Page 23 of These Little Heirs (Moonscale Heirs Duet #2)

Chapter Twenty

Odie

While Teal ate three times his weight every day trying to regain his dragon’s composure and Ciro ran around trying to stop him from eating the bakeware, the rest of us went about setting up an actual nursery at the house.

Sure, Baby Robin was small enough to sleep in a bassinet in Ambry and Indigo’s room for now but soon Baby Steel would be here soon and the babies deserved a space all their own.

Plus, I didn’t trust fate to deliver the nursery stuff from Moonglow before my baby was born.

Fate had only been nice to me the day I met Cobalt.

So, its track record was cruel, and I’d build a thousand nurseries if that’s what I needed to do for Baby Steel and Baby Robin.

Slowly, Ambry and I were falling in love with the Heartville house.

It didn’t have the same privacy or remoteness of Moonglow and it didn’t have a nesting tower but there was something cozy about how every room smelled like our mates already.

It was also nice to have so much family close by in case something were to happen.

While Cobalt and Indigo worked on building a new nest, I rocked Baby Robin and Ambry talked on the phone to his dad who once again was assuring him it was okay for children to grow up and move away.

He also promised to come and visit a weekend every month after we were settled in.

We both breathed a sigh of relief as it became more and more apparent that he wasn’t upset with us for leaving.

“Has it occurred to you two that he has a life outside of you all?” Indigo asked when Ambry got off the phone.

“I’m not being an ass. I meant it literally and not just the store.

He probably has friends and maybe dates.

He does stuff. I don’t know what the stuff is, but he probably has hobbies too.

He wasn’t as young as you two were during the war and he had to find a way to make things work because he had to take care of you two and not lose his mind.

So, yeah, he misses you, but he has stuff too. ”

“Probably,” I said but bit my lip.

“Don’t worry,” Cobalt kissed my cheek. “It’s not that you don’t see him as a whole person. You do. He’s just mostly a dad. Also, Indigo isn’t that insightful. He stole that speech from our sire. He gave it to us when we moved into the guesthouse at Moonscale Manor and felt bad about leaving them.”

“We succeeded in raising you if you feel like you can make it on your own,” Indigo said, deepening his voice to sound more like Cade. “We’ll find out if we really did, if you don’t burn down the guesthouse.”

Both of the brothers laughed, and Ambry and I joined in.

The world was so much bigger than it had been before we met them.

It grew a little more every day. I slipped my fingers through Ambry’s and told him over our link that we’d be okay.

The kids too. London was preparing for another possible turbulent period, and it was best for us to be stateside for that.

I was too pregnant to fight or run. Hell, I was too pregnant to get my ass up off the sofa by myself most of the time.

That’s where having Indigo around in addition to Cobalt came in handy.

There was always a muscular dragon man who I trusted around to lift me up and get me moving.

Déjà vu.

That’s what happened next.

One second, I was reassuring Ambry that we’d be okay.

That Heartville could be the fresh start we probably needed years ago and the next the sofa was flooding.

For a moment, I thought I wet myself. The warm gush turning cold on my pants legs definitely felt like I’d wet myself.

It was only when Cobalt’s heart skipped a beat in time that I realized Baby Steel hadn’t bounced extra hard on my bladder.

Instead, he was preparing for his big debut into the world.

“Oh, my Juda and all his little babies,” I swore to myself.

“Fucking hell!” Indigo swore, dropping the blanket he was weaving into the nest.

“I’m going to bloody kill him, Indi. When he gets back, I’m going to take him limb from—” Cobalt growled.

“Who?!” I whimpered.

“Stop it! Whatever it is – stop it!” Ambry said, standing up, holding Baby Robin to his chest. “You’re scaring Odie. So unless whoever this is needs to be parted from their limbs this very second for safety one of you better tell Teal to---”

That’s when it hit both of us at the same time. Teal was back in London with Morvan. He hadn’t told either of his brothers that he was ready to go.

