Page 11 of The Ruby Dragon’s Unconventional Mate (Oro Escondido #3)

Lars started putting plates together as he pondered. He even managed to get pancakes on two of them before Logan called for him.

Uncle Lars. You have two nephews to meet. Can you come up?

Could he come up? Bah. It was his honor and blessing. “I have to go and meet the new babies. I’ll be right back.”

Before he went, he stopped. “You know what, I’d better put together a couple of bottles…”

Because if these two were anything like the other two, bottles would be absolutely necessary. Ari and Mari had been hungry from the beginning.

“Good idea,” Bryant agreed, and Samuel started putting the bottles together for him, as he snarfed down half a pancake. “Are you excited, Uncle Lars?”

“I’m always excited to meet new friends and family.” He glanced at the girls, who were watching him suspiciously. “When you’ve eaten, should I bring you up to see your da and meet the babies? After pancakes?”

Mari shook her head, and Ari nodded.

“Excellent.” It was going to happen regardless, and he wasn’t sure they quite understood babies or what nodding meant.

He took the bottles upstairs. Sally, the midwife, was heading out with a relieved smile on her face. “That was a good result.”

“Yeah, we were a little worried,” he admitted.

“All of us were.” She held his gaze. “I’m of the opinion that four is a good number.”

Lars nodded. He got it. They couldn’t risk Dakota. “Personally, I think four is a great number. Two boys, two girls, it’s perfect.”

He gave her a gentle hug of thanks for all her work, then went in. Simon immediately handed him one of the two babies and took a bottle. Logan was holding Dakota and rocking him, the waves of relief pouring off his brother almost nauseating.

“And who is this?”

“That beautiful one’s Laramie. The other one is Bellamy.”

“Bellamy came first.” Logan cleared his throat, but tears were streaking his cheeks. “Laramie is the little brother. We couldn’t think of a better name for a little brother.”

Lars beamed at his big brother, honored beyond reason. He rocked little Laramie, gently popping the nipple in his mouth before he could start to cry. “Well, hello, my little namesake. Aren’t you tiny.”

Simon chuckled softly and shook his head. “Yes, and his brother’s a bruiser. Laramie is teeny.”

“Beautiful. You’ll be fine. Some of us are the best when we’re little and sleek and quick. You don’t worry your little head about it.”

“They’re both here and whole. That’s what I needed.” Dakota glanced over at him, obviously so tired. “That was scary.”

“I agree, I don’t think we should do that anymore.” They couldn’t afford to lose Dakota. Not now, not ever.

Dakota was Logan’s soul, Logan’s heartbeat. And these babies needed him.

“No, I think that four babies is a good amount of babies. Logan, we’ve talked about it before this, but now?” Dakota hid his face in Logan’s chest and sobbed.

“Hey! You have a nice-sized family here. Ari and Mari are downstairs with the others. You should see them. They’re flying around the kitchen with Lachlan.”

Logan stared at him, wide-eyed.

“Not literally! They’re just waiting for food.” Like Lachlan would have room to fly in here.

Simon nodded. “Something smells good down there.”

“Bryant’s making pancakes and bacon. Everything’s okay.

The babies are here. You’re all right, and I’ll stay for a couple of days to help take care of the girls.

I might be able to convince Lachlan to be here and take care of the girls with me and Bryant, and we’ll just all stay.

I’m not sure the girls would be unhappy just hanging with Uncle Lachlan for however long. We will?—”

Dakota stared at him, wide-eyed. “Uncle Lachlan? You and Bryan? What did I miss? How much? How long was I in labor?”

“Seven or eight seconds,” he teased, and Simon chuckled.

“What did I say? I told you both everything would be fine. Now our family is complete and solid.”

The pull on the bottle grew stronger. “And hungry.”

Lars rocked and fed, his heart full. Bellamy was gold like his father, but little Laramie looked just like him—sleek and small and silver.

“They’re amazing,” Simon murmured.

“They are. Did you want to go get some food?” Lars winked at him.

Simon chuckled. “As soon as these bottles are empty, we’ll both go and leave Logan and Dakota to rest together.”

“Sounds great.”

“I’ll bring you both up a plate of food.”

“No bacon for me,” Dakota said. “Just the sugar.”

“I want all the things,” Logan growled.

The sound made the babies hum with happiness, the noise thrumming along his brain stem. Wow. That was some magical power.

“I’ll bring you a full compliment.” He felt the last pull on the bottle, and he knew it was time to start burping. Simon did the same, patting little Bellamy’s back.

“Thanks, brother. So you and Bryant, huh?”

“He called me right after I came over here. He must have heard me.”

“Like you heard him when Lachlan had an issue, huh?” Logan exchanged glances with Dakota.

“Okay, stop it. Just because you two are deliriously happy, that doesn’t mean I’m all mated.”

“Sure.” Logan chuckled. “Go on. Go finish eating.”

Laramie burped like a trucker, and Bellamy peeped out a dainty “bip”, and they were able to swaddle them and put them down.

“Come on, Simon. Bryant is a pancake-making machine.”

“Yum.” Simon walked down the stairs with him. “Get them to stay, Lars. Dakota needs the help. We nearly lost him.”

Lars felt his chest seize up some. “No. We can’t have that. I’ll get them to hang out, and then I’ll call Mari and Amber, too. We can all work out a rotation.”

“Thank you, Lars. You’re amazing.”

“I’m not sure about that, but I try.”

“It smells so good.”

“Hey! How’s it going up there?” Bryant asked when they came into the kitchen.

Simon looked at the two girls, who were now in the front room with Lachlan. “It was touch and go for a bit. But they have two gorgeous baby boys.”

“Once everyone up there has had a rest, I bet we all get to meet them.” Simon looked at the pancake pan.

“There’s more batter.” Bryant dropped two more pancakes.

“Thank you. I’d like to take some up to Logan and Dakota, too.”

“There’s a stack of them in the microwave, and the bacon is in there too.”

“Thank you.” Simon beamed at Bryant. “I really appreciate it.”

“You were a little busy.”

One of Logan’s mountain lions walked by, sniffing the air, so Lars fed her a piece of bacon. Slippy had decided to stay at home. Kitty golf annoyed him a bit.

They all sat to eat, and Samuel came over with little Grant, who had awakened and demanded “cancakes”. So dear.

They felt like…well, Bryant and Lachlan felt like family. Already. It was amazing, and he wanted to crow about it, but he just kept it to himself.

He would hold this one in just for a while and treasure it. The babies were the most important thing.

His weird emotional baggage could wait.