Their Mating Rituals [Paranormal Protection Unit 4] (Siren Publishing Classic) Read online

  She snorted and shook her head. “Doubt it. Not with as much as this hurts. Oh Gods.” She breathed out in another building scream as yet another contraction hit her.

  “That’s it love, squeeze hard and push that boy out,” he encouraged her as he felt the bones in his hand grinding together. Holy hell, she had a grip on her. Definitely had some of the Dragon’s strength in her grip, more her father’s daughter than they all would have guessed. “Breathe,” he ordered her when the contraction set her loose.

  Panting through her teeth, she growled at Aiden. “What the fuck do you think I’m doing?”

  “Snarling at your bond-mate,” he told her honestly. “But you need to be pushing air in and out of your lungs in a smooth rhythm instead of sucking it up like it’s the last drop of water on the planet. You’re going to hyperventilate and then we’re going to be in serious trouble because I’m going to freak, and you know who’s going to get cooked first, right?”

  “Anyone but me,” she said confidently as she lay there between contractions. “And we both know it.” Sweat dripped from her body. She was freezing cold but so hot that she was sweltering at the same time. “Another coming,” she whispered and began to push once more.

  “That’s it love, push,” he whispered, holding her hand. When she collapsed back, he grabbed a cloth and wiped her face for her. “You are bloody amazing to me, angel.”

  Pain tore her inside and out. She was a living and breathing testament to the amount of pain a woman had to endure to give birth. That first lusty scream from her firstborn though was enough to bring her to tears. No longer cussing like an angry, drunken sailor, she sobbed like a babe as she took in the visage of the boy held in the doctor’s arms.

  Smiling, Aiden turned to look at her. “You did it, love. There’s our first one.” He laughed softly, feeling more than a little giddy. “Gods, I love you, Talina,” he whispered, leaning in to kiss her soundly on her lips.

  “That’s good,” she whispered. “I think I should nap while I can,” she said reaching out to touch her son. There was a smile on her lips as she said, “Hello, little darling.” A yawn escaped her lips when she added, “Mommy would love to have some time with you, but I think I should rest a moment before your brother chooses to come into the world.” With that she was out.

  The doctor smiled. “She will likely nap for a few minutes as her body gets ready for round two. Would you like to take your son and introduce him to your brother and her father? I will stay here with her and come get you the moment she wakes if you wish.”

  Taking the baby, Aiden just sat there and held their son. Stroking a finger gently down the chubby cheek, he leaned in. Breathing in his scent, Aiden rubbed his nose to the tiny little one on the tiny little face. “Hello, my son,” he whispered softly, “we’ll wait for your mother to wake and see if she’s finally decided on one of the many names we’d picked for you two.”

  “Anthony,” Lina whispered from where she lay half-asleep. “Anthony and Andrew.” She yawned. “I’m so tired,” she whispered in confession. “Take Anthony out to meet Daddy and the others. I swear I can all but feel their anticipation as they wait outside.”

  “It’s good for them to learn patience,” he said with a smile. Leaning in, he kissed her softly. “But I will take him and introduce him around. I won’t be long, promise,” he whispered against her lips as she smiled faintly. “I love you, little angel.” Aiden breathed her in and stood to carefully carry the little bundle out to meet the family.

  Jackie rose first and approached Aiden. “Lemme see. What did you name him?” she asked as she pulled down the blanket from around his little face. “Hello there, handsome. Aren’t you just all kinds of beautiful?”

  “This is Anthony,” he told her with a grin and shifted the baby. “Here, give him a snuggle, and share him, Jacqueline,” he warned with an even bigger grin at her dark look. Shifting, he settled next to Talina’s door so he could hear if she woke. Watching carefully as everyone got up close to the baby and cooed, he chuckled. “Don’t smother him.”

  Jackie stroked a finger over the boy’s cheek. She smiled. “You are a big one, aren’t you, little man? I bet your momma was ready to hurt your daddy.” When the boy opened his eyes, she grinned. “There you are, my little man. Aren’t you a truly handsome one?”

  “She was calling Aiden some interesting names,” Allister said with a grin to his twin. “Pretty sure she got about half of them from you, my love,” he added, dropping a kiss to Jackie’s cheek. “He’s definitely a big lad.” He shook his head slightly.

