The Alpha King (31 page)

"What?" Mailon asked.

He might be slightly irrational, but in that moment, Blaze didn't care. His mate hurt, his daughter, his youngest child hadn't been born, and Mailon didn't know what the fuck was going on? Why the hell did he have an Epsilon wolf if he was just going to let him down?

"B-Blaze?" Tal whispered, his throat sounded raw from all the screaming he'd done.

Blaze turned and quickly crawled back to his mate's side. "Yes, my love?" He placed gentle kisses on his lover's forehead again, hoping this time he'd be able to achieve the action without being strangled.

"S-s-scared," Tal stuttered.

Blaze could only watch when Talon's body clenched with a fresh wave of pain.

"I know you're afraid, my heart, but we're going to help get the baby out and—" Blaze tried to reassure his mate only to be cut off.

"N-n-not me… the baby, Lalani," Tal interrupted.

"Lalani?" Blaze questioned, feeling his lips pull up into a smile.

"That's her name. You named the boys. Gave them all those horrible names," Tal pointed out.

Blaze merely grinned before giving Tal a swift kiss on his dry, chapped lips.

"H-help her, Blaze. H-help her come out, be born. Not be scared. Help. Her," Tal choked, his words slurring and getting slower.

His mate's body had weakened from the blood loss and fear gripped Blaze, remembering what it felt like the last time that he'd lost the man.

Frantic with worry, Blaze indulged the whim of the smaller man and his brother left the shuttle, racing to find the palace physician.

"Okay, baby, I will," he promised.

Kneeling beside his mate's stomach, he tuned out the sounds of his four healthy newborn sons who were sucking on the freshly made bottles that had been rushed from the palace. The first few hours of a Tumaron newborn's life were the most critical. They were required to feed almost immediately in order to assure they would be able to shift properly. Something parents had begun to pay strict attention to after everyone experienced the horror of Elder Bryce's half-shift. Extremely grateful to Buck for remembering to get the bottles, Blaze would thank his brother for his thoughtfulness, but not yet, right then he had to try to save his daughter's life. Blaze deeply inhaled his mate's scent, his eyes closing in sweet rapture, the intoxicating aroma soothing his jangling nerves.

"Hey, baby girl. Lalani," he spoke softly to his unborn daughter. "Why don't you come on out, huh? You have a lot of people waiting to meet you. Me, for one. I'm your father, your"—Blaze hesitated and looked up at Tal with a grin—"your daddy, Tal, your uncles Buck, Percy, Mailon, Trenton, and Tuvarion, your aunt Josie… and your grandparents, your Daddy's parents, who will be here soon. We all love you and want to meet you, my sweet girl. This planet isn't scary. It's filled with so much happiness because we all love you." His voice cut off on a sob.

The thought of losing both his daughter and his mate at the same time flittered across his mind.

"
I love you, my mate, my heart, my one and only. My love
," he said through the link.

Tal sighed with happiness just as the slit opened and he began to push.

"I love you too," Tal responded aloud and grunted while pushing Lalani out completely, the placenta quickly following after.

He collapsed back in exhaustion. Blaze watched with barely concealed fascination when the slit closed immediately, the line disappearing completely. Blaze quickly took Lalani from Mailon's arms and cleaned his daughter as best as he could. Lalani, who had only cried softly for a moment, before settling peacefully in his arms, struggled to open her eyes to see her father and Blaze smiled down at his miracle baby.

"Let me see her," Tal requested tiredly, and Blaze quickly placed their daughter in her daddy's arms.

"Here you go, Daddy," he teased.

"Daddy? So we're going to really stick with that, huh?" Tal quirked an eyebrow, his voice sounding extremely tired.

"It's the closest thing to mommy we have. It implies intimacy and we know you're better at those things," Blaze offered the explanation unrepentantly, his eyes twinkling with mirth.

He knew that Tal was merely being difficult or was just so exhausted that he'd forgotten that he'd been calling himself daddy for the babies for a while. Blaze wouldn't concern himself over his mate's reaction too much. Tal hadn't been himself throughout the entire pregnancy or the labor. He would just ignore Tal's comments until after things had calmed down some.

