“Dallas, wake up.” I shook his shoulder as he blinked his eyes and stared at me groggily.

“What’s wrong, hon? Was I snoring again?” His eyes drifted shut as he snuggled back against his pillow.

I gave his shoulder another shake. “My water broke, doofus.”

His eyes shot open. “Did you seriously just call me doofus at the same time that you’re telling me that our daughter is about to make her grand appearance?”

I rolled my eyes. My contractions were coming at me faster and harder than Dallas had in the shower earlier. Right now was so not the time for him to be cute. I struggled to get up from the bed. Dallas was up and around to my side, holding his hands out to assist me before I managed to get both feet on the floor.

I huffed out a breath. “Fine, if there was ever a time for you to fuss over me, it’s probably now.”

He reached over and turned on the bedside lamp. “Tell me what you need, hon. Besides a ride to the hospital, I mean.”

“First of all, I need for you to quit being so fucking adorable. I’m in too much pain to enjoy it. After that, I’d love it if you’d help me into a pair of sweats and a shirt so we can go outside of the house without getting hit with a ticket for public nudity. Oh, and probably a towel for the seat of the car before we leave.”

Dallas raised a brow as he turned to grab clothes from my drawer. “So let me get this straight,” he said as he came back over and began helping me step into the pants, “I’m not allowed to be cute, but you are?”

“Duh. I’m the one in labor, remember? The general rule is that the person in labor gets to call the shots.”

By the time I was dressed, the contractions were coming even harder. I gripped my gut while Dallas quickly pulled some clothes on and grabbed his keys, wallet, and phone. He shoved everything into his pockets and helped me up from the bed.

The roads were empty at three o’clock in the morning, but by the time we made it to the hospital, my contractions were about a minute apart. I winced as Dallas skidded to a stop in front of the emergency room entrance.

“I guess I cut it a little close, huh? Maybe those Braxton-Hicks contractions weren’t so fake after all? I thought they felt the same, just a little stronger than usual.”

Dallas rolled his eyes. “I reserve the right to throw this back at you later. But for now, hold that thought so I can get a nurse before you have our daughter right here in the car.”

He jumped out of the car and ran straight into the hospital. Luckily the automatic doors opened fast enough that he didn’t hurt himself. Dallas came rushing back a few seconds later, with a nurse right behind him with a wheelchair.

While she pushed me into the hospital, Dallas went to park the car. I saw a pair of cops watching as the nurse took me right past the reception desk. She called out to one of her coworkers.

“This guy’s in labor, I’m taking him back to room three. Could you point his husband back that way when he gets in here?”

I didn’t pay any attention to the other nurse, I was too busy watching as one of the cops—a guy that I’d seen hanging around with Fred back when we were together—pulled out his phone and began texting someone.

Please, God, no. Not right now.

I forgot all about that cop and Fred when they got me back into the exam room and into a gown. The nurse took one look at me, and rushed out to page Dr. Hunt.

Dallas walked in while she was off doing that. “Did I miss anything?”

“Not yet, but you almost did. She’s paging Dr. Hunt; apparently I really am about to pop.”

He ran a hand over my belly, teasing my protruding navel as he grinned. “I told you when this turkey thermometer poked out a few weeks ago that the baby was done cooking.”

I hissed through my teeth as another contraction washed over me. “What the hell did I say about being cute tonight?”

He booped my nose. “I don’t know, I was too busy noticing how adorable you are.”

I grabbed his shirt and jerked him toward me. “If you fucking poke my nose again, I’m not going to be responsible for my actions. If you want to live to meet our daughter, I’d suggest texting your brothers and letting them know that I’m in labor. I don’t think it’s safe for you to be here right now, so you should probably step outside to do that.”

Dallas grinned, completely unafraid of my wrath. He bent and kissed my forehead, then carefully stepped out of reach as he pulled his phone out and began tapping on the screen.

“There’s no way in hell that I’m leaving you at a time like this, but texting my brothers is an awesome plan. Beau and the guys will need time to get a sitter over to their place anyway.”

The nurse came bustling back in. “Good news,” she chirped. “Dr. Hunt is already on the premises. He had another patient go into labor before you arrived. He’ll be along any minute now.”

