Page 16

Mulder

“Whoa.” Jayne quickly covered his mouth.

Whoa had not been the reaction I’d hoped for when I walked into the office after lunch, but my coworker was right. Whoa, indeed.

Just like with Madeline—one day, I didn’t look very pregnant, and then poof—I looked like I was ready to pop. And since he’d just taken a week off for vacation, the contrast was even sharper for him. And really, I was a lot larger than I had been with Madeline, although at the time, I’d have sworn that would be impossible. I felt the size of a house with her. And maybe I had been, but if that was true, I was the size of an entire condo complex now and I still had a few months to go.

“I know. I didn’t look like I was pregnant when you went on your cruise.” I rested my hands on my middle.

“Sorry, I shouldn’t have said that.”

“No, you absolutely should’ve. You weren’t being cruel. Don’t worry about it.”

I started to leave and he stopped me, saying, “Alpha Aspen’s here for your meeting in Conference Room C.”

“Oh, I better waddle lively, then.” Because waddling was pretty much all I could muster lately. “I’ll catch ya later.”

I waddled down the hall into the conference room, where Alpha Aspen was waiting with Karma and Grandpa Swale—or today, Beta Swale, since this was business.

“Sorry I’m late. For some reason, I thought the meeting wasn’t until next hour.”

“Oh, you aren’t late,” Karma assured me. “We had another meeting ahead of the one with you, so you’re actually early.”

Good to know.

“I can come back—” There were plenty of tasks on my to-do list for the week, if they needed more time to finish their conversation.

“No, this is perfect timing. Have a seat.” She indicated one that had not only a teapot with a nice teacup in front of it but also a small basket of baked goods. The rest of the people all had coffee mugs. Someone, I assumed her, arranged for the tea specifically for me, which I appreciated. Tea was much kinder to my stomach these days. “Thought you might be hungry.”

I was pretty much all the time. My guestimate was that at least half of my growing belly was a food baby, by this point.

“Why don’t we move on to the next stage?” she said to the alpha, and he nodded in agreement.

“We’re planning to have another fundraiser, one co-sponsored by Animals and Wolfe Enterprises,” Alpha Aspen explained, “and thought you might want to take a more active role in it, seeing how the last one was such a success.”

“To be fair, I didn’t actually do anything at the last one,” I said. “Unless you count finding my mate.”

“It was still a success, and you were there.” Beta Swale pointed to the basket in front of me and then mimed eating.

I took the hint as Alpha Aspen showed me a pitch for another fundraiser—this one for helping a different kind of animal—shifters, specifically single father shifters who needed to make a new start. The goal was to financially support scholarships, daycare, basic necessities—everything to help them get on their feet.

It was an issue close to my heart and I was glad to help.

I was at the point of my pregnancy where everything was starting to be uncomfortable, including sitting for an hour in these chairs. I was relieved when my phone buzzed with a reminder for my doctor’s appointment.

“Please keep me in the loop,” I told them. “I’d love to be part of this project—but it’s ultrasound day, and I can’t wait to see my little one.”

I pushed myself up, holding on to the table for a second to stabilize myself. My center of gravity had definitely changed.

“Babies?” Karma gave me a knowing glance.

I’d suspected multiples, too. I was already so much bigger than I was with Madeline—even near the end. But it was the first time anyone else had suggested it.

“Baby…probably.” I snatched a muffin to go.

“If you think so.” She very evidently did not.

When I got back to the lobby, my mate was already waiting for me. Gods, I loved working in the same complex as my mate.

We drove to the shifter clinic—run by one of our pack members—and waited for our turn, looking around at all the other parents-to-be, the room full of hope and love.

When it was finally our turn, we went back and did the usual routine. They took my weight—which I’d rather not have known—and took my blood pressure. Everything looked great.

And then it was ultrasound time.

The tech strolled into the room. “Hello, Dads. Before we get started, are you wanting to know the sex?”

“I think so,” I told him.

Kenny and I had talked about it. It was going to be a surprise whether we found out today, next week, or next month—so we figured we might as well know now and be prepared.

“Okay. Let’s see what we have here.”

I leaned back. He started coating my belly with gel before moving the wand slowly across it. It took a while before he said anything, clicking and typing as he captured images.

This wasn’t my first time at one of these appointments, but I was confused by what I saw. One thing was for sure, though. There were two babies in there.

We could handle two. Two grown-ups, two babies. We could do this.

“Okay, so I’ve got all the images the healer needs. Let’s go through them one by one.” He moved the wand all the way to the left. “This is your son,” he said, pointing out everything that made him absolutely perfect.

“And this…” He moved the wand over. “This is your daughter A.”

Kenny blinked. “A.”

“So…not twins?” I swore I saw twins.

“No. Not twins.” He moved the wand again. “This is daughter B.”

My heart stuttered.

“This is daughter C…”

Wait. What? I counted on my fingers as I said the letters. How could I be growing that many babies at once? How did they all fit? Would there be enough room for them? And just when I was able to find the words to ask, the healer moved the wand over another baby.

“And this is daughter D. Your litter looks incredibly healthy. Just keep doing what you’re doing. And if at any point you have even a single concern, give us a call and come in.”

After he got to baby B, my only response to him had been a blank nod. I was in shock.

I knew I was big.

Twins seemed realistic.

But five?

Five babies?

Five!

The healer left to give me privacy to get dressed, and I turned to face my mate and held up my hand showing the number five. “Can we…have five kids?”

“No, my love,” Kenny said softly. “Your math is wrong. We’re going to have six kids, five of them babies.”

“That’s true.” We were going to need to buy a bus.

“Good thing we have a pack. One that will, if nothing else, come and dote on them so we can catch a couple of minutes’ sleep.”

How was he so calm?

“You’re completely okay with this?”

“Of course I am. They’re ours.” He bent down and kissed my belly. “Now let’s go home and tell Madeline.”

We stopped at the toy store on the way and picked out five little stuffies and one large one. We didn’t know if we were having wolves or kittens, so we got wolves wearing shirts with kittens on them. Seemed like the perfect choice. Madeline’s sported a tutu.

Swale was dropping her off just as we arrived. We asked him to stay so he too could hear the good news.

“We went to see the healer today,” I told her, holding up the gift bag. “And we got to see your siblings.”

“You got to see my sisters? All four of them?” She’d been right all along…sort of.

“We saw more than that.” I handed her the bag, and she took the stuffies out, one at a time. When she was done, she looked up.

“There are five baby wolves here and one big one.” She tapped her nose, the way she did when she thought intensely about something. “I’m having five sisters, not four? I was sure there were going to be four.”

“Four sisters. One brother,” Kenny clarified.

Grandpa Swale squeed. It was adorable.

She twirled around, hugging the stuffies in her arms, barely containing them all.

“I can’t wait to meet them! We’re gonna have so much fun playing!”

“Not at first, honey. They don’t actually play in the beginning,” Grandpa Swale explained.

“No, but when they do start to play, I’m gonna be ready.” She put them all back in the bag. “I’m going to put these in their room, okay?”

She ran off, not waiting for a response.

The room we’d planned for the baby wasn’t going to be big enough for five, but we’d figure it out. We had space. We had the time—or at least some time.

“She took that well,” Kenny said.

“She’s going to be a really good big sister,” Grandpa Swale beamed.

“She is.” Kenny smirked. “At least until she decides to put tutus on them.”

“Oh, she will do that, and I think I know who will indulge her in buying them.”

“We all have our roles in her life, and mine is Grandpa Swale/tutu supplier extraordinaire.”

I had a feeling those tutus were going to arrive long before the babies did. We were so lucky to have him in our lives, even if it meant tutus for days.