“Fucking hell!” Ambry swore under his breath before turning to me.

“It’s going to be alright. We’ll get you into the birth pool and go from there.

We got this and if we don’t there are so many healers and midwives and older omegas here that someone has this even if Teal is ---” He didn’t say what Teal was because Cade used his key on our front door and made his way down the hall.

I smelled him even before he showed up in the doorway of the nursery but pregnancy must’ve given me super smelling because Indigo shot off a long string of fire as Cobalt lifted me up off the sofa.

Cade had to block Indigo’s stream of fire with his forearm, causing big, shiny dragon scales to pop up across his skin.

“Sorry, I—” Indigo started but Cade shook his head.

“Don’t worry about it,” he glanced around the nursery. “I smelled all of you panic all the way from the damn house. Thought something---”

“Teal’s in London,” I announce. “He ran off and didn’t tell---”

“Shit,” Cade swore under his breath and walked up to Cobalt.

He took his face in his hands, trying to soothe the angry dragon inside his son.

“I need to go after Teal. There’s not enough time in the universe to explain.

Your carrier is on the way here. Just get him into the bath and calm down.

Everyone needs to calm down. If there are enough pieces of Teal left when I get back, you can have at him. ”

“What’s going on?” I asked but no one took the time to tell me why Teal might be in pieces.

Indigo swore under his breath and Cobalt carried me to the bathroom with the big tub we set aside for just this moment. Ambry followed on his heels and Indigo lingered to talk to Cade for a few seconds before sprinting to catch up with us.

“I’m calling your dad too,” he said to Ambry, pulling his phone out of his pocket as he spoke.

“What the hell is going on?” I asked again. “Did he go to kill Torvan?”

“No,” Cobalt said. “Stupid fucker went to save him.”

“That’s Teal for you, though,” I whispered as Ambry squeezed past Cobalt to open the door and turn on the lights.

Then in a blur my clothes were stolen, and the tub was filled with warm water.

Indigo dribbled in special drops that Dara had given us that made the water extra safe for the baby and the open wound my womb would be after giving birth.

Just because shifters had some healing speed didn’t mean we didn’t need to be careful.

“That’s how he is,” I whispered. “Morvan’s his friend and---”

I teared up as my back squeezed up tight and desperate to grab anything that might help, I grabbed a handful of Cobalt’s green hair. He yelled with me as I tugged his hair nearly sending us both over backward, but Indigo caught us both.

“Sorry! Sorry! So—Sorry!” I panted as the pain receded back into whatever hole it crawled out of.

“It’s okay,” Cobalt said, not even bothering to rub the back of his head. “It’s okay. Fuck Teal but it’s okay.”

“I’d do it for Ambry. If his dad went bad, I’d save him,” I said, trying not to cry but failing miserably.

Cobalt lifted me up into the water before stripping off his own clothes and joining me. He slid in behind me and reached around to gently wipe away my tears. Everything hurt and Cade thought Teal was going to die. What a fucking day for this baby to come into the world.

“I’m here,” Eston announced before walking into the room.

“Thank the old wolves that you chose the biggest bathroom. Otherwise we’d be squeezed.

Look, everyone is upset. Everyone is worried.

Believe me. I’m worried too. Teal is my kid but until this baby comes this is our focus.

This is what we have to do. Baby Steel can’t make choices for himself and Teal decided what he was going to do today.

Cade will bring him back but we have to bring Baby Steel into the world.

So save you’re anger until we know what’s going on.

Someone make sure the vacuumed sealed towels are ready.

I sent Dara a text to be ready in case we needed him.

He’ll probably drop by either way but I think we can handle this,” Eston said, his voice steady.

“The world isn’t ending. For this baby it’s only beginning. ”

Guardie’s tail thumped against the side of the tub. He didn’t know why everyone was so worked up but he knew that the puppy would be here soon.