Rogue Heart

What's Cooking?

Chapter Eight: What’s Cooking?

ZAYDEN

Not even my bulk could save me from Mom almost barreling me over when I told her and Dad all my news, though surprisingly, despite the overwhelming number of announcements of exciting additional duties I was taking on, Mom didn’t faint. Heck, she didn’t even look like she was close to it! Who knew that was even possible? Her loud squeals of pride, however, did come close to busting my eardrums...

Thankfully, by the time Nicholas, Madeline, Auntie, Horacio, and Elvira arrived, Mom was still excitedly gushing, but didn’t bowl my Alphas over, choosing to instead invite everyone into our large kitchen to show her overwhelming love and appreciation Mom’s favorite way—with food—not knowing how fortuitous that would prove to be...

“Tati, my dear friend, you need to visit more often so I can help those girls grow,” Mom enthusiastically encouraged, setting down a piled-high plate of starchy goodness in front of her, pointing down, “Start with the macaroni salad. I made it with plenty of juice from my homemade pickles you love. And there’s plenty more of my infamous Marry-Me chicken. I can whip up some gravy if you’d like, but try dipping your mashed potatoes in the cream and tomatoes. Zixin says that it gives it a wonderful little zing.”

Horacio and Madeline immediately followed her instructions, shoving in mouthfuls before letting out enamored hums of appreciation as Elvira complimented, “Oh my word, Zahlia! This looks and smells absolutely delicious. I’ve never had chicken cooked this way.”

Scurrying over to the stove to make plates for Nicholas and Horacio, Mom delightedly replied, “It’s one of the first meals I ever made for Zixin in this very kitchen after we moved into the house. He inspired the name that night after informing me that we needed to find someone to marry us right away before I wised up and realized that I deserved better than him. Silliest of notions. Like there could ever be a better man for me on this earth.”

“I still didn’t take any chances. Completed our circle of connection as quickly as possible. My lovely bride walking down the aisle not even a week later,” Dad adoringly stated, walking up beside her, and kissing the side of Mom’s head before taking hold of the plates to carry to the table for her.

Auntie’s fork was still in her mouth as she let out a satisfied hum—a sound my mother lived for—leading her to hurriedly finish making hers and Dad’s plates, finally sitting down to join us as Auntie looked between Madeline and Elvira, who nodded before she kindly began, “So, Zahlia—while you haven’t asked yet—there is a reason for our visit this afternoon.”

I was confused by her reply—everyone was—as Mom anxiously sighed, “I know. And this wasn’t necessary—truly it wasn’t—all of you showing up like this after what I assume was a meeting about the school. As long as he is mindful and doesn’t overdo it, if it will make my Zixin happy, then I think he should do it, especially as Nicholas will not have anyone better than my amazing and formidable warrior to assist him.”

Mystified, Nicholas uncomfortably gulped down his large forkful of chicken before drawling out, “I’m sorry—what?”

“Please know that I’m not discrediting Kingston or Faizon in any way. In fact, you are smart to want all three of them as trainers for the integrated army and the children,” Mom steadfastly replied as she dipped her potatoes in the sauce.

“Wait—you think,” Horacio mumbled mid-bite before swallowing and exhaling out in awe, “Actually—that’s a brilliant idea.”

“Oh, my,” Auntie almost inaudibly breathed out before linking, Zayden, my darling—you may want to brace yourself.

Brace myself? And then it hit me—Oh, crap! Mom thinks—Dad—brilliant idea—OH CRAP!

As he perplexingly looked over at my father, I could see the cogs furiously turning in Nicholas’ mind, my mouth falling open as he curiously asked, “Zixin? Is that something that would interest you?”

“I—uh—well,” Dad stammered out before he let out a humored breath of air, shaking his head as I saw the answer clearly in the smile that crossed his face before he even said the words, “Actually, while that wasn’t the purpose of today’s visit—yes, Nicholas. I would be very interested in joining Kingston and Faizon as a member of your training team.”

Before I could speak—an easy feat as I was left speechless—Mom peered around the table, astonishingly gasping, “Zixin? What do you mean joining the training team wasn’t the purpose of today’s visit?”

“While it is a very welcome twist to our intentions today, my darling Zahlia, the reason for our visit was actually a proposition for you,” Auntie mused, thoughtfully continuing, “To join us part-time at the Mystic Fire School of Sorcery as one of our extracurricular instructors.”

Her eyes going huge, Mom’s stunned response mirrored Nicholas’, “You want me to—what?”

“We would like to offer a cooking course to our students,” Elvira kindly elaborated, “And we would like you to teach the class—or classes if there is enough interest and you are willing. Currently, we feel that it should only require you to work a half day, two days a week.”