  “If I didn’t know better I would swear he was bigger than our sons when they were born.” Jackie looked up at Aiden and grinned. “You better get her some shiny and beautiful pieces for the pain that woman is going through, mister.”

  “Already got her a lot of shiny things,” he told her softly with a grin. Aiden had already done a lot of shopping before his mate’s due date and had everything sitting at home to gift her with. “She’ll be getting a bunch of them as soon as we get home.”

  “You are a very smart man,” she said with a smile. “Too bad you didn’t tell your brother these very wise things.” She chuckled, looking up at Allister. “Wonderful gifts would have been brilliant had my mate thought of it,” she teased Allister.

  “Hey, I made up for it,” he said with a glare to her. “Besides, I’m pretty sure he learned from my errors on the subject. No way is he smart enough to think it up on his own.” Allister shot his brother a grin. “Sorry, big brother.”

  “You are not allowed near my impressionable children, ever, evil little brother,” Aiden proclaimed as he watched Talon looking down at the little boy. If he didn’t know better he’d swear the Dragon King was hesitating about reaching out for the babe.

  Jackie turned to Talon and grinned. “Here, how about you hold him for me while I go and look in on Lina to make sure that she’s good, Grandpa?”

  “Uh, sure,” Talon said, taking the baby carefully. Staring down at the big baby blue eyes that he knew would change in the next couple of days, he licked his lips. It felt odd having someone call him ‘Grandpa.’ Oh, he knew he was old enough to be a grandfather a few dozen times over, but to actually hear it and be it, whole other ballgame.

  Jackie smiled and shot Allister a look and a wink.

  Giving Allister a wave, she walked into the room where Lina was resting. After several long minutes, she watched Lina’s eyes opening and smiled. “Hey there. I left your son with his grandpa. How you doing?”

  “I hurt,” Lina admitted. “Good Lord, having a baby is so much harder than I ever thought it would be.” Closing her eyes again, she sighed. “Thank you for letting Daddy have a moment with my wee one. I think that he’s still stressing about my twin,” she whispered. “So yeah.”

  “Yeah, I know,” Jackie told her friend with a smile.

  “Can you get Aiden back here please?” Lina whispered. “I feel the contractions starting.”

  With that Jackie left the delivery room and moved to Aiden touching her hand to his shoulder. “She needs you. Looks like the next baby is about to come.”

  “Thanks, Jackie,” he said and shot a look over at Talon with a grin. “Grab a bottle if Anthony needs it, will you, and let T feed him,” he murmured to his sister-in-law. “I think he’ll get a kick out of it,” Aiden whispered before slipping back into the room. Settling on the stool, he took Talina’s hand. “I’m here, babe. Ready for round two?” he asked her softly.

  “No not really,” Lina grumbled. “He’s going to be as big as his brother and I seriously don’t know if I have it in me to give birth to another Dragon. But I have no choice in the matter,” she said and leaned forward as the first contraction hit.

  Holding her hand tight, he encouraged her and then wiped her brow as she lay back down. “I think that I have a new hero, darling,” he murmured next to her ear as she lay focusing on her breath. “I would be, of course, talking about you,” he said, petting her
hair lightly.

  She nodded and whimpered. “Well, we know that he’s as big as the other boy. God, I don’t know if I can do this,” she whispered as she looked up at him with a hint of fear in her eyes.

  Brushing her hair back, he wiped her face again and rocked her gently. “You can do anything, angel. You saved me. You protected me. You were there for me the entire time, baby. You can do something as simple as this,” he whispered with a grin.

  “As simple as this?” She growled. “Are you freaking serious? Giving birth is not ‘simple’ anything!” she told him with another scream as the next contraction started. “Gods, this is tearing me apart!”

  “Push!” he encouraged her, holding her up in position so all she had to do was bear down. Lowering her carefully, he stroked her face. “Sure it’s simple,” he said softly with a grin, trying to keep her fired up. “I mean really, all you’re doing is pushing a little baby out, really can’t be that hard.” Shooting looks at those that snorted and were gaping at him, he rolled his eyes, hoping someone would clue into what he was doing.

