Page 53

Ezra

Even though Ezra hadn’t gone any farther than the dining room, had set up a nanny cam to stream to his phone, and had made sure that Buttons was keeping a close watch in his stead, the wash of relief upon returning to his bedroom and finding all three eggs were right where he’d left them in their bassinet was next-level amazing.

He didn’t like being away from them, no matter how briefly.

Jude had warned him it might be like this—he’d gone through something similar while nesting with his clutch—but nothing he’d said could have prepared Ezra for such intensity.

If anyone— anyone —were to touch his eggs or, hell, even get too close, he didn’t know what would happen.

When it came to their safety and well-being, it was like the chill side of his mind switched off, and the homicidal side switched on.

He’d never been prone to angry outbursts, but now all bets were off.

Even the slightest provocation would get him going.

Annoyingly, that also meant that when the eggs were out of eyeshot, he was worried about them constantly. Being half lizard was a trip.

But right now, it was the full lizard lying face down the wrong way on his bed he was the most worried about.

“Hey,” he said, just in case Titan hadn’t heard him enter. “It’s just me. No one else is here. You don’t have to get up or anything.”

Titan mumbled something unintelligible into the mound of blankets he’d gathered as an improvised pillow.

His feet—bare, thank god—were pressed against the headboard, the actual pillows there acting like tiny ankle blankets.

Buttons rounded out the rest. Never one to turn down a comfortable, warm place to sit, she’d assumed loaf form on Titan’s butt and was using the extra elevation to better watch the eggs.

Ezra approached and held out his hand for her to sniff, which he was pretty sure was the polite way to say hello in cat. “Thanks for keeping an eye on the omelets.”

“I do not understand why you refer to them as omelets,” Titan said, voice muffled by the blankets as he continued to lie face down on the mattress. “Do you wish to eat our offspring?”

“Yes, I forgot to mention, I’m part human, part Darvrokian, and then also part Donnerpartyan.”

Titan lifted his head just enough to raise an eyebrow.

“Donnerpartyan?”

“Yeah, it’s this alien species made of cannibals. There aren’t many of us left, mostly because we keep eating each other.”

The corner of Titan’s mouth twitched. “I do not know about this. Are you sure you are not mistaken? I am very wise and know many things, yet I have not heard of this alien species.”

“Hm, well, maybe you aren’t as wise and knowledgeable as you think.”

“Perhaps this is true. Do you think if we told my father this, he would cease having high expectations of me?”

“I think that in order for your father to stop having high, or rather, unreasonable expectations of you, he would first need to accept that he isn’t as wise and knowledgeable as he thinks.”

“Ah, so he will never cease having these expectations, then? Unfortunate.” Titan face-planted back into the blankets, causing Buttons to be jostled. She mewed in protest, bu t the crime had already been done.

“For what it’s worth,” Ezra said, rubbing Titan’s back, “your dad did look stunned right after you stormed off. Like, full-on bulging eyes and mouth agape sort of stunned. Like you took a shit on his plate or something.”

“I do not enjoy this analogy.”

“Sorry.”

Sighing, Titan rolled over onto his back, causing Buttons to leap off the bed entirely with a disgruntled meow.

Titan peeked over the edge and mumbled an apology to her, which she did not acknowledge.

To further cement her displeasure, she turned her back on him and took to licking her paw.

Seeing that he’d been shunned, Titan rolled onto his back once more and gazed up at Ezra, looking more miserable than Ezra had ever seen him before.

“If my father does indeed decide to fire me from my ambassador duties,” he said, “I will do what I said and stay here with you on Earth, but it will mean that he is unlikely to provide us with the customary financial assistance that comes with the birth of offspring.”

“Oh no, I guess we’ll just have to make do with the insane salary I get paid by the government, and continue living in this shabby old multimillion-dollar mansion,” Ezra deadpanned.

Titan narrowed his eyes. “You are being facetious.”

“Yeah, because you are being stupid. I don’t give a fuck about money, man.

Even if we weren’t rich, I still wouldn’t care.

There’s a long-ass list of things I value a whole lot more than a thick wallet, and moral integrity is one of them.

Besides”—he leaned down and planted a kiss on Titan’s lips—“I think you’d look cute in a McDonald’s uniform.

You know, if we were ever strapped for cash. ”

Titan searched his eyes for a long enough moment that Ezra started to feel bashful under his scrutiny. He looked away with a self-conscious laugh and asked, “What? ”

“I have sorries in regards to my parents’ behavior, my father’s in particular… but you do know that what I said was truthful, yes? That regardless of their opinion, I have chosen?—”

“Yeah, of course, man, I know,” Ezra said quickly. Suddenly antsy, he got to his feet and took the few steps to the bassinet. “And you don’t have to apologize. You haven’t done anything wrong.”

“Do you have certainty? Because I have concern that perhaps my father’s disapproval is more impactful than you are leading me to believe, and I do not have desire for you to hide your emotions from me.

I have desire to assist you with your feelings the way that you assist me.

This is what beings do when they have love for one another. ”

“I told you before that you have nothing to worry about when it comes to me,” Ezra said as reassuringly as he could, but he was distracted. The human side of his brain felt like it was switching off, but not for any homicidal reasons. Anxiety was creeping in. Anxiety and?—

One of the eggs wiggled, and a razor-thin crack appeared on the shell.

“Oh, holy shit,” he breathed. “Titan, get over here! I think the eggs are starting to hatch!”

Titan was off the bed and by Ezra’s side in an instant. He leaned over the bassinet and examined the clutch, eyes narrowed in concentration. “Your assumption appears to be correct. Beyond the obvious crack in the middle egg, there are microfractures on all three.”

The reality of the situation was like a gut punch.

He had known, abstractly, that the eggs were going to hatch soon, but “soon” had never felt too scary, because it had never meant “now.” It had been easy to wave it off as an eventuality, but not anymore.

Faced with the impending birth of his children, Ezra’s cool and collected demeanor took a trip out the nearest window.

Adrenaline jolted through him like he’d fallen bare-botto med and ass-first into a pit of primed EpiPens.

“What do we do now?” he asked nervously, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Titan smiled gently and gathered Ezra into his arms.

“We wait,” he said, voice full of the patience Ezra was struggling to find.

“Just wait?”

“Just wait.”

They swayed gently together, both staring down at their little clutch. Now that he was paying closer attention, it was clear all three eggs were trembling intermittently, each set of twins trying their hardest to break through the casing keeping them from the outside world.

It was almost time.

Ezra leaned into Titan and took a deep, soothing breath.

“All right,” he said. “I trust you. Let’s hunker down and wait.”