The Unexpected Yuletide Baby (Starscale Mates #3)

Chapter Seven

Clarence

After our guests had left, I suggested that Medwin’s ultrasound could wait until the morning, but he wouldn’t hear of it.

“I’ll be too excited to sleep,” Medwin said, holding Baby Acadian to his chest again. “I need to know! How can you not want to know? Oh! Because you don’t think I am!”

“I think it’s more likely that you’re not. We are careful men, mate.”

“We are,” he nodded, “but even the most careful doctors have insurance because careful doesn’t mean perfect.”

“He’s right,” Teal said. “About the insurance anyway.”

“What about you?” I asked our grandkid. “Are you too tired to practice medicine?”

“I am as stuffed as every bird on those tables were but not too stuffed or tired to put your minds at ease. If he’s up all night, I’ll be up all night. It’ll leak all over the family link,” Teal reminded me. “You probably will be up all night too. Maybe the baby as well.”

“Fine. As long as you’re not too tired,” I said to Medwin.

“I’m not. We’ll be up for a while yet anyway. Are you telling me you’re not too excited to sleep? Acadian is barely out of his egg!”

“Well, let’s get it done,” I frowned.

“You’re still worried that I’m not pregnant.”

“If you’re not you should see a doctor. Like a sick doctor,” Teal chimed in.

“He isn’t seeing any ill doctor,” I said, missing the point on purpose.

Both of them rolled their eyes at me and I smirked. Sometimes one needed to be a smartass in the face of adversity. Cade had inherited it from somewhere after all.

“Adversity?” Medwin arched a brow as Teal left the room to retrieve his medical equipment.

“I’m worried, love. I’m more worried than I can put into words. If you’re pregnant, that’s okay but ….”

“Don’t do that. Don’t trail off on me. I’m pregnant. Teal’s about to prove I’m pregnant.”

“Er… Not to be obscene but that seemed like a lot more --- a lot more vomit --- than with the previous children.”

“Maybe,” Medwin gave in. “Let’s see.”

I held the baby close to my chest as Medwin took off his tie and unbuttoned his shirt. He kicked off his shoes and pulled off his socks too as if Teal might get bored and check him for toe eggs. He stretched out on one of the many sofas and ran his hand over his belly. If we weren’t waiting for our grandkid to return it would’ve been hot. Worry pulled at my scales and Acadian let out a whimper.

“I’m fine, mate,” Medwin said, picking up my emotions over our mating link.

“He probably is,” Teal said, walking back into the room.

“Why do you think that?” I asked him.

“Because it’s hard to get a dragon sick. It’s hard for a dragon omega, alpha, or beta to get food poisoning. It’s more likely that he poisons something that tries to eat him than he gets food poisoning,” Teal said. “And you know that, Grandpa. The way you’re acting is how they describe sires in all the classes. Don’t bite me because I will bite back.”

“I don’t want to catch the blue head virus,” I huffed at him.

“I think you’d look fabulous with blue hair, Clarence,” Medwin chimed in. “It would fit your bone structure.”

“My bone structure would run screaming.”

“Maybe I’ll dye mine blue or maybe green,” Medwin said.

I cocked my head to the side and tried to imagine Medwin with some brightly colored hair.

“You could pull it off,” I said, moving closer to him as Teal settled in to perform the ultrasound. “Teal and his brothers pull it off too once the shock wears off.”

“Don’t worry. We know you’re just old fashioned. If it makes you feel any better, our carrier isn’t fond of it either. We’re thinking purple next. Maybe.”

A few seconds later the tiniest jellybean showed up on Teal’s monitor. He furrowed his brows together and soon Medwin followed suit. Teal cleared it and performed the scan again. The same result came up on his screen.

“Is there something you guys want to tell me?” Teal asked, hesitantly.

“Like what?” I asked.

“Er…. Have you guys gone poly without telling anyone?” he asked gently.

“No,” Medwin shook his head, trying not to grin.

“Er---”

“Who do the Moonscales descend from Teal?” I asked a second later, taking pity on him.

“Frost.”

“And who was Frost’s mate?” I dangled that proverbial carrot a little closer to his nose.

“OH! Shit! Yeah!” He grinned, relief flooding over his scent.

“And I do have a wolf or two in my heritage too. It’s odd. We talked about this not long ago,” Medwin grinned, taking the machine from him to look at the image. “That’s an embryo, not an egg.”

“That might explain the extra vomit,” I nodded, leaning in for a closer look. “I bet all its little fur cells are wreaking havoc on your stomach. It just doesn’t know how to handle them.”

“Don’t tell anyone about this just yet,” Medwin said to Teal. “Give me some time to process it and tell those closest to us. I don’t want it in the magazine or gossip things yet.”

“I’m going to kill someone before this is over,” I nodded.

“That mad about a wolf? I’m part wolf, Grandpa,” Teal said, his brow furrowing together again.

“No, a wolf pup means he’s going to be pregnant. Pregnant is slightly different than carrying---”

“I’ve seen my carrier do both,” Teal said, bemusement still playing in his eyes.

“He’ll be pregnant. Pregnant is visible. More visible than egg carrying usually. Other symptoms too,” I explained.

“Don’t mind him. His dragon is talking,” Medwin said, sitting up and buttoning up his shirt. “What he means is that it gives more time for someone to harass me.”

“I’d eat them for you. You guys can relax,” Teal shrugged. “I could even ask Indi and Co to hang around if you want. If you’re worried about security.”

I opened my mouth to say no. I banished their father the last time we had a war and wouldn’t put my grandchildren in harm’s way.

“We’d love that --- if you all stayed,” Medwin said before I could say anything aloud. “Not because we need extra security but because we love having you all around. Maybe I can hide behind you three in public and no one will see my giant belly.”

“Okay. I’ll go talk to them. Wait! Shit! They’re probably---”

“Having fun,” I filled in the blank before he could because whatever his brothers might be up to with their partners, I didn’t want to hear about in detail. “You can ask them tomorrow. They’ll be back for brunch.”

“So, I can tell them?” Teal asked.

“Only once they’re here,” Medwin said, reaching out for our newborn.

I kissed the baby’s tiny head before passing him back.