Adira's Mate (26 page)

Nodding, he brushed her hair
back. He stood, grabbing up the shirt, and helped her to get it on. While she
buttoned it up he pulled on a pair of loose pants,
then
slid a shirt on. Once they were both covered, Fin helped her up to her feet and
guided her out of their bathing chamber and back to the bed.

She took another deep breath and
nodded. “All right, I’m good.” She was holding his hand with hers and gave him
a squeeze. “Now, have you come up with a name for our children as of yet,
husband?”
She noted that Petr and Bracken were on opposite sides of
the room, guards were at the door, and the doctor was waiting.

“
No,” Fin said softly as he helped
her onto the bed. Once he had her covered, and the shirt undone over her belly,
he settled in behind her once more. “I thought you were coming up with the
names, little wife. After all, you shot down my initial ideas. I believe you
said they were boring.”

“
I have one for our girl. Her name
will be Morgan, after your mother.” His mother was gone.
Adira
wanted to ensure that her essence lived on. “Her middle name will be Elisa,
after my mother.”

He was absolutely silent, but his
arms tightened around her slightly. “Thank you,” he whispered against her
cheek. “But now we need to come up with one for our son,” he said. “And no, I’m
not naming him Bracken, so get that out of your head.”

“
I never said to name him
Bracken.” She was giggling now. “However, it wouldn’t be amiss if his middle
names were those of our brothers. Don’t you think? Maybe name him
Fintan
Junior?”

“
Bracken was the one to throw that
in the name ring. We are not naming our son after me either,” he muttered. He
fell silent again when she had another contraction, just holding her and
rubbing her belly slowly. “What about Lennox?” he suggested once she started to
regain her breath.

“
I love that name.
Lennox.
We can call him Lenny.” She was struck by another
contraction, this one harder. “Goodness, these kids want out in the real world,
now,
don’t
they?”

“
They were likely waiting on their
parents to finally decide on their names,” Bracken offered with a grin. “Now
that the two of you have gotten it together, they’re ready for the show to
begin.”

“
I’m about to throw something at
you,” she muttered. She had almost forgotten that Bracken was there as well. “I
mean it. You are so not funny right now. Not when I’m hurting.” She was
practically growling at the man because she was hurting so badly.

“
I’m funny all the
time,
you just haven’t yet been exposed to all the levels I
can amuse you on. It’s all
right,
we’ll have plenty of
time later for me to further instruct you. For now you should likely stop
glowering at me and focus on the fact that the good doctor appears to be
settling into position. It appears one of the two is going to attempt an
appearance.”

“
I’ll throw him out the airlock
later,”
Fintan
promised next to her ear.

“
Good. I might even let you.” She
leaned heavily against
Fintan
and felt another
contraction. “I feel another. This one is burning and hurting more. I want to
push. Please tell me that I can push now.” She was panting as she spoke.

The doctor gave her a nod.
Fintan
slipped his hands to hers, lacing their fingers
together, and changed their position slightly. “Any time you’re ready,
Adira
,” he told her. “I love you, little wife.”

“
Love you too, but it’s your turn
to have the children next time,” she muttered and began to push. She screamed
as she pushed her way through the contractions, screamed as she felt the pain
tearing her apart. She took a break, breathed, then repeated the process over and
over again until the first child spilled free of her body.

“
Well done, Lady Daykin,” the
doctor said. She wiped at the baby’s face, clearing the nose and mouth. “Your
son decided to join us first. Hello, Lennox, and welcome.” Wrapping up the
baby, she passed him off to the first assistant to take him over to finish
cleaning him and getting him swaddled.

There wasn’t much time for
Adira
to relax before the next contraction began and once
more she screamed with the pains rolling through her.
More
pain and cursing as she brought her daughter into the world as well.

Once both the babies were cleaned
up, the assistants brought them to the bed while the doctor continued to attend
to
Adira
. They paused to see who she wanted to hold
first, but
Fintan
made the decision for her. He took
their daughter and quickly passed her over to
Adira
before taking their son in his arms. He didn’t look all that sure about it, but
he seemed to be figuring it out slowly.

She just smiled as she watched
her husband holding his son. In the meantime she stroked her fingers over her
daughter’s cheek and smiled. “You are too beautiful, little one.” She had her
father’s coloring but her eyes were a bright silvery blue color. “You are going
to be a little heartbreaker, aren’t you?”

Fintan
leaned in closer to her so she
could see Lennox as well. He looked a lot like
Fintan
already, except the hair definitely had her coloring so far. “She has her
mother’s eyes, beautiful eyes at that,” he said quietly.

“
And he’s such a handsome little
guy. I’m so happy that they both have your coloring.” She reached out and
touched her son. She nodded and pulled back. “They are beautiful. Thank you for
the most perfect children ever.”

“
You ready to forgive me for all
the pain yet?” he asked. Pressing a kiss to her cheek, he rested his head to
hers. “You were truly amazing,
Adira
.
So strong, and beautiful through the entire thing.
I’m proud
of you, little wife.”

“
Next time I want more pain meds,
but yes I forgive you,” she said with a sigh. “I’m ready to get cleaned up now,
though. I feel disgusting.” She didn’t want to let her baby go, though. She was
finding she was rather protective of her babies.

“
As soon as the doctor leaves us
be for a while, we’ll let the uncles get to know them while we clean up. I’m quite
sure they’ll ensure no one makes off with them during the few minutes it takes
us to get you presentable once more. And because Bracken was being an idiot
earlier, he gets to make the bed up with clean linens.”