  “Seriously?” Her anger gave her strength and she began to push hard. Bearing down in her anger, she pushed through one contraction and into the second one. She pushed harder and harder. She felt the baby moving down, felt it crowning, screamed another time, and sobbed when she heard the lusty scream.

  “Uh…” The doctor looked to the nurses and then to Aiden and shook her head. “She’s far smaller than her brother, and she’s stunningly perfect.”

  “See, angel, our baby is just…” Aiden whipped his head around and stared. “She?” he squeaked at the doctor and blinked rapidly as his brain switched gears. “A girl?” he whispered, stunned, and began to smile slowly. Turning to Lina, he kissed her hard and fast. “You gave me a little girl.”

  “A girl?” Lina asked, her shock clear. “Wait, how?” She lay back against Aiden, “Oh crap, how?” Reaching out blindly though, she smiled. “I want to see my baby.” She whispered. “Please.”

  Laying the child on Lina’s chest, the doctor sighed. “The one and only thing that I can think of.” She stroked her fingers over the girl’s cheek and smiled. “She’s beautiful,” she murmured. “Anyway, the only thing that I can think is that the boy was always the one that moved in front of his sister. I was wondering what in the world was happening, because the boys were the same size. Now I realize it was the same boy each time.”

  Staring at his little girl, Aiden wrapped his arm around Talina’s shoulders. “Told you that you could do it,” he whispered softly to her with a grin. “She’s beautiful, angel, so gorgeous, just like her mother.” He was crying and honestly didn’t care. He was so blessed and so happy he didn’t know what to do about it.

  “She is so perfect,” she whispered as she looked at the child. “Oh God, we have to change the nursery,” she said with watery sobs. “So that our baby girl won’t feel left out.” She looked up at Aiden and smiled. “A girl. Who would have ever, ever seen that coming?”

  “I definitely didn’t,” he said with a grin, pressing a kiss to her lips. “We will make the adjustments and ensure she knows she’s just as loved as her brother. But we have another issue,” he told her quietly, “What do we name her?”

  “Oh crap,” she muttered and looked down at the little beauty she was holding. Her shocking red hair was so long she likely could pull it up and in a ponytail on top of her head. “She’s stunning,” she whispered. “And holy cow, Daddy is going to have a heart attack,” she said with a smirk. “But as for a name.” She shrugged. “Goodness. I don’t know. We were going to name her Andrew, so what do you think we should instead?”

  “Good Gods,” he murmured. “What about…” He paused and frowned for a moment. “Amelia?” he suggested, sticking with their letter choice for the name.

  “I like it. I was thinking Andria or something, but I like Amelia. We can call her Amy.” She looked down at their actually really tiny daughter and smiled. “What do you think, sweetheart?” She frowned then and added, “Is she healthy? She’s so much smaller than her brother. Is she healthy?”

  “Of course she’s healthy. She has our genes, darling,” he told her softly. “Girls are always a little tinier than boys, especially with twins. But she will grow. She has a lot of Dragon genes going for her after all.” Stroking his finger over the chubby little cheek, he shook his head. “I still can’t believe it, a little girl.”

  “I know,” she whispered. “Oh dear God, how are the others going to take this?” she asked and looked up with a smile. “How are you going to break the news to them that we have a girl? Because this news is for you to break, darling mine.”

  “Gee thanks, babe.” He chuckled and shrugged. “I figure I’ll go out to introduce our second child and just pop it on all of them. After ensuring that a nurse has her hands on Anthony so no one drops him,” he told her honestly.

  “That sounds like a good idea.” Lina yawned and closed her eyes. “All right, honey, take Amy and introduce her to everyone.” She smiled and gave her baby another loving hug. “A little girl.” The awe was clear in her voice, awe because they had a little girl.

  Pressing another kiss to her lips, he lifted his tiny daughter into his arms. Tucking her close, he covered her up. “Shh,” he whispered when she fussed. “It’s only for a moment, baby girl. We need to surprise the family,” he told her and headed to the door with a nurse on his heels.

