Page 47 of Matched and Mated

“He was being a dumb guy,” I confirmed. “But he’s proven himself to me, and to Trist, many times over.”

In the family room, Roark was sprawled on the floor, propped up on one elbow, beside little Talia, who was lying on a pale green blanket. Noah was waving a toy so she could watch it. Her little legs kicked the air, clearly happy.

Trist sat in a chair, back straight, watching.

No, guarding me, more like. And I adored him for it.

Brax came over to me, wrapped an arm about my waist and kissed my forehead.

When Noah saw me, his little face lit up and he handed the toy to his father and ran over to me.

I dropped to my knees and wrapped his soft little body in a tight squeeze. “Hey, buddy! I think you grew a whole foot since I’ve seen you last.”

He patted my cheek with his hand. “I did! Mommy said eating my vegbles makes me big.”

“Don’t tell your daddy, but if you keep it up, you’ll be bigger than he is one day.”

He leaned in, whispered in my ear, although it wasn’t all that quiet. “Sooo much bigger.”

Roark’s head fell back and he laughed. Natalie scooped Noah up and gave him snuggle kisses, which made him giggle.

“I sense your need, mate,” Brax whispered as I eyed my BFF with her son. I didn’t envy her a mate any longer, but I did envy her children. Beautiful, sweet, precious children.

Even though I’d only been mated a short time, my ovaries had kicked into overdrive. Every time Trist’s deep voice commanded me to strip or every time Brax added the extra chain that connected my nipple rings to a clamp on my clit—bejeweled with a green gemstone, of course—I’d craved not only their cocks, but the baby that could be made.

That had been made.

I’d only just discovered I was pregnant before we transported off the battleship. It had been Brax himself who’d given me my last birth control shot, but that had been weeks and weeks ago, the last time we’d been together on Trion. It had been over a month since the shot and when I’d been tested. I hadn’t even thought of it. Trist had never asked. To be honest, I hadn’t thought about children when Trist claimed me. Then Brax appeared and threw my life into chaos. Oh, I wanted children, always had, but never with a ruthless intensity that meant right now, for before I was mated, I hadn’t considered it to be a real possibility.

But now it was much more than a possibility. With the amount of sex we’d had, the amount of times they’d come inside me, I was surely pregnant with triplets.

“I sense…” he began, then stilled. Growled. “Gara.”

Oh shit, the collars. I wasn’t sure how Brax and Trist would handle the announcement that we’d made a baby, for we hadn’t talked about it. We hadn’t expected it. I had no idea if they even really wanted one. I should have asked. Maybe they didn’t want children. Or maybe they did, but not yet. Trist might freak. They had the Hive technology they’d taken from the dead soldiers that attacked us, but the Coalition was still trying to figure out how the stealth armor was made. Reverse engineer the stuff. Figure out how to detect it.

The battleship might not be safe for a baby. Was Trist going to be upset? Angry that I hadn’t asked them first? That he would have a child to protect as well as a mate? Would Brax be dismayed that I hadn’t remembered the birth control shot?

Oh, god. Did they even want a baby?

Trist popped up from his chair. “What is wrong, mate?”

He glanced around the room, instantly alert. His behavior was a signal to Roark that something was wrong and he scooped baby Talia up into his arms, jumping to his feet with a lithe grace I didn’t expect. He made it across the room and had his arm about Natalie before I could blink.

“Holy crap, guys. Nothing’s wrong

,” I said, reassuring them.

Roark didn’t move from huddling his family close, but he’d handed the baby to Natalie and pulled out his weapon.

Trist crossed the room in three strides. “Something’s wrong. I sense it. Fear. Panic.”

I sighed all the way to my toes. This was not how I’d imagined breaking the news to them. I’d thought maybe candlelight and champagne and a sexy little green gown with slits everywhere…

“She’s afraid to tell us she’s pregnant,” Brax said. I glanced up at him, saw the way the corner of his mouth was tipped up. Through the collar, I felt a swift jolt of relief that had my knees give out, but Brax wrapped an arm about me and held me close. I also felt satisfaction, happiness and even quite a bit of male pride.

I exhaled loudly, not realizing I’d held my breath.

“Mate,” Trist growled, pulling me out of Brax’s arms and into his. My face was smooshed into his chest and held so tightly I could barely move.

---