Epilogue
Eight Months Later…
The arena was packed to the gills, the excitement of the crowd infectious. The match about to begin was a special exhibition match, scheduled by the League during the off-season to improve the public’s perception of the sport. The League had scrambled to manage the fallout after the doping scandal that had been uncovered following the disastrous match Simina had interrupted.
Once Simina recovered from the attack, she’d taken her research to the League Council, providing evidence of the true nature of the poisonings. After a week of mandatory testing, all the offending teams had been sanctioned and removed, some stripped of their trophies and fined exorbitant amounts. The unfortunate few former champions whose use of the drug had resulted in their opponents’ loss of ability to compete were imprisoned.
Fans became disillusioned during the very public media storm and lost trust in the sport, and in the heroes they’d followed for years. Hopefully this match would help improve worldwide opinions and restore the adulation that made the careers of League champions so rewarding.
Simina had the Hot Wings duo to thank for the idea. They’d suggested using their own fame to help bolster public opinion, and her own mates had eagerly signed off on it. “Any chance to prove we’re truly the top in our bracket,” Cato had said with a glint in his eye. Of course he’d want a rematch after losing to Hot Wings the year before.
Now Simina sat in the comfortable arena-side section reserved for families of the teams, with a very pregnant Pomona in the seat beside her. Their friends Nessa and Gaius were in the next section over, wrangling a pair of squirming twin toddlers into their own seats.
“This should be good,” Pomona said, settling in. “After last year, I imagine your boys are ready to prove themselves. Bry and Ig won’t make it any easier on them, you know.”
“Oh, I’m sure they don’t want anything made easy,” Simina said. “They’re dead set on proving they’re the best. If they can’t beat a duo, they’ll be impossible to live with.” She leaned back in her seat, rubbing her hands gently over her own protruding belly, gratified by the tiny kick she received from the current resident.
She and Pomona were both fully aware that they were props in the promotional stunt. Five popular champions with only two very pregnant mates between them were a curiosity. Hot Wings and their beautiful mate were already Aurora’s sweethearts after the duo’s public announcement of their mating over a year earlier.
Making Simina’s relationship with the trio public for the first time was designed to engender even more goodwill toward the League in general. Everybody loved to hear when celebrities who were virtual royalty had babies, and the occurrence was rare enough in the League world since champions tended to remain single for their entire careers.
The arena vibrated when the teams were announced. First, the defending champions of the exhibition match came to the center. Ignazio and Bryer waved to the crowd, turning and grinning to the cameras that floated around their heads. Their images were blasted larger than life on the huge screen at the far end of the arena. Beside her, Pomona sighed, her big smile making her already glowing features positively luminous.
The pretty chef winced imperceptibly and pressed her hand tighter to her belly. “Ooh. Baby dragon’s getting excited about his papas fighting today. Guess we ought to stand up, huh?”
Simina pushed herself out of her seat and reached down to help the more pregnant human woman stand. Pomona let out a slow breath and nodded her thanks. “I don’t know about you, but I am so ready for this baby to come out.”
“I’m definitely ready to meet my daughter, too,” Simina agreed, patting her own belly. “So are her fathers.”
They both redirected their attention to the arena in time to see their own faces on the giant screen, the announcers giving a brief summary of their relationship to today’s combatants to the sound of enthusiastic cheers. Then the spotlights and cameras shifted to the other side of the arena and Simina’s heart skipped a beat as her three mates appeared.
“Triple Talons, the up and coming trio of young champions has returned for a rematch!” the announcer was saying. “Wearing the colors of the late, great Ebon Claw, rumor has it that they have tapped into some of the Claw’s own arena magic. Today is their chance to prove they have what it takes to fight with the big boys!”
She’d never had the honor of viewing a match from this spot, despite being in a committed relationship with a highly revered champion. It had never bothered her that she had watched Talon’s matches from a less privileged vantage. She knew what she meant to him, and didn’t require a status symbol to prove it. But now that she was here, with their marks etched into her skin and their offspring in her womb, she realized exactly what she’d missed.
