Page 56 of His Prodigal Alpha

Rex and I had made that weird looking, loud little thing…and he wasperfect. My eyes tracked his movement from Eric’s hold to Brandt’s as Eric guided me through delivering the afterbirth. It was nowhere near as painful or traumatic as delivering a baby, and it wasn’t long before Brandt was cutting the cord and the squirming, ick-covered baby was nestled against my chest, already rooting around for food.

And how weird was it that I could provide that food?! I hadn’t really thought about it before, but as he latched on to my nipple and suckled, it made sense. Early shifters hadn’t had access to formula or anything, so of course our bodies were designed to nourish the lives of our young. It would definitely be weird to carry and birth them and not have a means to keep them alive, wouldn’t it?

I reclined against Rex with an exhausted sigh, and his arms moved around me to help cradle our son as he nursed.

Our son, the thought struck me all over again.Wow.

“Look at that hair,” he murmured sounding every bit as awed as I felt. “Little guy’s gonna take after you, huh?”

Sure enough, the baby had a thick mass of dark hair, wetand matted with blood and vernix as it was. It inspired mixed feelings inside me. On the one hand, I thought he was absolutely perfect. On the other, I’d kind of been hoping that he’d come out looking like his daddy.

I watched him snuffle and suckle for a few long moments before I said, “I think he’s got your nose. Maybe your eyes.”

“It doesn’t matter who he looks like, darlin’. He’s his own person.”

How the hell did he always know the exact right thing to say? “You’re right. And he’s perfect.”

Rex nuzzled my cheek with his own. “That he is.” He waited a beat. “He’s gonna need a name.”

We had been tossing suggestions back and forth for a few weeks, but had opted to wait until we met him, thinking that we’d get a better idea of what kind of name would suit once we did.

We were wrong.

I looked down at him and drew a blank.

It was bad enough we were going to saddle him with the hyphenated Richards-Murphy surname. What the hell kind of first name worked with that?

“What was your dad’s name, kitten?” Rex asked me when all I could do was flounder in silence. “He sounded like a good man. It’d be nice to honor him, wouldn’t it?”

A lump lodged itself in my throat. “Campbell. Everyone called him Cam.”

“Campbell Richards-Murphy,” Rex tested it out loud. I could hear his smile when he followed it up, “I like it.”

“It doesn’t sound too…I don’t know…snooty?”

“Nah,” I was jostled lightly as Rex shrugged. “’Specially not if we’re callin’him Cam for short.”

“I think it’s cute,” Brandt agreed, bringing a clean hospital blanket over and laying it over us. He smiled, his mottled European accent sounding stronger than usual, “little Cam. A strong name for a strong cub.” If I wasn’t mistaken, that was a look of yearning in his eyes, but he blinked it away before I could comment on it.

I was totally going to corner my dragon-shaped friend when I was more awake and alert. I’d call it payback for all the times he’d made me vent to him over the past few months.

Rex kissed the top of my head, distracting me. “What do you think, darlin’? Cam?”

I looked down at the baby again. He’d fallen asleep with my nipple in his mouth. It was insanely cute.

“Yeah,” I smiled, feeling overwhelmed with emotion. “Cam it is.”

Chapter Fourteen – Rex

Some part of me had been convinced that I would shift when my son was born. I’d imagined that my alpha would be so overwhelmed with pride and joy that he would break through whatever invisible barrier had been preventing the change.

I was wrong.

The joy and pride were there, of course. I had never loved something —someone— as quickly or as intensely as I loved Cam. It was different to the feelings I’d developed for Damon, though I’d realized I loved him, too.

I’d burn the world to keep both of them safe, but the instant attachment I’d felt to that baby had made me almost dizzy. It was a fierce love; animalistic and raw. Instantly unconditional. Damon and I would be his world until he was an adult, and even then, I’d always be there for him in every capacity that I could.

And still I couldn’t shift.

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