I find my husband in one of the alcoves down the hall, a sledgehammer in his hands as he considers a plas-sheet of construction plans. He’s working on the baby’s room, the addition we decided to include since I’m a firm believer that a sexually active couple (and boy, are we active) should have a private bed. He frowns down at the plans, lost in concentration. “There you are,” I call out. “I’m done.”
Nassakth turns, his face lighting up with anticipation. “What did he say? Tell me everything.”
I rub my belly again. “Well…”
I didn’t think it was possible for a praxiian to pale, but I swear Nassakth goes gray under his even grayer fur. “What is it? What is wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong,” I reassure him. “It was just an unexpected sort of thing to hear about today.”
“Unexpected?” He prompts, his body stiff. “Unexpected in what way?”
“So…these plans?” I pull them out of his grip. “Is there enough room for, ah, more?”
“More?” Nassakth’s brows furrow as he tries to follow what I’m saying. Then, it dawns on him and he gapes. “You mean another room? For another child?”
I clear my throat delicately. “Triplets.” When he doesn’t react, I say it louder. “Triplets. Three babies.”
Nassakth blinks.
“All very healthy,” I reassure my silent mate. “It’s just that…Doctor Roo thinks that because of all the fertility stuff there was bound to be a chance for additional babies and it turns out that multiples run in my family and so it shouldn’t be all that surprising, but…yeah. Triplets.”
My mate blinks again. Slower. Then, he sags, and I watch as the biggest, scariest alien I’ve ever met passes clear the fuck out.
It’s alarming at first. I kneel next to him and pat his cheek, and then the giggles hit me. I can’t stop laughing. Nassakth the fierce, the Arena Scourge of Askorthi Prime, just fainted at hearing he was going to be a dad to triplets. It really is cute. I pat his cheek a little harder, and when that doesn’t wake him up, I calmly slap him as hard as I can.
My praxiian groans.
“It’s too late to back out on me now,” I giggle. “I’m going to need all the help I can get.” I put a hand to his collar and shake him. “So wake up.”
“Kim,” Nassakth says, voice thick. His eyes open a slit and he gazes at me. “Tell me I have heard correctly? We are to be parents to…three? At once?”
“All at once,” I agree. “It’s amazing and also utterly terrifying, so I get the whole passing out thing—”
“I did not pass out,” he says staunchly, sitting up. “I merely…was resting for a moment.”
I snort.
Nassakth reaches for me, and his hand moves down my arm in a gentle caress. Always so gentle with me, this big guy…unless I’m screaming for him to be rougher. Which I do. In bed. Frequently. He regards me with a thoughtful look on his feline face. “This…makes you happy? You are not upset?”
I shake my head. “Why would I be upset? We wanted a big family.” I take his big hand and place it on my stomach. “We’re going to have one…just sooner than we thought.” He’s so quiet, though, that I’m a little concerned. “Are you upset?”
As I’m still seated on the ground, I’m not entirely surprised when Nassakth leans over and puts his head against my belly. It’s not flat anymore (or, cough, ever was) and I’m only a few months along but I’m already starting to show in a major way, and Doctor Roo says I’ll be enormous by the time I get ready to deliver. I think of the fact that I have three of Nassakth’s children inside me and suspect my belly’s about to grow to gargantuan proportions…and I’m slightly giddy over the prospect.
“Not upset,” Nassakth says in a quiet voice. His arms go around me and he just nuzzles my belly. “Overwhelmed. Three at once.”
“The doctor said it’s two girls and a boy.” I curl my fingers in his mane and play with it. “I don’t know how much will be human and how much will be praxiian, so it’ll be interesting to see. I hope they look like you, though.”
His arms tighten around me. “Three.”
“At once,” I agree, chuckling. It definitely took a moment for it to sink in for me, so I totally get his stunned expression.
“We are selling none of them,” my mate says thickly. “I cannot imagine how callous my family—my people—are to just turn their