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He couldn’t stop looking at their beautiful babies, at his gorgeous Mate. With his arms around them, his protective instincts were calmed and he could breathe again.
His heart was full.
The birth had gone fine. Reese was okay. The babies were okay. Tiberius hadn’t failed them.
The nurse had cleaned Reese up a little and pulled a cover over him, and a blanket, to keep him and the babies warm. He also brought pillows, but for now, Tiberius had no plans of getting up from where he sat, his Mate leaning back against him. This was as close to a nest as they were going to get for now, and he would take it.
Reese was dozing off, as were the babies, small fists held high, by their heads, looking like miniature, wrinkled Reeses to Tiberius’s eyes. Beneath the smell of blood and sweat, he could smell their familiar scent, linking them to Reese and himself.
His Clan.
Fuck, he couldn’t wait for all of them to shift together, as a family, and run in the woods. He was dying to see what his Mate and their pups looked in wolf form. Cutest little wolves ever.
And they were his family, his own. His to protect, his to love.
He planned to do that with everything he had, for the rest of his life.
The nurse poked his head back inside after a while, smiling at them. “Just press the button behind the bed if you need me for anything,” he said. “Oh, and you have a visitor.”
“A visitor?”
“Yes, sir, an alpha came looking for you. He’s waiting outside, in the lobby.”
Marcus, Tiberius thought. Or Nero. He couldn’t think of anyone else who might drive down to the birth center to check on them.
He couldn’t think of moving from his spot, either. “Can he come in here?”
The nurse frowned. “Normally we don’t allow visitors into the birthing area, but the center is almost empty today, so... I can make an exception. Just keep the visit short, no longer than ten minutes.”
“Thank you.”
Reese was fast asleep by now, his face relaxed, his body lax against Tiberius, no more gripped by pain. His poor omega. Giving birth was tough business.
The door clicked open again, the nurse nodded at them and ushered someone inside.
A certain gray-haired alpha that certainly wasn’t Marcus or Nero.
“Father? What...?” Tiberius disentangled himself from his Mate who murmured something, blinking sleepy eyes at Tiberius, grumbling at losing his warm, muscular pillow. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“Hello to you, too, son.”
“Stay away from him. From them.”
“Is that...?” The old wolf took a step toward the bed, then stopped when Tiberius turned toward him, canines bared, fists clenched.
“Not a step closer. I asked you a question. What are you doing here?”
“Is that the boy you want to Claim? Why didn’t you tell me he was pregnant?”
“Because I loved him before I knew. I didn’t think you deserved to know.”
The old wolf nodded, some of the hardness leaving his weathered face. “I deserved that.”
“You did. So fuck off.”
Tiberius grabbed the pillows the nurse had brought earlier and stacked them behind Reese, making sure he was okay, keeping his back to his father until he got a hold on his temper. It wouldn’t do to attack his father and throttle him, not here. Reese needed his rest, and the babies, too.
“I came to say...” His father cleared his throat from behind him.
“That you’re sorry?”
“That, too,” the old wolf said, and Tiberius stilled.
“You’ve never apologized before.”
“Well, I’m starting now.”
“What are you sorry for?”
“Damn it, Tiberius, do I need to spell it all out?”
“Yes, you do.” Tiberius turned to face him once more. “Let’s hear it.”
There was a harrumph. “Fine. I’m... sorry for trying to force a marriage on you. Sorry for attacking you. For saying I’d disown you. For threatening your omega to get him away from you.”
His old man was really, actually apologizing.
“I don’t want to disown you, Tiberius,” he said. “Never did.”
“Well, I’m not interested in running the company anyway. let Emanuel do it. He’s much better at it anyway, and you know what’s even better? He wants to do it. Just like I want to Claim Reese. Free will, father. Doing what you want, not being forced to do something. Now that’s a notion.”
“I get your point.”
“Do you?”
“Yes. Yes, I get it. I’m not going to disown you. But we can leave the company to Emanuel, if that is your wish, and his.”
“It is.”
His father nodded, scratched at his beard.
“Why are you really here, father?”
“I wanted... I wanted to meet my grandkids.”
Tiberius struggled with himself. His father sounded sincere, but not so long ago he’d threatened Reese, told him lies. Tiberius had almost lost Reese. If Marcus hadn’t tracked him down... He wanted to believe that Reese would have told him about the babies, but maybe after they’d been born and already running about.
He’d have missed all of this. Because of the fucking old wolf.
He hesitated.
“Ty...” It was Reese’s voice from behind him. He sounded wide awake. “Let him.”
