Page 61 of The Chosen Son

The lights flickered then went dark as the power cut out, throwing deep shadows about the room, and a whimper escaped my lips. The fire would keep us warm at least, but how long would we be trapped here?

I wasn’t even aware I was crying until Deimos reached over and dried my cheeks. “Don’t be afraid, Cam. Everything will be fine.” With a single brush of his hand, my beloved god of fear made me brave, drawing away my doubts and worries and leaving only determination behind.

The labor progressed quickly, and it made me wonder just how our time in the pocket realm had affected the timeline. The bartender kept his distance, but I could feel his curious gaze from his perch, and I found myself wondering if he had any children of his own.

Zeek proved to be surprisingly well-versed in labor and delivery, and soon enough, he declared that it was time for me to push. I didn’t question him about where he got his medical degree. It hurt like hell, of course, a searing heat that threatened to tear me in two, but I felt like I could endure any amount of pain with my alpha at my side. I bore down, telling myself that it was almost over.

“That is the head,” Zeek said. “Now the shoulders…”

With a final rush, I felt the baby slip from my body, and I collapsed back against Deimos, exhausted but proud. “You did it,” he whispered in my ear, his voice ragged with emotion, and I swore I felt his tears drip onto my neck.

“It is a son!” Zeek proclaimed, swaddling our baby in an apron our host had provided and passing him to me. He let out a thin cry, his little legs kicking.

“He’s beautiful,” I gasped. Even though he looked so tiny and delicate, I could sense something otherworldly about him. He would be powerful one day, I just knew it.

Deimos wound his arms around me to help bring him to my chest to feed for the first time, and Zeek found a blanket to drape over us. In this cozy cabin in the heart of the city, it felt like we were in a world all our own. I’d almost forgotten about the storm outside.

“Maybe we should name him Loki,” I teased.

“Bite your tongue,” Deimos said without any real heat, pinching my side lightly. He was totally enamored with our son, not looking away as he reached up to stroke his rosy cheek.

I could feel sleep trying to claim me, and I put my trust in Deimos to take care of me. I lay there in my lover’s arms, exhausted and completely at peace. My gaze moved to the windows which were coated with ferns of frost, glowing with the light of the moon. Did that mean the storm had passed?

I wasn’t ready to go back to the real world just yet, so I said nothing, and the four of us remained where we were for the rest of the night. Everything else could wait.

Chapter 24

Deimos

“He’s not coming,” Imuttered, not for the first time, my gaze sliding across the table to the empty seat.

“Relax, he’ll be here,” Cameron assured me, bringing Damon up to his shoulder to burp. “I made him promise, and you know how Phobos feels about promises. Besides, he wouldn’t want to disappoint your mother. She even made his favorite pie.”

“Yeah…” I wasn’t sure I believed it, though. While he’d answered Cam’s texts, my brother and I had barely spoken over the past three months. He hadn’t even met his nephew yet. Phobos had forgiven me countless times over the centuries, for some truly atrocious acts, but I knew better than most how a broken heart could change a man.

My parents were bickering in the kitchen, as usual, and Harmonia and the girls had surprisingly begged off the family meal, saying they didn’t want to get in the way of the fireworks. It wasn’t like Phobos and I were going to duke it out or anything. We did havesomemanners.

“Here, burp your son so I can eat something,” Cam said, passing me the baby, and I felt my bad mood dissolving as I held him to my chest, smoothing a hand in circles on his little back.

I tucked my nose into Damon’s neck and breathed in his warm scent. After Gorgias, I’d given up any hope of becoming a father, until the exact moment Cam had told me he was pregnant, but it was everything. I’d say it was a shame I hadn’t done it sooner, but I knew the truth. I hadn’t been ready until my sidekick—mypartner—came along.

Cameron was watching us as he snacked on crackers and hummus, a secret smile on his face. “What?” I asked, feeling a little self-conscious.

“Oh, nothing. Just admiring how our little lion tamer has you wrapped around his finger.” Our son’s name literally translated to “tamer,” and mythology had loved to paint me and my brother as lions. Cam thought this was hilarious.

He stood up and dropped a kiss on our son’s head, before giving me one on the lips, far too chaste for my liking. “I’m going to go see if your mom needs help in the kitchen. You two be good.”

“What trouble could we possibly get into?” I called after him, earning me a wink. Then to my son, I whispered conspiratorially, “At least not yet, anyway. I’ll wait until you’re at least two before we go toilet-paper your uncle’s house.”

He replied with a hearty burp and a dribble of spit-up over my shoulder.

Cameron hadn’t gone into the kitchen to help my mother so much as to act as referee, as evidenced by how just a minute later, my father appeared. “They kicked you out?” I guessed, moving Devon around to face forward.

The mighty Ares, god of war, AKA Dad, flopped down in his chair, pouting. “Yes. They said my shitty attitude was going to make the potatoes bitter. That’s not a thing… is it?”

“I mean, it could be?” What did I know? Zeek did most of the cooking at our place. And even though our baby wasn’t old enough to eat solids yet, Zeek had been perfecting his pureed gourmet baby food. Cameron thought it was good enough that he should be marketing the damn stuff. Either way, Damon was already the most spoiled baby in the history of the world.

Zeek had insisted on moving with us when we bought our new little fixer-upper along the lake, claiming he would be the perfect nanny, and I had to say, he’d been spot-on. Besides the cooking, he had a knack for putting Damon to sleep, and he seemed to genuinely enjoy the smell of diapers. Cameron had tried to invite Zeek for family dinner tonight, but the little demon actually had a date! Some goblin he’d met on a dating app. The saying was true—there really was someone out there for everyone.

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