by Honor James
Maya snorted but tears continued to roll down her cheeks. Leaning in, she brushed a kiss to the plastic dome covering their son’s head. “All right, take me to our room, honey, so that I can sleep.” She was barely able to stand as it was. Even with all the pain that Quincy took from her, her body was still reminding her of the stress it had just gone through.
Gently withdrawing his hand from the baby cube, he held her to him. “Come on, love, let’s get you into the bed next door and then you can sleep.” He would be hunting down an aspirin pretty shortly thereafter. His head was pounding with every beat of his heart.
Sensing his headache through their bond, she said, “How about you get me into bed and then get something for your headache and crawl into bed with me?” The beds were big enough that they should be able to squeeze in together, she hoped. “We should be able to get in there together, right?”
“We should, darling, just don’t tell your doctor.” Pressing a kiss to her temple, Quincy took her hand and helped her move toward the other room. Stopping next to the bed, he pulled the blankets back. “In you get, love. I’m going to go and rob a pharmacy and then I will come and lie down with you.”
“Sounds good to me.” Maya curled up on her side in the bed and hugged one of the extra pillows while waiting. Fighting sleep, she didn’t close her eyes until she felt Quincy back in the room with her. “The Guards will ensure that he’s safe, right?” She was worried for their son, but knew that the Guards would ensure his safety as the Heir to the Magic Users’ Throne.
“They are watching over him closely, love,” he promised quietly. Getting rid of his jacket and boots, Quincy eased onto the bed at her back and lay down. Letting out a groan of exhaustion, he carefully slipped his arms around her. “I love you, Maya,” he said as he pressed a kiss to her neck. “You were fucking awesome, babe.”
“And you were even more so,” she replied with a smile. “I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you,” she confessed. “I was at my breaking point. At my limit,” she whispered softly. “God, I’m so thankful to have you, that you were there. I love you, Q. Never ever doubt that.”
“You can make it up to me later,” he said with a grin against her neck. “I was just trying to help you, sugar. I didn’t honestly know what I was doing, just that I had to do something.” A lot of his magic worked that way, pure instinct and a feeling in his gut.
“Well I’m happy that you were able to do it.” Maya yawned. “I need sleep, darling,” she whispered. “I love you, honey, but I truly need a nap, my love. Let’s sleep for a bit, darling, and then we will go and spend some time with our son. Hopefully they will let us feed him.” She wanted and needed to hold their son. “Rest well, Quincy,” she whispered and dropped off to sleep.
“Sleep well, sugar,” he murmured quietly to her, tucking the blankets up around her more. Laying his head down behind hers, he closed his eyes and relaxed a little at a time until he drifted off.
Chapter Sixteen
“Uh, I don’t think I have this right,” he muttered, staring down at his son and the diaper that didn’t look like the diagram or how the dirty one had been before he pulled it off. Sighing, he looked to Maya, who was talking to the doctor. “I can figure this out,” Quincy told their son as he undid it and started again. Seriously, shouldn’t they have supervision for first timers?
Maya turned from the doctor and approached Quincy. She grinned as she watched her son watching his father with intense concentration. “Are you having issues, Q?” she asked with a smile and moved to put her hand down on their son’s little head, stroking his hair gently. “Hey, my little man,” she murmured softly before looking to Quincy. “All right, do you want me to show you again?”
“No, gosh darn it all,” he muttered with a snapped-out curse. “I can hack the Pentagon, the FBI, Interpol, the CIA, and the DEA all without breaking a sweat while working on my Rubik’s Cube one-handed. I can bloody well conquer a flipping diaper.” A few more curse words were added vehemently.
Maya grinned and looked down at her son, who was watching his father intently with such intelligence that it frankly terrified her. “Don’t worry, little man. I’m sure that Daddy will get it on and it will stay, even if he will use duct tape on you, sweetheart.”
“I would never use duct tape,” he said softly, “especially on such soft skin. Daddy isn’t an idiot.” Taking a slow breath, Quincy undid the diaper and adjusted his son once more. “All right, little man, here we go.” Fold the material up through the legs, front and back are even, fold tab one across and then tab two, adjust slightly and …Grinning, he picked up their son and, amazingly enough, it stayed on.
Maya simply rubbed Quincy’s back and pecked a kiss on his cheek lovingly. “I knew you could do it,” she praised and looked at the smile on her son’s face that matched her husband’s grin. “Goodness, you two are just alike. I have a feeling that you two will give me some serious trouble some days.” She looked back to Quincy. “And I look forward to each and every moment of it.”
