Capturing His Heart [Caer Tarw 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour ManLove)

by Frey Ortega

  “Mind if I take a seat?” The Elder named Devon Jennings gestured to Hayden’s side, to which the rabbit merely shrugged and adjusted his glasses.

  “Be my guest.”

  Devon settled down, causing the bench to creak underneath his weight as he settled, leaned forward, and peered straight at Hayden.

  The rabbit shifter shifted uncomfortably in his seat, offering just the slightest smile the Elder’s way.

  There was a tense moment of silence. All Hayden truly wanted was to just think about the fact that at this very moment, his two lovers might have impregnated him from the week of constant sexual exploration they’d been having, and suddenly here was the leader of the Minotaurs, looking at him with that big, goofy expression that made it look like Hayden was about to either get eaten alive or get crushed into an overly excited bear-hug.

  Either way, the prospects weren’t good.

  “So!” Devon exclaimed, bringing Hayden’s attention back toward the taller man. “You’re pregnant.”

  Hayden’s eyes widened and his lips parted. His heart basically felt like it was slowing down for that particular moment. “Wait, what?”

  “Oh, didn’t you know?” Devon tilted his head. “Well, congratulations! The pheromones going off of you are wild with potential. You and your mates are going to be having a baby.”

  “How did you know?”

  “I’m the Elder of the Minotaurs, boy. I can smell my kin from a mile away, and you, dear boy-who-hasn’t-introduced-himself-yet, are rife with the smell of Minotaur on you, and not just because you had sex recently!” Devon chuckled, his voice like rolling thunder.

  Hayden sat there looking up at Devon, basically slack-jawed in shock. Was this guy for real?

  “So are you going to do the polite thing, and tell me what your name is?” Devon said, grinning as he looked straight at Hayden and waggled his eyebrows.

  The rabbit shifter sputtered, coughing into a fist and then smiling. “O–oh, well, um.” Hayden attempted an awkward smile. “My name is Hayden.”

  “It’s very nice to meet you, Hayden. If I might be so bold, may I ask why your mate isn’t falling over himself at your feet for giving him a blessing?” Devon suddenly asked, that ever apparent smile on his face just slightly disconcerting Hayden. Why was he so chipper?

  “It’s not really a ‘he.’ It’s a ‘them.’ Rabbit shifters have two mates usually, but…” Hayden blinked. “I didn’t know I could get pregnant and I sort of reacted badly to the news. I had no idea I was going to get a baby. I’m young and apparently, since I’ve been with the two of them, I have a rather large chance of carrying their child.”

  “Children, actually. Minotaurs’ mates give birth to more than one baby! Hyper-virility is a problem within the Minotaur community!” Devon said proudly, smiling, but then he looked at Hayden, whose eyes went wide with terror. It was like the Elder didn’t even know of the concept of trying to make things better for someone else, because the more Hayden was learning about becoming pregnant, the more he knew he was going to be very, very sick.

  The prospect of being whined on by his entire family, and having more than five toddler siblings smacking at his knees seemed to become better and better by the second.

  How could he poop out more than one baby? Having one was already terrifying, but more than one? That was going to be a bloody fucking miracle.

  “Don’t look so down, Hayden. Having a little herd is the best thing that ever happened to you and your two mates. You’re going to be parents. Do you realize how many other couples would kill for that opportunity?” Devon even had the gall to look a little offended.

  “Yes, but those people are not me. I’m barely in my twenties. I just graduated college. In fact, I came to Caer Tarw thinking that it would be like a vacation.” Hayden sighed. “Actually, I didn’t think it was at all real. Then everything happened and now…”

  Devon tilted his head. He seemed to dial it back down a bit as he clasped his hands together. “I get it. You’re overwhelmed because suddenly things are becoming a bit too real. Meeting your mates is a good thing, but suddenly finding out that they can give you a child when it was never in your plans is a bad thing.”

  Hayden looked up at Devon with an inscrutable look in his eyes. “Okay, seriously, are you for real? How can you be so eerily accurate and weirdly chipper at the same time? I thought you were crazy.”