“What?”
“Let him meet us.”
Tiberius let out a long breath. “You sure?”
“Yes.” His omega had a faint smile on his face. Though pale and drawn with fatigue, he looked so pretty. And when one of their babies yawned, Tiberius couldn’t help a grin.
“Fine, then.” He went to sit on the bed’s edge, in case his father tried anything, but the old wolf seemed subdued. Were those tears in his eyes?
Tiberius thought he’d never see the day when the old wolf would feel something other than anger. For a long time, he thought it was sorrow brought on from the passing of his Mate, Tiberius’s omega father, but as the time passed and the anger only got worse, he’d stop giving his father excuses.
But now...
“Can I hold them?” his father asked Reese, and for a moment Tiberius thought Reese would refuse. He hadn’t let even Tiberius hold the babies yet.
But Reese surprised him again, nodding.
“You sure, love?”
“It’s their grandfather.”
So simple.
His Mate was kind. So Tiberius would keep watch, just in case. The old man would have to earn back his trust before he left him unsupervised with his Mate and children.
He watched as his father approached the bed and reached out for the babies.
“You know how to hold them?” Reese asked, passing him one baby first. “Supporting their heads?”
“I’ve had kids of my own,” his father said, but quietly. He nestled the baby in the crook of his arm, his eyes going soft. Tiberius helped pass the second baby to his other arm. “Tiberius and Emanuel were my first, but I did have two sets of twins after them, now living with their omega father. It never worked out between us. After I lost Tiberius’s father, I was lost.”
Tiberius looked away, suddenly sad.
His father sat on the edge of the bed, beside him, looking down at the babies. “So small,” the whispered. “I forgot how small babies are when they are born.”
“Didn’t feel small coming out,” Reese grumbled.
Tiberius leaned in and kissed him, unable to help himself. “Love you,” he whispered.
Reese’s face went red. “Love you, too,” he mumbled and pulled the sheet up, to cover his still slightly swollen belly and his nipples.
He was embarrassed? God, so cute.
“So when is the Claiming going to take place?” his old man asked.
“We haven’t set a date yet. We wanted to wait until after the birth.”
“Am I invited?”
Did the old wolf sound unsure of himself or was it all in Tiberius’s imagination?
“Of course you are,” Reese answered for him. “Isn’t he, Ty?”
“Yeah,” Tiberius said gruffly.
“Good. Seeing these babies reminds me of so much. Emanuel was still a baby when your omega father passed.”
“I wasn’t much older,” Tiberius said.
“I blamed myself, you know?” his father whispered. “For his death.”
“I thought he died in an accident.”
“Yes. If had been with him, if I had driven that day instead of him...”
“You’d be the one dead.”
His father shrugged. “I don’t care about my own life. I’d gladly have given it for him.”
There was a world of pain in his voice. It made Tiberius’s eyes hot. The thought of losing Reese was unbearable. It would kill him.
“He was hit by someone under a hex spell, they told me.”
“Really? You never said that.”
His father was gazing down at the babies. “It never came up. So many shifters have been spelled, going manic, committing crimes. Witches did this to us. So I swore to hunt witches, fight them.”
“Father... we need to talk about that. What if the witches aren’t the ones to blame for the spells?”
“What are you talking about?” His father jiggled the babies in his arms and cooed at them.
Actually cooed.
Tiberius had somehow entered a parallel dimension, it seemed. “Marcus said it all seems like a setup. That witches can’t be the ones behind it all.”
“They are the ones who have magic.”
“So do the Fae.”
“The Fae?” His father frowned. “Are you serious?”
“Yeah. You should talk to Marcus. He has studied the matter a lot.”
“Marcus of Clan Wolfclaw?”
“The very same.”
His father narrowed his eyes at Tiberius. He expected him to laugh at him, deride the thought, yell how he knew better.
But strangely, he didn’t. Instead, he said, Okay. I might do that, if you think he has any information on the matter.
He does.
Yeah, definitely an alternate universe.
Just then the babies started to fuss and cry, waving their tiny fists in the air.
“I think they’re hungry,” Reese said.
“Didn’t they finish eating a few minutes ago?”
“They’re new to this. They need to feed a lot.” Reese grinned at him. “And maybe they took after you, and are hungry all the time.”
The old wolf sniffed at the babies, smiling so wide his yellow canines glinted, and turned to hand his grandkids back to their omega father.
“Speaking of Marcus...” Reese received the babies and cradled them to his chest. “Remember Jace?”
“Yeah, why?”
“Well... I think he might be pregnant.”