I started to answer her, but instead of words, a loud sound that could only be described as the mating call of a wildebeest came bellowing out of my throat as I gripped the handrails on the bed and fought through the worst contraction yet.

Dr. Hunt came in right then, his eyes widening as he quickly pulled on a pair of rubber gloves and took a seat on the rolling stool at the foot of my bed. “Nurse,” he said sternly. “You didn’t tell me that my patient was in active labor. It’s a damned good thing that I poked my head in to say hello. I thought we probably had another couple hours, at least.”

Whatever she had to say in response was lost when I began to scream again, bearing down with all my might as my body almost involuntarily gave in to the overwhelming urge to push. Dallas’ jaw dropped open when our daughter practically shot between my legs into Dr. Hunt’s waiting hands.

The nurse shook her head. “I’ve heard of these kinds of deliveries, but I never thought I’d actually see one.” The doctor passed her the baby and also shook his head as he turned his attention to my body.

He glanced up at Dallas and me with a grin while the nurse laid our baby on my chest. “The nurse will help you cut the cord in a moment, Dallas. I’ve got to tell you, I envy you this easy birth you had, Kyle. Not one of my three kids came this quickly. My shortest labor was seventeen hours, and that was with medicine. You did this naturally without a problem.”

Dr. Hunt kept up the conversation as I stared in wonder at our precious little girl while the nurse helped Dallas cut her cord. Once the umbilical cord was clamped off, the nurse gathered her up and took her to be cleaned, weighed, and measured. My head was spinning by how quickly everything had happened. An hour ago I’d been asleep in bed, and now I was the father of a living, breathing child.

“I’ll make sure the nurse gets a cheek swab so the lab can rush the paternity test,” Dr. Hunt said as he stood and removed his gloves once I was completely cleaned up and everything had been removed.

A new nurse was bustling around, covering me with a blanket and giving me a cup of ice water while Dr. Hunt went over what we could expect with the paternity test.

I wasn’t really paying very close attention, but I didn’t miss it when he said that we’d have to wait for seventy-two hours to get the results. Before I had a chance to get myself worked up about having to wait that much longer, Dallas’ brothers started pouring into the room while Dr. Hunt politely excused himself.

Houston had the cutest little baby bump now. He stood there rubbing his belly as he looked around the room with a pout. “I was promised a baby. Why don’t I have a baby in my arms right now?”

“Because it’s not done cooking yet,” Gideon teased with a light giggle. When the nurse brought our little girl back in, the guys all crowded around the bed as I cradled her in my arms and admired her dew-kissed skin and rosebud lips.

“What are you naming her? We already used Annie and you don’t have that many choices with San Antonio,” Lukas asked, his brows drawn together as he tried to work out the puzzle.

Dallas and I shared a private smile before he broke the news to his brothers that we weren’t keeping their family tradition. “Kyle and I have decided to start our own traditions. And our first one is that we don’t want to be constrained in our name choices. For that reason, we’ve decided to go rogue. Gentlemen, allow us to introduce you to Samantha Christine Logan. Or, as we plan to call her, Sammy.”

Austin was the first to shove everyone out of the way to get close enough that he could kiss her forehead. “Hello, Miss Sammy. Welcome to this crazy family.”

“What about you, Houston?” Gideon asked curiously. “Are you going to break tradition too? Or are you already thinking of names that can be taken from San Antonio?”

Houston smiled wickedly. “Who says that my baby was made in San Antonio? For the record, if I decide to stick with our parents’ tradition of naming kids after the city of conception, mine will have to be named after San Gabriel.”

“Oh, that’s good. You can go with Gabriel, Gabe, Gabrielle, Gabriella, I mean, you really have a lot of options with that one,” Austin said thoughtfully while Beau narrowed his eyes.

“Did you say San Gabriel? Why does that sound familiar? I’ll have to think on it, but I could almost swear that someone else I know was in that town not too long ago.”

While Beau puzzled over that, Houston rolled his eyes and shot me an apologetic smile. “Forgive my oafish brothers for making Sammy’s grand appearance all about me. Normally, I’d be on board with that, but tonight is all about you and Sammy.”

I was laughing at Houston when someone knocked loudly on the doorjamb. We all looked up to see Fred come swaggering into the room with a sleepy-looking Henri at his side.

“I heard you dropped the baby tonight. I came to see if it’s mine. If so, it’s coming home with me.”