That had her laughing, which made
her hurt.
“Right.
Okay, note to self, I’m still in
pain. Another pain patch wouldn’t be amiss, by the way,” she muttered and let
Fin help her up and out of the bed so that she could go and get cleaned up.

“
After we clean you up,” he told
her. Petr had Lennox, and Bracken had little Morgan in his arms. Both men
seemed a little stunned as they stared down at the babies. “Bracken, bed sheets
before we return.”

One of the assistants laughed. “I
doubt he heard you, General. I’ll take care of the bedding for you before we
leave you to get to know the family better. The doctor will come by later with
some milk should it be required. Occasionally it’s hard for the new mothers to
get it flowing on the first try.”

“
Thank you,” he said, guiding
Adira
into the bathing room once more.

Epilogue

Fintan
checked on
Adira
before he left their rooms. She was sound asleep with the twins curled up in
her arms. Smiling slightly at the scene, he ensured the door was locked behind
him. “No one in,” he said to the guards. With their nods he stalked off through
the corridors.

Petr had already said his
goodbyes to
Adira
, and Bracken was off getting some
sleep himself on his own destroyer. But
Fintan
needed
to speak with
Adira’s
brother before he returned to
his own vessel. He needed to know what the hell was really going on.

Slipping into the landing bay, he
walked across the empty deck to the lowered ramp of Petr’s crawler. The man was
sitting on the edge, waiting on him. “Sorry, that took longer than I thought it
would.”

“
Understandable you wouldn’t want
to leave them.” Petr got to his feet and walked toward
Fintan
.
“She’s happy, for which I’m eternally grateful. You’d best keep her that way,
Daykin, or I’ll be back, and there will be rather strong words between the two
of us.”

Fintan
stared at the other man. While
Petr was a bit shorter than himself, he wasn’t to be ignored, couldn’t be
ignored. He was highly trained and lethal in his own right. On top of which he
had a mind capable of concocting elaborate scenarios that could baffle even the
most brilliant of minds on both their worlds. “She is my life. Her happiness is
paramount and above even my own. But you could always come back and try.”

Letting out a snort, Petr shook
his head.
Fintan
watched him, taking note of the
shadows in and under his eyes. He was tired, and
stressed,
both easy enough to see if one were to truly look. “What’s going on with the
Imarian
Fleet?”

“
What’s going on with the
Craegin
Armada?” Petr countered.

Fintan
knew he had to give to get, and
on this they were of a like mind so he was willing to give first. “There are
rumors floating around about a planned attack. Nothing that can be
substantiated of course, but you
know
as well as I do
that the crews hear things they likely shouldn’t and it spreads.”

“
Unfortunately it’s not always the
truth as it is, but what the warmongers want the peoples to think.”

He agreed with that fully.
“True,” he said. “When last I spoke with the marshal there seemed to be greater
tensions than usual. If I had to take a guess, they are readying to mount an
attack on your world.”

“
Why? Why now?”

“
Unknown, but I’m working on
finding out more. Right now all I have is gossip, and hearsay.
Nothing useful.”

“
Sadly I have no better. The
Imarian
Fleet seems to have a rumor of an attack coming, so
that matches with what you say. But it’s not us attacking you, rather you
attacking us. On the home world I noticed they are putting in new defenses. I
don’t know if this is a way to subjugate the people for something bigger, or if
they truly believe an attack could come any day.”

“
While our peoples may not be on
the friendliest of terms, war hasn’t been mentioned in decades. We need more
information on both fronts, and we need to ensure we have allies that are solid
to stand by our sides if this turns the way I fear it may.”

Petr nodded slowly. “While we may
have our differences, and while I may not like you, I definitely respect your
policies as a leader, Daykin. The fact you are my sister’s chosen bond mate and
husband only holds a little sway for this decision.” He held out a hand to
Fintan
. “If we go to war they’ll do it without me and
several of their cruisers. The first admirals on seven have already assured me
they won’t play the games of the Fleet, or the
kommodor
.”

Taking his hand in his,
Fintan
shook it firmly. “It will be
with
out
me, Bracken, and ten other destroyer colonels. We won’t be pulled
into a petty showing of cocks by the Armada, or the marshal. Whatever is
coming, we’ll have your backs.”

“
As
we will have yours.”
A light flashed on the wall. “And that would be my cue to disembark. I’ll send
a message as soon as I know something more substantial.”

“
Thank you, Petr.”

Blinking, the other male grinned
slowly. “I really wanted to hate you,
Fintan
. But I
just can’t seem to find it within me to do so. Until next we meet.”

Fintan
stepped back. “Until next we
meet,” he said quietly. He gave the other man a quick salute, then left the
landing bay. Sealing the doors at his back, he gave the orders to let the ship
leave and to ensure it was protected until it slipped back over the border.

Once he was assured Petr was
safely on the
Imarian
side of the border,
Fintan
gave orders to proceed with their patrol. Then he
headed back to his quarters to be with his family. War might be coming, but
both sides might end up with one hell of a surprise when they discovered the
ones they wanted to pit against the other side had other plans in mind.

They could very well all be
brought up on treason charges. But hopefully it didn’t come to that. No matter
what,
Fintan
would ensure that
Adira
and their children were forever safe. It didn’t matter what it would cost him
personally. It was a price he was more than willing to pay for those he loved.

The End

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