Page 22 of The Baby Hex (Mori’s Mementos #2)

Pierce

I left Crilus to cool himself down and pulled back on my uniform before heading downstairs.

The scent of bacon, eggs, and other breakfasty foods wafted up the stairs.

The others were already gathered around the table partaking in the meal with the newest addition to Moonglow Cabin- Teddy Moonscale.

Son of Fred and Lotus Moonscale and one of the Moonscale dragons who flew off into outer space.

Only he hadn’t found his mate out there on the alien planets.

His true-mate was the heir of a jaguar pard that only recently started to allow contact with the outside world.

“Good morning,” Preston waved to me.

“Morning,” I smiled and nodded in his direction as I headed toward the freezer to grab a blood smoothie mix.

Drinking from the blood pouches always made me feel like a kid with a juice box.

Not to mention the pouches were translucent and most non-vampires didn’t want to eat while watching someone empty a literal blood bag.

At home I wouldn’t have bothered but now I had more reason than ever to consider how shifters felt about my habits.

Crilus.

His name circled around my thoughts as I ran the blender and tried to keep my fangs from elongating to a length that would draw attention from the others. They chatted about everything under the sun and skirted around the topic of Sharon Claudis.

“How long are you and Crilus going to hang around today?” Mori asked.

He had shot me eye daggers since I walked into the kitchen. He had an overbearing opinion on how quickly Crilus and I should’ve claimed each other.

“I believe we’re going to head to the bar to search out glass shards after breakfast,” I said, transferring the bloodshake from the blender to a tall glass.

“Teddy and I have a few errands to run,” he started but Preston kicked him under the table.

“What?” Mori said, drawing both of his feet up into the chair with him. If it hadn’t been made to hold a dragon’s weight, I’d have worried he’d break it or at the very least topple over backwards.

“I don’t need a babysitter. There are two guards outside. Besides, I have errands too.”

“What errands do you have?” Mori asked his brother.

I sipped my bloodshake, blissfully forgotten about for the moment.

The pair were still bickering when Crilus came back downstairs dressed in another long t-shirt and shorts that were barely visible beneath it.

His hair was tied back in a low ponytail.

He smelled clean but still horny. I took a long swallow of blood drink before his scent managed to wiggle deep into my chest and become impossible to ignore.

“What are they arguing over?” he said, making himself a plate and grabbing a second. “You have to eat something besides blood.”

“Are you planning to put me to work?” I arched a brow at him.

“Yes. In more ways than you know about. What’s up with those two?” he glanced over his shoulder at Preston and Mori. Their foreheads were pressed together silently but it smelled like one might pop the other one upside the head any second now.

“If Preston needs a babysitter or not. We’re the babysitters in question. I already told them we were headed to the bar and stuff.”

“Teddy, what are they arguing about?” Crilus asked Teddy heading towards the table with his plate in hand.

“The underlying argument is about whether or not we should kill Sharon Claudis,” Teddy shrugged.

Crilus opened his mouth and shut it again. I shrugged in his direction and took a bite of bacon. Perfectly crispy.

I’d spoken with the folks at the GGB about Sharon Claudis but she wasn’t in their territory when the events took place.

They’d take her in for questioning when she turned up back home but there was a search of our local area the night before that turned up nothing.

If Mori could find the window breaker and manage to off her, more power to him.

I probably could’ve ended the argument with that information, but no one bothered to ask me.

When omegas argued, I kept my nose out of it.

“Did you get a hold of her son?” Teddy said, breaking the silence.

“Yes,” Preston said. “Venal doesn’t know where his mother is.

She’s done this before when he was in high school and had a pregnancy scare with his then girlfriend.

She’s obsessed with the bloodline. He won’t practice magic with her, and she thinks she deserves a second chance.

His father left when he was an infant. Not her true-mate of course. ”

“Shit,” Teddy frowned. “Sounds like she just doesn’t want to be alone. If she wasn’t batshit, I’d say she needed to adopt a baby.”

“See, killing her isn’t necessary,” Preston groaned.

“She tried to kill you,” Mori countered.

“No, she didn’t. She just wants to scare me into coming to stay with her. It’s not working. When she realizes that, she’ll back off,” Preston sighed.

“No, she won’t,” Crilus shook his head. “That sort of crazy doesn’t back down.”

