Page 129 of Alexei

“Unless we start producing twins,” I mused, “we won’t succeed flooding this earth with little Nikolaev boys nor girls. Morrelli is probably working on another set of twins.”

The words barely left me when Morrelli and his wife scurried into the house, behaving like two teenagers. They were horny like two teenagers too.

“Umm, are those two disappearing again?” Aurora asked as her hand slipped into mine.

“So it seems,” Sasha mumbled. “I swear, that man is getting more ass than a damn rabbit.”

Aurora chuckled. “Having a dry spell, Sasha?” she teased him.

Surprisingly, she got along with Sasha the best. For some odd reason, she was able to put him in his place without threatening to beat him. It was quite useful. And entertaining to watch.

“Pfft, I have women chasing me left and right,” Sasha retorted.

Aurora scoffed, while Vasili, Isabella, and I watched the exchange amused.

“I’m sure they are,” Aurora agreed. “Either to beat or murder your ass.”

“Woman, aren’t you supposed to be tame when pregnant?” Sasha grumbled. “Isabella was more mellow.”

Aurora offered him a sweet smile. “Isabella was probably too nice and didn’t want to upset your fragile feelings.”

Vasili’s booming laugh attracted all eyes on us. The rest of the gang joined to hear what was so funny since my eldest brother didn’t laugh that often. It had to run in our family. But our children would break that tradition.

We’d give them a happy life.

Aurora’s hands came around my waist, lifting up on her tiptoes and pressing a fleeting kiss on my mouth.

“I love you,” she whispered, her soft lips moving against mine.

“And I love you too, my kroshka. You and our baby. Until my death and even after it.”

Worry still swarmed my mind. I had added extra security to all my homes and hers. Fuck, even Raphael’s since she spent so much time visiting there. It drove him nuts. Whenever Aurora wasn’t with me, I checked on her and our unborn baby. It gave me peace. She knew it, grumbled softly, and then kissed me, assuring me nobody would ever keep her away from me.

“I have something for you,” I told her, pulling her closer to me.

“You better not have gotten me another gift,” she scolded softly. “I don’t know what to do with the last one.”

I bought my wife a hippopotamus and had it housed in Washington D.C. Zoo. We’d have a story to tell our children. How a little girl who wished for a hippopotamus for Christmas saved a boy.

“It’s not another pet,” I said, unable to resist kissing her again. Fuck, this heaviness in my chest felt good and scary as hell. The fear of losing it was a constant lingering feeling in the back of my mind. “It’s your little sister’s cell phone number.”

Her soft gasp filled the space between us. I couldn’t forget her words, how she always wanted a sister. And I knew she looked her up. I’ve seen her check on her more than once since we moved in together. As if she worried about her.

Aurora chewed on her bottom lip, a pensive look in her eyes.

“You don’t have to reach out to her,” I said, my voice guttural. I knew how it felt to find out I had siblings that I grew up without. I told Aurora the story, and now I worried it’d hold her back. “Just think about it for a bit.”

Her neck bobbed, conflict strong on her face.

“She’s in her last semester at Yale, and then she’ll be having her finals over the next few months. Yale is no joke.” I nodded in understanding. “Maybe after she graduates, I’ll reach out.”

“That’s a good plan.”

“I just don’t want to pull her into-“

She trailed off but I knew what she meant. She didn’t want her to be scrutinized by the public and she worried about her being endangered in the underworld.

“We’ll figure it out together,” I assured her. “And we’ll keep her safe too.”