Chapter Twenty-Five
Seth struggled to divide his time between his pack and his mate. The pregnancy made Dara sick and oddly insecure. More than once he found Dara standing in their bedroom, staring into the mirror. The omega would turn away when Seth walked in, avoiding eye contact.
The third time Seth found him at the mirror, he didn’t give the omega a chance to turn, moving to stand right behind him.
“What are we looking at, beautiful?” he asked.
“I’m getting fat,” Dara said critically, stretching his T-shirt tight over his stomach.
Seth wrapped his arms around him, resting his palms against the growing bump.
“You’re beautiful. Growing our babies. They’re going to be strong and brave, just like you.”
Dara shrugged, making a non-committal sound in his throat.
“Which part don’t you believe?” Seth said, feeling like there was something deeper wrong. Zane had hurt Dara, a wound that maybe had been papered over and never truly healed. “The part where you’re beautiful? The part where you’re strong? The part where you’re brave?”
“I’m a coward.”
The three words were whispered, Dara’s gaze on the floor.
“How’s that?” Seth wondered. “I don’t know what cheap ass brand of logic you’ve been buying into because that sounds like crazy talk to me.”
“I- Zane-”
“No,” Seth insisted gently. “What happened with Zane doesn’t make you a coward.”
“I was so scared.”
“And even so, you did what you had to do to keep you and your brother safe. That’s the definition of bravery, not cowardice.”
He turned Dara gently toward the mirror.
“Brave and beautiful. I saw it the moment you lobbed that first bottle of paint at my head.”
Dara flushed and gave him a smile, holding Seth’s gaze through the mirror.
“There is one thing I don’t think we’ve talked about though.”
Dara’s smile faded a little, his gaze wary. “What’s that?”
“Your undiscovered talents as an interior decorator.”
His mate grinned and laughed, leaning back into Seth’s embrace. “Now you’re just being silly. My sense of decor is about as keen as your sense of style.”
“Hey!” Seth exclaimed. “I resent the implication that I’m anything less than a stylish dresser.”
Dara gave him a lazy smile as he lay his head back against Seth’s chest. Seth stroked a hand across his stomach, then his cheek.
“You know what I think would help?”
“What?” Dara asked.
“A visit to Joe to take full advantage of his talents with an ultrasound machine.”
Seth waited for his mother to return before arranging for him and Dara to spend a week in River Den. He felt his mate needed time with his brothers and knew it would do him good to be around Cade and Hunter’s kids. He also wanted them to have a few talks with Joe and Doctor Jensen about what to expect. His pack hadn’t had a litter in a long time. Even if Dara’s predictions about it being a small litter came true, it was still new ground for them.
There was a small group waiting for them at the den. Seth got out of the car and went around to help Dara, taking Skye from him while Dara climbed out of the car, before handing him back over to he could grab their bags. A moment later, they were surrounded, Max hugging Dara, Hunter clapping Seth on the shoulder, and Ollie swooping Skye into his arms.
“I can’t believe how much he’s grown!”
It felt good to be back. Their home from home.
Cade and Ollie took Dara aside, leaving Seth with Skye, chilling with Hunter and Max.
“So, what’s it like being alpha?” Max asked.
“It’s… challenging.” A challenge he hadn’t expected to face at his age. Yet facing it he was.
“I can’t blame you for wanting to get away from it all,” Hunter said.
Seth shrugged. “We’re not here for me. Dara needed some time with his brothers.”
“He finding the pregnancy tough?” Max asked.
Skye began to fuss and Seth rocked him back and forth.
“I guess he didn’t have the most pleasant pregnancy with Skye, thanks to Zane, and it’s brought some stuff to the surface. Not surprising since it’s only been months since everything happened. We’re working through it, but I thought he could do with some family time.”
“We’re here to help, whatever you need,” Hunter said and Max nodded in agreement.
“Whatever I need? What I need are some pointers on how to manage another handful of these,” he said, juggling Skye from one arm to the other as the baby gurgled happily.
Hunter grinned. “One day at a time and grabbing some zzz’s where you can. There’s not a lot else you can do.”
Seth sighed. “I was afraid you were going to say that. No simple answer to make all this easier? Like a magic nanny who waves her wand over their cribs so they fall asleep?”