"I'm too fucking exhausted to discuss this right now, Blaze. Just get me and the children to our rooms so they can be properly cleansed, dressed, and they can be placed in their cribs… and I can be in my bed when I meet my brothers. I'll just kick your ass later," Tal said irritably, his words still slightly slurred and almost flowing together.

"Yes, my love." Blaze smiled when he opened the door and stepped out of the shuttle then reaching back in for the box that held all four of his sons. Buck offered to take the babies and Blaze lifted a dazed Tal with baby Lalani still held tenderly in his arms, and carried the two of them to their suite.

Mailon, whom Blaze had named Maximillion and Maximus after, brought up the rear, looking just as tired as the new 'Daddy'.

"Elder Mailon?" Blaze called over his shoulder.

"Yes, Your Highness?" Mailon questioned, his voice wavering slightly.

"I will not forget you saved my mate's life. You will be rewarded handsomely, exalted, and remembered for all time. I shall not forget," Blaze decreed.

"Y-yes, Your Highness," Mailon responded.

Blaze smelled the surprise rolling off the other man's skin.

"And you're rehired, as well," Blaze said with a hearty chuckle.

Blaze looked down and saw the weary smile Tal offered him and he walked slowly and carefully towards their rooms, their daughter still held tenderly to Tal's chest.

EPILOGUE

Blaze got Tal settled with the babies all carefully placed on the bed securely around him, as he'd requested.

"I'm not used having them not kicking and moving inside me, and we almost died, so I want them close," Tal explained sadly.

Blaze could completely understand the feeling. While he hadn't carried the children within him, he still felt the overwhelming urge to wrap all five and his mate in a giant impenetrable bubble. They had all experienced so much he wanted everyone close so he could see they were safe and well taken care of. Tal had it right, there would be no nannies in his children's future.

Blaze couldn't be more aware he'd almost lost the love of his life and his children because of someone's greed and hunger for power. He didn't argue with Tal, merely smiled and laid all the babies close to his exhausted mate and placed pillows around them to keep them safe. Once sure the babies were securely settled on the bed, he left to bring Trenton and Tuvarion in to meet their eldest brother. Both the young men had cried when Blaze had told them their eldest brother was alive and well. More than that, he was mated and expecting children. Blaze had been surprised when both teens told him they remembered their older brother distinctly, and their parents, and he knew the brothers would do a lot of catching up.

Josie had been found by her mate when Tal had been giving birth, in the keepsake trunk Tal and Blaze kept in their room. She had been sorely put out not only to have been shoved into the small trunk while Tal had been fighting for his life, but also horrified by what had been inside of the trunk, declaring she'd never wanted to know such things about her little brother.

Tal blinked at her in exasperation before he turned and asked Blaze to remove everything inside the trunk and then take the thing outside and have it burned. Tal wanted no more physical or visual reminders of what had occurred that day. Blaze commanded it be done without delay. Another thing he understood completely, the need to have no more remains of Elder Bryce, Anglania, and Freud's evilness anywhere in their home.

He brought his mate's younger brothers to finally be reunited with Tal. His last week had been so emotionally draining all he'd really wanted was to sleep for a week, but when he saw the look on his mate's face when he saw his brothers for the first time in over a decade, he knew all of the missed sleep would be worth it.

Like their older brother, Trenton and Tuvarion were short and thin and both had long hair, slim patrician noses, and full, pouty lips. Trenton's eyes were almost a translucent light brown and his hair, while almost the same dark brown as Tal's, didn't have the blond streaks and fell to the middle of his back. He also had faint muscles in his arms, and a chiseled jaw. As for Tuvarion… well Blaze admitted he still wanted to see proof that the youngest Versuthion brother was not a young girl.

