by Honor James
I hope so, darling, he told her quietly with a smile, hugging her to him. Carrying Amy, he followed her to the kitchen and then passed the baby off to her mother. Sitting down where Talina told him to after seating his mate, Davyn leaned back in his chair.
Dahlia watched Aiden settling Tony and Lina settling Amy and smiled. They worked as a team and seemed to have it all worked out. “Seems as if you both have a serious system going on with how you deal with the babies. What’s your secret?”
Seating his mate, Aiden dropped a kiss to her lips before sitting and looking at Dahlia. “Trial and a lot of error,” he said honestly. “We had the basics, took a couple of classes to learn things like diaper changing and how to set a schedule and various techniques to calm and soothe as well as discipline,” he told her, passing his mate the platter of meat. “Then it was basically putting everything into practice.”
“Right, so we need to take some serious notes here so that we can be darn tootin’ sure that we don’t make some serious mistakes with our baby?” Dahlia knew how that sounded, but heck, any expectant parent would feel the same. “Then again, with our luck our child will likely be the exact opposite of your two little angels and we will have to learn a whole different skill set to deal with her.”
Aiden choked on a mouthful of water and coughed a few times to clear his throat. “Angels?” he squawked at her. “Dahlia, dear, you have no clue,” he said, shaking his head at her. “And don’t believe Talina and whatever she tells you. These two, while they are adorable and play it up for people, are little troublemakers just getting going.”
Dahlia laughed. “Oh they are little angels though. So sweet and so loving. Who wouldn’t think that you were little angels?” she asked the babies in question, reaching out to touch Tony’s chubby little hand and smiling when he grinned toothlessly at her.
Davyn watched everyone and knew that Aiden wasn’t lying. The little terrors had their moments. “Dahlia would love to babysit them one day soon,” he threw out with a grin at his mate. “She wants a little practice before we have ours.”
“I absolutely do.” Dahlia agreed readily. “I can’t wait to be able to have them to myself one day. Well mine and Davyn’s self, that is.” If that was even grammatically correct. “Anyway, basically we would love to take a day and sit for you guys if you would let us?”
“Hell yeah,” Aiden said and then winced before leaning down to rub his shin where Lina had kicked him. “Seriously, woman, that hurts.” He growled at her.
Chuckling, Davyn shook his head. “I think she was protesting the language and your rather obvious enthusiasm at the thought,” he pointed out with a grin at Talina.
“Exactly. He keeps forgetting that the babies can hear everything he says, and now that they are trying to learn how to speak he forgets that he has to guard his tongue or I’m going to tear it out if my babies’ first words are cuss words.” Lina was the last one to protest cussing, but at least she didn’t do it around her babies, ever.
“Babe, you do realize if it is a swear word it will likely be one they’ve picked up from your father’s guards when he is throwing them on the mats,” Aiden told her honestly, still rubbing his shin and moving his legs out of her way. “And you’re the one that insists we go so you can sit with the other women ogling the half-naked men.”
Lina sighed and winked at Aiden. “Only ogling you, darling. Looking at all the places that I’m going to have to kiss better, darling mine, and you know it.”
Dahlia couldn’t help but snicker and held up her hand. “Half-naked men? Where can I sign up?” she teased for Davyn’s benefit.
Shooting her a look, Davyn shook his head. “You do know I can kill a roomful of people in under two seconds flat, and you want to get me riled up like that?” He shook his head. “If you’re ogling anyone, it had better be me or while I’m not looking, female.”
“Considering that you are really and truly the one and only one that I want to see naked, I think that they are all safe,” she assured him happily. “But I would seriously love to see you handing their rear ends to them, darling mine.”
“More like Laighean would be handing everyone their butts again,” Aiden said, shaking his head. “He kicked Kat’s mates’ collective butts and made it look easy,” he told them. “Heck, he even went toe-to-toe with Talon and held his own, and that Dragon is bloody wily.”