“I’ll never give you trouble, love,” Quincy said, tucking their son to his chest to cuddle him. “I wouldn’t want you rethinking your choices.” He wouldn’t ever want to lose her. He loved her too damn much to ever chance losing his woman. “We still haven’t decided on a name for him, sugar. We have to or they are never going to let us go home.”
“Crap, we haven’t come up with a name for him yet, have we?” She leaned in and laid her head on Quincy’s shoulder. Reaching out, she touched their son’s toes and grinned. “How about we name him Marcus? I like that name. What do you think?” It held no significance, however, and that bothered her.
“Mmm.” He made a face at it and shook his head. “Doesn’t feel right,” he said quietly. Thinking for a while, he tipped his head. “What about Viren?” he asked softly. “It was the name of one of the first Kings. He was the one who helped to establish the Council and was a friend of Talon’s. From what I understand from all I researched on him, he was a wise man, listened to all, and only spoke when he had something to say. But when he spoke, all listened in turn because he was a true and wise leader.”
“I like that,” Maya said with a grin. “I like that a great deal.” She looked to their son and smiled. “What do you think, Viren. Do you like that name?” When the boy just grinned, Maya smiled as well. “I think we have a name. Should we tell everyone?”
“We likely should tell at least those pretending not to eavesdrop so they officially know what’s been chosen and can react accordingly,” he murmured, shooting a look over his shoulder. The Guards were the best out of everyone at pretending they’d heard nothing. Of course, they’d been around much worse things they’d had to pretend not to hear or see. A name wasn’t even on the radar, but there were a couple of smirks.
Maya grinned and then added, “And who are you going to appoint as our son’s personal guards?” She knew that Quincy would ensure that their son was always protected, always cared for, and she would as well. Turning, Maya looked to the guards standing there and smiled. “Your one and only time to speak up. Which of you would like to take on being my son’s personal guard?”
Grinning smugly as he watched his mate eyeing each up and down, he rubbed Viren’s back gently as he swayed his body back and forth at a nice slow pace. Neither Guard even twitched under her scrutiny even when she went behind them. “I swear to the Gods, Maya, you squeeze their asses and there will be trouble,” Quincy warned, frowning as she bent over briefly. “What are you doing, woman?” he asked on a hiss.
“I’m just checking each one of them over carefully. I want only the best for our baby boy.” She looked up to the two men and grinned. “However, I want one of them who’s going to actually give our son companionship as well. Whoever is going to be our son’s guard is going to have to be able to be his friend as well.”
“I’ll do it, my Queen,” Rory spoke up from the doorway.
Looking to the man, Quincy nodded. He would be
best, love, he told Maya softly. He’s a little younger than the others and while he’s very well trained, he has a sense of humor as well. Plus, I think Viren’s already taken a liking to him. If the drooly grin on his son’s face said anything at all.
Maya grinned. “I had hoped that you would step forward. What about your twin? We will need more than one guard for our little Prince.” She moved back to Quincy’s side and took Viren from him. Snuggling her son close, she took a seat on the rocking chair and then covered her shoulder with a burp cloth and then covered Viren with a blanket so she could feed him without flashing her boobs to God and everyone.
Appreciate that, my love, he said with a grin in his head to her.
“He is more than willing to be the second Guard for your son,” Rory told Maya softly. “He is currently in a position outside but wants you to know he would be honored if you would accept us as Viren’s Guards.”
Rocking the chair gently, Maya nodded. “Then I do believe that we have guards for our son.” She looked to Quincy and smiled. Of course, love. I would never want anyone else other than you to see the girls. Well, and our son, but only until he no longer needs to feed from me.
And we will keep it that way, he said with a grin to her. Looking to Rory, he nodded. “Thank you, Rory, and thank Shawyn as well. Your duties will begin as of today when we get him home, same rules as with the lot of you around me and Maya.”
“Except you will need to eventually figure out a way to integrate yourselves into the school system to be able to watch over him when he finally does go to school.” She knew that was years away, but that was something to think of.
Snorting at that, Quincy grinned. “Please, you really need to try and work on a challenge for me, darling. Like diapers, those are tough. School system much too easy,” he said, looking to Rory and then grinning. “Both you and Shawyn will need to learn diapers as well. You never know when your Prince will need a dry bottom.”
Maya watched the young man pale and shook her head. “Lord, Q, good way to scare off the only one brave enough to step forward to be our son’s guard.” Yep, she did go there. “Don’t worry, Rory. More than likely you and Shawyn won’t need to change him often, but he’s right, you might have to sometimes.”