Blaze gave himself a mental shake and tried to rid himself of the effect of insane captivation Tuvarion seemed to have over all the men of Tumaro. To Blaze, Tuvarion was not nearly as attractive as Talon, but he could definitely see the young... man, was indeed breathtakingly gorgeous. His long, flowing blond hair, filled with loose waves, fell to his knees and, very unlike his brothers whose eyes hadn't changed quite as much at puberty, Tuvarion's eyes were lavender. Along with his striking coloring, which the kid had in spades, there was also his very diminutive frame and androgynous features. His hands were small and dainty and even his voice sounded soft and slightly husky.

Blaze knew that anyone… any man who tried to win the hearts of these two Vermithians had better be prepared to work for them. They would not be easy to control or lead, regardless of their size. Hadn't he learned that very thing from his own mate? He thought of Rico. The man definitely had his work cut out for him when it came to being mated to a Versuthion teen.

Blaze smiled when he heard Tal laugh as his reunion with his younger brothers continued and he proceeded to introduce them to their niece and nephews. He loved being able to bring his mate a moment of joy. He knew that his father was looking at him from the Great Beyond with pride. He and Buck had reconciled, although he was sure there was so much more going on behind the scenes with his younger sibling that he wasn't even aware of, which didn't sit well with Blaze. Percy settled within the palace with a manner of contentment, although Blaze felt quite certain that until Buck claimed the younger man, he'd always look as if he were broken inside.

Blaze had also done one of the biggest things his father had asked of him. He'd found all three of the Versuthion boys and brought them to the kingdom to care for them. Granted, Tal had showed up in a completely unconventional manner and Blaze hadn't really had anything to do with it, but Tal was there and that was all that mattered.

Blaze couldn't be more thankful that his mate had accepted their mating and given birth to their five beautiful children. Moreover… if he had to be honest, he was really thankful for the crash that made it all possible.

* * * *

Tal sighed as he pulled the blanket up over Lalani and slowly stepped away from her crib, backing out of the nursery slowly and very quietly. It had taken him three and a half hours, but he had finally gotten all of the babies to sleep. Either he'd gotten better at putting them to bed or they had decided to take it easy on their daddy that night and fall asleep quickly.

It was at times like this, he almost considered taking Blaze up on his previous 'Let's get a nanny, just in case. Besides it's tradition' offer. However, he soon remembered he loved putting his babies to bed, and he wouldn't change it for anything in the world, especially because he loved the moment when he looked at them and they were quiet and asleep.

Happy he'd gotten out of the nursery without waking any of them, Tal breathed a sigh of relief. He would kill anyone who woke them before morning.

Softly closing the door, making sure to engage the video and audio baby monitors in case one of the babies needed him, he walked through the sitting room and headed towards his and Blaze's bedroom. From there he'd go on into the bathroom where he had a nice, long bubble bath waiting on him. He smiled when he noticed his two younger brothers playing some game on the vid screen. He was so happy to have them back in his life. Happy his memory of them and their parents had started to come back. Happy that his birth family, his adopted family, and the family he'd mated into were whole.

Well… almost. His smile quickly faded when he saw Percy and Buck doing their level best to ignore the mating pull. While thrilled to have his brothers and the opportunity to grow closer to them daily, he hated watching Percy and Buck drift further and further apart. The time would come, soon, when Percy would give up on Buck altogether and turn to the first available man he could find.

While Percy would never see Tal's brothers as love interests, Tal had it on good authority that Duke Mufariso, the Zeelithian diplomat, due to arrive any day, happened to be single, gay, and had spoken to Blaze a time or two about the man whose beautiful voice had been left on his messenging device so many times. Tal could only hope that Buck pulled his head out of his ass in time to stop Duke from getting his cock into Percy.

Tal smiled over at Trenton and Tuvarion, walking up behind them and ruffling their hair. He chuckled when Tuvarion giggled and his grin grew when Trenton looked up with a large smile. He and his brothers had a very emotional reunion, the two younger men sharing their memories of their childhood with Tal. Tal had almost dissolved into tears when Josie had told both young men she would be adopting them as her younger brothers, and he had sobbed harshly when his parents had agreed with her statement.