“That does it,” Dallas said calmly. “Beau, could you help me show our uninvited guests out of here, please? Fred, unless we find out otherwise, you’re not welcome near this child. At any rate, we won’t know for seventy-two hours. Don’t bother calling us, we’ll call you the moment we know.”

Beau pulled a wicked-looking bowie knife from some pocket or other. My eyes widened as he wiped a finger along the blade, his eyes never leaving Fred as he calmly stepped forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with Dallas.

“Nah, you don’t want to make him wait for a phone call, little brother,” Beau said in a deceptively friendly voice. “I’d be happy to come deliver the news personally.”

Fred’s eyes narrowed. “You can’t threaten me, I’m a cop. I can have you arrested for that.”

Dallas finally reached the end of his rope. “I don’t give a fuck what you do for a living. You’re not wearing a badge right now, motherfucker.” He grabbed Fred by the lapel of his jacket and propelled him toward the door. “Get the hell away from my family, and don’t come back unless you’ve heard from us or our attorney once the paternity results are in.”

Fred roared. “Thank you for having the balls to touch me, you animal. Now I can have you for assault.”

“Try it,” Dallas said calmly. “There’s a lot more witnesses present this time than your silly little boyfriend here. Now let me tell you how this is going to play out. While I’ll never lay a hand on you for Kyle’s peace of mind, I have no problems letting my twin do it for me. If you fuck with me or my family again, my brother will take care of you and there’ll be no evidence or witnesses that could convict him. I’m not making an idle threat, this is a promise. Feel free to check my brother out, he’s former special forces and a decorated war hero. Good luck trying to pin anything on him.”

Fred jerked away from Dallas’ grip. “Come on, Henri. We’ll check out the brat another time.” He tried to look around Dallas to catch my eye but both of the twins blocked the doorway. He settled for calling out in a loud voice, “I’ll be back, Kyle. Mark my words.”

Once he was gone, Lukas and Gideon rushed over to comfort me while Houston took his opportunity to snatch Sammy up for a cuddle. Austin shook his head. “Did that stupid little shit seriously try to quote the Terminator? I mean really, he could’ve at least tried to fake a decent Austrian accent.”

Dallas bent around Lukas to kiss my cheek. “I’m sorry if Beau and I made you uncomfortable.” Beau stood beside him, watching me nervously as if he were afraid that I’d start crying or something. Surprisingly, I started doing that silly giggle thing again. When I started giggling, Gideon and Houston giggled right along with me while Lukas rolled his eyes and then began chuckling.

Beau and Dallas exchanged a worried glance, but I held up a hand and shook my head. “I’m not crazy, and that didn’t push me over any edge, if that’s what you’re thinking. I’m laughing because the threat of violence from you guys didn’t scare me at all like it always did when Fred so much as raised his voice to me. I mean, Beau was standing there wiping his finger along the blade of a wicked-looking knife, and I didn’t feel even slightly nervous.”

Gideon snuggled close against me. “That’s because you know that Beau and Dallas are good people. Fred is just a little prick who tries to bully people so he doesn’t feel quite so small.”

Lukas snorted. “No, that’s not entirely right about Fred. It’s not that he is a little prick, I’m pretty sure the problem is that he has a little prick. That bastard has small man syndrome written all over him.”

I walked into the living room where Dallas was feeding Sammy a bottle. I held my phone up to my mouth like a microphone and smiled triumphantly as Dallas looked up at me curiously.

Using my best Maury Povich voice, I talked into the top of my phone. “Dallas Logan, your results are in. Are you ready?” Dallas nodded his head up and down so fast that it reminded me of a bobblehead sitting on top of a washer during spin cycle. “Dallas Logan, you ARE the father.”

Dallas bent to kiss Sammy’s forehead as a lone tear slipped down his cheek. “I already knew that I was her daddy, and I had no doubts that Sammy was my daughter, but it’s nice to have the scientific proof so that Fred can fuck off forever.”

“You know what,” I said as I frowned thoughtfully. “We really need to quit cussing around her. Sure, she’s too young to understand language yet. But if we start now, maybe we’ll have it in hand before she’s old enough to start copying everything we say.”

