Allegiance of Honor (Psy-Changeling #15) - Nalini Singh Page 0,166

SASCHA arrived to welcome the pupcubs at the same time as Hawke and Sienna, a bare hour after the birth. Given the fact that Riley’s alpha and his mate should’ve been far distant, Riley knew Hawke had made certain he was nearby this past week, as they waited for Mercy to give birth. Not just so he could greet the babies, but in case an alpha’s strength was needed. Though Lucas was the one who had a direct link to Mercy, Hawke could share his strength through Riley.

Both alphas stopped in the doorway to the bedroom, their shoulders touching. It was an unusual stance for two such dominant predatory changelings—not only were they sharing space, they weren’t pushing forward to assert who was more alpha. It revealed far more about their relationship—and the friendship and trust that tied them together—than either would ever admit.

“So,” Hawke said, “I see nobody won the betting pool.”

Lucas’s smile was very feline. “Don’t the rules say all the money then goes to your pupcubs?”

Beside Riley, his shirt-clad mate smirked. That shirt was his and it was unbuttoned enough that she could maintain skin-to-skin contact with the pupcubs while not showing her breasts—though as she’d pointed out, her breasts were “freaking amazing” right now.

Riley had zero arguments with that declaration.

She was sitting cross-legged under a sheet pulled up to her waist, two of their babies cuddled up against her, while Riley held the third one against his bare chest as he sprawled with his back to the headboard. Tamsyn had draped soft fleece throws over the pupcubs’ backs, to help keep them warm.

Mercy said, “Yes and yes,” in response to Hawke’s and Lucas’s statements.

Then she reached out and bumped Riley’s raised fist with her own. “Here’s to a plan well-executed.”

Riley chuckled when Hawke shook his head and said, “Led astray by a cat.”

“It was my idea.” Riley dropped a kiss on the head of the baby in his arms. He and Mercy had been playing “pass the pupcubs” the entire hour since the birth, ensuring each child received equal time with both parents. Not that the sleepy hooligans seemed to care, curling up happily against either father or mother.

“Lara helped,” he added.

The SnowDancer healer had “accidentally” left up a doctored scan on her view screen for a short period. A packmate had seen the four distinct outlines in the image and rumors being what they were, suddenly all the betting had skewed toward quadruplets.

“Tammy, too.” Mercy nuzzled the pupcubs in her arms, then reached over to touch her fingers to the back of the baby Riley held. “She confirmed the rumor by refusing to confirm it while making it obvious it was true.”

Both alphas grinned, then flowed into the room. Riley didn’t know how they did it, but somehow, they got in at the same time without jostling or pushing. As if they’d coordinated it subconsciously. And yeah, he’d keep that thought to himself—Luc and Hawke might be friends, but they hated it if anyone pointed that out.

Lucas sat on the bed on Mercy’s side, while Hawke stood beside Riley. No words needed to be spoken. He and Mercy handed over their precious burdens to their alphas, to be accepted as pack, to be welcomed. All three babies remained calm and quiescent, as was normal for a young child in the presence of their alpha—the interesting thing was that they stayed calm for both alphas.

Hawke and Lucas didn’t hand back the children until both had handled each child. That was when Sienna and Sascha peeked in and asked if they could cuddle the pupcubs. Both women tumbled onto the end of the bed when Mercy waved them in and there was smiling and cooing and snuggling.

Mercy, meanwhile, just looked smug and happy.

Which made Riley very smug and happy.

Arm around her, he glanced from Hawke to Lucas, then back to his own alpha. “So?” Their babies wouldn’t shift for approximately a year, but the alphas would know which pupcub belonged to which pack. A good alpha—and both these men were extraordinary alphas—knew his pack.

Lucas’s eyes met Hawke’s.

Panther-green and wolf-blue, both sets glinted.

Lucas was the one who spoke. “We figured we’d keep you in suspense like you’ve kept everyone else the entire pregnancy.”

Mercy threw a pillow at her laughing alpha’s head. “I’ll kill you, I swear to God.” A pause before she released her claws and looked consideringly at Hawke. “I’d kill you first though.”

“Never doubted it.” With that, Hawke reached out and plucked the two boys out