you could say that,” I reply a little hesitantly, worried about how everyone is going to react, but I shouldn’t have been concerned, because my other mates are wonderful men.
“Congratulations!” Caspian is beaming, and both my grandpas, who have woken with all the noise, come over and shake the cats’ hands, welcoming them to the family.
“Well, at least we won’t need to look for a new act,” William mutters absently, and I frown at him.
“You want my husbands to continue to perform for you?” I’m slightly pissed he would suggest such a thing, and he quickly backtracks.
“Oh no, of course not,” he denies, but Maxsim steps up, putting his arm around me.
“It is fine, Lila. To be honest, I enjoy performing.”
I look at him in shock, and Echo giggles.
“He really is a bit of a show pony. He makes me brush his mane until it shines before every show.” My eyes widen at this information, and Maxsim’s face fur pinkens slightly with embarrassment. Oh shit, that’s kind of adorable.
“But don’t you find it demeaning?” I press, and he just shrugs.
“Nope, it’s fun. I love all the kids’ expressions—their wide-eyed wonder and squeals of sheer terror when I roar. It’s awesome,” he gushes, and I just blink. Who is this man and what happened to the giant, gaping asshole he’d been?
“Aww, Max, I think you broke our new mate.” Echo giggles again, giving me a hip bump, and I remember what we have to tell everyone.
“Ah, you guys are going to want to take a seat,” I say, and all the smiles drop at my tone. Link’s hands tighten on my shoulders, and when I look up at him, there’s worry in his eyes. I try to smile reassuringly at him, but I’m not sure I pull it off.
“No, hey, it’s okay, nothing bad, but Echo and Maxsim have something they want to share with you.
” The kids got distracted while we were talking and are back to playing with their toys on the floor, so I hurry over and squish myself between Xavier and Saxon, grabbing both of their hands.
“Please don’t be mad at me,” I whisper to them, preempting their reactions to our news.
“What’s going on?” Caspian asks, sitting up, all his attention on my two new mates.
Maxsim wraps his arm around Echo and pulls him over to show a united front. “As you all know, Echo was in heat.”
“Wasn’t that very fast? You have all only been gone a day. Doesn’t a heat usually take longer to break?” Link asks, a wrinkle of concern between his eyes as his thirst for knowledge makes him question everything.
“Yes. We think having both a male and female alpha there sped up his heat time, but it also resulted in a pregnancy. We’re going to have more babies.
” Max gestures to the whole group, and I love how he has jumped on board the harem train and is embracing it to the fullest. I expected complete resistance, but it seems mating me and breeding Echo has turned him into a different person—one who is relaxed, open, and accepting.
I kind of miss the surly grump, but I don’t hate it.
It’s so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. “By we, do you mean you and Echo, or you and Echo and Lila?” Eric is the first to break the silence. I think everyone else is still in shock.
“Yes, the three of us. Much like when Caspian and Lila mated, Echo wasn’t able to stop the harvesting of one of Lila’s eggs, and one of Echo’s kittens will have Lila’s genetics,” Maxsim explains while Echo bites his lip and waits for everyone’s reaction.
I can tell he’s nervous with the way his tail is twitching behind him.
Caspian blows out a big breath. “Well, I’m the last person who can get upset about it. That’s wonderful news. I know how that feels though. How are you doing?” He looks between me and Echo.
“We’re actually okay,” I assure him, and Echo nods his agreement.
“I have decided to just roll with all the changes. Fighting it is just going to cause heartache for all of us. I love our babies.” I look at three on the floor, who are babbling to one another in their own special language.
“Adding a couple more isn’t going to make a difference, and to be honest, I’m thrilled with the fact that I don’t have to carry these ones.
With all you very powerful men, including Xavier who is one of the most powerful men in the galaxy, I’m sure we will have no problem keeping them safe.
” I subtly stroke Xavier’s ego at the same time I squeeze his and Saxon’s hand.
Saxon’s eyes have popped open, and he’s smiling, but he doesn’t seem to be completely with us.
Poor guy must be starving. I admire his self-control, considering he hasn’t attacked any of the others yet, but Xavier is the one I’m worried about the most. All the others have a permanent tie to me, but he doesn’t have that yet.
“Well, that’s great. How about we go up to the ship and I run all the prenatal tests and scans.
We can see exactly how many babies you’ll be having.
” Link is grinning widely, and I blow a grateful kiss to my cyborg husband.
All around me, my family is singing their joy and congratulations, but Xavier is quiet.
“Soon, I promise,” I whisper in his ear, and he sighs.
“I’m fine. I’m happy for all of you, but I can’t deny I’m a little jealous.
I just want you to be able to feel our intimate bond.
” He looks sad, the saddest I’ve seen him since we’ve known each other.
Xavier is usually so cocky and full of confidence, so seeing him like this makes me sad too and desperate to fix it.
“And I do too. How about we have a family lunch, and then I take you and Saxon upstairs and you two can have lunch as well?” I wink suggestively, and that perks him right up.
“The kids have run us ragged. Every time Saxon and I left the room to try and feed, they started crying, and Link and Caspian freaked out.” Xavier drops my other two husbands in the shit, and I raise an eyebrow at the two men who have the grace to look guilty.