“Oh, we’re still going to do that,” Eric interjected, shooting Dexter a wink to let him know the teasing was all in jest. “Dex was a pain in the ass for a few hundred years, and even if he’s all buddy-buddy with Bran now, we’re not likely to let him live that down so easily.”
Sage turned to grin at his brother. “Like you can talk.”
Gesturing at the screen with his free hand, Eric feigned affront. ”Hey! I’m the nice doctor showing you your kid, which there is definitely only one of, in case you were afraid a twin or triplets might have been hiding last time.”
“I wasn’t until now,” Dexter muttered, playing along, making our mate chuckle.
“Hmm,” Sage glanced back at the screen before looking up at Dexter slyly beneath his lashes, “maybe we’ll get lucky with twins next time.”
“We can try for twins,” Dexter leered back at him. “I’m all for practicing.”
Eric screwed up his nose. “He’s my brother, man. Can you not?”
“I can’t pop a knot, no,” Dexter tilted his chin towards me, “buthecan.”
Sage groaned, but he couldn’t hide his amusement from the bond. Nevertheless, he looked to me, “Alpha,help.”
Smirking, I looked towards Eric and said, “I can knot, yes.”
Eric winced. “Oh, God,” he sighed, cracking an eye open to glare half-heartedly at his brother, “how did you findtwoof them?”
“I don’t know.” Sage looked between me and Dexter again, his smile widening. “I’m just super lucky, I guess.”
“No, beautiful,” I bent to kiss his forehead, hip checking Dexter when I rose back up, “I’m the lucky one.”
Eric snorted, turning his attention to Dexter expectantly. My blond mate grinned. “They’re both lucky to have me, yes.”
“I’m putting way more faith in nature instead of nurture for this kid,” Eric snarked back, before swiveling his chair around to take some more measurements at the computer. “Everything looks to be on track, though.” He pulled the transducer from Sage’s skin, making the image on the screens and the accompanying sound disappear, much to my disappointment. Oblivious, he passed Sage a wad of paper towels. “Come and see me if you have any concerns, but we’ll schedule the next ultrasound for a month’s time, otherwise.”
Sage wiped the gel from his stomach and nodded. “They’ll be more baby-shaped then, right?”
“Somuch more baby-shaped,” Eric nodded with a smile. “Fetal development in these early weeks is fascinating.”
“So Dex has been telling me,” Sage turned his head to kiss our other mate’s forearm, smiling up at him lovingly. It mademy heart skip a beat. Then he turned his attention back to his brother, “He’s been Googling.”
Eric finished tapping away at the computer before granting Dexter an assessing gaze. “Well, shifter fetal development does run pretty much in line with human gestation, so feel free to keep doing that. And if you’ve got any questions, you know where to find me or Bran.”
“I appreciate that,” Dexter replied genuinely. “It helps me feel somewhat more connected to the process given that, biologically speaking, I’ve been very little help.”
I shared a quick frown with Sage. For all of Dexter’s joking that he wasn’t responsible for Sage’s condition, I was fairly certain Sage and I agreed that —had it not been for Dexter’s heat bringing us all together— we wouldn’t ever have worked as just the pair of us. And, on top of that, I hadn’t realized that this was something that might be weighing on our other mate’s mind.
“You didn’t knot me or knock me up, no,” Sage said slowly, measuring his words, “but we wouldn’t be mated without you. My omega needs youandSerge.”
“And my alpha needs you both, too,” I agreed, releasing Sage’s hand to wrap my arm around Dexter’s waist. “The Magic insisted that you were both meant for me, too. So,” I hypothesized, “I don’t think Sage and I could have created life without you being a part of the moment.”
Dexter huffed a short laugh, but the sound was fond. “Biology doesn’t work that way, darling, though I do appreciate you trying to—”
“No, I agree with him,” Sage pushed himself up, sitting between us on the exam bed. “My omega thinks he’s right,too. I know it sounds ridiculous, but youhadto be a part of it, magically if not biologically.”
“So, you’re saying that fate plays a higher role in our compatibility with our mates than biology?” Eric asked, inching closer on his rolling chair. His eyes were glinting with interest. “Because some of our more recent research has shown that most of the un-bonded alphascanfertilize eggs from more than one omega or beta of their own breed of shifter, just like we theorized. But in your case, because you’re not the same breed…”
“The Magic intervenes,” I finished for him, my own excitement building. “And it is possible that the matches you’re beginning to find in your tests are also driven by fate. Not to suggest that all potential matches are destined for polyamory, but…what if The Magic —fate— itself is returning its powers to the way things used to be? Before the alphas began to disappear. Before Dragons and Unicorns became endangered breeds…but it’s selecting when and how and why. Furthering its own agenda.”
That had been my theory from the start, and I had never kept those thoughts a secret. But to see it all unfolding before me, to be living in the eye of the new burst of magic and hope for our species, was equal parts mind-blowing and humbling.
“But doesn’t that mean it will be harder for people to find their fated mates? The people that are most compatible for them?” Eric drummed his fingers on the edge of the plastic mattress which Sage was still sitting on. “Look at the three of you, or at Bran and Micah, or any of the others. That draw to each other that you’ve all talked about…why would The Magic give that to some, but not others? And can people who aren’t magically drawn to each other through fate still bond and experience the magical connection like you do, or is thatonlyaccessible to people who are genuinely fated to be together?”
“Well, that’s it,” Sage sighed, glancing at me while he waved his hand in his younger brother’s direction, “look at what you’ve done now.”
