Page 42 of His Unicorn Alpha
So, I suspected Brandt’s suggestion to shift was probably less about science and more about drawing me out of my mood.
It worked.
“You mean Ifinallyget to see a real dragon?” I leapt from the couch and grinned, probably confusing him with my sudden enthusiasm.
He chuckled. “Yes. And I get to meet your horse.”
“That seems a bit anti-climactic next to a fire-breathing dragon,” I replied, then shrugged, “but you do you, sugar.”
“Come on,” he reached for my hand and tugged me towards the front door. “This is long overdue. You are my bondmate, and you deserve to be acquainted with every part of me, and I with you.”
He made valid points, I had to give him that.
Brandt drove us to the clinic and parked in the parking lot in front of the building. “We will walk from here. I need space to shift.”
“Just how big is your dragon?” I asked with awe as I followed him around the cottage which housed his lab.
“Well,” he responded contemplatively, “when I am shifted, my claws are large enough to hold grown humans easily. And I could eat a fully grown human in a single bite, too.”
My eyes widened. “Wow.”
“However,” he continued, “like all shifters, I am completely cognizant of my actions when I am in shifted form. You have no reason to fear me.”
“Aww,” I couldn’t hold back the amused, fond sound. “That’s really sweet, but I’m not going to be afraid of you. You’re my mate. My omega. The only way you’re going to eat me is if you eat my—”
“Whoa, little ears present,” Rex’s southern drawl cut me off with a laugh as we rounded the corner behind the cottage, heading towards the fields at the back of the property. The puma shifter smirked at me as I snapped my mouth shut. “Hi there, boys.” He lifted the toddler on his hip. “Say hi to Uncle Bran, Cam.”
“Ban!” the little guy said, and I watched my mate turn to mush.
Gasping, Brandt reached out to pluck the toddler from Rex’s grasp. “Very good, little one!” he declared, then looked at Rex. “When did he learn my name?”
“Maybe yesterday? The day before? He’s been saying Pa and Da for a while now, but Day’s been tryin’ to get more out of him. You’re his fourth word.” As an aside to me, Rex added, “His third was ‘no’.”
I snorted. I hadn’t known Damon and Rex long, nor had I spent much time with them, but it wasn’t a surprise that their son was learning to be stubborn and argumentative early on.
“Such a clever boy,” Brandt fussed at the kid in his arms. He was beaming at him, and the smile made him look so much younger and lighter. Not that I didn’t think he was super hotwith the brooding smolder, mind you. “Can you say it again? Say Uncle Brandt?”
Cam giggled and nodded. “No!”
Inside me, my alpha radiated warmth and pride as I watched my mate continue to play with the toddler. It took me a long moment to understand that he —thatI— was imagining the omega with our children.
Holy shit, we were going to have this for ourselves before too long.
Only, for us, there would be three of them.
“Ah, I know that feelin’,” Rex patted my shoulder and gave me a knowing smile. “Is reality finally hitting you?”
It was one thing to know that my mate was pregnant, but something entirely different to witness him interacting with a baby. He was glowing with happiness as he continued to chatter with the boy, tickling the kid and making him squeal. It definitely reinforced my belief that I would never have refused him the chance to have kids of his own, but it also made my heart rate increase with mild panic.
Because —and I might not have mentioned this yet— we were havingthreeof them.
Soon.
“You’re okay,” Rex patted my back. “They start off pretty small and helpless, and that makes it easier in a lot of ways.”
“I’m not freaking out,” I lied a little, then I sighed. “I mean, I am, but not because I don’t want this. It’s just…it’s so soon, you know? And what if I’m not as good with kids as he is? Because look at him.” I gestured towards Brandt, who was now laughing as he tossed Cam into the air and caught him again, much to the toddler’s raucous delight. “He’s a natural.”
“He is, yeah,” Rex agreed. “But Beck and Ollie both say you’re awesome with the twins. And, really, it is easier when they’re your own, too. You’re the one setting the boundaries on how tointeract with them, and your instincts kick in and you just know what’s best for them. Or, at least, youwantto do what’s best for them.” He shrugged. “Sometimes it doesn’t always work out.”