“We have classroom plans for you to take a look at—individual cooking stations for the students, industrial sinks and refrigerators, six ovens, and a large culinary island at the front of the room that has a stovetop and would give you plenty of space to work with,” Madeline eagerly added, “But, it would be your classroom, Zahlia, so you have final say, making any changes or additions that you see fit.”

Shooting Dad a look of frantic helplessness, Mom spluttered out, “Zixin—I—I don’t know—I don’t know what to say! You—knew about this?”

Laughing softly and reacting like he always did—with loving comfort and calm—he earnestly replied, “Yes, and they would not have anyone better than my knowledgeable and vastly talented bride to teach their young sorcery students than you, Zahlia. Say yes, my love, as I know it, and helping with the babies that will arrive soon will make you immensely happy.”

Taking hold of his hands, Mom tearfully pressed, “Are you sure about this?”

“Are you sure about Nicholas’ potential offer?” Dad amusingly retorted.

“My firm offer,” Nicholas chuckled, affectionately asking, “What do you say, Zahlia? Will you make me and Madeline incredibly happy?”

“Yes,” Mom softly murmured, her adoring gaze still glued on my father, “I think I speak for us both when I say thank you for giving Zixin and I a new adventure and a renewed purpose that we very much look forward to in the near future.”

Dazed, I dropped my fork directly on top of my chicken, rasping out, “Remi—what just happened?”

Giggling, Remi patted my leg, enthusing, “Like their son, both your parents just accepted exciting new jobs. Isn’t it wonderful?”

There was no denying either of my parents’ excitement, Mom’s full, round face expressing it openly to everyone at the table as she beamed at Dad, continuing to shower my father with boundless love and affection through their locked gazes before covering his face in sweet kisses—an adorable sight that I’ve been fortunate enough to witness many times in my life. It was wonderful—they were wonderful—incredible, in fact. My love for them just as never ending—and it always will be...

The rest of the dinner—which included animated discussions, continued banter, and Mom’s special cream cheese coconut carrot cake—filled the room with raucous laughter and warmth in my heart. Something that carried over after our guests left, Remi and I both congratulated Mom and Dad on their new roles before informing them of our surprise...

As expected, Mom’s response was firm and unrelenting, “Oh, no, Zayden! We couldn’t possibly allow you to do that! Your hard-earned money is for your and Remi’s future. Your father and I will be receiving new stipends in our account now, which will make affording the necessary gradual repairs and upgrades to the house much easier.”

Arriving at the perfect moment, Zayn and Jade walked through the door, my brother good-humoredly greeting, “Don’t get me wrong, I’m proud as hell of my parents and my brother. But you three sure know how to make a guy feel like a slacker!”

After hearty hugs and a kiss bestowed on Mom’s cheek, he amusingly added, “However, despite the hit to my ego, it has not deterred Red and I from splitting half the costs with my over-achieving brother to renovate our family home. We’ve just set everything up with the Moon Stone contractor who’s finishing up on Spiros and Alpha Mahan’s lake houses. He’ll be here shortly to go over everything that needs to be done—including the addition. Two rooms being much-needed offices, of course, since Dad graciously gave up his only personal space in the house for a nursery.”

Our mother continued to protest, leading our touched father to step in, gently informing Mom that her efforts were futile as their children’s minds were obviously made up. Thanking us, he then lovingly stated that they were fortunate for all the gifts received today—but especially fortunate to have us in their lives to love and adore—which opened the door to bestow Mom’s next present. A new charm for her bracelet—a cute dangler of tiny pots and pans that Remi and Jade found—as well as a new light blue apron for Mom, covered in her favorite little daisies pattern that we had embroidered at the top—

“Professor Zahlia—Culinary Arts,” Mom proudly breathed out in a slow exhale, her eyes filling with tears. Clutching it tightly to her chest, she swiped away the lone tear that fell, thickly added, “Oh—I love it! Thank you—all of you—for this—for everything! I feel quite spoiled—and so very loved.”

***************

MADELINE

My head resting on Nicholas’ smooth chest as he slowly ran his fingers through my long dark brown mussed hair, I let out a long, amorously pleasured sigh as I gazed out at the setting sun that shone brightly through the large open window in our beloved treehouse. Our eventful day running through my mind, I elatedly relayed through my next long exhale—

“Thanks to our many victories and celebratory lovemaking that has followed, my Alpha, it must be said—today has truly been a memorable day.”

His breath still hastened from our latest round, Nicholas thoughtfully murmured, “Mmmmm. Many victories indeed—especially acquiring Zixin as part of our new training team. The experience and expertise he, Faizon, and Kingston will bring to our integrated army, Madeline—it’s invaluable.”