  Devon laughed. “My boy, being chipper and odd and knowing a thing or two about life isn’t mutually exclusive. You get to learn a little bit more when you’ve lived as long as I have. I was there when the humans were creating the myths about the first Minotaur,” he said, patting Hayden on the back a little too harshly and causing the rabbit shifter to be pushed forward, his glasses clanking onto the ground. “Whoops, sorry about that.”

  Hayden shook his head. “It’s nothing. But you’re right. I’m scared about the future.”

  “Why should you be? You have Minotaurs for mates. We take very good care of our mates, and you have two!” Devon said, making a little hand gesture to emphasize his words, along with his overly expressive intonation. Hayden thought it was just very… fatherly of the man to do it.

  “Well, you don’t have to worry about a baby coming out of your butthole, mister. You’re the ones doing this to us.” Hayden pouted. “Besides, that’s not the only thing. I don’t know if I’m ready to be a father.”

  Devon shook his head, laughing. “Your babies aren’t going to be coming out of your rear, you silly boy!”

  “Wait, so I’m not going to be pooping out this baby? Or rather, these babies?”

  “Of course not!” the elder replied with a scoff. “Do you realize how badly stretched your ass is going to be? That won’t be fun for your mates at all!” Devon shook his head. Hayden fought the urge to roll his eyes. “No, no, there are other ways. We have healers who specialize in pregnancy at the village. Very well educated, trained by the council themselves! Your ass is going to be fine. It’ll be better than fine. It might even get bigger because of the pregnancy!”

  Hayden paled. “I don’t think that really makes me feel any better.” When did getting a fatter butt ever make anyone happy?

  “Well, you see, we can either wait for the slit to appear on your navel that’ll disappear on its own, but sometimes that doesn’t happen with certain species, so what they do is they make a little incision—”

  “No, stop, I get it. It’ll hurt. There’ll be scalpels involved,” Hayden suddenly said out loud, stifling Devon’s words with a shake of the head. “I don’t know if I should laugh at my lot in life or hate my mates for doing this to me. And I thought rabbit shifters were supposed to be lucky!”

  “You need to stop thinking so poorly about your situation, Hayden,” the elder said with a little smile. “Your mates love you and they’re going to be there for you every step of the way. They opened up a new path for your life to follow. So what? Nothing has changed. You can still do whatever you want after. Your mates will support you no matter where on this Earth you three decide to go to. Then you’ll have your own little herd of baby bulls and rabbits grazing together. Be careful the former don’t step on the latter.”

  “Again, that’s so easy for you to say when you’re not going to be the one who’s going to be getting a baby out into the world,” Hayden said with a little frown. “Look, I’m trying really hard to be positive here—”

  “Are you, really?” Devon suddenly asked, cutting into what Hayden said and simultaneously raising his eyebrow. “It seems like you’re trying to find a way to kick yourself down. We all know it’s very shocking for our lovers to find out that they can suddenly conceive when you throw a Minotaur into the mix. And I’m also trying to tell you that you have nothing to worry about, but you’re still fiddling about, with your tail between your legs, trying to figure out ways to keep thinking about how odd your situation is. No one is saying it’s not odd. It is, in fact, very odd. But you have two mates who are more than willing
to throw themselves into the mix and make sure that you’re happy.”

  Hayden paused. He stared up at Devon with a frown. The rabbit shifter adjusted his glasses and turned to look down at his lap, twiddling his thumbs together and keeping quiet. The elder sighed.

  “No one is saying you have no right to complain about what’s happening. You weren’t told that these things can happen. It’s difficult to grasp. I can see why that would be hard to swallow.” Devon offered a little smile as he placed his hand, this time gently, on Hayden’s back. “But you also have two mates who will bend over their backs for you to work hard and make sure that you’re comfortable and happy. We Minotaurs know and understand our lot in life. We know where our attractions lie and how we reproduce is… difficult for everyone involved. But you are actually much luckier than you realize. You have two of us for mates.”

  Hayden looked up at Devon, who suddenly stood up and offered his hand for Hayden to take. The rabbit shifter blinked.