“The likelihood of you two ever changing the diaper is somewhere around the same odds as Talon turning into a flying hippo in a pink frilly tutu,” Quincy said with a grin and chuckle. “I just want you guys to know on the off chance, in an emergency that likely won’t happen but we must be prepared for, you need to change him.”
Maya smirked. “And don’t ever hesitate to bring him to Quincy or I now that he’s mastered the diaper.” Even if Maya had readjusted the diaper under the blanket so that it wasn’t quite so tight around Viren’s little stomach.
Wincing internally, Quincy looked at her. Damn it, Maya, you should have told me. I keep telling you I don’t have a clue and unless you tell me these things I can’t adjust and learn. Stop protecting me, babe. I have a hundred large, brawny males that apparently have that for a job description. Which just annoyed him to no end.
Honey, I didn’t want to upset you because you had done a wonderful job. It’s only tight because our son is pigging out, darling. I just needed to loosen it, sweetheart, she told him with a roll of her eyes. He certainly has quite the appetite.
Narrowing his eyes on her since he wasn’t a hundred percent sure she wasn’t covering his mistake, he sighed. “Of course he has an appetite,” he said, moving closer to stroke a hand over her hair. “He’s a growing boy and needs as much as he can get, when he can get it.”
“Yes, he is.” She looked down at her son with love and sighed. “Goodness, every time that I look at him I feel my heart swelling time and again. He’s the best part of both of us,” she said and looked up at her other love with a smile. “I love you, Q.”
“I love you, too, Maya,” he whispered, leaning over to kiss her softly. “I think we should head home, love. I’m tired of hanging out in this place,” he murmured. “I really would love for us to be in our own bed again finally.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” She rocked again though. “However, I need to finish feeding our little prince here.” She adjusted the blanket again. “You could go and get the doctor so that we can get ourselves all cleared to go though.”
“I will do that, mainly because she will want the name put on the paperwork finally,” he said. Leaning in, Quincy kissed her gently before stepping back and looking to Rory and his two goons. “No one takes their eyes off her from the eyes up. Anything below her nose and you’ll be singing soprano for the rest of your existence as a eunuch.” Seeing their understanding, Quincy left the room to go and hunt down the doctor.
Maya shook her head and smiled. “He means it boys,” she told the men. “But that’s okay. I love him like wild so he’s allowed to make those threats.” Because she sure as hell would make them to women as well. No question about it.
Rory swallowed hard as he reconsidered his offer to take on the gig of watching the little man. But he liked the baby and the kid liked him so it really wouldn’t be all bad. He did make sure that his gaze was well over her head though. No need to take any chances.
Maya watched the way that Rory reacted but only grinned. Rocking, she looked down at her son, who was grinning up at her, as if he knew what was happening around him as well. Lifting him, she placed him on her shoulder and then burped him. When he let out an impressive burp, she laughed. “Good job, baby boy.” Maya knew in that moment that they would have many moments of absolute joy in their lives and that was something she honestly looked forward to.
THE END
WWW.HONOR-JAMES.NET
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Born in the midseventies, this thirty-something woman has only been writing for the last six years of her life, faithfully that is. Honor has always been scribbling a phrase, a curious word, or the oddest of thoughts down on anything she could find lying about. Now she piles them up before her, and if one catches her fancy, she further explores it to whatever its end might be.
A lover of books, her reading material spans from Shakespeare to mysteries and all the way to the erotic. Anything and everything she can get her hands on she’ll read. Though, these days, she leans more toward the paranormal than anything else.
Poetry was her first love, lasting about three solid years. Don’t ask, she won’t show many of them to anyone. Then short stories became the focus, and finally she began to write for more than just writing what came to mind. She started to write for pleasure and to tell the story that begged to be told.
Life and family came next. Working full-time as a customer service representative and raising two children got in the way, and the writing that she so loved as a teenager seemed to be pushed off to the back burner of everything.
So several years passed, and her children turned into more than the babies that demanded her attention and into young children and then teenagers with different demands, ones that allowed her to once more spread her imagination to the wind and ask for more, want more.
As with all great things, the door to her notebook-written world might have been closed and placed on hold, but where a door closes another one opens, and in this case it was with the advent of buying a computer.
Honor spends many a sleepless night pounding at the keyboard.
She is a consummate professional in her daytime career. However, at night, her visions swing to the fantastical, and in those long hours after the children and husband are in bed, she weaves together words and blends up stories that not only bring a whole new meaning to romance, but sizzle the pages with a heat that will have the readers begging for more.
For all titles by Honor James, please visit
www.bookstrand.com/honor-james-0
Siren Publishing, Inc.
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