“Fugly! Stop that. Friend.” Beth said, coming toward him with the third baby in her arms.
“Fugly?”
Beth scooped the dog—he supposed it was a dog since it barked—with her free hand and brought it to her chest. Her cheeks were slightly pink. “Fucking ugly.”
“Whoever named it was correct.”
Beth and Heidi burst out laughing, and he reached his hand toward the strange little dog, who seemed content in Beth’s arm. The baby, not as young as he originally thought, reached out and grabbed his thumb. Tiny fingers curled around his much larger digit, sending a hot spike of lost dreams rolling through his mind.
“Come on in the kitchen so Javier can sit down and you two can help me set the table,” Heidi said, moving toward him. “You feeling better?”
He tugged away from the baby’s grasp and nodded. “Yes. Much.”
Heidi’s smile seemed to light the room. “Come on. I’ll get you a cup of coffee.”
Javier followed the women into the kitchen and sat in one of the two chairs Heidi pulled out for him then rested his leg on the other. What he didn’t expect was for her to plop a chubby baby into his arms before she turned away.
“I—”
“They don’t bite...much,” Dakota said, tossing a teasing smile over her shoulder on her way to the counter. “A little teething, but you look like a big, strong man. That’s Takoda, by the way.”
Javier lifted the child to eye level. His eyes were as dark as his mother’s, and a thick cap of flyaway black hair covered his head. He felt so light in his hands, so...insubstantial.
The baby blew a bubble and giggled while flapping his arms, trying to reach Javier’s face.
“You have so much trust, little one,” he whispered as he brought the child to his chest. A little fist grasped at his shirt, those big eyes never leaving Javier’s face. His babies would have looked like this, he thought. Dark in color. Yet this child’s features were softer than a Montero’s. The chin like his mother’s, a little pointy, where Isabela’s babies would’ve had sharper angles, squarer jaws.
He ran one hand over the baby’s head, his hair as soft as a kitten’s. When the child found interest in the collar of Javier’s T-shirt and dipped his head forward to examine whatever the little fingers had found, his head bumped Javier’s chin.
He closed his eyes and rubbed his jaw against the baby’s silky hair, breathing in a scent that wasn’t quite right, but was close. A shifter child.
“Get your hands off my son.”
Javier froze only long enough to see an obvious alpha male shifter step into the room with a menacing fury, barely leashed. Before he could speak, the man’s mate moved between them, smoothly scooping the babe out of his arms.
“Axel,” the woman said in a pleasant tone, “this is Javier, Heidi’s—”
“Dakota.” That one word silenced the mother. She frowned yet stood her ground, until forcefully moved aside by a second man with features almost identical to Axel’s.
“That was stupid, sweetheart,” the look-alike newcomer murmured.
Dakota scoffed and tried to speak again. “Gunnar, I—” But Javier cut her off without glancing away from the threat posed by the family’s alpha. “He is right, ma’am.”
That agreement drew everyone’s gaze, but Javier continued to stare at Axel, whose expression was far from friendly even with the slightly cocked eyebrow. Facing down the alpha, Javier knew he stood —or rather sat—in a losing position. He was in no condition to do battle with the fiercely protective male, even if he weren’t outnumbered. Through peripheral vision, he kept watch on the alpha’s brother, who continued to guard the pair’s mate and offspring.
No, Javier couldn’t win the fight if it came to that, but there was still enough alpha strength in his heart that he refused to submit in any way, whether through a lowered gaze or other gesture.
Axel had yet to move or speak again, but Javier could see why he held the position he did within the family unit. Axel was not impulsive. He was wise, cunning. He knew, as did Javier, that any shifter battle fought in such close confines to innocents could have an undesired outcome. When the collateral damage could be one’s own children, a man had to be sure the reward was worth the risk.
And he admired Axel for that; he was a good alpha, worthy of his duty.
The tension in the room was palpable when Javier finally cracked the silence.
“My name is Javier Montero. I am from Mexico City,” he began, weighing his words carefully and keeping his tone cordial yet formal. “I am here only out of necessity and have urgent business to attend to elsewhere.” He rubbed a palm across the cast on his leg. “Your sister’s kindness and your fathers’ hospitality have earned my sincere gratitude. The Falke family is in no danger of harm at my hand. In truth, I am indebted to you.”
Despite his words of reassurance, Axel remained guarded, unmoved. Javier paused when he sensed Heidi edge closer to him, but he didn’t yet dare look her way.
“I am—was—the alpha of my family. So I understand the dangers one must guard against when bound by love and familial obligation to protect both mate and offspring. I assure you that as soon as I am physically able, I will leave your home and territory in peace, and you will no longer have to concern yourself with my presence.”
Heidi moved closer, stepping partially in front of him. Axel’s gaze shifted to a glare, this time aimed at his sister who deliberately posted herself in harm’s way.
Mujeres estúpidas.
Again Javier approved of Axel’s reaction. He wasn’t keen to the idea of Heidi coming between them either. Shifter blood or not, she had no business putting herself in the middle of a standoff between alphas. He noted a slight tick in Axel’s jaw as Javier slowly, cautiously reached out to cup a hand on Heidi’s hip. With a tug on her denim belt loop, he moved her aside, pulling her back and out of the way.
He’d intended to release her then, but she surprised him by turning into his protective embrace. Her warm hand slid onto his shoulder, and he had to fight the urge to cover it with one of his own.
Axel’s other eyebrow lifted for a heartbeat before the man composed his features once more. Javier was at a loss for words. He hadn’t expected the feisty vet to even allow him to manhandle her out of the way in front of her family, much less favor him with a subtle display of acceptance—or worse, affection. But surprise wasn’t enough to make him drop his hand from Heidi’s sweet curves. He held on as Axel’s gaze dropped to his hand, and Javier couldn’t help but smirk when the man’s gaze met his once more.
He was impressed as hell that Axel hadn’t chosen to attack him then and there. The man was well within his rights. She was his sister, and Javier was not her mate.
Instead of aggression, Axel posed a question. “Your species heals fast?”
“They do. I suspect I’ll be on my feet again within a couple more days at most.”
“Your mate?”
Javier frowned. He hadn’t wished to disclose his failures to Heidi or the others, although he’d already shared his tragic past with their fathers. It had been important they know he was no rogue. So the alpha before him probably already knew the truth. There was no point in lying.
“Dead, along with my twin.” And my unborn sons...
He heard a soft inhalation from one of the other ladies present. Heidi flinched but, to his surprise, stayed by his side. “Now you’re Mr. Talkative,” she muttered under her breath.