Page 64 of Duke's Baby Deal
Duke pulled away slightly so he could look at me for a moment. I could tell he was thinking about what to say and I prepared myself to hold firm in the face of his persuasion. Instead, when he did speak, it was entirely different from what I’d expected. “If that’s what you really want, then I’ll support you in that. But if you’re doing this as some sort of way to punish yourself because of a body that was never designed to carry two babies at once, you’re going to end up dumping your guilt on me and the pups instead. And that’s not fair to them.”
“That’s not what I meant to do. But what if I screw school up too?”
Duke frowned, though it didn’t seem to be at me, but at something inside his head. “Have you ever screwed up school?” He watched me for a moment, then continued. “For me, I’d rather you went to school and learned everything you can and came back to the pack with all that, because the best weapon a man can have is knowledge, and if anything ever happened to the pups again, I’d want someone to know what to do. I’m perfectly happy to stay home and look after them if you want to go out and earn credits. And I don’t care what people say about other omegas. You’re not any ordinary omega—I’ve known that for a while. What does surprise me is that you stay with someone as ordinary as me.”
Oh. Oh, Duke.I launched myself at him and crushed my mouth against his. And he kissed me back, and then held me until I felt ready to go back up to our babies.
CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
It was time. We were going home.
I finished packing my clothes into my suitcases while Duke looked after the twins. He sat in the rocking chair the nurses had scrounged for me when the babies had been declared big enough and healthy enough to sleep in bassinets in my room, a baby in each arm. His expression looked utterly content, relaxed and happy in a completely new way. Just another reminder of the miracle that our babies were.
“I think that’s everything.” I stuck my head in the bathroom for one final check, but it was empty, cleared out and ready for the next shifter who needed it. “You ready to go?”
“Never readier,” he replied, and my heart leaped for happiness.
“Then let’s go home,” I said, and closed the suitcase. I leaned over to take Isolde from him so he could stand up, and let him pick up the suitcase, because we’d already hadthatdiscussion and I lost. Completely.
We stopped by the desk to sign papers and say goodbye. Kristy presented us with a huge basket wrapped up in plastic, filled with all sorts of treats and baby supplies. I was touched and I hugged the ones who were comfortably enough with shifters to allow it, and said a shy thank you to the others.
They made me ride in a wheelchair down to the door. Kristy pushed, while I held Isolde and the basket in my lap, and Duke trailed behind with Jedrick and the suitcases. We waited there while Duke brought the van around, two brand new baby seats in the back, Jedrick already installed in his. We tucked a sleeping Isolde into hers, checked the seat belts again, packed the suitcases and the basket, then said another goodbye to Kristy and the other nurse who’d come down with us.
And then, we were off.
We only stopped once on the way, just long enough to get something to eat, and to warm bottles for the babies. After Duke’s talk, I’d slowly given up on the dream of feeding my babies like any other omega and accepted that they would be fed formula. It helped that Duke took such obvious delight in holding our babies while they drank and that they had started togrowonce I admitted defeat. I might have had a much darker time with it if it hadn’t been for him.
Finally, we drove up the road and I saw the walls and the gate to Mercy Hills. I reached for Duke’s hand and squeezed it, happier than I’d ever thought I’d be, coming back here.
“Get the papers out of the glove compartment, will you?” Duke said.
“Sure.” That put a damper on my mood. I couldn’t help remembering the other times I’d gone through the gate, past the humans. The things that had been said, how helpless I’d felt. But it was a torment I had to pass through in order to go home, so I steeled myself to it.
We pulled up beside the guardhouse and I passed over the papers. As much as I wanted to huddle in the seat and hope they didn’t see me, I knew that wasn’t an option. Besides, humans weren’t so strange to me anymore, so I sat straight and proud and hoped the babies wouldn’t wake up. I didn’t want them to attract any more attention than necessary.
The guard I remembered, the young one who thought we were all disgusting, wasn’t there. Instead, the old one, the grizzled man who never smiled, but seemed calm and unafraid of us, was there. He stepped up to Duke’s window and held out a hand for our papers, but he didn’t seem to be paying attention to them. “These the twins?” he asked in a mild voice.
“Yep. Isolde is closest to you, Jedrick’s on the other side.”
“What is it with you shifters and the crazy names, anyway?” He peered in the window and, for the first time, he smiled. “Ah, she’s a beauty.” He glanced up at me. “She’s got your hair. You’ll have to beat the boys off her with a stick.”
I smiled nervously, but didn’t say anything.
He shook his head, scribbled on the papers, and handed them back. “I forget how shy those omegas of yours are.”
“He’s a lot less shy now. I think the trip was good for him.”
I forgot where I was for a moment and punched him in the arm.
Duke grinned and the human grinned too, which was a surprise, and I went red as a tomato.
The babies slept through it all.
I wassohappy to get home. It felt like forever since I’d seen my familiar walls and couch and kitchen. And my bed. I wanted to curl up with Duke again at night, warm and comfortable and safe andhome.
Bax came out the front door of the house. “Welcome back!” He was empty-armed, not a baby in sight. Noticing my surprised stare, he grinned. “I let Pap take them all to the park. I’m expecting a phone call at any moment, with a desperate plea for help. He’s never had all five them together someplace as distracting as the park.”
“Good thing for cell phones,” Duke commented.
