by Maggie Walsh
“It’s going to be all right, bello,” Dante said soothingly as he wiped a hand across Dale’s sweaty forehead.
“No, Dante. It hurts. Please make it stop,” Dale begged as tears ran down his cheeks.
“I wish there was some way for me to change places with you, my love,” Dante crooned lovingly.
“It’s starting,” Aaron announced.
“Starting?” Dare asked in distress.
Jesse sat on the bed beside Dale’s hip, his hands on Dale’s stomach. “Yes, starting. I see a line forming here and it’s getting darker.”
“It appears to be exactly what the fae experience when giving birth,” Ryland offered as he stood at the foot of the bed, mixing something in a bowl.
“What do you mean?” Dante asked.
“A seam forms across the abdomen, like a pouch, opening enough to let the babe be born. Once the seam opens completely, you will need to reach in and guide the babe out, Aaron,” Ryland instructed.
“I’m a little worried about his blood pressure. It’s beginning to drop alarmingly.”
“Why? What’s wrong?” Dante asked in concern.
“I’m not sure, Dante. I’ve never done this before. Yes, I have delivered human babies, and I helped in a few complicated shifter births, but never this.”
“Here, Jesse. Rub some of this over the area. It’s a natural numbing cream we fae use to ease some of the pain when the opening comes.” Ryland handed Jesse the bowl he had and Jesse dipped his fingers in. He rubbed the cream over Dale’s stomach.
After a few minutes, Dale relaxed back against the pillows and sighed. “Oh Gods, that’s nice.”
“How are you feeling, bello?”
“Great. Whatever that cream is, it took most of the pain away.”
“Dale, exactly how are you feeling?” Aaron asked in concern. He placed his stethoscope on Dale’s chest, listening.
“I feel like...like I’m floating.”
“The opening has started, Aaron,” Jesse informed him.
Everyone’s gazes went to Dale’s stomach and watched as the seam that appeared there began to split open and blood began to slide out. “Grab the towels, Jesse,” Aaron instructed and moved to between Dale’s spread legs, and placed his hands at the opening as Jesse surrounded it with towels. Dare growled. Aaron gave him a look.
“Sorry,” Dare said sheepishly.
“I see a leg, Aaron,” Jesse exclaimed.
“I see it, too.” Aaron slid one hand into the opening.
“Bello? Dale?”
Dare looked to Dale’s face and saw that his mate’s eyes were closed and his body was relaxed. Was this normal? He thought for sure Dale should be screaming from giving birth.
“Aaron, something's wrong,” Dante announced in a tight voice.
Aaron looked at Dale’s face. “Shit. His blood pressure must have dropped. Jesse, I need you to take over here so I can check him,” Aaron said as he pulled his hand back and stepped from between Dale’s legs. He grabbed a towel and wiped his hands.
“But I don’t know how to deliver a baby, Aaron.” Jesse’s voice cracked.
“Just put your hand in and around the baby's body, then gently lift it out.” Aaron moved to the side of the bed and began to examine Dale.
“Ada? You’ve done this before.”
“No, son. I have only given birth twice. I have never delivered a baby.”
“Jesse,” Aaron snapped. Jesse looked up at him. His face was full of stress and terror. “I need you to do this, Jess. Please get the baby so that I can save Dale. His blood pressure has dropped dangerously low.”
Jesse stared at Aaron for a moment, then his gaze shifted to Dante’s worried look, then Dare’s scared one. He shifted his gaze to Dale’s and saw that his skin was getting paler. He took a deep breath and released it. Jesse stood up and squared his shoulders, then moved to stand between Dale’s legs. “Okay, let’s welcome this little one into the family.” Jesse reached forward and slid his hands into the bloody opening in Dale’s abdomen.
“You can do this, baby. I know you can.” He heard Micah’s encouraging words through their link.
“Dante, I want you to give Dale some of your blood,” Aaron instructed.
Dante lifted his wrist as a sharp, talon-like claw appeared on his other hand. He sliced his wrist with the sharp claw and blood began to drip. Dante moved his wrist to his mate’s mouth. Aaron pulled on Dale’s chin, opening his mouth as Dante pressed his wrist against it.
