Page 87 of Demon Boss' Baby Load

Nat nodded again.

“Then you should trust me. I think you’re amazing.” Duke smiled even though he didn’t much feel like smiling.

Nat carefully leaned in, tucking his face against Duke’s shoulder. “I think you’re amazing too.”

Duke’s heart skipped a beat. He pressed a kiss to Nat’s hair and rubbed his back. Over in the crib, Wanda was still asleep—because they had soundproofed it.

Nat had probably woken Teddy and Mallie with his screaming, though. Not that Duke could hear—he didn’t have sharp hearing like some of the other species.

He rubbed Nat’s back until Nat relaxed in his arms and his breathing grew slower. Before long, Nat had fallen back asleep. Duke carefully tucked him back into bed.

He pulled on a pair of pants and made his way out of his bedroom, stopping in front of Teddy and Mallie’s door. There, he tapped quietly—enough that it shouldn’t wake them if they were asleep.

Duke opened the door as soundlessly as he could and stuck his head inside.

Two pairs of golden eyes gleamed at him in the darkness.

With a wince, Duke stepped into the room, leaving the door ajar so the hallway light spilled in. “Hey. Are the two of you okay?”

“Yeah.” Mallie nodded.

“Is Nat okay?” Teddy leaned into his sister.

Duke’s heart warmed. “He will be, I think.”

“What happened to him?” Teddy asked.

Duke hesitated. Nat had allowed him to decide how much he wanted to tell the siblings, but it still wasn’t Duke’s story to share.

But the siblings had lived through their own trauma, and…

“He had a bad dream,” Duke said. “Remember I said that he used to have a bad alpha?”

Mallie and Teddy shuddered. Their parents had gotten tangled with some criminals, who later murdered them in cold blood. The siblings had narrowly escaped because they were in school; they had come home to find their parents in a pool of blood.

Duke wasn’t surprised that they understood. He went over to them and pulled them into a hug. “You’re safe here. You know you don’t have to worry about that, right?”

“Would you pick Nat and Wanda over us?” Mallie asked suddenly.

Duke blinked. “Of course not. I would pick all of you equally.”

Both kids sagged, as though that had been something they had worried about.

“Hey,” Duke said gently. “This is your home. You’re welcome here for however long you want to be.”

The siblings looked even more relieved.

“We want to stay with you forever,” Teddy said hopefully.

Duke huffed. “Someday, you’ll grow up into adults, and you’ll want a place of your own.”

“Never,” Mallie said with absolute conviction.

“We’ll see about that. Now, go back to sleep. You have to wake up in a few hours for school.”

Both children whined. Duke ruffled their hair and left, slipping back into his bedroom.

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