  “Well, come on. Lemme see my other nephew,” Jackie said, getting to her feet as Aiden walked out of the room. She was practically vibrating in excitement. Her sons would have playmates, would have cousins that they would be able to spend the rest of their lives with, and that made her all kinds of happy. “Come on. Hand him over,” she said with greedy hands reaching toward the white bundle.

  “You’re going to have to alter a few expectations, Jackie,” Aiden said, moving the blanket for everyone to see the little girl. “It’s a girl,” he told them all with a grin. “This is Amelia.”

  Jackie just stood there looking from the baby to Aiden and then back to the baby. “A girl?” she asked in awed tones. “Holy hell, you had a girl.” She shot Allister a look and then turned to look at Talon, who was looking like he was going to pass out. Grinning, she held out her hands. “Well give me that little darling and let Aunty Jackie see her.”

  “She’s tiny, Jackie, be careful with her,” he said softly with a chuckle. Brushing a finger over her cheek, he stepped back and took his son to cuddle as, once again, Jackie was surrounded by men peering down at the bundle.

  “Good lord, she is tiny,” Jackie commented, looking down at the small girl. “And you’re sure that she’s okay?” Glancing back up, Jackie gifted Talon with a grin. “Wanna hold your granddaughter, T-Rex?”

  “She’s perfect,” Aiden said with a glare at his brother’s mate. “Why does everyone keep asking that?” he grumbled to the nurse who just shot him a look.

  Talon moved in closer and nodded, taking the even smaller bundle. “Hello, Amelia,” he whispered softly as he tucked her in close to him. “Gods, she’s perfect, Aiden,” he murmured quietly.

  “Amy, darling, you are going to be one spoiled and overly protected little girl, but that’s just as it should be, darling.” Jackie teased the men crowding the baby girl. “Between your brother and cousins, not to mention all the uncles that you have here in this facility and all the others all over the world, you, my little darling, are going to be spoiled.”

  “How’s Talina?” Talon asked, looking up for the briefest moment before returning his gaze to the tiny girl.

  “Exhausted, sore, sleeping like the dead right now,” Aiden said with a grin. “She was a trouper and I think I owe her an extra few presents for all the harassing I did to get her to bear down and deliver our little girl.”

  Jackie laughed and shook her head. “If you pissed her off, you will definitely owe her some presents.” She looked down at the little blue-eyed girl and sighed, her heart lost to th
e little girl. “But as soon as your momma sees you, Amy darling, she will know that you were worth every single moment that it took to give birth to you.” Jackie’s gaze swung back to Aiden and she asked, “I thought you guys were having both boys? Each time she went to the doctor the ultrasounds showed two boys. What happened?”

  “Best we can figure is Anthony was playing protective big brother and always ensuring he was the only one in the frame. We knew there were two because of the extra arms and legs we’d occasionally see, but the doc thinks that it was always Anthony showing off for the camera,” Aiden told her with a shrug.

  “Well, that’s okay. Big brother will always protect his baby sister, won’t he?” Jackie asked and grinned down at the little girl who watched everyone with wide and unblinking eyes. “You are a curious little girl, aren’t you, darling? That’s good. Be curious about everything, sweetheart.”

  “Except boys,” Talon, Aiden, and Allister all said in unison and then grinned at one another as Jackie and the female nurse all made disgusted sounds. Chuckling, Allister hugged his mate close. “She can start looking at boys when she’s a few hundred years old and not a day sooner.”

  Jackie snorted and looked down at the little girl. “It’s okay, darling. I’m sure your momma will tell you the same thing as well, but you go with what feels right. The uncles and other men in your life will understand, darling.”

  “Not in this lifetime,” Aiden said, shaking his head at her. “Any male that isn’t family and could potentially be her bond-mate better have his will made out in full if he so much as breathes in a two-thousand-mile radius around her.”

  Jackie laughed. She couldn’t help herself. Shaking her head, she sighed and looked down at the girl she held. “Your daddy is full of hot air, darling.” She then looked to Aiden and added, “We both know that it would be more like a full continent away from her.”

  “Bonuses of working with the King of the Dragons and head of the Council,” Allister said with a grin. “You can have any of the fucking males that can get near your girl shipped off to anywhere in the world.”