They waved at the camera and blew kisses from the big screen. It was only when she aimed her gaze directly at them rather than the screen that she realized all three were looking only at her. She lifted her fingers to her lips and blew a kiss right back, grinning at them, then mouthed the words “good luck.”
All three shifted focus as a unit, their gazes hardening as their attention moved to their opponents. Then they squared off in formation, with Dez and Cato facing Ignazio and Bryer directly, and Veryl’s bigger, bulkier, defender frame standing centered behind his teammates.
The very second the referee’s screeching falcon cry sounded, they were on each other. Battle cries resonated through the arena, wings manifested, talons came out, and the crowd went wild.
Simina’s breath caught in her throat watching the precision of movements of both teams. It was as though they’d choreographed some elaborate dance performed to the rhythm of her heartbeat and the rumble of the fans who began chanting for their favorite team.
She’d missed the adrenaline rush of being this close to such perfectly trained fighting machines. There was a reason Talon had commissioned a sturdy bed be built for their bedroom. The nights after a match were beyond compare. Her dragon roared her elation, and Simina’s core heated at the prospect of the evening she had in store after her mates won this match.
Because within moments the tables turned, and it was clear from the sheer effort the Hot Wings duo was making to keep up with the trio that it wouldn’t be much longer.
“Oh, shit,” Pomona blurted.
“I know. They’re kicking ass,” Simina said, unable to tear her eyes off the escalating conflict. Every attempt the Hot Wings duo made to break through Triple Talons’ defenses was deftly deflected, either by agility or sheer force. Her mates had yet to go completely on the offensive, but they were ready, and through her link to them, she knew they weren’t going to hold back.
“No, I don’t mean them! Simina … Doctor Taji … Oh!”
The panic in Pomona’s voice took a second to register. Simina shot a startled look at the other woman. Pomona’s cheeks were flushed, her eyes wide, and both hands were pressed tight to her belly.
“You’re in labor! Oh shit, honey, why didn’t you say something?”
“Couldn’t … catch a … breath …” Pomona groaned and pushed back into her seat. At the same moment, a wash of fluid flooded down her legs.
Simina lost track of the match as she shifted her focus completely on her friend’s distress. Retrieving her handheld medical scanner from her bag, she did a quick overview of Pomona’s condition. Nothing to worry about—shifters and humans had been mating for generations already, and this delivery appeared to be just like any other, aside from the unconventional location. But babies didn’t exactly allow for predictability sometimes. When they were ready, they were ready.
“Your wish is about to come true, Pomona,” she said, smiling up at the woman. She quickly keyed in a message to the League Institute to send a medical transport, then helped Pomona down to the carpeted area in front of their seats. With her jacket bundled under the woman’s head, she moved to Pomona’s feet and readied her to deliver her baby.
The noises of the crowd drowned out the laboring woman’s cries, but it wasn’t enough to hide her distress from her mates. Simina wasn’t quite sure what had transpired in the arena, but when Bryer and Ignazio rushed over to their mate’s side, she didn’t have time to ask. Their son was coming, and he wasn’t going to wait for them to finish fighting.
Pomona’s contractions eased just long enough for her to smile up at the two men who had positioned themselves on their knees at her shoulders. They propped her up and grabbed her hands, holding tight when the next wave hit.
“Time to push, honey,” Simina said.
Everything else happened in a blur, Simina’s training taking over as she gave commands to the mother and the people around her. She was peripherally aware of Nessa swooping in with baby blankets at the ready, and Javin joining her mates in making sure the crowd kept back. The cameras hovered overhead so the crowd was appeased being able to watch the whole event unfold on the huge screens.
Finally the baby slipped free of his mother’s womb, letting out a ferocious cry as his tiny lungs took their first big breath. Simina gathered him into a blanket and cleaned him up, then delicately placed him on his mother’s chest. Pomona grinned through her tears, laughing and sobbing at the same time. Bryer and Ignazio were no less emotional, tenderly placing big hands over Pomona’s on the little boy’s back.
Three big bodies hovered near her and Simina’s mates squatted down, marveling at the sight. They rested big hands on her back, their awe and excitement palpable through their link.
Simina smiled broadly at their three friends and said, “Congratulations, it’s a champion!”
THE END