Though he referenced everything as ours now, it still brought immense happiness and joy to my heart as I encouragingly stated, “Agreed. And speaking of our army, as Mahan and Soren have informed us that they will begin shadowing them soon, perhaps it’s time for us to have our discussion with Luminara and Mattias about joining our planning sessions with Alastor.”

“Good idea. Plus, it will give me the opportunity to fulfill my aunt and uncle’s request that I spend some one-on-one time with my cousin to help Mattias prepare for his upcoming leadership role. Though, as he has taken long strides in work-ethic, maturity, and confidence as of late, I don’t think he will require much assistance from me. I have no doubt that Mattias will make Uncle Soren very proud as Alpha of Howling Wind.”

My hand flying up to my stomach as I felt two swift, hard kicks, I laughed out, “I think Alaric and Adara are feeling a bit neglected with all this work talk.”

His response was sweet as Nicholas gently moved my head over to my pillow before pushing his gorgeous body down to caress and kiss my burgeoning belly, soothingly apologizing, “Daddy is sorry, little ones. I’m a work in progress when it comes to balancing work and family, but several strides were made today to alleviate at least a little of my workload.”

Relishing the moment, I was about to add a few words of comfort when Nicholas and I received a panicked link from Beast, both of us blurting out in an alerted tone, “TINK!”

****************

TINK

THIS CAN’T BE HAPPENING! IT JUST CAN’T!

Sprawled out on the hospital bed with my poor worked-up big guy’s puppy dog eyes all devastated and terrified as he held my left hand in a death-grip, I peered around the crowded room at my anxious family, adamantly arguing, “BEDREST? I CAN’T DO BEDREST! NO! NO SIREE! I’m already going nuts! Just let me do my ‘Mommy is the boss’ thing. I can get our Roly Polies to chill out and keep cooking in there like they’re supposed to—promise!”

Beast was definitely out of sorts as my big guy spilled out a seven-word desperate plea, “Please calm down, Tink. Please? For me?”

Standing at the foot of the bed with Nicholas, Madeline calmly urged, “Beast is right, Tink. The last thing you and the children need is additional stress. Just relax and take some deep breaths for us.”

Sitting down just in front of them on the bottom edge of the bed, my sisters gave back-to-back loving encouragements—

Wrapping her hand around my foot, Constance began rubbing it, dotingly assuring me, “Don’t worry, Tink. We’ll help you pass the time and get through this.”

Doing the same to my other, Charlotte fun-lovingly added, “Ohhhh, you know what we can do? Make bed tents to snack under! We haven’t done that since just before we left the old house. You love those!”

Rechecking the measurements that he took on the ultrasound machine, Talon had all my attention back on him as he disbelievingly exhaled out to Bertrand, “In all my years, I’ve never seen anything like this with one child, much less four.”

Bertrand looked just as baffled as he stood crouched over his shoulder—Raven leaning forward on the other side—all three staring intently at the machine as the Moon Stone doc heavily exhaled out in wonderment, “Neither have I. They’re all measuring to be at least seventeen pounds and their development appears to be almost a full month ahead of where they should be at this point.”

“Uh, hello—both parents are forces of nature?” I fiercely deadpanned, defiantly rallying, “And your machine has to be broken. There is no way I’ve gained over seventy pounds. Based on the way my clothes fit—it can’t be more than fifty pounds max.”

Rubbing my hand, Beast begged again, “Breathe, Clemmie.”

Leaning down to press some kind of button on the side of the bed, Talon hesitantly replied, “While you carry it very well, Tink, based on the bed-scale, you’ve actually gained seventy-five pounds.”

Peering down in shock, I started freaking out again, “Seventy-five pounds? What the hell? And since when can these beds weigh us? Always warn a Clemmie, guys! Always warn a Clemmie! I would have sucked it in a little.”

Coming up behind my huge hunk of testosterone, Auntie placed her tiny hand on his arm, leaning over to gently stroke my outer leg with the other, her voice soft and tranquil as she urged, “Tink, I need you to listen to me please, as I experienced the exact same difficulties with Jace. While it is indisputable that you are built to bring our four little loves into the world, even your body can only handle so much. As Talon and Bertrand have explained, the extreme amount of weight is stretching your ligaments to their limits, causing the sudden intense pain in your sides that had us rushing you here. Pain that subsided not long after you laid down on the bed.”

Moving her gaze, she charmingly inquired, “Perhaps it would help if our dear, compassionate physicians would agree to allow me to occasionally pop my sweet girl out of the confines of her room for some fresh air and social engagements to preoccupy her mind? Making sure, of course, that her feet remain elevated and never touch the ground?”