“Oh wow.” Dahlia’s eyes were wide at that. “Holy moly, that’s…Wow, that’s crazy,” she admitted with a smile. “I still think that I would really, really love to see you half-naked and fighting with them. I love the way that you move,” she admitted.
“I’d like to see it, too, personally,” Aiden said with a grin. “I’ve heard myths about the Wraith and their fighting skills and abilities. I’d place money on you kicking Lee’s as—” He coughed. “Butt around the block a few times.” Shooting a grin at his mate, he dug into his food.
Lina frowned. “That’s right, keep those words to yourself.” She looked to her babies and smiled again. “But I would love to see that, too. I love to go and watch them. The men are all beautiful. Even if they are scarred they are all stunningly beautiful.” And more than one of them was scarred.
“It’s not an easy life some of us have lived,” Aiden pointed out to his mate with a grin. “Battle scars were a great way to pick up chicks when we were young and cocky. Then we all learned better and took life a little more seriously and focused on trying to find our bond-mates so we’d know true happiness and bliss.”
“Oh, darling, that’s a brilliant comeback.” Reaching out, she took his hand in hers and gave it a squeeze. “See why I love you so much, darling? It’s because you are the most brilliant man ever.” Looking to her babies, she rose. “All right, time for me to get a diaper change in.” She could scent the diaper from where she was. “Wanna pass her over?”
Davyn shifted and lifted up Amy to pass her over to her mother with a smile. “She’s not that bad, but her brother is definitely unloading,” he commented. Grinning at the look on Tony’s face, he shook his head and settled back in his seat. “That’s going to be a humdinger of a load.”
Lina laughed. “Then it’s a very good thing that I’m getting the first diaper and Aiden has to take the second one,” she teased. Winking at her bond-mate, she said, “I love you, honey.” She teased. “You see we have this rule. We alternate poopy diapers,” she explained to Dahlia and Davyn. “Now then, if you will excuse me?”
Groaning, Aiden got up and lifted his son and winced with a curled nose. “I was scammed in this deal. Every time she gets a poopy diaper it’s barely a smudge. Me?” He shook his head. “I get the full loads that usually involve a bath and detailing of the derriere. Be right back. Keep eating. In this house you eat when you can because you may end up with a kid in your lap and not another chance.”
Dahlia laughed when they both left the room. Smiling, she leaned into Davyn and looked up at him lovingly. “One day that will be us. Nearly a year and a half. Think that we should ensure that we have time to change those diapers from time to time as well?”
“I don’t know about that, love,” he said. “Tony’s smelled more than a little suspiciously rank,” he told her honestly. “But at least we can get practice on diapers with them I suppose, though I don’t think the Wraith likes the poopy diapers.” The beast was whipping around inside of him in agitation.
She giggled and shook her head. “Oh no, honey, if I have to do poopy diapers, then so do you. We should get used to them now, darling, so that when our little Wraith is born we will be able to handle the diapers without worry of tossing our cookies on our little girl.”
“Somehow I have a feeling you’re going to have the steel stomach with that one,” he muttered. “Which is seriously depressing. I cut people open and muck around in their innards, and yet a diaper is getting me?” That was really not cool.
“Well, darling, you and I both know that is just kinda the way that it is. Mucking about in a p
erson’s innards is one thing. Changing what comes out of said body is something totally different.” She shuddered. “Yeah, that’s so not cool,” she grumbled.
Chuckling, he shrugged. “We’ll figure it out,” he told her honestly. Figuring he should eat since Aiden had told them they should, he dug into the meal again. Looking to her, he smiled. “We’ll be just fine, Dahlia. We have lots of time to prepare and practice.”
“I know,” she sighed. “I’m just worried,” she admitted to him. “I totally want to take some classes. I want to read some books. I want to practice with babies, and if we have to get us one of those real-life baby dolls and practice with her, one way or another we will be ready when our baby girl comes.”
