Page 76 of His Unicorn Alpha
And perhaps, if fate really shone down on us, this heat would take, and hope for dragon kind would be on the horizon as well.
Epilogue
“We’reba-ack,” Sage sing-songed as he sauntered into Eric and Brandt’s clinic. He dropped his bag in the doorway and zeroed in on me, plucking Lucia from my arms without asking permission. “Hey, Princess Lucy-Loo,” he cooed at her, beaming as she smiled and rewarded him with a sweet baby giggle, “did you miss your favorite uncle?”
“You’re only saying that because you know Eric can’t hear you in his office,” Day sniggered from his spot at the reception desk. His smile fell as Dexter came through the doorway with Sergio on his heels. With a sigh, he glanced back up at my red-haired brother-in-law. “You couldn’t have lost him in a forest in France?”
“You love me, really,” Dex told him with a sharp smile. “Just admit it.”
“Ugh,” Day pushed his chair back, rising fluidly with Belle still held to his shoulder. She was fast asleep on him, which wasn’t a surprise. He had always been one of her favorite honorary uncles. “I’ll see if Eric and Bran are still busy.”
Rita grizzled from the stroller, and I rocked it forwards and back to see if she’d settle back down. With Carson on a day off, and Brandt back to working full-time in the clinic, I was entertaining the girls (and myself) by bringing them out for a walk. After visiting my mate, we were going to go and annoy Uncle Beck for a little while.
However, with Sage, Dex and Sergio back from their travels through France, I suspected my plans were about to change. Both Eric and Brandt were champing at the bit to know whether the little expedition had been successful. I understood why: if we were able to unbind —or unlock, or reveal, or however you wanted to say it— a potential alpha’s abilities without the need for a fated mate to trigger them, shifter dynamics would change worldwide.
It was scary to think of anyone holding that kind of power, but I didn’t think that the Shifters Sanctuary pack would allow it to corrupt them. If anything, I knew that Beck hoped to attempt exactly what Sergio said the magic wanted — he wanted to restore balance and equality for shifters the world over.
Still, if Shifters Sanctuary did have the ability to reverse what Eric called Hidden Alpha Syndrome, word would eventually get back to the Moonmusic people…and I hated to think about what that might mean for us, considering the group’s past actions.
I didn’t want to think about my girls being in danger because of that. Or my mate.
My once-again pregnant mate.
Eric had confirmed Brandt’s pregnancy only a week earlier, after staring at his brother with bewilderment for a few long moments, and neither one of us was surprised to see the two little bean shapes on the ultrasound screen, even if Eric was still grappling with the concept.
Brandt’s first heat had taken days to break. Days we had spent curled around each other in bed, riding out the wavesof desperate lust until we were too exhausted to move. Instinctively, we had known that it had been a successful mating. The fact that he was pregnant with twins did panic me for a few moments, but I knew we had Carson to help out, and we could always hire another nanny, too.
I couldn’t wait to see the look on Beck’s face when we broke the news to our friends. As far as I knew, he and Ollie were still debating when —if ever— they would have more of their own.
My friend might have a heart attack on my behalf.
“And now I think you can go back to your daddy,” Sage declared out of nowhere, handing Lucia back to me, his nose scrunched. “You might want to take care of that.”
I snorted but bent to rifle through the trusty diaper bag slung over the handles of the stroller. “I thought you wanted kids, too?” I asked him, fishing out the items I needed. I was a pro at doing things one-handed by this stage. “This would be practice for that. I’m assuming by how cheerful you are, your trip was a success. So, who knows? Maybe you’ll be the next to find an alpha and settle down and have a herd of little dragons.”
Dex made a funny strangled sound at the back of his throat, but Sage seemed to ignore him, just shrugging.
“In the unlikely event of that happening, I’ll learn to change a diaper, but that day is not today,” Sage took an exaggerated step out of my orbit. “You go have fun, though.”
I rolled my eyes at him and nudged the stroller towards him. “At least keep her rocking so she stays asleep. I’ll be back.”
Eric’s personal bedroom was down the end of the hall, so I headed in there to take care of my squirming, whimpering daughter. By the time I came out, the door to Eric’s office was open and multiple voices were talking over each other in excitement.
“…testing it?” Eric asked as I entered, bouncing Lucia on my hip.
Day made grabby hands and took her from me, announcing that he would look after all three babies in the reception area because Eric’s little office was crammed with people. Even Beck and Ollie were here, though Ollie followed Day out the door, swiping the stroller from Sage so he could take the other two girls with him.
“We would need volunteers for testing,” Brandt said from where he was leaning against the exam bed. I moved over to his side and he slung his arm around my shoulder. “And we would need to ensure it happens in a controlled environment. Some of the journal entries suggested that the sudden release of one’s alpha abilities brings on an extreme rut-like state. We would not want to risk it occurring where it cannot be contained.”
“Even in rut, though, we have control over ourselves. We don’t just leap on the nearest omega and do the unthinkable,” Beck argued with a frown. “Unless you’re saying that the synthetic pheromones might trigger something like a rabid rut.”
“Synthetic pheromones?” I asked. It hadn’t taken methatlong to change the baby, had it? I mean, okay, I might have played with her tiny little toes and sung a couple of nursery rhymes to her, but…had I really missed that much of the conversation?
“To simulate the presence of a fated or compatible mate,” Eric explained. “We think it will help spark the magic before the spell is performed.”
“Right,” I nodded. “That makes about as much sense as anything else.”
Brandt snorted.
