Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Echo
(Earlier)
When Lila leaves us with that declaration of love, both Maxsim and I are so stunned, neither of us respond in the right way—meaning we don’t tell her we’re so in love with her it’s ridiculous. It’s not until a good couple of minutes later that I come to my senses.
“Did she…” I look at my mate, who seems just as flabbergasted as I am.
“Tell us she loves us?” he mumbles, and I nod enthusiastically.
“Yes, that. Did we just let her walk away without telling her we feel the same way?”
“Yes, but in my defense, I didn’t think she would feel that way so quickly,” he admits, still sounding shocked.
“Pfft,” I scoff and roll to my feet, stalking back and forth across our den.
“Of course she does. If there is one thing we know about our mate, it’s that she goes balls to the wall when she decides to commit.
Look at what she told us about Nikos. She’s already forgiven him and is now fully in that committed to caring phase.
It won’t be long before she’s telling him she loves him as well, and don’t get me started on the dragon and the snake.
” I feel my tail twitching behind me in agitation.
I can’t believe she didn’t wait so I could tell her I feel the same way.
I almost want to hunt her down so I can, but I know she went to finally make the warlock a happy man.
He’s waited long enough, but as soon as they finish whatever is involved in them completing their bond, I’m going to find her and tell her that I love her as much as I love Maxsim.
“Easy, Omega,” Maxsim growls before purring, trying to soothe my agitation.
“She didn’t wait, like she was worried we didn’t feel the same way.
I don’t want her to think we don’t love her,” I tell him, unable to stop the whine in my voice.
He gets to his feet and catches me on one of my passes, wrapping his arms around me.
The rumbling vibrations in his chest soothe some of my ruffled feathers.
“You know our mate wears her heart on her sleeve. She was probably worried we didn’t feel the same way and didn’t want to be hurt if we couldn’t say it.
Remember, Earth people are ridiculously prudish with their feelings.
Lila has been on her own for so long that she doesn’t realize how loveable she is.
Every single one of her mates and a few others are all head over heels for her.
Maybe it’s time we started showing her. Poor Lila hasn’t really had a moment to stop and breathe since she found out about her inheritance.
We should plan something special for her.
” I pull back from my alpha and stare at him in surprise, and he blushes adorably.
“When did you become such a softy?” I ask him, nuzzling his cheek as he shrugs.
“That’s a fantastic idea. We should throw them a wedding feast. She didn’t get it with any of the rest of us.
If her matings happened at a normal pace, she would have been subjected to celebrations with her mates’ families.
Our parents would have welcomed her to our families with open arms.”
Maxsim rolls his eyes. “You forget they gifted us to her,” he grumbles half-heartedly. I know he doesn’t mean it. He is incredibly settled now that we are mated and expecting babies. He’s one big ball of furry softness.
“Yes, and I will thank them when I see them next, but they still would have had a party.” I look around the room for one of my loincloths. I want to go find our co-mates and make the suggestion.
Maxsim stops my agitated search by grabbing my arm. “Bathe first. You don’t want to meet the warlock king and queen for the first time smelling like sex.”
“Good thinking.” I smack a kiss against his mouth and drag him with me to the central bathroom we all share.
When I open the door in the back of our den, steam from the bathroom drifts across the floor.
Although I am partial to the snow and cold, I do love a hot bath, and bathing with Maxsim makes the experience even more fun because he’s such a sulky pussy cat when he gets wet.
If I stroke him the right way and tell him how pretty he is, then he doesn’t fight it too much.
An hour later, after I fought my alpha over washing his mane and fur and managed to dry him off with the drying machine, we emerge in the living area wearing Galaxy Circus uniforms. Inside, we find our co-mates and children, the Adams brothers, and the warlock king and queen.
The only ones missing are Lila and Xavier—for obvious reasons—and Link.
I ask Saxon where he is after introductions have been made. “Link is observing Nikos. He’s very worried about his condition, but he didn’t think it was healable through magic. It’s just neglect, and only rest and good food and care can fix that.”
“Poor silly can of tuna. When Xavier returns, I’ll ask him to spell me so I can go and sit with him and talk babies. He is further along than I am, and I would like to know how it feels,” I say, rubbing my hand over my belly.
A flash of dark purple magic washes over me, causing Maxsim to growl and unleash his claws, but when it clears, the warlock king just grins at Maxsim, not scared at all.
