Page 23 of Frederick
I looked over at him in relief. “How did you know?”
“The panic I felt through our bond told me you were struggling with something. Since we were talking about meeting others, I figured that was it.”
We didn’t have a chance to talk about anything else because we were now in the house and there were several people coming towards us. “Il est tellement magnifique!”
That absolutely must be Étienne. I smiled at the fox shifter as he came toward me. “Merci,” I replied.
Étienne’s eyebrows rose. “Parlez-vous français?”
I tilted my head from side to side before I held up my index finger and thumb about two inches apart.
“Ah. Well, it is good timing that you are here,” he said. “If you’d like, we can certainly work on refreshing your language skills. It is so nice to meet you,” Étienne said as he enveloped him in a hug. I had been warned that Frederick’s family was close and friendly. They certainly were. Not that I minded having a hug from his uncle.
“It’s nice to meet you as well. Frederick’s told me so much about all of you,” I told him.
Étienne smiled over my shoulder and when I turned around, I found Frederick standing beside a pair of warlocks. One had dark hair like he did, and the other was blond. I knew the blond was Sebastian, and the dark haired one was most likely Benjamin.
“Dominic,” Frederick said. “This is Sebastian and Benjamin.”
“Hello,” I said, greeting both of them. I’d seen Sebastian from a distance in Venice at one point, but I didn’t remember ever seeing Benjamin.
“Drew is excited to meet you,” Sebastian said. “But he’s feeding Flora at the moment so he’s stuck in the back room. I offered to feed her, but he said she was already settled, and I wasn’t going to argue with him too much about it.”
I grinned after Sebastian started chuckling.
“And Eli is trying not to stare at Flora too longingly,” Benjamin said. I tried to keep my face neutral, but wasn’t sure I’d succeeded. “It’s all right,” Benjamin said. “We actually have twin sons, but Eli would love nothing more than to have another baby. We have to wait for his next heat though.”
“Oh.” I guessed that helped make sense of things.
“Don’t pay him much mind,” Étienne said. “But do come inside and meet the rest of the family, including Drew and Eli. Ben and Eli’s twins are making all of the noise that you hear.”
You absolutely could hear the excited squeals of young children. Frederick laced his fingers with mine and together we walked through the house toward the noise. When we made it to the back room of the cabin, I realized there were more than just Drew and Eli back there.
“The one holding the toddler with the small guy sitting on the chair arm beside him is Calum, and that’s his fae mate Asher. Calum is Benjamin’s oldest brother. Their toddler is Isla, and she is a sweet little thing.”
I was trying to not freak out at the number of people in the room.
“Caspian wasn’t feeling the best,” Rainier said. “So he and Dimitri are at home.”
I nodded, remembering Frederick talking about Caspian. He was mated to a dragon alpha, and was pregnant.
“I can understand that,” I said, not sure what I was supposed to say in response.
“Have you been feeling poorly?” Rainier asked.
“Actually, no. If Frederick hadn’t told me for certain that I was pregnant last week, I wouldn’t even know that I was. I haven’t had any sort of symptoms or issues at all.”
I wasn’t going to mention the increased sexual need. I didn’t know if that was a from the pregnancy or the fact that I now had my One and we were spending plenty of time naked.
A pair of identical little boys ran by, both of them giggling while holding a toy truck.
“That’s Maverick and Spencer. They’ll be two in less than two weeks,” Benjamin told me.
I smiled at the warlock and nodded. “I hope they have a great birthday,” I told him. “How do you tell them apart?”
Benjamin snorted.
“He cheats,” a cute little omega said as he joined us. Benjamin immediately pulled him into a side hug. That must be Eli then. Eli looked from his mate back over to me. “He uses his magic to tell them apart. I have to go by the bracelets that I’ve put on their ankles,” he told him. “I would have thought I’d be able to tell them apart by scent, but they literally smell identical too.”
