Page 57 of Knot Our Reality (Heated #5)

Alexei

I run my hand over my face, trying to keep my cool—which is a lot harder than I’d like to admit.

“Lexi?” Jasper tugs on my hand. He’s been struggling to pronounce both mine and my brother’s names, so he’s given us nicknames. I don’t even mind it, and it’s so much fun to see him call my brother Nik.

Nikolai has never liked it when others shortened his name, but he almost melted the first time Jasper called him Nik.

“Yes, Jasper?”

“How much longer? I’m sleepy.” Jasper rubs his eyes.

I run a hand through his hair as I glance at the clock. It was just after midnight when Emilia told us it was time to go to the hospital.

We debated on whether to bring the boys or not, but I know I’d want to be here if I were them. Both of them have been dozing off over the last five hours, but they haven’t really been able to sleep. None of us have been able to.

We’re at the Palm Springs Medical Center, as it’s the closest hospital to the compound, and their delivery rooms are set up for pack deliveries.

Unfortunately, there’s only enough room for four members of the pack while the others can watch from the attached viewing room.

Emilia informed us that none of us would watch from the viewing room.

She didn’t want any of us traumatized by watching her push out a baby—especially not Hawk and Jasper .

When we argued that the four in the room would get to watch, she put her foot down and told them they had to stay above her waist. None of us really wanted to argue with her. We just wanted to be there for the birth of the baby.

Her only request was that Camden join her, leaving us to decide on who else would be in the room.

I was a little worried that a fight would break out between the alphas with all the posturing they were doing. Ian, Gavin, and I took ourselves out of the running immediately. Again, it’s not because we don’t want to be there, but a beta’s instincts are completely different from an alpha’s.

In the end, we decided that Nikolai, Dylan, and Maverick would also join her and Camden.

Nikolai, because we were all pretty sure he’d rip apart the hospital to get to Emilia if we denied him access to her.

Dylan and Maverick were chosen because they’re calmer and more laid back.

We thought their presence would help soothe Nikolai’s rougher edges.

Gavin and I have been sitting with Hawk and Jasper while Ian tries to keep the alphas of our pack calm. Bree, Sophia, Evangeline, and Remington have been helping him since they arrived about an hour after us.

About once an hour, Maverick or Dylan will come out to update us since neither Camden nor Nikolai will leave her side.

But it’s been nearly two hours since we’ve been updated, and I’m getting worried.

“I do not know, Jasper. Babies come when they come. Hard to predict.”

He nods solemnly as Hawk sighs. “Come curl up with me, Jas. You can take a nap, and I’ll wake you when the baby comes.”

Jasper jumps out of his seat beside me and climbs into his brother’s. He’s out as soon as his head is on Hawk’s shoulders.

Standing, I stretch to get the kinks out of my body. I’m used to sitting for hours, but in a much better chair than this one.

I drop into the chair on the other side of Hawk and Jasper.

“Thank you,” Hawk says quietly.

I frown. “For what? ”

“For helping take care of Jasper. For loving my mom.” He shakes his head. “I’m glad my mom found you and the others.”

“You and me both, synok ,” I tell him, my eyes finding the clock once more.

Hawk’s eyes narrow as I wonder why there have been no updates.

“What does that mean?”

I sigh as my eyes meet his, bracing because I have no idea how he’ll react. “It means son.”

His mouth turns up at the corner for a moment as his eyes grow heavy. He’s fighting a losing battle against sleep now that he’s no longer worried about Jasper.

“I like that.”

Pride fills my chest.

I like it, too.

I must have nodded off at some point because the next thing I know, Gavin is shaking me and the boys awake.

My head snaps up to find Maverick and Dylan hurrying over with huge smiles on their faces. “Both Emilia and the baby are doing well. They’re getting her set up in a private pack suite now, but they’ll come and get us in just a minute.”

“Mommy is fine?” Jasper asks, wiping the sleep from his eyes.

