Page 24 of Mated To The King’s Gamma (Lycan Luna: Abbie & Gannon #3)
Damian makes a noise I have never heard from a grown man before. It’s part rage, part panic, part trauma.
“Fucking hell,” he growls, grabbing another wipe and double-gloving his hands like he’s about to perform surgery when the kid springs a leak, a yellow fountain shoots up into the air and Damian rears back as his shirt is sprayed with pee. He growls.
“You clearly haven’t changed a diaper, gotta keep the fire hose covered!”
“I’ve changed his diaper before, I just never changed a…”
“A shitty one?” I offer. He glares at me, tossing a baby wipe over the boy so he isn’t sprayed again.
“You owe me for this,” Damian grits out, pointing at the boy who is happily eating his fist. Damian finally gets Hunter into a clean diaper.
“Yeah, yeah. You’ll get a medal,” I tease. “The Kingdom’s first Beta to survive a diaper change.”
Damian mutters something, but I pretend not to hear it.
Once Hunter is clean, Damian scoops him up and glares at me.
“I hate you.”
I grin. “No, you don’t.”
Damian exhales sharply, rubbing a hand down his face, before plopping down on the couch with Hunter in his lap.
He looks exhausted when he realizes he is still wearing the soiled shirt, he sniffs it and groans.
I move toward the dresser and grab him a shirt.
I toss it to him, and he lays Hunter across his lap while he quickly removes his shirt and replaces it.
Damian looks like he’s aged at least a decade in the past five minutes or maybe since Tandi arrived.
Hunter, on the other hand? Completely unfazed.
The kid coos up at him, drool trailing down his chin as if he hadn’t just unleashed hell into that last diaper.
Damian is still holding him, his hands awkwardly stiff as he adjusts the baby’s position every few seconds like he’s trying to find the least dangerous way to hold a child.
I slowly sip my coffee, enjoying this more than I probably should. “Relax, man. He’s not gonna explode.”
Damian side-eyes me hard. “You don’t know that. You didn’t just clean what came out of him.”
I snort. “It’s not gonna happen again that fast.”
At that exact moment, Hunter lets out a suspicious-sounding noise.
Damian freezes.
I swear to the Goddess, he stops breathing.
His entire body locks up, his eyes widening in absolute horror. He slowly looks down at Hunter, as if praying it was just a false alarm.
Then he lifts the kid slightly and sniffs the air.
I’ve never seen a man go from praying to the heavens to cursing his entire existence so fast.
Damian holds him up and sniffs the air, then relaxes and sets him back down. “False alarm,” he tells me.
Hours Later…
The girls have been gone for hours.
Hunter and Tyson? Still wide awake.
Damian? Hanging on by a thread.
We move to the living area, where Tyson is playing on the rug, babbling to himself while Hunter props against Damian’s chest, happily chewing on his fist.
Damian had attempted to get Hunter to sit up on his own, but the kid immediately collapsed like a sack of potatoes and just started wiggling on the floor like a stranded fish.
“Okay, how the hell do babies learn to do anything?” Damian grumbles, adjusting Hunter against his chest again. “This thing has no bones.”
I chuckle. “He’s learning to sit up. Takes time.”
Damian raises an eyebrow. “Tandi says he’s already crawling. I would not call that crawling.”
Hunter lets out a little squeal, kicking his feet against Damian’s stomach and twisting to look at Tyson, wanting to go back on the floor.
Damian looks down at him.
Hunter giggles.
Damian sets him down on the floor, sitting him up. “Fine but you better crawl this time.”
Hunter sits there, blinking.
Damian watches him. “Go on. Crawl.”
Hunter immediately flops onto his belly like a drunk man passing out after a tavern fight.
I wheeze. “Yeah, dude. That’s crawling.”
Damian stares at him like he just witnessed a personal betrayal. “That was not crawling.”
Tyson toddles over, watching Hunter intently before plopping down next to him. He pats Hunter’s back like he is trying to encourage him.
Damian groans, rubbing a hand down his face. “Goddess, help me.”
“You’re actually doing great,” I tell him, and I mean it. “Tandi and Hunter are lucky to have you.”
He snorts. “I don’t even know what the fuck I’m doing.”
“You don’t have to,” I tell him, watching as Hunter lets out a tiny yawn. “You just figure it out as you go.”
Damian sighs, gazing down at Hunter, and for a second, he softens.
“He’s… kinda cute,” he admits.
I smirk. “Yeah. Especially when he’s not shitting himself.”
Damian glares at me, but there’s actual warmth in his eyes now. I see it—the way he’s already attached to the kid. He just doesn’t want to admit it.
The same way I am to Tyson.
He’s going to be a great father.
If he survives the diapers.
“Who is watching them? I will mindlink them to tell them to try to hurry the girls along, I’m tired.”
“Dustin and Liam are watching the girls; they are fine. Just go to bed if you’re tired. They’ll make sure they get back to their rooms alright.”
The moment the words leave my mouth, I regret everything.
Damian stiffens. His entire body goes still.
I realize my mistake a second too late.
“What,” Damian says, his voice dangerously calm.
I clear my throat. “Uh…”
He sets his coffee down very slowly.
“Liam is watching them?”
“Yeah… but I mean, he’s just?—”
Damian stands so fast that he nearly topples over the coffee table.
“Liam?!” he roars. “The same Liam who fucked my mate?”
“Technically, she fucked him, she was the one on top,” I say before I can stop myself.
Damian turns murderous.
“Oh, fucking hell?—”
Before I can even blink, he storms out the door.
I look down at Hunter, who’s still lying on the floor, totally unfazed.
Tyson lets out a tiny huff, staring at the door.
I sigh, scooping up Hunter before Damian accidentally leaves him behind in his murderous rampage.
“Well, kid,” I mutter, “your mom’s about to get her ass dragged back home. Should be fun to watch.” I tell him when I notice Tyson crawling onto the couch.
“I’ll send Clarice to watch the kids. Get down here before I kill the bastard!” comes through Damian's mind link. Oh, shit.