“Good point.” Dallas laughed. “So, should we let Beau go deliver the good news to Fred? It really would make his day, you know.” Before I could answer, someone knocked on the door. Dallas pulled out his phone, probably just to share the good news with his brothers, while I answered the knock.

A pair of police officers stood there. One of them was a ginger-haired alpha that could only be related to the judge and Henri. When he saw the recognition in my eyes, the officer nodded with a smirk. “My father told me that he’d met you. The one bad thing about super-close family resemblances is that even in a city the size of this one, people who’ve met your family immediately know who you are.”

I laughed politely, but my mind was trying to figure out why this guy was knocking at my door. He shook his head. “I’m sorry, I handled that all wrong. Let me start again. I’m Officer Laurence Peltier. My partner and I are looking for one Frederick Scott, but I believe you know him as Fred. There is an APB out for his arrest, and we have reason to believe that you might have a way to get in touch with him.”

Dallas appeared at my shoulder, Sammy tucked into the curve of his arm as he looked at the officers with surprise. “What’s this about, if I may ask? My husband and I don’t know how to get a hold of Fred if he’s not at his home or answering his phone. And trust me, we aren’t exactly trying to invite him over for dinner.”

Laurence sobered quickly. “My brother is in the hospital. He was beaten badly last night and has named Fred as his attacker. My father made sure that the chief swore out a warrant for his arrest. My brother had to have his jaw wired shut, and his legs are both broken along with a couple ribs and his left arm. And he can’t even rest too well, because he also has a concussion. Fred fucked my brother up, pardon the language.”

I shook my head sadly. “I tried to tell Henri that he wasn’t safe with him. If Fred was able to hurt me, I can only imagine how terrifying that must’ve been for your brother. He’s such a small little thing, I can’t even imagine. Please tell Henri that he will be in my prayers. And if I see Fred, I’ll be certain to call the police.”

He held out a card. “If you wouldn’t mind, call this number first if he shows up here. I’d really love to be the arresting officer in this case.”

“I understand that completely. I can do that.” I nodded my agreement and closed the door as they turned to leave. Dallas pulled me into a hug, carefully cradling Sammy as he embraced me.

“You and that soft heart of yours,” he said affectionately as he kissed my cheek. “Henri was nothing but rude and hateful to you, but you really will be thinking of him and mentioning him in your prayers, won’t you?”

“Of course.” I shrugged. “It doesn’t cost me anything to be kind. Just because other people are assholes, doesn’t give me the right to be one too.”

We both startled as someone knocked loudly on the door and then pushed it open. I brought a hand to my heart and took a deep breath while my pulse settled after all of Dallas’ family finished filing into our house.

Dallas shook his head. “What, you fuckers don’t know how to wait for somebody to answer the door? What if we’d been screwing or something?”

Lukas snorted. “Then you would have been in the record books, considering the fact that your husband just gave birth three days ago. You’ll be lucky if he’s ready to look at you in a month, let alone this soon.”

I quickly changed the subject, not caring to continue with this one. I turned to Gideon. “Have the kids eaten? I have cubed cheese and seedless grapes in the kitchen if they’re hungry. There’s also some new puzzles and games in there on the table that I bought for the next time they came over.”

Houston started to shake his head, but Annie clapped her hands. “Yes, yes, yes!”

Dallas chuckled at his niece. “At least she’s not saying—“

Beau stopped him mid-sentence as he clamped a hand over his twin’s mouth. “Don’t you dare say that word. I swear, I will cut a bitch for that one.”

Sandy and Tony started spinning in circles and chanting. “Bit, bit, bit.”

“Oh, no, you did not just do that.” Lukas put his hands on his hips and glared at Beau. “You’re lucky that they can’t pronounce it properly, or I would be the one cutting a bit right about now.”

Beau’s eyes danced merrily and he was obviously trying not to laugh. Houston and Gideon scooped the boys up while Austin grabbed Annie. Gideon grinned over his shoulder as they headed for the kitchen. “I’m just going to remove the babies from any violence. You guys might want to get Sammy out of harm’s way, as well.”

Lukas forgot his irritation with Beau as he spun around to snatch Sammy from Dallas. “I forgot about my little princess.” He playfully stuck out his tongue at Beau. “I’m just going to cuddle this precious little angel and forget all about big, dumb alphas who don’t know how to watch their language around babies.”