The two docs glanced at one another before Talon turned back to me, stoically replying, “For now, but we’re going to have to keep a close eye on you moving forward, Tink. I want to see you daily for the next week to make sure you remain stable and then we’ll go from there.”

Slowly running my free hand up and down my big ol’ belly, I reluctantly grumbled, “Fine. Thanks for the compromise on my imprisonment, Warden.”

Cracking his crooked grin, Carson quipped, “Oh, don’t take it so hard, Tink. Think about it this way—you’ll have plenty of time now to come up with the perfect plan for me to meet my doom against the Dark One’s army.”

“That’s true,” I depressively mumbled, “But you know I hate it when you’re right, Chatterbox.”

“It’ll be okay, Tink. We’ll find a way to keep it fun—promise,” my loveable hunk of hotness despairingly mumbled, his thirteen words hitting me in the feels.

Clearing his throat, Bertrand’s tone was kind, but hesitant as he warned, “Keep in mind that you and Beast may need to prepare yourselves for an early delivery, Tink.”

Patting my hand, Talon’s tone was just as warm as he added, “But good news, even with an earlier delivery, we feel the children will be just fine—and the largest Crescent Moon forces of nature ever born here. Would you like to take another peek at your quad and make bets as to who will hold the new record?”

Suddenly overwhelmed, I silently nodded as Bertrand turned the machine towards me and Beast, while Talon put more warm jelly on my belly before placing the hand-held rectangular doppler thingy atop my skin, rolling it around until the kiddos came into view...

He was right—they had changed so much in such a short time! I could clearly see chunky arms and hands waving at me, sturdy legs kicking all around—Titan’s especially, although I had to get onto him about incessantly kicking Liora in the head, warning my little dominator that no brain injuries had been added to the no broken bones rule. Everyone laughing when he instantly stopped. But the most amazing thing to me were their faces. Fully formed little eyelids, ears, noses, and mouths. Heck, you could even see their daddy’s thick eyebrows on the boys already! And according to Talon, the feathery wisps on their heads was hair!

Completely enamored, Beast quietly murmured, “Look at their muscles, Tink.”

Grinning as I zeroed in on the unbelievingly well-defined broad shoulders and arms, I excitedly replied, “I know, big guy! Limbs of lethal destruction, just like us!”

“Oh, I’m in so much trouble,” Carson mockingly drawled out, making me laugh, “Double double trouble!”

“It would appear so, my old friend,” Jace slyly said, “I wish you the best of luck.”

“As your Alpha, I’ll do everything I can to reiterate torture, not killing early on,” Nicholas kidded, “Maybe you should think about carrying a bag of candy with you at all times to bribe them with.”

Taking in a sharp breath of air, Carson blew out in wonder, “And that is why you are Alpha, Nicholas—a bag of candy—ingenious!”

Gawking at our Alpha, I loudly grumbled, “Hey! No helping the victim!”

It was rare for Nicholas to flash a wicked, mischievous grin, which only made me love it and him more when he bestowed it upon me then, countering, “In my defense, I did make that suggestion in front of you, Tink. Plus, I can’t help but have a little sympathy for Carson after seeing my four future Crescent Moon warriors, who will soon hold the record for largest ever born here and—if my intuition serves me well—be known as the most formidable warriors to ever enter the ring!”

DANG IT! He got me in the feels with that last part! Looking back at the screen, those damn hormones of mine started raging again, my voice matching Beast’s as I quietly admitted, “I guess it makes sense, huh? Why my ligaments are being pulled all out of whack? Our four little record breakers are so big, they’re already starting to run out of space.”

“Mmmmhmmm,” Raven affectionately murmured, “But fortunately, you have always been the strongest of our Rogue Eight, so as long as you take it easy, everything will go smoothly, Tink, and before we all know it, we’ll be cradling the next generation of the four horsemen in our arms.”

“Yeah, well, at this rate, you might want to work on your arm muscles so my kiddos don’t break them, Raven,” I softly chortled, reaching out to point at the screen while simultaneously rubbing my lower abdomen, “And hopefully Titus will work on not using my bladder as a bed or I’m going to have to move into our bathroom.”

Like his dad, my sweet little mini-Beast openly showed his love, Titus subtlety maneuvering himself off his preferred spot and stealthily making his way around until he was behind his brother, my eyes tearing up as I watched him appease me on the screen, lovingly responding, “Thanks, cuddle bug. Do Mommy a favor, huh? Talk to your brother and sisters about cooking inside there for as long as possible. We need that record to be unbreakable.”

Beast’s lips immediately brushed against the side of my head before he dropped his chin down on my shoulder while still holding my hand tight in his massive mitt. And just like there was nothing I wouldn’t do for him? There was nothing I wouldn’t do for our Roly Polies!