“He will and he has. His matriarch has ordered it, and he can’t disobey her. He loves and respects her too much. That’s not saying you aren’t in for a fight.”
“Well, I don’t actually have to bond with them. I can just let them be their own couple and come and go as they please. As long as it looks like we are cohabitating, we shouldn’t offend his mother,” I suggest, and Mira’s lips turn down in doubt.
“I’m not sure how it works. The whisperer side of you may not let that happen. Because you are both alpha and omega as needed, you may find yourself being drawn to them.”
“You may even go into heat or rut yourself,” Murphy adds, and my mind whirls and my eyes cross.
“I’m sorry, what?” I ask, and even I can hear the panic lacing my voice.
“Hey now.” Cas stands up and holds his hands up to his parents. “Let’s not overwhelm her. There is a lot to talk about, what with her new mimic abilities too. If she ever needed a crash course in galaxy species, it’s now, but it can also wait until after the babies are born. We need to take it step by step, and that is the most important thing. For Lila and the babies’ health and safety, they need to be born before we worry about anything else.”
“Yes, son, but she will need to know all of the ins and outs of mating with each of her mates, because with her mimic abilities, things are different. She is capable of providing any species with babies, so she has also become a hot commodity. Heck, the dragon prince might be so aggressive toward her because his dragon is attracted to her.”
Fuck my life. Who would have thought that my new Skarrian abilities would have made me the perfect baby mama for everyone? This is not what I thought I was signing up for when I was told I was going to get powers. I thought I’d be part Storm or part Magneto or something, not Octomom.
“Yes, please, let’s play ‘pretend Lila is not the perfect breeding machine.’ Right now, these are the only three children I plan on having. I wasn’t even planning on these, so while I’m happy and I will love them with all my heart, I am not ready to add to that. Seriously, I may suck at this whole mother thing, and then the guys will be left picking up the pieces of my children’s broken hearts. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. Shit, the Celestians may even be wrong, and I might not even be a mimic.”
I can tell by the way the three of them are looking at me that they think I’m delusional, but I am determined to keep pretending until I have to face reality. By my count, I have at least a month to continue being a stubborn bitch and burying my head in the sand.
“So how did you pick your babies’ names?” I ask Mira, changing the subject. I’m ready to finish this meal and get the show on the road. I pick up my knife and fork and continue to eat the delicious meal in front of me like all of these truth bombs haven’t been dropped on me. Denial is not just a river in Egypt.
“Well, all of my babies have ocean or nautical themed names,” Mira tells me, taking my change of subject and running with it, which I’m incredibly grateful for. “Caspian is from a sea on Earth, actually, and his clutch brothers are Fisher and Neptune, also both Earth names that I liked.”
“That’s kind of cool. I like the idea of giving our water babies ocean or nautical themed names.” I smile at Cas, and he takes the bait.
“I do too, and I think they should be Earth names as well since that was your home planet for so long and you will be familiar with them.” He gets up, goes over to a side cabinet, and grabs a tablet before returning to the table. Everyone but me has finished eating, so I concentrate on that while he searches for names.
“Why don’t you ask your kraken what sex the babies are? That will help narrow down the search,” Mira suggests, leaning back in her chair and taking a sip of her Fluxxian wine. Unlike Earth wine, which is red, white, or rosé, theirs is a pale blue. It’s pretty and delicious, since I was allowed to have one last glass before I’m not allowed to while the babies are growing.
I take a deep breath and close my eyes. I actually haven’t tried having a conversation with her before. She’s always been quite free with her input without me having to ask—overly free really.Hey there, would you like to share what our babies are so we can go shopping and pick names?
I feel her enthusiasm and smugness that she knows more about all of this than me. It’s so fucking weird having another consciousness inside my head. I don’t even want to think about or acknowledge the other one that briefly made itself known back on Iceen.
She projects the knowledge into my brain, and I inhale sharply as it all becomes just a little bit more real. Holy shit. I’m having babies, and I know what they are.
“Well?” It’s Murphy who can’t stand the suspense any longer, and when I open my eyes, they are all looking at me expectantly.
“According to her, we’re having two girls and a boy.” I put down my fork, losing interest in my food, and my hand slides down to cup my tiny belly bump with awe.
“How wonderful for you. My first clutch was all girls. Murphy had to wait for the second lot before he got a son.”
“Wow.” Cas is teary-eyed at the announcement, and the big smile on his face is joyous.
“Yeah, this just became a lot more real, didn’t it?” My stomach rolls with emotions, both good and bad—nerves and excitement mostly—and I pray my dinner doesn’t make another appearance.
“It sure did, but what about Cordelia for one of the girls? It means heart, daughter of the sea,” he suggests, pointing at the screen in front of him.
“Oh! I love it. It’s beautiful and perfect, which is what I’m sure our babies will be.” I shuffle my chair over so I can lean over the tablet with him. I’m reading through the names, but he places a hand in front of the screen, blocking my view, and I look up at him in question.
“Should we be waiting and involving the others in this decision? It feels like they should be.”
Just when I didn’t think I could love him any more, he goes and does something so kind and thoughtful. “Aww, you are such a freaking sweetie I could just eat you all up,” I coo, grabbing his face and kissing him hard.
“Just wait, because in a moment, you’re going to be doing exactly that,” he whispers in my ear before I can pull away. My kraken floods my body with fuck me vibes. She had been reserved since we got off the shuttle and met his parents, but she’s done waiting, and so am I.
“Okay then. I think we will wait and involve my other mates with our decision on the rest of the names,” I announce, standing up. “Thank you for dinner, Mira, it was delicious. If you don’t mind, we’re very tired from our trip, so I think we’ll be heading to bed early.” I tug Caspian to his feet.
I can tell by the amused look Caspian’s parents exchange that they don’t believe me at all, but they are polite enough not to say anything. “Of course, sleep well, and Cas, you know how to call us if you need anything, but the pod is fully stocked,” Mira says, and her son quickly agrees.