“He’s beautiful,” Noro said gently. “Unbelievably beautiful.”
“I can’t believe he’s here so soon,” Eric commented. “I… I was expecting to wait another eight months to meet him.”
“Right? I thought I’d have more time to prepare,” I said with a snort of laughter, then looked to Noro knowingly. “But I guess we figured out Noro was the missing part of the prophecy. This little guy arrived so soon after we figured out our feelings for each other.”
“Dude!” Ramsay said, clapping Noro on the back with a grin. “Welcome to the club!”
Noro blushed as the others warmly welcomed him as one of my mates, which made my heart surge with affection.
“I’m sorry again for what happened,” he said, hanging his head.
“It wasn’t your fault,” Eric told him with a smile. “We all know that. Don’t worry.”
“So that means this little guy has five whole dads,” Colton said. “That’s alotof dads.”
Everyone chuckled at his comment.
“Yeah,” I said, kissing our baby on the forehead. “And he deserves all of them.”
Then Colton leaned over to Ramsay and muttered, “I told you he’d be a boy.”
Ramsay groaned. “Shut up.”
Bastian bit his lip as he edged closer, his eyes wide with adoration. “Oh… Would it be okay if I…?”
“Hold him?” I offered, smiling. “Yes.”
Bastian took the baby and it looked like his heart melted. Torin, who had his arm around Bastian’s shoulder, looked equally soft and mushy at the sight of the infant.
“So, you two,” Noro began. “What’s this all about?”
Both young gryphons blushed.
“Um, well,” Bastian began, rubbing the back of his neck. “Like Matheson said, he kinda changed me into an omega, and I, uh, went into heat and…”
Torin nuzzled him. “And the rest is history.”
Noro looked a bit surprised to see those two together but nodded, smiling. “I see. Congratulations, then.”
Peregrine approached them, and the female guard spoke with wonder. “Then Bastian, you reallyarean omega now? Truly?”
“Sure is,” Tholan agreed, a sparkle in his eyes. “Now I’m not the only omega gryphon anymore, thank the gods.”
“And not just that,” Bastian said, his hands roaming down to his belly, “but if all goes well, then I’ll be pregnant, too.”
As the pride cheered and congratulated him, the wolves and humans came to do the same for me. As much as I appreciated it, I was totally exhausted and ready to sit down with my baby and his fathers for a while. But I knew there were still some things that needed to be dealt with.
“Unbelievable,” Peregrine said, and if I wasn’t mistaken, she looked on the edge of joyful tears. “You can do this to others, Matheson? Not just Bastian?”
“I think so,” I said with a smile. “I can definitely try.”
An expression of pure gratitude crossed her face. “Thank you, from the bottom of my heart. You truly were a miracle to us, just not in the way we expected.” She bowed her head. “Please accept my apologies for what you’ve been through.”
“It’s okay,” I said, feeling embarrassed at all the attention. I noticed that it was Peregrine offering the apology to me, though, not Blaze. I didn’t see the king anywhere. Maybe he slunk off, not wanting to partake in the joyous activity.
“Matheson,” Noro said to me with a beaming smile. “You did it. You saved the shifters, just like the prophecy said.”
“Yeah!” Ramsay agreed, giving me a fat kiss on the cheek. “See? This whole time, I said you could do it, and you did!”