“Dare, keep his mouth open and gently massage his throat to help him swallow. I need to check his heart.” Dare did as Aaron asked.
They each worked meticulously on Dale and the room went silent except for their heavy breathing. After a few minutes, Dante pulled his wrist back and licked his wrist clean, closing the wound. Dare wiped a towel across Dale’s forehead and placed a gentle kiss there. When he pulled back, his gaze met Dante’s worried eyes. Dare reached out and wrapped a hand around the back of Dante’s neck, pulling him closer. They leaned in, giving each other a gentle kiss. “Our family is going to be fine, Aghrá.”
“I got him,” Jesse whispered, pulling everyone’s attention to him. He slowly drew his hands back, gently pulling the baby from Dale’s body. Tiny feet slid out first, followed by a little blood-covered body, and then a cute little head, covered in dark black hair. Jesse lifted the baby and Ryland handed him a towel to wrap the newborn in. “It’s a boy,” Jesse announced through a tear-filled smile.
Dante and Dare stared down Dale’s body to where Jesse held their son. Tears began roll down Dante’s cheeks as he looked at his son with overwhelming love. “A son, bello. You gave us a son,” Dante cried, then leaned down and placed his lips on Dale’s forehead.
“Aaron?” Jesse’s stressed voice caused Dante to pull back and look to him.
“What is it, Jess?” Aaron asked as he moved closer.
“Look,” Jesse said motioning with his chin toward Dale.
Aaron smiled and grabbed a pair of scissors. He cut the umbilical cord and clamped both ends, then turned to Jesse. “Okay, give me this little one and I will get him cleaned up.” Jesse turned and placed the newborn boy into Aaron’s arms. Aaron stepped away with the baby and Jesse turned back to Dale. He slid his hands back into the opening and began to move them.
“What is it, Jesse? What’s wrong?” Dare asked in distress.
Jesse looked up quickly and met Dante’s concerned gaze. He gave him a big smile then looked back down to what he was doing. Dante and Dare looked to what Jesse was doing and then both gasped in shock as two little feet appeared from the opening. Jesse gently drew his hands back, holding another tiny baby with a head full of black hair. “It’s another boy,” Jesse announced proudly.
“Two?” Dare whispered in shock.
“Did you hear that, bello? You gave us two sons,” Dante said as the tears began to flow again.
“Two...boys?” Dale’s quiet voice came to them.
Both his mates looked down to his face and saw that Dale’s eyes were slightly open and he was trying to look down to where Jesse was. “Yes, my love. Two sons,” Dare said in a choked-up voice and leaned down to place a quick, gentle kiss on Dale’s lips.
“And from what I can see, they look like they are identical,” Aaron said as he stepped up next to Dante, carrying the first baby wrapped in a clean blanket.
“Can I see him?” Dale whispered.
“Of course you can. Here’s your son, Dale,” Aaron said and bent down, placing the baby in Dale’s arms. Aaron straightened and stepped away to go attend to the other baby.
Dale looked down at his son's face and began to cry. “He’s so beautiful. He looks like...like both of you.”
“He is the most beautiful baby I have ever seen, bello, and I think he looks like you and Dare.” Dante leaned in and placed a soft kiss on the baby’s head then pulled back and rubbed a thumb over the infant’s cheek. Dare leaned in and kissed the baby’s head also, then kissed Dale.<
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“Thank you, Leannán,” he whispered against Dale’s lips as tears streamed down his face.
“Yes, love. Thank you,” Dante agreed, giving Dale a kiss, too.
A cry came from the other side of the room and they all looked toward the sound. Jesse was smiling wide as he wrapped a clean blanket around the tiny pink cutie. Jesse stepped up near Dare holding the other baby in his arms. “Would you like to hold your other son, Dale?”
“Yes, I want to hold them both,” Dale answered and lifted his free hand. Jesse leaned over and placed the other baby in the crook of Dale’s elbow, resting the baby’s head on his forearm. Jesse straightened and smiled down at the sight before him with watery eyes.
