Page 104 of All You Need is Alien Love
“And triplets. Just think of all the name possibilities! If we have three girls, you may not have a choice. They’ll have to be Britney, Cher, and Madonna.”
I wince a little. “Let’s hold off on names for now.”
He snuggles in closer and sighs happily. “I can tell you’re worried. But I’m not. Sometimes the unexpected happens, and you roll with it. In my experience, that can lead you to some of the most wonderful surprises.”
Something unclenches and settles deep inside me. In my hearts of hearts, I think I knew all along what his answer would be, but I’m still overwhelmed by it. My mate is truly one of a kind—and I’m so damn lucky to call him mine.
River tilts his head back and puckers his lips.
I can’t fight back a grin as I give him what he wants. When I finally pull back, he smiles up to me.
“So we’re really going to do this?”
I take a steadying breath. “Yes.”
There’s no way I could ever not want the children River and I have made together. I knew it from the moment I saw the prenatal chambers on the screen. All that’s been holding me back is fear. But as he so often does, River has managed to wipe that away almost effortlessly.
“Can you call everyone back in?” I ask him.
He grins. “On it!”
He bounds out of the room and moments later, everyone crowds back in, eager looks on their faces.
I clear my throat. “Get ready to be grandparents.” I wink at Grandma Iris. “And great-grandparents.”
As expected, things get very loud for a few minutes. Fortunately, River sits in my lap, acting as my “emotional support teddy bear” as he likes to call it.
He smirks at me. “Heh. We totally had a shotgun wedding and didn’t even know it.”
I laugh. “You’re incorrigible.”
“You know it, babycakes.”
Once everyone calms down somewhat, I can finally start asking more specific questions that have been growing in my mind. “Mom, three embryos is unusual, right? Has that ever happened before?”
She shakes her head slowly. “Not that I know of. Even twins are incredibly rare among our kind.”
Grandma moves closer, her eyes sparkling. “The number of documented cases in our species’ history are few and far between. You’re a medical marvel, my grandson.”
River squeezes my hand tightly. “Is it physically safe for Kai to gestate three embryos?” He gulps, a new hint of worry in his eyes.
“The Alliance will provide top-tier medical care for Kai throughout the gestation period,” Mom assures him. “Just by virtue of being the first Iyaran male to experience Tentaculum Gestarium in centuries, Kai’s going to be treated as a high-risk case and will be closely monitored to be extra cautious.”
Driego, who has also rejoined us, points to the bio scanner. “All of the readings I’m getting so far suggest that the embryos appear to be in excellent shape and, based on what I looked up while you both were talking, are aligned with the very early stages of Tentaculum Gestarium.” He flushes a little. “I’m not an expert, but I’d say you’re only about a month along if we go by the scientific literature.”
River’s mouth suddenly blooms into a bright grin. “Wow. I still can’t believe we made triplets. Does that mean I have superpowered sperm or what?”
I choke and can’t hold back a laugh.
Grandma rolls her eyes. “While that’s marginally possible, I think it’s far more likely that whatever experimentation Adeline was doing on Kai somehow increased his overall fertility.”
Dark matter and damn it, but I suspect she might be right.
River’s eyes widen. “OMG, kind of like how fertility treatments in humans can sometimes result in multiple-birth pregnancies.”
Grandma nods. “It’s merely a hypothesis of mine for the moment, but we’ll have to do some further testing to verify it.”
I just hope whatever Adeline was doing doesn’t put the embryos in danger.