“I thought you were going to the bar?” Mori snapped at his cousin, and it took all my might to stay out of it.

“I’m having breakfast that MY dad cooked,” Crilus said.

I bit my lip and tasted blood. Preston met my gaze and flashed me an apologetic look. He hadn’t done anything wrong but he looked as if he had burnt Moonscale London to the ground and the remorse was eating him alive.

“Guys, Preston’s pregnant,” Teddy said, leaning back in his chair and stretching out his legs under the table. “Stop arguing around the pregnant man.”

“And with the pregnant man,” Preston added. “Crilus, do you think I could ride back to the city with you two?”

Crilus bit his lip, but I told Preston of course he could ride back with us before my mate said no. Sure, I wanted Crilus all to myself but Mori and Preston needed some time apart.

“And I’ll catch a ride back because it’s closer to the Other World gateway,” Creon announced. “Well, if you don’t mind.” He glanced at me for the last part.

“Not at all,” I smiled at my father-in-law.

It was going to be another long day.

***

Several hours later, after we’d driven back to London, seen Creon to the portal, and dropped Preston off at a bear-owned restaurant, Crilus and I finally arrived back at the Raven’s Perch.

Teal Moonscale must’ve spent countless hours here ensuring that every window was replaced and the wards put back up.

It looked almost as good as new except the lettering and decals were obviously missing.

Crilus stood akimbo in the middle of the street, frowning at the building as if it called his father a dirty name. He shook his head and then crossed his arms over his belly.

“It’ll be days before I can reopen. That damn lettering took me a week last time to get right and the guy who did the rest of the artwork isn’t even in London anymore,” he said, his brows knitting together.

“Do you want me to put my feelers out for an artist?” I asked, walking up and hugging him from behind.

A car slowed down to drive around us but since I was still in my uniform no horns were blown. I needed to change soon since I was technically on leave, but I wasn’t about to take off on Crilus when he was so damn crestfallen.

“How about we make a list,” I offered.

Crilus twisted around in my arms to face me.

“It’s so hard to think straight. It doesn’t help that this is all bullshit. All of it. This is not how to have a relationship with your grandkids. Though, I can’t speak. My grandma did kidnap me,” he sighed.

“Well, while my parents might watch the kids some weekends, as far as I know they have no desire to raise another kid. It took four rounds of IVF to conceive me.”

“I know how rare omega and omega conceptions are,” Crilus chuckled. “Both of my parents are omegas too. No IVF as far as I know. Good to know they won’t kidnap our kids, though.”

“How many kids do you want?” I asked.

His eyes lit up and he wrapped his arms around my neck before answering.

“I always used to say I wanted a houseful. That was before I really thought about it, though. I run a bar. I plan to keep running a bar.”

“As a Moonscale Guard I get great paternity leave,” I countered.

“So, what? You’re going to stay home with the kids?”

“Well, I can’t stay home and recover for you.

I also won’t be able to chest feed but yeah, I can stay home and take care of kids.

What? Do you think alphas can’t raise their own kids?

” I chuckled. “I enjoy my job. It’s a nice career.

Has a lot of good perks but it’s not really what I’d refer to as a calling.

It’s the job I got so everyone didn’t accuse me of being a lazy, rich vampire.

Plus, I’ve made some decent friends along the way. ”

“Are you a lazy, rich vampire?” Crilus smirked.

“I am. I am so lazy,” I nodded.

“I know. You want to stay home and nap with the kids all day. All six of them.”

“Yeah, but little Cryon is starting kindergarten soon and the twins are finally sleeping through the night. So things will get easier soon.”

“We’re not naming our kid that! It sounds like crayon. The kids at school will eat them up with a name like that.”

“Sweetheart, when our genetics blend up together our children will probably be more likely to eat them than vice versa.”

“Still, do you know what sort of stomachache that will give our kid?”

“Still, he’s starting kindergarten soon,” I teased and Crilus kissed me.

His lips brushed against mine and for a fraction of a second, the air caught in my lungs.

I breathed out into the kiss as his warm, moist tongue met mine.

I grabbed a handful of his round, muscular ass and a car horn startled us both apart.

I barely stopped the blood ball spell from splattering free of my fingertips.

It was Medwin Moonscale because of course it bloody was. Someone probably called and said one of his guards were making out in the middle of the street.