Ryland stepped up behind Jesse and wrapped an arm around his chest, pulling Jesse against his chest. “It’s beautiful, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” Jesse agreed as the tears began to fall.
* * * *
“So what are you going to name those two beauties?” Micah asked. He sat on the foot of the bed, with Jesse on his lap, as they watched Dante and Dare holding their newborn sons. Each man held them as if they were made of spun glass and one false move would shatter them.
“This one is Alessandro Micah Shaw Calebrese,” Dante announced and looked down with pride at the baby in his arms.
“After your father,” Micah stated.
“Yes. He liked Alessandro better than Marco, That’s why only those who were very important got to call him that,” Dante explained.
“I know where Micah and Calabrese come from,” Jesse said with a smile, “but where does the Shaw come from?”
“It is my real name. Dare Shaw.”
“And what about your other son?” Phenex asked. He and Ryland stood at the side of the bed, holding each other.
“This little cutie is Patrick Jesse Shaw Calabrese,” Dare announced.
“Ah, after your father,” Ryland added.
“I think both your fathers would be very proud men with the sons they have, and now with their grandsons,” Phenex said.
“I think so, too,” Dale agreed from where he sat on the bed between his mates, leaning against the headboard.
“Aaron, do you know why the babies came so soon? Dale has only been carrying about six months,” Micah asked.
“Seeing as this is the first time I delivered…well, assisted in delivering vampire babies, I have no clue.”
“I’ll have to check the vampire histories and see if there is anything in there about the gestation period.”
“That would have been nice to know before now.” Dale snickered. Dante leaned over and gave his mate a gentle kiss.
“What about Noah? He and Dale were about the same along in their pregnancies. What is the timing for fae, Ada?” Jesse looked to Ryland.
“I was pregnant with Noah for seven and a half months and a little over eight with you, Jesse. Full fae babies usually take about seven months, but I figured with both of you it was longer because of your mixed bloodlines.”
“So technically Noah could go at any time, too?” Aaron asked with a raised brow.
A bright light appeared across the room and they all turned to look at it. Dante and Dare both stood with their sons in their arms and moved them away, trying to protect them from whatever was coming through the opening. Micah jumped up and pushed Jesse and Aaron behind him as he faced the portal. Phenex moved to Dale’s side, ready to defend him, and Ryland moved to stand next to Micah.
A figure appeared and Zamel, one of Ryland’s fae guards, stepped through. He moved to the side and Storm came out from behind him. His face was pale and full of fear. “It’s Noah.”
Chapter 8
Xander sat out in the backyard on a lounge chair as he stared off in the distance. Xavier stepped closer and sat in the lounge next to him. “So what are you looking for?”
“A way to turn back time,” Xander answered absently.
“Why would you want to do that?”
“So that my mate would want me and not think I’m scum.”
“Your mate?”
Xander took a deep breath and sighed heavily. He covered his face with his hands and drew them down. “Yup.”
“You found your mate? When? Where? Was it when you were in Montana with Papa Angel?”
“Yes, I found my mate, and no, it wasn’t in Montana. He is right here in this house, and he thinks I’m lower than slug slime.”
“That’s only because he doesn’t know you. I’m sure once you talk to him and the two of you get to know each other―”
“I have already talked to him and he doesn’t want me. He rejected me because he has seen me at the club with a lot of different guys. He thinks I’m a manwhore.”
“Well you do have a lot of male companionship around, my friend,” Xavier said with a laugh.
“Says the man that has twice as many hook-ups as I do.”
“We’re single, man. No mates yet. I don’t see what the problem is with hooking up with whoever we want, when we want.”
“I didn’t see the problem, either, until Shelby rejected me for it.” Xander sighed again and stood up. He walked a few feet away and stared out into the night.
“Whoa, wait a minute,” Xavier said and jumped to his feet, moving to stand next to Xander. “Shelby? Shelby the hot-as-hell dancer from the club? Shelby our new little hideaway?”
“That’s the one.”
“You lucky fuck. He’s so smokin’ hot.”