“Settle, Alpha. I just gave him the magic he needs to hang out with the mer. There’s no way we would hurt our grandbabies he’s carrying.”
The queen claps her hands and looks at her husband, unable to contain the pure joy in her eyes.
“We go from no grandchildren to having almost seven in the blink of an eye. It’s wonderful.
” Aww, isn’t that sweet? That’s not what I expected of a warlock at all.
“The ladies are going to be so jealous. I can’t wait to rub it in their faces.
This is why our family rules them all.” Oh yeah, okay, that was more along the lines of what I’d been expecting. Warlocks are ruthless.
“Thank you, King Cronus. I appreciate you taking care of our omega,” Maxsim says gruffly, nodding his head, but the king scoffs and waves a hand.
“None of this king crap, call me Dad or Cronus. You’re Xavier’s co-mates now, which means you’re family.”
Maxsim and I stare at the personable king, unsure if this is a trick or not. He’s known throughout the galaxy as someone you don’t fuck with.
“Dear, you’re scaring them. Tone down the enthusiasm a little,” the queen says out of the side of her mouth, bouncing Cordy on her knee. Cronus has both Jack and Cally, and he has them entertained with what looks like a never-ending puzzle toy.
“I’m hungry,” Cordy complains. I doubt anyone fed them a snack when they woke up.
The snake was here earlier when they were napping, and I wonder where he got to.
Same with the dragon and the warrior man, Brannock.
They must be awfully lonely on such an empty ship.
Maybe they are keeping Captain Broderick company.
I know he was showing them how to work the ship just in case it was needed.
“Oh, here, this was Xavier’s favorite sweet when he was little, your mama’s too. We brought her some every time we came to visit.” Cronus pulls something out of the air, and with one look at the packaging, we can tell it’s candy.
“No!” everyone shouts in tandem, and the king and queen almost jump out of their skin as Saxon uses his speed and snatches it out of his hands.
“No candy for the shifter babies,” he says, crushing it into dust before brushing the remains into the trash compactor.
Cronus pouts as much as the babies do. “Aww, why not?”
“Because it’s almost time for dinner, and we don’t want to spoil their appetite,” Caspian says quickly, and Saxon nods with agreement as I try to hide my amusement.
I’m not sure why they aren’t telling the warlock king about how the babies react to candy, but I won’t go against my co-mates, and Maxsim is also silent beside me.
It’s not like we were there to witness it anyway.
“Candy rots their teeth,” William chimes in, and Eric nods enthusiastically. John stays quiet, but like us, he wasn’t there to witness our babies with candy, though Saxon, Link, and Caspian made it very clear that it was never to happen again.
“Anyway,” I jump in, changing the subject, “I think we should throw a party to celebrate Lila and Xavier’s bonding.”
Everyone falls silent and looks at me quizzically, so I hurry along.
“Isn’t that normal when someone mates or gets married? Celebrating their happy occasion with family and friends?” I mean, maybe I’m wrong. Maybe what we do on Iceen is different from everyone else.
Xylene claps her hands together in front of Cordy, who thinks it’s a game and joins in, giggling. “What a wonderful idea. Of course, with everything that’s happening, none of you have had the chance to celebrate.”
Now that the idea is out there, people grasp it and run wild.
“We could all dress up and make the dining hall fancy, and we could eat and drink and dance.” Eric nods, getting excited about the idea.
“It would be a good distraction from everything,” John muses, and I can see the desire to find his wife in his eyes, but we still have a day of travel to the station, and then a few days after that to Husadavia.
“Excellent.” Cronus hands the children off to Cas and Saxon. “I just felt them return. They’ll probably nap for a while, but we should get a move on. If you show me the way, I can be in charge of decorations.”
“I’ll dress the babies. The girls can have pretty party dresses,” Xylene says.
“Oh, and Jack can have Xavier’s warlock robes from when he was small.” The king and queen look excited, and I’m pleased everyone likes my idea.
“That would be lovely, and I’m sure Lila and Xavier would appreciate it. Thank you, Echo.” Cas nods his head in appreciation, and Maxsim squeezes my knee.
“I’ll go find Link and invite the captain and Brannock,” Saxon says.
“The merman won’t be able to come, but I want to go check on him before we eat, so how about I tell Link and you tell the other two?” I suggest, and the vampire agrees.