“Nope,” Hunter said. “Just good old-fashioned parenting.”
Seth groaned.
Joe had everything ready for them that afternoon.
“Okay,” he said, “an important question before I start. Do you want to know the sexes? I’ve been practicing but it’s not an exact science.”
Seth gave Dara an encouraging nod. Whatever his mate wanted, he’d be happy with.
Dara squeezed his hand. “We’d like to know. It’ll give Seth’s mom a head start on the knitting.”
“Okay, here we go. I’m going to do a quick sweep, just to count them, then we’ll go back and do the detailed scan.”
Seth held tight to Dara’s hand as Joe did the scan. The black and white images on the screen didn’t mean much to him but they seemed to mean a whole lot to Joe, who hummed and hawed as he worked.
“There’s one. See, that’s that head.”
“Oh, look at his little nose!” Dara exclaimed excitedly.
“Is that my nose or yours?” Seth wondered.
“I think he looks a little like Ollie.”
“There’s the second baby,” Joe said, moving closer to Dara’s bellybutton. “Kicking up a storm.”
“I can feel that,” Dara said. “Like little flutters.”
“And here’s your quiet one,” Joe said. “All curled up.”
“Probably hiding in the corner with a good book,” Seth joked softly.
Joe continued to push the probe around for another few minutes. “And… I think that’s your lot. I’ve checked all the corners. There’s no one hiding, that I can see anyway.”
“Three, huh? That’s a good number. Lucky,” Seth said. “And much less scary than five.”
Dara smiled brightly. “Triplets. I’ve always wanted triplets.”
“They’ll be almost quadruplets considering how close in age they’ll be to Skye,” Seth said. He reached over, taking Dara’s hands in his. “Four kids, four hands. We’ll be just fine.”
Joe laughed. “I bet there’s many a day where Hunter and Cade wished they could grow a few extra hands to manage their lot. Seth is right though, Dara. You will be fine. First few months are the hardest.”
Joe went back and did a longer scan on each baby. “Quiet baby is a little shy, we’ll have to wait for him or her to move to get a good look. Kicking baby is a boy, I could tell on the first scan. Baby one is… also a boy. Do you want to go walk around for a few minutes and see if that shifts the quiet one into a better position?”
Seth helped Dara to his feet and they did a few slow laps around the clinic.
“You know, it might be unfair to nickname him the quiet baby. What if he’s really loud when he’s born? Like supersonic. He might feel he has to be quiet to fit our expectations.”
“Does that mean we can’t call the second one our future football player?”
Seth nodded sagely, trying to smother his grin. “Yep, the pressure of those expectations can crush an unborn child’s confidence.”
“We could just go with baby one, two, and three,” Dara suggested.
“Would you want to be known by a number?” Seth challenged.
“No, I guess not. Baby A, B, and C?”
“Still seems a little clinical.”
“What about… we could just name them now. I mean, once we find out if the quiet one is a boy or girl, we’ll have no reason not to give them proper names.”
Seth thought that was a great idea. It would help Dara bond with the babies, which was something he worried about with his mate being so anxious.
“I think that’s exactly what we should do. We can borrow that baby name book Ollie got for Hunter and Cade.”
They returned, both in good spirits, and let Joe continue his scan. “He’s turned around a little for us. Such a good baby,” the beta praised warmly. “And… another boy. Congratulations, guys.”
Seth helped Dara back up. They thanked Joe then headed back to Ollie’s place.
“They’ll probably still be a mix of alpha, beta, and omega,” Dara said. “You won’t mind, will you?”
Seth tugged him close, kissing his cheek. “I’d love another you. And another Joe. We might be pushing it expecting another me though. That level of balanced perfection is hard to get right.”
Laughing, Dara shoved him backward, following him and pushing close to press a kiss to Seth’s lips. Seth cupped the back of Dara’s head to deepen the kiss, feeling Dara sigh needily against him.
He broke the kiss, taking Dara by the hand. “Come on. Let’s borrow that baby name book and convince Ollie we need a few hours alone.”
“To choose names?” Dara asked, pretending wide-eyed innocence.
Seth tugged him closer, kissing down Dara’s neck, the omega moaning against him.
“Among other things,” he murmured.