Page 24 of The Dragon's Emberlinked Mate
“Do you think we can know how big the clutch is today or will Emmen and I need to come to you for that later?”
“The box I left by the door should help us get those answers, but first, tell me how you are feeling.”
The first part of the exam consisted of many questions and taking vitals. Not much more. When he was done, Vexus gave my mate something to help with his morning sickness along with a prenatal vitamin. The man came prepared, I’d give him that.
“Are you ready to find out your clutch size?” Vexus stood up and crossed over to where he left the ultrasound. He already knew the answer.
My mate grabbed my hand. “We are.”
It took a few minutes to set up, but once it was ready to go, Vexus wasted no time. Vexus moved the wand around my mate’s lower abdomen, clicking a handheld remote of sorts as he did.
My heart began to pound in my chest. This wasn’t the first time I’d witnessed my mate getting an ultrasound. When he was in the hospital, they did a few on him, to make sure things were healing the way they needed to. The machine had been very different, larger and probably more powerful, but that didn’t stop those memories from flooding back to me.
I held them in the best I could, not wanting to ruin this moment for my mate. But he knew. Of course he knew.
“Do you want us to stop?” He gave my hand a squeeze.
“No. This will be a good memory.” I kissed his forehead. “I was just remembering the last time you had one of these.”
“I thought so.” He closed his eyes tightly. “This will be a better memory, for us both.”
Vexus waited for us to give him the go-ahead before he shared the news with us. “Do you want to know how many eggs or how many babies?”
His question caught me off guard, but not my mate. “Twins?”
“Three eggs, and I think four babies. The twin gene runs strong in your family.”
Vexas wiped the gel from my mate’s belly, and Rhythe sat up and wrapped his arms around me. “Sounds like it's a good thing I’m working on my new project.” He giggled into my chest.
“It really does.”
Chapter 14
Rhythe
“How is it that I’ve never visited the Commander’s home?” Pip asked as he stepped inside.
He had a car seat on each arm. His mate carried two car seats as well, and their manny, or more accurately one of their nannies, Shaun, had the other. It boggled my mind that they were ever able to all get out of the house.
It was always an orchestration to get all five babies to one place at the same time. And that was when they could take theirminivan or SUV. This was a far more complicated expedition. If anything, I’d have been shocked if he had come up here before.
Much to many people’s dismay, since there wasn’t a road to get up here, and my brother was one of those people. They’d flown with all the car seats hanging on a pole which Valen carried in his talons.
It was safe. Valen wouldn’t do anything that wasn’t. He was beyond protective. But watching it for the first time was like being at the top of a rollercoaster for the first time. My stomach had not been ready.
And that was when it hit me. That would soon be my reality, only with one fewer baby. We’d made it up here with an all-terrain vehicle when I was hurt, but that wasn’t a great experience and definitely not one I wanted to do with multiple car seats in tow. We would need to take a page out of Valen’s playbook while we lived here.
But now that the babies were all in here and safe, I was ready for uncle time. Pip, on the other hand, looked like he was going to have a heart attack, my guess from seeing his mate carry all five carseats on a stick.
It was safe to say they wouldn’t be traveling up here with all the babies very often.
“Why hadn’t you been up here? Guess you just weren’t important enough, even with your fancy job.” I stuck out my tongue, and he visibly relaxed. Mission accomplished.
“Did you get to have a meeting here when you were hired for your job?” he asked his mate.
“Indeed, I did. It was a delicious catered meal.”
I sighed. “Every meal here is catered. We have a chef.” And they were amazing.
