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"This may come as a surprise... But there isn't just one in there. You're going to have twins. A boy and a girl."

Lars's jaw dropped. Phoenix looked shocked. Griffin was smiling.

"Twins," Phoenix repeated. He walked over to the bed and sat down, dazed.

"This is excellent news, indeed," Griffin said. "And? What will they be?"

"It's early," the healer said. "Difficult for me to say for sure, but I believe that they are both Alphas."

Phoenix clapped his hands together. "Fortune is with us."

Griffin came over to Lars and, to the Omega's surprise, rested his hand on his shoulder. It was hard to believe that this was the same man who Lars had once seen as a horrible monster. But he could see past the mask now. He could see the king who was there beneath it all, a man he knew would hold his word.

These children growing inside of him would eventually rule a new Ekdol.

The healer took her things and left, bowing deeply to Lars on her way out. She didn't outright say it, but it was clear she understood the honor she'd received by being invited there. Eventually she would be able to boast that she'd been the healer who'd first examined the royal children of the New Empire.

Lars sat in the middle of the two Alphas on the couch, their arms wrapped around him. Griffin drew in deep breaths of him as he pressed his face against his neck, kissing him slowly down his chest towards his belly. He stopped there, lifted Lars's shirt and pressed his ear against his bare stomach.

"We've planned, trained, fought, killed and waited our entire lives for this." Lars felt the vibrations of Griffin's rough baritone voice rolling through him, like he was speaking to the twins inside. "We're so close now. So incredibly close. " He looked up at Lars. His gaze was hard and fearsome. It still managed to put butterflies into Lars's stomach, only now he fully welcomed the excitement. It no longer felt wrong.

"There's something I want to ask you," Lars said. "A request."

"What request?" Griffin asked.

"I want to be there when it happens. I want see you kill him."

"I'm afraid that's not possible," Griffin said.

"The Emperor ordered my parents’ execution. I want to witness his."

Phoenix laughed. "Our Omega has a bloodlust. No, you'll remain at the bunker."

"I'll remain by your side."

"It will be too dangerous," Griffin said. "The fighting should be brief, but it will be intense. This building will be turned into a war zone. And if things get out of hand... it could become much bigger than that."

"You mean... if you fail?"

"We won't," Phoenix said.

"So I'm going to be locked away without any way of knowing what's happening? This is my fight, too."

"No," Phoenix snapped, furiously. "It's not your fight." He sighed. "The most important thing is that you are safe. And that our children are safe."

"If we do fail," said Griffin, his voice darkening, "There will still be a chance for you to live. And for the children to live. Then it will become your fight. We need you safe."

Lars bristled, but he understood. He was the future. He was the one who would birth this new empire and ensure that it could continue beyond them.

"When he had my parents executed, he ordered their deaths to be shown on every public viewscreen through the country. Do that for me. Make the whole world see that the Emperor has been slain. Show them it was vengeance from Adosh and from Ekdol. Can you do that?"

Griffin exchanged a glance with his brother.

"I can have this arranged," Phoenix said, grinning.

When they took him, Lars clung to their naked bodies and cast silent prayers into the void for their safety. He'd already lost too many things he loved.

And he did love them, just not in a way that he could've ever imagined loving a mate. He respected them. He was in awe of them. They were his Alphas, and he was their Omega.