“Your mommy is a rockstar,” Dylan tells him. “And your baby brother is the cutest thing I’ve ever seen. He looks like an angry old man.”

Jasper wrinkles his nose. “That’s cute?”

I chuckle, wrapping my arm around his shoulders. “We see soon. Speaking of brothers, where is mine?”

“He and Camden refuse to leave our omega alone.” Maverick rolls his eyes. “Not that I was planning to ask Camden to leave. Emilia said this delivery hurt less than the last two. In fact, she told me to tell Remy just that.”

“I’m here,” he says, blinking and shaking his head as he tries to wake up. “Does she think it has something to do with them being an omega pair? She must or she wouldn’t have mentioned it. I’ll have to look into it.”

“Emilia Reinhardt’s pack?” A nurse stands in the doorway, smiling when our heads swing toward her.

“Good, I’m in the right place. There are a lot of you here, and while the suite is big, we ask that only mates and children come back right now.

We’ll make sure the rest of you get to meet the baby soon. ”

A few minutes later, we arrive in her suite, finding her and Camden sharing the bed while Nikolai sits in a chair next to them, holding the baby.

“Brother?” Jasper asks, and the three of them look up.

Emilia looks exhausted, but she beams when she sees us. “You’re here. Hawk and Jasper, come give Mommy a kiss and meet your baby brother.”

Jasper glances up at me, and I pick him up and walk him over to the bed. I deposit him beside Emilia, who he promptly kisses before turning to Nikolai. “I see, please.”

“I’m glad you’re okay, Mom.” Hawk climbs up beside his brother, snuggling into Emilia after he kisses her.

We all get a chance to meet the baby, holding him for a few minutes before passing him on.

“What’s my brother’s name?” Jasper asks as Camden hands Emilia the baby.

I freeze.

Have we even talked about this? Has anyone asked Emilia if she knows what she plans to call him?

Fuck.

Did we already fuck this up?

“I have an idea, but I want to see what all of you think first. How does the name Beau sound? ”

Camden lays his head on her shoulder. “Spelled B-o or B-e-a-u?”

“B-e-a-u.”

“I like it,” he says.

It doesn’t take long for us to come to the consensus that we all love it.

“Beau Reinhardt has a nice ring to it,” Wilder says, his smile growing when Emilia frowns.

“Do you not want him to have the pack’s last name?”

Dalton chuckles. “Of course we do, sugar. Just like we want to share a pack name with you, Hawk, and Jasper.”

“I don’t understand.”

Nikolai frowns alongside her. “You wish us to take Emilia’s last name?”

“ Da ,” I confirm. “We talk during labor. Good way to honor Emilia’s first pack. Boys do not change last name, but we all share.”

“Ahhh, da .” Nikolai nods. “I like.”

Tears fill Emilia’s eyes as she glances around the room. “Really? This is what you all want?”

“What we want is you.” Gavin leans over Camden so he can kiss her forehead and then Beau’s.

“I think they’d really like that,” she finally says, snuggling Beau closer to her.

Hawk and Jasper are half asleep on the bed, so I pick up Jasper and carry him into the other room where a pack-sized bed is set up. I lay him down gently seconds before Nikolai comes in with Hawk.

Once they’re both settled, Nikolai hugs me. “We are fathers.”

“We are,” I agree. “To three boys.”

He nods. “It was good idea to take their last name.”

“We thought so.” I grin when he rolls his eyes. “Did you ever think we would find this?”

Nikolai considers me for a moment before nodding. “I did. I hoped.”

“As did I. Let us leave them to sleep. I must kiss my omega.”

We both rush for the door, but he pushes me into the door frame and makes it to our mate first.

Asshole .

He’s lucky I love him, although, if he keeps testing me, he will find out that I love her a hell of a lot more than I do him.

Giving him a moment with her, I look around at our pack, and I realize these are the people I will spend the rest of my life with. Some of them as friends, but others as so much more.

Now, all we need to do is get the custody case taken care of so we can begin our lives together.