Page 53 of Knight Life In Vegas

I closed my eyes as his purr started up once more.

“How come everyone is cuddling Mommy?”

I turned to see Ollie in the doorway, Waffles clutched in his arms.

“Your mother’s an omega,” Eduardo stated.

Ollie tilted his head. “What’s that?”

“A very special type of person who needs extra attention.” Eduardo proceeded to give Ollie a brief, very PG explanation of alphas, betas, and omegas while my son perched next to us.

“What’s Daddy?” Ollie asked.

“An alpha.”

Ollie wrinkled his nose. “Was he a bad one?”

I choked, covering a sharp laugh with a cough. “What do you mean, baby?”

“If alphas are supposed to protect omegas, why was he never home? Do you think Sammy and I will be alphas? We’ll protect you, Mommy!”

Everyone was really trying to get me up in my feelings today. “Oh, honey. Daddy was…well, you’re right. He wasn’t a very good alpha. ButI’msupposed to protectyou, not the other way around.”

Ollie pouted. “We could protect each other?”

I gathered him up onto my lap, Eduardo opening his arms to hold both of us. “I think that sounds perfect, baby.”

My sweet boy stared up at Eduardo. “Are you a good alpha who’s gonna protect Mommy, too?”

“If she lets me.”

A moment later Sammy rocketed onto the bed, not to be left out. Eduardo didn’t seem to mind the flailing limbs, though he did grunt when an elbow hit him in the chest. He squeezed us all tightly, my boys laughing, and my heart was fuller than it had been in years.

“Room for two more?” Francisco asked from the doorway.

In for a penny, in for a pound.

“The bed frame might not agree with me, but I’m saying yes anyway.”

“Sammy and I finished folding and putting away all the laundry,” Dylan said. “Except for yours, since we didn’t want to bother you, and you probably don’t want me rooting through your undies.”

I snorted. What a strange boundary to put in place when he’d been inside ones I’d been wearing not that long ago. “I can handle it tomorrow.”

“Do you mind if we stay tonight, duchess?” Francisco asked.

I wasn’t sure how on earth we could all fit, but I was willing to give it a go, if only for tonight. “You can stay.”

Iwoke up completely immobile and, in a word, incredible. I was cocooned by my alphas and my children. My bed felt like a nest for the first time ever, even though all my comfort items were people, and not pillows or blankets.

Quarters were tight so no one fell onto the floor, arms and legs intertwined like a chain. Francisco was plastered against my back, Ollie on top of me, Sammy burrowed against my chest,Dylan and Eduardo behind him. Usually my boys were up a couple of times a night, either for a glass of water, wanting an extra story, or needing a cuddle after a bad dream. But they had slept through the night. That was a rarity for me too.

They must have felt as safe as I did.

As comfortable as I was, I desperately needed to pee. I carefully rolled Ollie over so he was sprawled across Dylan and Eduardo, and nudged Francisco awake to disentangle myself.

I froze in my doorway. The apartment was so startlingly clean and tidy it almost didn’t even look like my place. They had doneeverything. The kitchen was scrubbed down, dishes away, surfaces wiped, laundry folded and put away. It even looked like they had vacuumed and mopped down the floors. I tiptoed into the bathroom, finding the porcelain sparkling, and not a single splash of water leaving spots on the mirror.

I could get used to that.

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