Xander growled as his head snapped in Xavier’s direction. Xavier put his arms up, palms out in an “I surrender” move. “Sorry, man. Is there anything I can do?”
“As I said, only if you can turn back time and change my shitty behavior so my mate won’t hate me.”
They stood there in silence for a while as Xander looked up to the stars and Xavier stared into the tree line. After fifteen minutes of silence, Xavier turned to his friend. “You know, I think your mate is being very unfair. Do you know how many times we were at the club and I saw him with a guy or two? Not to mention leaving the club with them. He’s not exactly a wallflower, and he does strip his clothes off for hundreds of men every night for money.”
Xander turned to Xavier and grabbed his shirt with both hands, pulling him close as he growled in his face. “That doesn’t mean he’s a whore. Just because he works as a dancer at the club doesn’t mean he’s screwing everyone in the place, and I have never seen him strip down to more than a G-string. He never strips naked, and what do you know about him? Have you ever talked to him? Have you ever gotten to know him? Maybe he does it because he needs the money. Maybe he just likes to dance. Who the hell are you to judge my mate?”
“Hey, X. I’m your best friend, man. I’m not judging your mate. I’m just saying I think he is treating my best friend unfairly.”
“Yeah, well don’t you ever say anything negative about my mate. I don’t care how unfair he may be toward me,” Xander said and released Xavier.
Xavier straightened his clothes and looked back toward the trees. “Yeah, well I don’t like anyone treating you bad, buddy, but...you have a point. He’s your mate so he gets more leeway.”
Xander turned his head and looked at his friend, then back across the yard. “Thanks, man.”
* * * *
Shelby hid in the shadows as he listened to the conversation between his mate and the other wolf. He was a little surprised that his mate hadn’t scented him or the other one called Xavier when he joined his mate.
Not that they could see him in his current form, but they should still be able to scent him, especially his mate. Well, maybe not in his current form. He knew the wolves had a great sense of smell, but he didn’t know if they could scent a moth.
Shelby never expected to find his mate out here when he snuck out his bedroom window and shifted. He was flying overhead when he spotted his mate sitting on the lounge. He knew he should have just kept flying away from here, but he couldn’t help the pull to the man. He was his mate, after all
. He flew down lower to get a closer look at his mate's gorgeous face when the other wolf stepped out. He was about to fly away into the forest when he heard them talking about him. Shelby flew over to the picnic table and landed on one of the legs, hoping they wouldn’t notice him, and they hadn’t.
Shelby hated to admit it but what Xavier said was true. It’s not like he hadn’t hooked up with a lot of men in his life. Okay, okay, so that’s what Taylor and Xander said before, but he just didn’t want to hear it. It wasn’t about his mate hooking up with all those guys. Xander was right in saying it was unfair of him when he, too, was no virgin and it was the life they had before they met, but he just couldn’t get the pictures of his mate with those other men out of him mind when he looked at the man.
He’d had a few good boyfriends in his life, and bad ones. He even had a few nightmares, but Xander didn’t seem to be like any of them. Hell, even after he rejected the wolf, he still stood up for Shelby, and against his best friend, no less. Maybe he should stay and give his mate a chance? Maybe he should hear him out? Talk to him and get to know him first before he rejected him. Hell, he had spent over two thousand years waiting for his mate to show up and the man was right here in front of him, and what did he do? He rejected him over something so stupid.
Shit. I hate having to eat crow, but Xander is right. I need to give him a chance. Shelby lifted from his spot and flapped his moth wings. He flew back up toward the open window of his room.
* * * *
“Christian!” Raffy yelled and sat straight up in the bed. He was breathing heavily and sweating.
“What’s wrong, angel?” Christian asked as he sat up and ran a gentle hand up and down his mate’s back.
“It’s...you...I...they,” he panted heavily.
“It was just a dream, sweetheart. It’s okay. I’m here,” Christian soothed and wrapped his arms around his mate, pulling him close.
Raffy shifted and climbed onto Christian’s lap, wrapping his arms around his neck, and held him tight. “No, it was more than that. It felt so real. It was real, Christian. I just know it was.”