Chapter 2
Chapter
Two
“ S tarry, I have to tell you something,” Reed said to his boss, his best friend, and his closest fellow omega.
He was super-nervous, because he didn’t want to get sent back to his original clan, who had always been so… severe. Kinda mean. Okay, a lot mean.
Alistair glanced at him, baby Crispin in one arm, pen in the other hand as he signed a grant for a charity that needed books for classrooms. Crispin’s twin, Allison, seemed content to sleep in her Pack ‘N Play, but Crispin was fussy. “Is it good news?” Those bright green eyes narrowed at him.
“Yes?”
Starry set his pen down, pursing his lips and staring. “That is a vague statement.”
“I know.” He hopped up because he needed to pace, and his heartburn was so bad he might barf. “I’m pregnant.”
Alistair was up out of his chair in a heartbeat, coming to give him a one-armed hug. Baby Crispin burped. “But that’s wonderful! Congratulations.”
“Thanks. I really appreciate it.”
“You don’t sound like you appreciate it.” Starry grinned at him.
“I know.” And he felt kind of awful about that. “I’m--I’m just a little freaked out.” Reed shrugged. “I want to be happy. I am happy. The idea of being with Hamish and having his babies makes me thrilled, actually, but what about my family?”
Now Starry frowned, lines appearing between his eyebrows. “What do you mean ‘and what about your family’?”
“I mean what if they come for me? I know that Des negotiated peace with my father when you took me from the Galandel clan, but I don’t think he’s ever been happy about it.
My father, I mean. I know him too well. He’ll want to use me and the baby for political alliances.
” The thought of going back to his wing made Reed sick to his stomach, and okay, so that might be morning sickness, but still he couldn’t help the nausea that rose in his throat every time he thought about his father and about subjecting his baby to that kind of hardcore dragon clan ambition.
“You’re not going to have to worry about that,” Starry said. “There’s no way that Des and Hamish will let you go back there.”
“They may not want to, but what if they have to so that can keep the clans safe?”
Starry shook his head, bouncing the baby when he squawked a little bit.
Reed had a feeling that Starry’s tension was pushing itself into little Crispin.
“I promise that you are part of this clan now. There is no way anyone is going to let someone hurt you or your baby. You need to relax and enjoy the process. You and Hamish. Alpha and omega.”
“I want to do that. I really do. I think Hamish is super crazy happy.” And didn’t that make his heart beat faster?
“Of course he is,” Starry said. “Why wouldn’t he be? He loves you. He’s been all over you since the moment he met you. You’re fated to be together.”
“I know. I felt the same way the moment he picked me up.” That had Reed smiling so much his cheeks stretched. “I never thought I would have anything like this. I really never did. My father always said?—”
“Nope no more about what your father used to say about you.” Little Allison started to cry, and Starry handed Crispin to Reed while he moved to her Pack ‘n Play to pick her up. “You’re better than that, Reed. Your father is a dick. He just tries to cut you down so that you won’t rise up against him, but now you don’t have to worry about that like I said.
I’m so happy for you!” Starry bounced Allison until she quieted.
“I can’t wait to plan all the things. Like your shower, and I want to help you with the nursery. ”
“You want to do all that?” His eyes went so wide that they pulled at the corners.
“Of course I do.” Starry waved his free hand in the air. “You’re my best friend.”
“Wow.” He shifted the baby to one arm so he could use the other to give Starr a huge hug. “I knew you were my best friend, but to hear you say that is amazing. I love you.”
“I love you, too.” Starry squeezed him and then stepped back. “Okay, we have a lot of work to do on this party that we’re planning for Des. Whatever it is he’s doing. I never know he just gives me the theme, and we make the party.”
Reed chuckled, because as the leaders of their clan, Des and Starry were expected to entertain, and Starry always complained, but he loved it.
“Right. It’s for some sort of charity thing, which is weird, because usually you’re the charity person. But he gave us the entire list of guests and food preferences and all that stuff. And also a list of who should absolutely not sit near each other.”
“Well, that’s helpful, at least. Usually, he’s a lot more obscure about things.”
“I think Hamish helped. I said something to him last time about the wild instructions that Des sends to us, and Hamish said he would see if he could get Des to make more sense. And not necessarily hand write everything,” he teased.
“Now that’s wise. Come on. Let’s go do this planning meeting, and then we can eat ice cream for lunch.” Starry went to push a call button for the nanny.
“That sounds amazing.” Reed tilted his head. “You never eat ice cream for lunch, though, unless… Starry, are you pregnant too?”
His friend beamed at him. “I think so, but I haven’t taken the test yet, so I haven’t told Des. “So, keep it under your vest.”
“Oh my God!” Reed took another huge hug, and they both laughed like loons. “We’re going to be pregnant together!”
Starry just grinned at him. “We are. I can’t think of anything I would rather do than share this with you.”
“Same!” Somehow just knowing that he wasn’t in this alone -- and he didn’t mean Hamish.
Of course, Hamish was going to be there for him -- but knowing that he and Starry were going to be experiencing this together made everything easier.
It made the worries about his father ease right off all of a sudden.
Reid thought he could do this now. And that was worth ten planning meetings where he had to try to read Des’s handwriting.