  The elder was right. Hayden was focused on his own problems, but he wasn’t focused on a solution. He couldn’t change what he already knew. It was going to be difficult and it was going to be odd, but it was also the start of something new.

  And so what if he was a terrible father? He was already leagues apart from the rest because, the more he thought about it, the more he wanted to be there. He was already in a situation he couldn’t change, and he definitely didn’t want to break his mates’ hearts. He knew it was hurting them, too. He had a right to be shocked and surprised, but beside it all, it was a wonderful gift for all involved.

  It was just the details of what was happening that truly made him fear for what was going to happen.

  “Come on. Let’s go back to Caer Tarw and make sure your mates don’t kill each other in the courtyard over this,” the elder said, smiling at Hayden. “I can see that the wheels in your head are churning, Hayden. Take a chance. Nothing in life is ever certain except that we can never throw away another person’s love.”

  Hayden blinked. “Kill each other?” He took Devon’s hand and stood up, just as the man guffawed.

  “Ah, oh yes,” he said with a big grin. “They’re at the courtyard making fools of themselves as we speak. I can easily put an end to it, but I figured you were more important to tend to, little rabbit. The three of you will be good fathers. Just you wait.”

  Hayden took a deep breath, adjusting his glasses. There was a little quirk of his lips into a smile. “It’s not like I have a choice.”

  “Oh, we always have a choice,” Devon said, tut-tutting Hayden with a wag of his fingers. “Just as you know that you will always have both Brian’s and Ronan’s love and devotion, as they have yours.”

  The rabbit shifter turned pink and shook his head. “Crazy old coot,” he said, though there was a certain level of affection in the way he said it. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome, little rabbit. Now let’s go. If we make it back in time they might still be handing their asses to one another!”

  Hayden rolled his eyes. “If only that were the case, then I wouldn’t need to be their third.”

  Devon guffawed. “Oh, touché, little rabbit. Touché.”

  Chapter Eight

  As the courtyard filled with men watching Ronan and Brian tussle and smack each other around, Ronan couldn’t even bring himself to care about the little lovers’ spat they were showing the world.

  It didn’t matter that his eye was cheek was grazed and he was black and blue on certain parts of his body and that his clothes were ripped, because Brian looked about the same as him, except Ronan socked him a good one on the nose in return for the fact that Ronan’s breathing was a little wheezier from being punched in the solar plexus.

  If it wasn’t readily apparent, Ronan was angry, and his fury was always a harsh, blazing one that embroiled his entire body into action. Hayden stomping off with that dazed look in his eyes was Brian’s fault, and he knew it.

  And Ronan certainly wanted to rub his lover’s face in it. Brian could easily be the reason they lost the man they both needed, the man they both loved, and the man who made the three of them complete.

  He couldn’t even remember how it felt to just be Brian’s anymore. Without Hayden in the picture, it was looking grimmer and grimmer.

  “Did you have to tell him right then and there, you sod?” Ronan said, aiming his fist right for Brian’s face. “We could have waited until the morning, maybe consulted the elder on how to approach the topic. You didn’t have to blurt it out right in front of him!”

  “I panicked, you stupid cow!” Brian shot back, causing Ronan to angrily throw the man back down onto the ground, and Brian to sock Ronan right at the cheek. There was a crack as fist hit bone, but it seemed like both of them were barely even hurt. Ronan adjusted his jaw back into place, wincing at the slight pang of pain. “We both talked about it that we were going to tell him right then and there. I just didn’t know he was waiting for us the way he was! Nothing should have changed that fact!”

  “Well, that’s well and good, but now we’re gone one mate and it’s all your fault!”

  “My fault?” Brian laughed, but the laughter didn’t reach his eyes. Cold fury was apparent in the way his fists clenched. “I’m not the one who let me try to steer the topic into a different direction to soften the blow! You had to come in and say it straight out.”

  “You were trying to avoid the subject, Brian, and you know it. You weren’t going to tell him either. You were just chickening out because you were panicking!”

