Page 45 of Briggs (Paranormal Council Enforcers #16)

Briggs

S omething was off. My wolf woke me, and immediately, I knew why.

I wasn’t in bed with my mate. Well, I was, but it was his other half.

I smiled at the gorgeous feline that was curled up beside me.

How long had Todd been in his cheetah form?

Was him shifting what had woken me? Or was it something else?

I was reaching for the furry head when I heard a noise.

One that hadn’t ever been there before. My smile grew because that was most likely what had woken me, to be honest.

I rolled away, tossed the blanket back, and got out of bed.

After peeking in on the twins quickly, I dashed to the bathroom to take care of my bladder.

I got a look at my hair when washing my hands and could only shake my head.

I needed to shower, but there wasn’t time for that before I had crying, hungry babies waiting to be fed and, I was certain, changed.

After drying my hands, I hurried down the stairs. I glanced toward the back room, finding it empty, with no sign of Dr. King anywhere. Not that I blamed him. He had his own life, it was the weekend, and I’d woken him in the middle of the night.

In the kitchen, I found the bottle warmer out on the counter, but I knew we’d not placed it there. It had been stored in the cupboard with the empty bottles because we hadn’t needed it yet. I finally noticed a piece of paper that was half under the bottle warmer.

Briggs and Todd,

Congratulations on the arrival of the girls. They’re absolutely precious.

I’ve helped out a little by preparing enough bottles for today. All you will need to do is put them in the warmer and heat them.

Everyone was peacefully sleeping when I left, but if you should need anything today or this weekend, you are more than welcome to reach out.

I will inform Master Edison later today about the twins’ birth, and on Monday I will file the paperwork with the council.

Congratulations again. You truly have a beautiful little family.

Dr. King

That was a sweet letter, and I needed to make sure that Todd read it later.

I assumed the bottles were in the refrigerator, and when I opened it, I discovered that the top shelf had been cleared, and it was filled with tiny bottles.

I grabbed two, placed them in the warmer, added the amount of water it said it required, and turned it on.

While that was doing its magic, I moved over to the coffee maker.

Coffee was going to be needed. I was a bit surprised to find it already set up.

Dr. King was a saint. I turned it on and then heard the click of the bottle warmer as it turned off.

The coffee would be done soon enough and would be waiting for me after I fed the twins.

I checked the bottles to make sure they weren’t too hot and then hurried back upstairs. Halfway up, I heard crying. I felt terrible because I’d left Todd alone with the twins, and I didn’t know if he was still in his cheetah form or if he’d shifted back to his human side.

I stumbled just a moment as I entered the bedroom. Standing there was John, and when he heard me enter, he turned and looked at me with wide eyes. Todd was sitting up in bed, still in his cheetah form, but if a cat could look concerned, he did.

“They were born?” John asked, his voice full of shock. “When?”

I smiled at my brother-in-law. “Around two in the morning. These are the first bottles and diaper changes.” I handed John the bottles.

“Please put these on the nightstand.” I looked to my mate, who was still in his cheetah form.

“I love you, Todd, and I’m so happy that your cheetah is awake and more than happy to come out and say hello.

But do you think I can get the other side of you back for a bit?

I’ve never changed a diaper before, and I could really use all the help I can get.

I understand you haven’t either, but I thought we could fumble it together? ”

“Todd has changed diapers before,” John said. I looked at my brother-in-law. “When our parents died, Todd took care of Maggie. He was the one who did all of that. Bottles and diapers. He took care of me and Tracy as well.”

I looked back at Todd and sent what I hoped was a pleading look as I picked up Willow, who was crying in earnest now.

She was downright upset, and Wrenley wasn’t far behind.

“Todd, you need to shift back now,” I said.

I would muddle my way through things, and I understood that Todd and his cheetah had been through so much together, but now was not the time for the human side of my mate to decide he was going to let his feline side take over.

“What can I do to help?” John asked. I was at the foot of the bed, trying to figure out how to open the swaddle that Dr. King had wrapped my daughter up in.

“Could you please go to the corner over there and grab a pair of diapers and the pack of wipes?” I pointed in the general direction where we’d set up a “baby area.” While I was unwrapping our daughter and John was grabbing diapers and wipes, I heard Todd shift.