“Did you get this stuff for the charity party to Reed?” Des asked Hamish, scribbling something in his day planner. He really was an analog dragon.
Hamish nodded. “Yeah, I did. The seating chart was really helpful.” He had to grin across the desk at Des, because Des hated doing charity auctions and formal dinners and all of the attendant things that happened with this particular yearly event, but he knew that it was important, so he had thrown himself into it wholeheartedly.
“Good. Good.” Des closed the planner on his desk and sat back in his fancy chair. “So is there anything else we need to talk about today? Any security issues?”
Hamish was Des’s head of security, and it was a heck of a job, as big and prosperous as their dragon clan was getting.
“Nothing like that, no. I did have some news for you, though.” Hamish took a deep breath because he still couldn’t believe what Reed had told him. They were going to have a baby, and he was over the moon.
“Hmmm? What’s that?” Des was smiling, in a great mood, and this was the perfect time to tell him about Reed being pregnant.
“Reed and I are going to have a baby. He’s pregnant. I just found out yesterday.”
Des’s eyebrows rose to his hairline almost. “Hamish that’s fantastic! Congratulations.”
He beamed at Des. “It is, isn’t it?”
“It so is, my friend. I’m so happy for you.” Des crossed his arms and frowned a little bit. “But it’s going complicate things, I fear. I have a feeling that his father is not going to be happy.”
Hamish figured Reed’s family was never happy about anything, but he didn’t really care.
They’d been awful to Reed, and he didn’t want his omega to ever have to deal with them again.
“We’ll mess with that when it comes down to it, I suppose,” Hamish said.
“I mean I’ll have contingencies in place in case they show up, but. ..”
“That’s what I like about you, my friend. You always have a contingency plan.”
Hamish bared his teeth in a feral grin. “I always do all right. And that’s why I’m your head of security.”
“True enough.” Des leaned back in his chair, hands behind his head, studying him. “Do you need bigger quarters?”
He blinked. “I don’t know. I never thought about that. I do sort of have a one-bedroom open concept, don’t I?”
“You do, and that doesn’t work very well for babies. Now, you could keep what you have, and we could just modify it and tear down some of the walls. That will make you more bedrooms.”
“You would do that?” They lived in a serious hardcore high rise, and Des wasn’t particularly invested in tearing things apart. He believed in the value of real estate as it was created, but maybe…
“Absolutely. You know that I love the idea of families living together. I don’t want you to have to squeeze yourself into tiny spaces. I want you to be able to have a nursery and a bedroom for your kids. I’m sure you’re going to have more than one.”
Hamish laughed. “Let me get through this one first.”
Des just hooted, tapping his fingers on this desk. “You’re going to be amazed at what happens during pregnancy. Of course, it didn’t help that my mate was kidnapped while he was pregnant.” Des’s wry expression made him laugh again.
“Yeah we’re going to keep that to a little dull roar with my guy.”
“How about we keep it to no kidnappings at all?”
“I think that sounds like a great plan.” As the head of security, anytime something went wrong with anybody in the clan, Hamish had to deal with it. And he liked peaceful times.
Des give him a searching kind of look. “I have a little news myself.”
“Yeah? Is that going to be bad?” They’d had their business meeting already, and nothing awful had cropped up.
“I think that Alistair is pregnant again.”
That statement plopped on the desk between them like some sort of weird curiosity that Des had pulled out to show him and made him sit there with his eyes wide and his mouth dropped open. “Do you mean Starry and Reed are going to be pregnant at the same time?”
“I’m pretty sure. Starry hasn’t told me yet, but he smells different, and he’s kind of horny all the time.”
“TMI, Boss.” Except he had a lot of questions. Like a lot, and Des had already been through this once. With twins. “Um, so when do we get to the-- I mean, he hasn’t reached that stage yet.”
“Is he in the sick stage?” Des asked.
“I think so. Yes. He was hiding it from me, so it’s hard to know, but ever since he told me it’s been a little easier to tell, and it he’s really sick in the mornings, Boss.”
Des nodded, waving a hand in the air. “Then you totally need to start keeping Sprite in the fridge, and saltine crackers next to the bed. Stuff a cracker in his mouth first thing in the morning when he wakes up, and it will help with the nausea. It’s the most natural way to do it, and that way he doesn’t have to take anything chemical.
Also, if you want to go flying with him, which I know you love to do, now’s the time.
Once he starts to show it won’t be safe. ”
“You mean flying could hurt him?”
“No. I mean if somebody set out to hurt him, it would be totally worse if they noticed he was pregnant. Then he would be a real target, and his family is already unstable. I’ve been hearing rumors about their problems. They’re having border wars and financial issues.”
“Crap. When were you going to tell me that in our meetings?” Surely Des hadn’t intended to keep that from him?
“When I had better intel. But with what you just told me, it was important to give you the update now.”
“Thanks.” He mulled that over. He would have to tell Reed, but he hated to mar their joy with bullshit about his mate’s family. “That sucks.”
“It does. But you’re family, Hamish. We’ll deal with this together.” Des’s eyes flashed gold, the air popping with power as the vow was made.
Sealed with dragon magic.
He couldn’t ask for more than that.