Reaching over, Davyn took her hand and squeezed it. “We’ll do whatever we need to do, darling. If you want to take classes, we’ll take them all. If you want books, we’ll buy them all. I’m with you fully, darling,” he promised softly.
“Thank you for that, honey. I’m so very happy that you are mine and that you understand me as well as you do.” She wasn’t sure that anyone else would ever understand her like Davyn did. “I love you, honey. I love our child already, too.”
“Good.” He smiled at her and looked up as Aiden returned with a much happier Anthony, Lina and Amy on his heels. “You survived, I see,” Davyn teased with a grin.
“Barely,” Aiden said, shaking his head as he deposited his son carefully back into his chair at the table. “This boy has some serious power when he decides to fill a diaper,” he muttered, dropping into his own seat.
Dahlia grinned and looked at the proud look on Tony’s face. “Yeah, well, he seems to be very proud of himself.” Reaching out, she touched the child’s hand and grinned. “It’s okay. Tony, your daddy loves you like crazy, my little man, but I’m sure that he’s going to be ever so happy when he’s able to start potty training you.”
“You have no idea,” Aiden muttered as he dug into his dinner again.
Chuckling at that, Davyn took Amy when Lina offered her to him and smiled at the little girl when she wrapped her pudgy little arms around his neck. “You smell very fresh and clean, my dear,” he murmured against her cheek.
“I think at times she only goes poop when her brother does as well,” Lina said as she took her seat beside Aiden. “But then again there are other times that she’s totally ripe. Today wasn’t one of those though, which is why I go back to my initial statement. I think she sometimes forces herself to go poo.”
“She just wants that extra bit of attention,” Davyn said and looked to Aiden. “I’m betting it’s on your shift to do the poopy diapers.” He grinned when the other man shot his daughter a suspicious look. “She adores her father. Any little extra time she can gain is likely a plus, and since she knows how long you spend on Anthony’s when it’s your turn she has it all figured out.”
Lina laughed at that and shook her head. “I never would have figured that one.” It was generally on Aiden’s turns that Amy normally had just little smudges in her diaper. “That’s just too cute.”
“She doesn’t have to do that,” Aiden said, reaching over to stroke Amy’s soft hair. “She knows I’ll always spend time with her no matter what the circumstances.”
“She does know that,” Davyn murmured. “You give her everything, but she still likes a little time just with her father.” Feeling Dahlia’s eyes on him, he grinned. “The Wraith is feeding me all this. He’s very enamored with little Amelia.”
“Ah, well I can certainly understand that. She’s a beautiful child and so completely pure and innocent.” Everyone was more than a little enamored with the babies. “It does make an odd sort of sense as well. She’s totally her father’s daughter and sometimes she just wants him all to herself. I’m sure that little Tony does the same, and I’m sure she does it to her mother as well,” Dahlia supposed aloud.
“I’ve actually seen Tony push his sister behind a piece of furniture if he spots me coming before she does,” Aiden said with a grin. “Then he’ll rush over and insist I pick him up while yapping a mile a minute in the hopes, I think, that I won’t notice when Amy spots me and toddles over.”
Dahlia snickered. “Oh lord, that’s brilliant.” She looked over at Tony and leaned closer so that she could brush her lips to his head. “I think that you are utterly handsome, little guy, and if you ever need some additional cuddling I would totally volunteer.”
Everyone laughed when he threw out his arms at her. “I think there’s your answer, babe,” Davyn said with a chuckle. “He’s wanting some extra loving from you, and now that you offered, you are going to give it to him.”
Chapter Fourteen
Dahlia pushed her plate from her and moved slightly so that she could pull little Tony from his chair. Smiling, she hugged him close, nuzzling his throat and breathing in the scent of baby. “I love you, little Tony. You are truly an amazing little boy, sweet.”
“He’s also got it figured out how to play the ladies,” Aiden said quietly with a grin. “He knows just how to get what he wants out of his mother and pretty much any other woman that comes within his sphere of influence.”
