Page 60 of Bikar

Well, fuck.

“We’ll deal with that later. For today, it’s our secret, and it’s staying that way.”

His beautiful golden eyes are bright, love radiating from them, and he sweeps an errant curl behind my ear with a wingclaw. “Every rising, I think that I cannot possibly love you more than I did the rotation prior, but every rising I wake with you in my arms I am proven wrong. In an existence where my mind never stops, you are the only place I find solace.”

A look of wonder lights up his face, and his next words make my heart melt. “After a lifetime of noise, you arrived like silence. My hearts recognized you before my mind had a choice. You are my hearts, my Starshine, my little doe. I love you with every fiber of my being, Bambi.”

Tears fall freely down my cheeks, and I don’t do a thing to wipe them away. I want him to see how his words affected me.

“That’s the most beautiful thing anyone’s ever said to me. You’re my safe place, and you’re the only man I’ve ever looked at and saw forever with. I never planned on falling in love, but maybe that’s why it feels so right. Like everything was leading me to you and being this happy. I love you with everything I am and more, Bikar.”

Capturing my mouth with his, he kisses me deeply, tusks rubbing against the corners of my mouth as he flicks one of his wings out to block us from view. Just when I’m on the verge of feeling a certain kind of way, Ruby’s raucous voice interrupts us.

“Get a room, you two! No PDA in the common areas.”

Bikar licks my lips once more before releasing my mouth with a smirk.

“Oh really, little sister?” Bikar fires back. “Then why is it I caught you and Slavic rutting against the food cooling unit the rotation before last?”

Slavic’s face darkens in a blush as Ruby breaks out in boisterous laughter.

“Yeah, that was a good time. Ten out of ten recommend refrigerator exercise.”

Carrying me into the dining area amidst the laughter at Slavic’s expense, I wave at my friends as Bikar sits with me in his lap, Rooster darting under the table to join Neera. The sounds of their play fighting are adorable.

No one comments on my mating collar, and I’m grateful for it, but they do notice. Ruby claps excitedly, Rowan smiles with a nod, and Gwen gives me a thumbs up in congratulations. I’m thankful they didn’t bring it up, though, I don’t really want to talk about my sex life in front of my new brothers-in-law, mother-in-law, or younger sister-in-law.

Talk about freaking awkward.

Shagar looks up at the ceiling with a bemused smile while placing plates of food on the table. “Matuk, your sons are incorrigible, and their mates are worse.”

Everyone snickers.

Even Slavic and Ruarc’s grouchy selves.

Atasha pipes up, her little face scrunched in confusion. “What does ‘rutting’ mean, mam?”

Dead silence.

Shagar shoots all of us a ferocious frown before softening her face into a tender smile. “Do not worry about that, wee one. Mam will tell you later.”

The rest of the adults in the room are studiously avoiding eye contact, so we don’t all burst into laughter and make an awkward situation worse. Nobody wants to explain“the birds and the bees”to Atasha.

Rowan, of all people, is the one who changes the subject.

“So… Einar and I have something we want to tell you all.” Her voice is quiet but doesn’t quaver, and her face is full of love as she looks at her giant of a mate where he sits at her side, his massive arm draped over the back of her chair. “I’m pregnant.”

Ruby’s head whips around, and she almost falls off Slavic’s lap. “No freaking way, sis! How in the hell did you beat me to the punch? Grumpy here knocked me up too! Our kids are gonna grow up together.” She’s practically vibrating; she’s so excited at the concept.

Slavic’s hulking gray body freezes, the color draining from his face, and his head tips down to look at his mate. “What did you just say, my Starshine?”

Rough, broken laughter from the other end of the table catches their and everyone’s attention before Ruby can answer him. I don’t think any of us have ever seen Murgul laugh before. His scarred face is creased in a crooked smile, Gwen safely cuddled in her normal spot in his lap.

Gwen’s melodious voice fills us in on Murgul’s overt amusement. “Uhm… I’m pregnant too. I’m actually showing now.” Her cheeks are pink with pleasure as she smooths her shirt down and we all see a bump.

Shagar’s head keeps whipping back and forth between Ruby, Rowan, and Gwen before landing on Kallen, who looks visibly alarmed. When she realizes Shagar is staring at her, she blurts out. “I am not with child; Ruarc and I decided we would wait to have younglings.”

Before Shagar can say anything to the contrary or try to sway her decisions, Ruarc growls at his mother, fully supporting his mate’s choice. “Mam, do not start. Kallen and I wish to spend time together for some orbital rotations, considering I almost fracked up and killed us both. Younglings will come… in time.”