I sighed. “No, Colt.”
“Man, this is harder than I thought it would be,” Ramsay mumbled.
As my mates began to bicker amongst themselves, I gently stroked my baby’s cheeks. He opened his eyes for a moment, gold-and-silver meeting mine, and my heart clenched with affection. What sort of things would he do in his life? Would he be healthy and happy? Would he find love, just like I did?
“Julian,” I said suddenly.
They all quieted down.
“Huh,” Ramsay said, smiling. “I like that, actually.”
“Me too,” Colton agreed.
Noro nodded. “I, as well.”
Happy that the rest of them liked the name as much as I did, I turned to Eric. “What do you think?”
“Julian…” Eric smirked before leaning in to kiss me, then he said, “Well, it’s no Eric Junior, but I think I can live with it.”
The murmuring at the door grew louder as we broke away from our kiss.
“The people want you, Matheson,” Peregrine remarked.
“Okay.” I took a deep breath and exhaled it, steadying my nerves. “Let them in. Let’s do this.”
As Peregrine opened the door, I noticed Torin standing guard outside--though he was doing less guarding and more chaperoning of the crowd.
“All right, people, one at a time!” he called.
I smiled a bit when I noticed Bastian at his side. Since that day when his heat kicked in, the two of them had been inseparable. I thought it was a little ironic that the alpha gryphon who captured me because I was an omega now had a loving omega of his own.
The first person came in, a gryphon in human form I didn’t recognize. I greeted him politely as he sat in front of me.
Noro dipped his head. “Hello, Pix. I’m guessing you’re here to become an omega?”
“Yes,” Pix replied, smiling nervously.
I noticed his eyes softening when he looked at Julian, who had roused from his sleep. He blinked at Pix with his gold-silver eyes.
“Okay,” I said. “Come a little closer so I can work on you. Actually, here, let me hand the baby over to--”
But as I lifted Julian to give him to Noro, something strange happened. He opened his palm wide open and touched Pix’s forehead. Pix sucked in a breath, going still, and Julian’s whole body began to glow.
“Whoa!” Ramsay cried.
“What is he doing?” Eric asked, wide-eyed.
We watched in awe until Julian drew his palm away. The glowing stopped. I quickly handed my son to Noro and reached for Pix.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Yeah,” Pix said a bit breathlessly. “What happened? I… I had a vision of having a baby.”
“What?” I murmured, then was struck by a crazy idea. “Wait a second, let me see if I can…”
I shut my eyes and felt inside Pix’s abdomen with my magic, scoping out the area like I did to Bastian. But I was shocked out of focus when I realized that Pix alreadyhada womb inside.
“How the hell?” I muttered.