“Well that’s because he’s such a little sweetie. No woman in her right mind could ever refuse these beautiful big blue eyes,” Dahlia teased with a smile. “Just as your sister can play up all the men in her life, you, my darling boy, can play up all the women. It is as it should be.”
“You do have to wonder what they’re going to be like when they hit their teens,” Davyn said with a grin at the low menacing sound from the Dragon. “I’ll bet there will be some interesting days then.” He chuckled as the growl really got nasty.
Dahlia couldn’t help but grin at that and shook her head. “Oh boy. I have a feeling that there will be more than a little heartbreak that these wee ones will cause.” And have done to them, but that was all a part of it, too. “But they will always have family and friends that love them for who they are around them all their lives.”
“You two do realize you’ll be facing the same thing when you have kids right?” Aiden pointed out. “And we will be there to ensure you remember just how unhelpful you were with pointing out the obvious to us.”
Dahlia laughed. “Yeah, but we won’t have to worry about that for a year and a half. In that time we will be able to learn from all of your mistakes,” she teased. “But in all reality”—she sobered—“I know that we will make mistakes and have our own trials with our child just as you will. It’s simply the way it should be with being a parent, right?”
“Absolutely.” Aiden nodded. “Trust me, if these two don’t require therapy by the time they are five I figure I’ve done pretty good. Though if Jackie keeps up her new rant I may have to do something that will require them serious therapy.” Damned female thought she’d beat him. Didn’t matter she’d used his own daughter to distract him.
Dahlia was the one who asked, “What do you mean? Why in the world would Jackie be ranting about how you are raising the babies?” She pulled Tony closer and began to rub his back, giving him love while the little guy began to droop off and into sleep.
“Oh it’s not about the babies,” Aiden said and made a face. “We were playing another of the video games, and she used Amelia to distract me so she could beat me. But when she tells the story and goes on about her prowess, she leaves that part out. She always leaves the actual facts out of the story, and since I promised my brother I wouldn’t crush her into dust I’m having to play nice.”
She snickered and shook her head. “Honestly I think that Jackie would appreciate it far more if you were to give it your all. No more babying. Just hand her her rear on a platter.” She kissed Tony’s little head and added, “I’ve met Jackie and she seems to be one of those women who appreciate honesty more than anything else.”
“I was doing that until she cheated and distracted me,” Aiden said, stabbing some vegetables off his plate. “The woman hates losing and will do anything to ensure that she wi
ns, anyway she can,” he told Dahlia with a grin. “But I have a plan to show her up, as long as I can talk her into playing the next round at her place.”
“Oh good heavens, you are going to use her babies against her, too, aren’t you? That’s very naughty, Aiden, very,” she teased. “But I totally get it, too. It would even the battlefield, so to speak.” She looked to Davyn and with a grin added, “We so need to be there. I would love to see this one.”
“I would never use her children against her,” Aiden said with a glower to her. “Her mate”—he shrugged and grinned evilly—“entirely different matter. Besides, he’s all for setting her back on her heels a little and in for this job.”
“Oh good heavens, that poor woman.” Dahlia shook her head and snickered. “I want to be there, with popcorn.” She looked to Davyn. “Think we can, honey? Don’t you think that it would be a great deal of fun to watch?”
“Hey yeah.” Aiden shot him a speculative look that had Davyn worried. “You could be my inside man.”
Snorting, Davyn shot everyone a look, including Lina, who had a “don’t look to me for help” look on her face. “We can go, but I definitely can’t promise to stay in the same room. Competition of any sort gets the Wraith riled up. The more intense and serious it is the more it works him into a froth. As to being an inside anything, highly doubtful. I can likely give you a bit of an edge to start, but once it gets really going I’ll have to go hang out in an entirely different room.”
It was Lina that spoke up. “What do you mean? Why in the world would you have to be in a different room? I thought that all you guys liked to compete? Isn’t it in your blood or something silly like that?” Men loved to compete. Lina had grown up around competing men all her life and was in a profession with them as well.