  “Wouldn’t you? He’s our mate, you sodding prig!” Brian exclaimed, their accents clear as day, and even strengthened, from how they were talking. “I bet you my right ball that you would have fucked up telling him anyway!”

  Ronan seethed. He was seeing red, and in fact, he could feel his horns and claws begin to come out, an angry, guttural snarl echoing lightly in the back of his throat. Ronan readied his fist, rearing it back to slam right into Brian’s face, when he’d heard someone’s throat clear rather loudly.

  “What is going on here?”

  Ronan looked up to see Elder Jennings. The man had a very expressive face for someone so big, and it was clear as day that the large Minotaur elder was scowling at the two of them. Battered and bruised, the pair of them looked like they’d been smacking each other’s face into the dirt, which they had been doing just moments earlier, much to Ronan’s simultaneous pride and shame.

  He’d forgotten that Elder Jennings could tell when these things were happening among his kin. It was one of the perks of being Elder, and though the Minotaurs were usually not a very physical lot, when things turned physical, it could turn ugly.

  Even worse still for a lover’s spat, like Ronan’s and Brian’s quarrel.

  But the one other person that made Ronan’s heart stop and make him pull himself up into a stand was Hayden. The rabbit shifter was right beside Elder Jennings, his eyes wide and that look of innocence still plastered on the man’s face. Ronan’s heart immediately ached as he looked at him and slowly rose up to his full height, patting his hand down over his tattered, ripped, and dirty clothes, just as he looked at both the Elder and his mate.

  Brian, of course, did the exact same thing, bouncing up almost immediately and patting himself down. “Oh, Elder Jennings, Hayden!” Brian’s silver eyes widened, and he faked a grin as he wrapped an arm around Ronan, as though they were suddenly alright. “What are you—I mean—how are you doing? Is everything all right?”

  Ronan rolled his eyes. He shrugged his shoulders to put Brian’s arm down. Sodding prick, Ronan thought to himself angrily, but he kept his words to himself as Hayden looked up at the two of them.

  “We could ask the same of you two. I thought you gentlemen were past the fighting stage. I was just of a mind to return Hayden to the both of you, but if you both can’t get your tempers in check, I’m afraid I’m going to have to transfer him away from the both of you,” Elder Jennings said, frowning.
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  Ronan’s eyes widened. He couldn’t catch himself saying “No!” fast enough. “Please, don’t! You can’t!”

  “Oh, I very well certainly can if you’re both going to act like bloody idiots! I’m pretty sure Hayden is going to agree with me. He’s not going to want to get into the middle of a tussle. Right, boy?” Elder Jennings looked down at Hayden, who looked up at him before gesturing forward.

  Hayden looked around the courtyard. People were starting to go back to their little worlds. Some of the really snoopy ones were still peering at what was happening, watching the scuffle that was happening with barely contained interest. The rabbit shifter adjusted his glasses.

  Ronan’s heart was beating faster than it did when he was fighting Brian.

  “I’m pregnant, you two,” Hayden admitted. Ronan’s eyes widened. Brian’s mouth gaped in shock. “And if you’re both going to be at each other’s throats, I can’t be around you. Why are you fighting, anyway? You know what? Forget it. If you guys aren’t going to be adult enough about this, I honestly don’t know what’s going to happen to these children in my belly.”

  There were little gasps of shock in the courtyard, scandalized little sounds, but those were few and far in between. It paled in comparison to the tremor of shock that resonated within Ronan, though. He knew they’d only been thinking about it and they’d been talking about it, but he didn’t know that things would progress this quickly. People suddenly began to turn to their partners, conversations in loud whispers emanating throughout the courtyard.

  Perhaps there were others in Hayden’s particular situation, after all. But Ronan didn’t really care about that at this particular moment. There was really only one question in his mind.

  Was he ready to be a father?

  Brian was bobbing his mouth closed and open, like a fish would. Ronan really didn’t know what to say, but he knew he needed to come clean.

  “Do you have nothing to say for yourselves? You gave each other a bloody black eye and you might have dislocated a bone or two. We have healers around but what if this happens again?”