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“That’s for me,” I say, sitting up and pulling the wet cloth off my brow.
“Do you want company?” Nassakth asks.
“Nope.” I take the hand he offers me and get to my feet. It’s not that I don’t want my mate at my doctor visits. It’s that he asks so many questions and scowls so fiercely at the doctor that he makes the poor man unsettled. After the first few appointments with Doctor Roo, I’ve asked Nassakth to stay out of things. It just makes it easier, and the last thing I want is an unsettled alien doctor with his hands in unfamiliar places.
Nassakth kisses my brow and smooths my hair back. “You’ll tell me everything the moment you’re done? And you’ll ask him about the sickness?”
“Yes. And yes.” I give him a bright look. “Why don’t you do your workout and after dinner we’ll play more cards? You need more practice with Texas hold ’em.”
“That is because that game is nonsense.” He hesitates for a moment, and then grunts. “Very well. I will get in my exercise and spend the rest of the night devoted to entertaining you.”
As if a girl could complain about that?
The visit takes longer than anticipated, and by the time Doctor Roo is gone, I’m surprised that Nassakth hasn’t charged in to the med center established in the basement. I thank the doctor and send him on his way, then go hunting for my husband. My hands rest on the small swell of my belly. It feels hard and now that I know what it contains, I’m a little concerned. Elated, of course, but concerned.
I find my husband in one of the alcoves down the hall, a sledgehammer in his hands as he considers a plas-sheet of construction plans. He’s working on the baby’s room, the addition we decided to include since I’m a firm believer that a sexually active couple (and boy, are we active) should have a private bed. He frowns down at the plans, lost in concentration. “There you are,” I call out. “I’m done.”
Nassakth turns, his face lighting up with anticipation. “What did he say? Tell me everything.”
I rub my belly again. “Well…”
I didn’t think it was possible for a praxiian to pale, but I swear Nassakth goes gray under his even grayer fur. “What is it? What is wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” I reassure him. “It was just an unexpected sort of thing to hear about today.”
“Unexpected?” He prompts, his body stiff. “Unexpected in what way?”
“So…these plans?” I pull them out of his grip. “Is there enough room for, ah, more?”
“More?” Nassakth’s brows furrow as he tries to follow what I’m saying. Then, it dawns on him and he gapes. “You mean another room? For another child?”
I clear my throat delicately. “Triplets.” When he doesn’t react, I say it louder. “Triplets. Three babies.”
Nassakth blinks.
“All very healthy,” I reassure my silent mate. “It’s just that…Doctor Roo thinks that because of all the fertility stuff there was bound to be a chance for additional babies and it turns out that multiples run in my family and so it shouldn’t be all that surprising, but…yeah. Triplets.”
My mate blinks again. Slower. Then, he sags, and I watch as the biggest, scariest alien I’ve ever met passes clear the fuck out.
It’s alarming at first. I kneel next to him and pat his cheek, and then the giggles hit me. I can’t stop laughing. Nassakth the fierce, the Arena Scourge of Askorthi Prime, just fainted at hearing he was going to be a dad to triplets. It really is cute. I pat his cheek a little harder, and when that doesn’t wake him up, I calmly slap him as hard as I can.
My praxiian groans.
“It’s too late to back out on me now,” I giggle. “I’m going to need all the help I can get.” I put a hand to his collar and shake him. “So wake up.”
“Kim,” Nassakth says, voice thick. His eyes open a slit and he gazes at me. “Tell me I have heard correctly? We are to be parents to…three? At once?”
“All at once,” I agree. “It’s amazing and also utterly terrifying, so I get the whole passing out thing—”
“I did not pass out,” he says staunchly, sitting up. “I merely…was resting for a moment.”
I snort.
Nassakth reaches for me, and his hand moves down my arm in a gentle caress. Always so gentle with me, this big guy…unless I’m screaming for him to be rougher. Which I do. In bed. Frequently. He regards me with a thoughtful look on his feline face. “This…makes you happy? You are not upset?”
I shake my head. “Why would I be upset? We wanted a big family.” I take his big hand and place it on my stomach. “We’re going to have one…just sooner than we thought.” He’s so quiet, though, that I’m a little concerned. “Are you upset?”
