REMI
I let out a long yawn as I stretched, pushing away from my desk. I desperately wanted to concentrate on work, but I was losing that battle. My eyes wandered over to the couch at the side of the office; it looked comfy and inviting. It certainly had been the past couple of days when I had snuck in a nap after lunch.
I shook my head, knowing I shouldn’t. There was too much to do. Nicole sent over a whole folder with baby shower ideas that she wanted my opinion on. She and Pip were all too happy to pick up that mantle when we announced the news to our family.
I looked down at the picture of the twins and me from our wedding that I kept on my desk. They both were squeezing me, each kissing one of my cheeks, and I had a giant cheesy smile on my face. It was one of my favorites from that day.
I turned my head side to side, trying to crack my neck. Finally, I felt the pop and let out a small sigh. My night with the guys was tomorrow, and I still hadn’t decided what I wanted to do. Sleeping was sounding like the winner.
I pushed away my Luna work and pulled the baby shower folder towards me. It was thick and daunting. I didn’t mind being the center of Calder and Cullen’s world, but being the center of attention otherwise made me nervous. They still didn’t know they were required to attend this event.
I opened it up to the first pages. The theme was Bows vs. Balls, and I let out a laugh at the name. “What’s so funny?” I heard a familiar voice. I looked up to see Calder standing in the open doorway.
“Your mother’s baby shower themes,” I said, closing the folder. “What are you doing?”
“I am not allowed to come to find my glowing mate for a mid-afternoon kiss?” he said, coming into the office. I smiled, turning my chair as he strolled around my desk and came to stand in front of me. He bent down and kissed me chastely.
“I didn’t say anything of the sort,” I said. “I just thought you had the important conference call.”
Calder nodded. “I’m done, and Cullen will be shortly,” he said as his hands grabbed mine. He pulled me up to my feet. I placed my hands on his chest as he hugged me around the waist, my growing baby bump in between us.
“Mmmm, so should I expect another visitor soon?” I asked. Calder kissed the tip of my nose sweetly.
“No, but he will be meeting us,” he said.
“Meeting us where?” I asked.
“You will know in time,” he told me. “Come on.” He pulled me with him out of my office. I rolled my eyes and followed.
We headed downstairs, passing Gentry on the way. He had a stressed look on his face but didn’t say anything as we passed by. Calder’s car was parked out front, and as usual, he opened the door for me. We left the packhouse, but it only took me a few minutes to figure out what direction we were headed in.
“Are we going to the doctor’s office?” I asked, giving him a serious look.
“Well,” he said, trying to deflect.
“Calder, I don’t have a check-up for another three weeks!” I told him.
“I know, I know,” he said as we pulled into a parking space. “It’s just you are so tired lately, and you are growing so quickly. Cullen and I want to make sure everything is okay. We want you and the pup to be healthy, baby.”
“You didn’t think to ask me how I was feeling?” I asked him. “You were just tricking me into going to the doctor?”
“I’m sorry,” he said, grabbing my hand. Of course, my traitorous body calmed at his touch. “I should have talked to you. But we are here, and you have an appointment. Let’s go in and get some pictures of the baby.” He gave me a charming smile that was hard to be mad at.
“Fine,” I relented. His face lifted, and he leaned in to kiss me. Calder hopped out of the car and rushed around to open my door. He even held out his hand to help me from the car. I wasn’t quite big enough to struggle to get around yet, but it wasn’t far away.
Calder led us into the clinic, and the receptionist smiled at us. “If it isn’t two-thirds of my favorite Alpha couple. You guys are here for a look at the baby, right?” she asked kindly.
“Yes,” Calder answered. “My brother will be along shortly.”
“Great,” she said. “Let’s get you back there, and when he arrives, I can bring him back as well.”
Calder looked down at me with a sweet look. I couldn’t be that mad at him when we would get to see the baby so soon. My mates seemed to be nothing but excited for our pup to arrive. I was a mixture of excited and terrified, but I tried not to show it.
We got back into an exam room, and I was told to sit on the table. Without asking, Calder simply lifted me up and set me down. I pouted at him. “I could have gotten up here,” I told him.
“Humor me,” he said softly. He ran his nose along mine, and my eyes fluttered closed at the tender contact. Calder’s face moved, and he started peppering my jaw with gentle pecks. “So what does my mate want to do for her night?” he asked in between kisses.
“I don’t know,” I whispered, living in the feeling of his lips on my skin. He moved past my jaw and down my neck toward his mark. His hand found my lower back and started rubbing gentle circles.
“It’s your night,” he whispered. “We do whatever you want.”
Before I could say anything else, the smell of chocolate chip cookies entered the room. I smiled, my eyes still closed. “Cullen.” Calder groaned, stepping back, making me laugh.
“You couldn’t at least wait until we were finished to tease her?” Cullen shot at his brother. I opened my eyes to Cullen’s on me.
“I wasn’t complaining,” I pointed out. He leaned and kissed me earnestly.
“I missed you,” he said as we parted.
“How was the call?” I asked.
“Uneventful,” he sighed. “Now, where is the doctor?”
“You know, Cullen, I did move my schedule around for you today. You could be a little less grumpy,” Doctor Charles laughed as he joined us. “Remi, you are looking radiant. Are these Alphas taking good care of our expecting Luna?”
“Very,” I said, blushing. Calder had a triumphant expression while Cullen gave me a smoldering gaze.