“What happened?”

I looked up at my mate’s voice and closed my eyes briefly in relief. I didn’t have time for small celebrations because Wrenley was winding up.

“I’m not sure what you’re referring to, exactly,” I said, “but it’s just before six in the morning. Dr. King is gone, but the twins are both wet and hungry. Could you please at least pick up Wrenley while I try to change Willow here?”

“Here’s the diapers and wipes. I brought powder and one of the pad things too.”

I gave John a relieved smile. “Thank you so much.”

“Why are you awake?” Todd asked John. He was holding Wrenley now, but he’d not really moved from the bed.

“Are you able to walk? Do you need me to take you to the bathroom or anything?” I asked Todd. I picked up Willow, leaving the blanket behind, and John replaced it with a waterproof changing pad.

“I’m fine. But I’m a bit confused. Seriously, what happened?”

I looked at Todd, suddenly very concerned. “You do remember giving birth, right?”

“Yes. But just now. Why is John up, and why are you so stressed?”

I pulled off Willow’s soaked diaper and did my best to clean her up with the wipes John was handing me. She had leaked, of course, and I used the wipes to clean her up where her onesie was wet. She didn’t like that and let everyone in the room know she wasn’t happy with me.

“I think you sprinkle the powder on after you put the diaper under her,” John said.

He held out the tiny diaper, fully open—bless him—and I slid it under my daughter.

Some powder was sprinkled, and after a couple of tries, I finally had the diaper on tight enough that it wouldn’t fall off, but not so tight it was uncomfortable for her.

“Here’s her bottle,” John said as I picked Willow up.

“Thank you,” I told him. I cradled Willow in my arm, and with the other, I rubbed the nipple on her lips. She instinctively opened, and after another few seconds, she thankfully stopped crying.

Todd was now kneeling on the bed on the other side of the change pad, undoing Wrenley’s blanket. “Briggs?” he said quietly. I leaned down and kissed the top of his head, trying to not stress out too much about everything.

“Something woke me,” I told him. “When I rolled your way, you were in your cheetah form. The twins were starting to make noise, so I ran downstairs to make bottles. By the time I came back, they were crying, and John was awake. You were still in your cheetah form, just staring at them.”

“I’m sorry,” Todd said. I could hear the emotion in his voice and knew he was going to be crying before he could get situated enough to feed Wrenley.

“There’s nothing to apologize for,” I told him. He had Wrenley changed in no time, and that alone seemed to quiet her some.

“If you want to go to the bathroom, I’ll watch her,” I said. “Or do you need help?”

Todd moved to the side of the bed, and with a bit of hesitation, he slid from the bed and stood without so much as a wobble.

You’d never know he’d just given birth a few hours ago if not for the newborns in the room and the fact that he still had a bit of a stomach.

I knew that would most likely be completely gone within a few days, but it didn’t bother me one bit.

I placed Willow on the bed beside her twin, and with John’s help, I was able to get Wrenley drinking as well. It wasn’t ideal, but there weren’t too many other options. We would have to work on our system, but for now, for this very first feeding, I’d say that things were going okay.

“I’ll take the diapers to the hall bathroom and put them in the pail,” John said.

“We moved it into ours,” I told him. “We didn’t think we’d be using the nursery for a few weeks, and it just made more sense to move the diaper pail into ours instead of the one in the hallway.

” I’d been incredibly surprised when Master Edison had added a private bathroom to John’s room.

John certainly hadn’t complained about the prospect of sharing his bathroom with the twins, but he also hadn’t said anything negative about having an en suite in his bedroom either.

“Oh. Well, I’ll just roll them up and wait.”

“Thanks,” I told him. Both girls were quiet and hungrily sucking on their bottles. Todd came back, now wearing a pair of pajama bottoms. I wasn’t sure where they’d come from, but obviously, they had been in the bathroom.

“Did you not need help?” Todd asked. He was looking at me where I was holding a bottle in each hand. It wasn’t ideal, but it was what I could do.

“Well, I’d love for you to take one and feed her.

These are their first bottles and diaper changes.

There are going to be lots of firsts, obviously, but she was hungry, so I went this route instead of making her wait.

But I would think you very much wanted to be in on all of this with the way you were talking leading up to their births. ”