There was another knock at the door, and I was still laughing at Lukas when I swung it open to find Fred standing there. He was in full uniform, his thumbs tucked into his duty belt as he drew himself up to his full height and tried to look scary.

He glanced around me into our house. “Who’s that guy holding my kid? I’m here to take custody.”

Screw this, I was done. I shook my head and pointed toward the road. “She’s not yours. We got the lab results this morning; you’re welcome to contact my attorney, Meredith Whitehall, if you don’t believe me. Now that you know, you’re welcome to get the fuck off my property.”

Fred tried to push past me. “I don’t believe you. Let me hold her, I’ll know the minute I look at her if she is mine.”

Something unleashed inside me when he tried to enter my home to get his hands on my child. Before I realized I was doing it, my fist shot out and connected with his nose. There was an audible crunch before Fred jerked back and held both palms to his nose while I shook my hand. Dallas and Beau scooted around me and moved out onto the porch while Lukas tucked Sammy into her swing and came over to take a look at my hand.

“They never tell you how bad it hurts to punch someone. It’s just not something that you can really tell someone until they experience it for themselves. Oh, well. Just ice it later and you’ll be fine. And don’t you dare feel bad for doing it, either. The fucker had it coming.”

I started to tell him that I didn’t feel bad at all; it had felt kinda good, if I was being completely honest. Before I could say anything, though, I noticed movement out of the corner of my eye. I turned to see Dallas and Fred fighting on the front lawn while Beau seemed to be overseeing everything.

Dallas turned his back for a second to say something to Beau and I saw Fred slip something out of his pocket. I was down the steps and out on the lawn when the sun glanced off a sharp blade that was headed straight for Dallas’ kidney. I stopped him before he could make contact with a roundhouse kick that I’d learned from Ethan in his taekwondo class.

Fred flew back a few feet before landing in a crumpled pile right in the middle of the yard. Beau walked over and bent from the waist as he examined him with that same slow-spreading grin that Dallas always gave. He looked over at me and shook his head.

“Respect, Kyle. Nothing but respect for you, man. You knocked that fucker out cold and he’s still got the switchblade clutched in his fist, which proves that this was self-defense.”

Lukas came sauntering over. He walked around Fred in a wide circle before giving him a good, swift kick in the nuts. When Fred still didn’t wake up, he nodded with satisfaction.

“Beau is right, I’ve got nothing but respect for you, Kyle. We need to get you into the ring, because that was a TKO if I ever saw one.”

He started to walk back into the house, then stopped and looked back at me with a grin. “By the way, I totally called it with the whole little prick thing, not that I’m telling you anything that you wouldn’t already know. But damn, I kicked him hard and I swear that I felt nothing but fabric and air down there.”

Beau and Dallas were laughing while I walked over and unhooked Fred’s cuffs from his belt. I tossed them to Beau. “Do me a favor and cuff him please, I need to take care of something real quick. Dallas, would you mind grabbing Laurence’s card? It’s just inside the front door on the table where we keep our keys.”

While the guys did as I asked, I walked over to the side of the house and turned on the sprinklers. I wondered if I should have warned Beau, but he was already standing on the front porch when I came back around. Dallas came walking outside with the phone to his ear when the sprinklers came on full blast and began raining cold water down onto Fred.

Dallas quirked a brow. “Creative. Do I want to know?”

I shrugged. “Let’s just say that I’m repaying an old debt. As they say, what goes around comes around. I thought maybe he might like to know what it feels like to be on the receiving end of this type of thing.”

Dallas passed Beau the phone and asked him to give Officer Peltier the information that we had Fred in custody when he answered. While Beau turned to talk as somebody apparently came on the other end, Dallas pulled me into a hug.

“I hate to think of him doing shit like that to you, but I hope you know that you’ll never have to deal with anything like that again. You’re mine now, and I’m never letting you go.”

I gripped Dallas’ face in my palms and pulled his head forward to kiss the top of it. The short stubble scratched my lips. He’d shaved it yesterday, and I’d been having a hard time keeping my hands off it.

“Back atcha, babe. I’m going inside now to cuddle our daughter. Could you make sure that the trash gets collected by the cops?” Beau handed Dallas his phone back. “Both of you go ahead, I’ll keep an eye on the human garbage over there. He ain’t going anywhere, trust me.”