“Alright,” he said. “Your mates mentioned that you haven’t been feeling that well. Want to tell me what is going on?” He sat down on his stool and opened up a folder with my information in it.
“I am fine,” I said. “They are just being overbearing.”
Doctor Charles laughed again. He knew Calder and Cullen too well to think I was lying. “Well, I am sure that you guys have a lot of questions and concerns since this is new territory.”
“She is not being entirely honest,” Calder said. I turned and gave him an incredulous look. “Despite her protests, she is tired far more than normal.”
“And she has rounded quickly,” Cullen pointed out.
“You are a bit larger than I would expect for this point in your pregnancy,” Doctor Charles admitted.
“They are exaggerating. I am growing a pup; of course, I will be more tired than normal,” I argued.
“Why don’t we go ahead and take a look in there? Then we can see if we need to run any tests. There could be a straightforward answer here,” Doctor Charles said.
“Fine!” I said.
Doctor Charles instructed me to sit back onto the table as he adjusted it to a reclined position. I pulled my shirt up so he could apply the jelly and move the ultrasound wand over my belly. Calder stood near my head with Cullen next to him. Cullen intertwined his fingers with mine while Calder rested his hand on my head.
“They are worried for our pup,” Calli said in my head.
“They need to communicate that then,” I pointed out. I could feel the colossal eye roll from my wolf.
Doctor Charles worked for a moment before he looked over at us and chuckled. “I guess I should have expected this,” he said. I looked at him, confused.
“Expected what?” I asked.
He turned the ultrasound screen around, but I wasn’t entirely sure what I was looking at. “This little Alpha family will be growing from three to five,” he said with a smile. With the tip of his pen, he outlined the two growing fetuses.
My mouth fell open. “W-what?” I stuttered.
“Remi, you are having twins,” he said, still smiling. I blinked rapidly, trying to process what he had just said. “It explains the extra fatigue and growth. We should probably do some blood work to make sure you and the pups are getting enough nutrients, but otherwise, I see nothing out of the ordinary.”
I barely heard what he was saying. Twins. Twins?
I barely had my head wrapped around the concept of being a mother to one baby, let alone two.
“Remi? Remi?” I heard my name. Cullen was waving his hand in front of my face. Calder stood across from him now, also looking worried.
“Baby? Are you okay?” Calder asked.
“Okay?” I said. “Okay? What the hell did you two do to me? Twins?” I exploded. Their looks of concern immediately turned to ones of confusion.
“Love, this is amazing news,” Cullen said.
“We are through the moon,” Calder agreed.
“I asked for one baby! Not two!” I was panicking. Two babies. Two little versions of my mates. They were already enough to handle on top of being Luna, and now this?
“Remi,” Cullen said calmly. “Calm down. We aren’t worried in the slightest.” His hand cupped the side of my face, his thumb gently stroking my cheek. I closed my eyes and focused on his touch, letting out a sharp breath.
“Yes, there will be two pups, but you have two mates to help you,” Calder said, his hand also coming up to cup the other side of my face. I breathed in deeply, letting their scents provide a balm to my nerves.
When I opened my eyes, they were both looking anxious. “Okay,” I said. “We’re having twins.”
As if they were one, their faces broke into identical, giant smiles. I could feel their excitement through our bond; they looked ready to explode.
“We should call Mom and Dad, make sure everyone is at the packhouse tonight for dinner,” Calder said quickly.
“Absolutely, we can tell everyone at once,” Cullen agreed.
I rolled my eyes. Of course, they were so proud they wanted to tell our entire family. I guess I couldn’t blame them for being excited. Seeing them plan and discuss exactly how to tell everyone warmed my heart.
“Are we all on board then?” Doctor Charles said, coming back into the room. I hadn’t noticed he left.
“Yes,” Calder said excitedly.
After he drew my blood, Cullen helped me down off the exam table. “Alright, make sure to eat plenty and get lots of rest. Your body is working double time with two pups in there and they will need to be fed well. Alpha children tend to be large breeds.”
“Or course they do,” I grumbled. Not only am I now having twins, but they were going to be ‘large breeds.’ These men really didn’t understand how to deliver this kind of news to women.
Doctor Charles chuckled. “You will soar through this with flying colors; I am sure of it, Remi. Why don’t you come back to see me in two weeks instead of three? Now that we know it’s twins, I want to keep a closer eye on you.”
“We can do that,” Calder said happily.
“And remember plenty of rest and food. No extra stress if you can,” he added.
“We will make sure of it,” Cullen said.
Cullen had his arm around me on the way out of the office. When we got to the lobby, he paused like he was about to pick me up. “Nope,” I said, escaping his grasp. “I can still walk. None of that until I am too big to move.”
He pouted but nodded his head. Calder laughed behind us. “I guess we can’t put two pups in you and expect everything to be all roses and sunshine.”
“If you had to anticipate now pushing double the amount of children from your body, you might be a little off-axis too,” I said. When we got to the car, Cullen pulled open the door for me.
“We’re not sorry, love,” he said with a devilish smile. “You are just too irresistible. But, maybe we can make it up to you?”
“Oh?” I said. “How do you propose you will do that?”
Cullen leaned in close, his lips right next to my ear. “I am going to let that part be a surprise,” he growled in a low voice. A shiver ran down my spine, and I could feel myself instantly get wet at his words.
He pulled away and left a kiss on my cheek. I climbed in the car so we could head back to the packhouse. I closed my eyes and leaned my head against the seat. In a few months, our whole lives were about to flip entirely inside out. I was having twins with my twins.