They hadn’t told the kids that, either, but Nat and Duke hadn’t made any effort to cover up their bonding marks.
Duke grinned, his eyes bright. “Yeah. We’re all a family. Guess you’ll just have to deal with Nat and me taking a bit of time for ourselves, kiddo.”
“Hmmph! Fine.” Mallie sniffed indignantly, but then she smiled. “You’ve been a lot happier since you met Nat. Teddy and I weren’t sure what to think at first, since we thought you might kick us out, but if you’re both our dads, then I guess everything is fine.”
“Yeah, I would love to be your dad too,” Nat said, his heart swelling.
Mallie grinned and rushed over to wrap her arms around him. Then she hugged Duke too, and followed Onyx and Liem out of the guestroom.
Duke pulled Nat into a hug. “I guess we didn’t need that conversation with them.”
“Well, we should still tell them that all our children will be treated equally no matter who their biological parents are, but that’s a conversation for another day,” Nat said.
Duke rumbled. He tipped Nat’s face up for a sweet, lingering kiss, his gaze smoldering. “You’re amazing.”
“You’re—” Nat’s words cut off when another contraction hit him. “Fuck!”
Duke frowned, rubbing Nat’s belly and back. “Sweetheart.”
“It won’t be as long this time,” Nat panted. “This isn’t my first.”
He lay on his side, clutching his belly. Their baby had been kicking less lately because there was just not enough space in there for much movement at all.
“I can’t wait,” Duke murmured, climbing onto the bed to spoon Nat from behind.
Hubrie popped his head into the room. “Need a distraction?”
“Yes!” Nat said before Duke could stop him.
Hubrieglowed.“Have you seen the painting? Of Lil Hell Master crawling around like a horsie?”
Duke bared his teeth. Nat bit down his smile.
Yeah, he’d seen it. The painting had dramatic lighting and deep shadows, immortalizing the time when Duke had crawled around his family’s living room with three hell puppies on his back.
Nat had almost missed the painting when they passed it in the hallway, except Hubrie had nudged him and pointed it out.
“Oh! What about atrophy?” Hubrie waggled his eyebrows.
Duke stiffened. “There are no trophies here—”
“There is. Your dads kept one.” Hubrie produced an old, tarnished trophy from behind his back.
“I want it!” Nat said before Duke could leap off the bed. “It’s mine! I’m the one in pain!”
Duke scrunched up his face, growling low in his throat. “Fine.”
He sat stiffly while Nat accepted it with grabby hands. Nat turned the trophy around and read the inscription.
Extreme Ironing World Championships
First Place: Duke Brimstone
“Extreme... ironing?” Nat said in disbelief.
“It exists,” Duke muttered.
“How extreme are we talking?”
