I Don’t Feel So Good

Alex followed me out the door, I’d say he pushed me out of the way but he didn’t, though if I had been someone else he might have. He only wrapped an arm possessively around my waist and pulled me toward sustenance I hadn’t cooked. I think that was more novelty than normal for us both.
Ryan was cooking. “Rider said he’d cook breakfast but at the first smell of bacon cooking he ran of into the bathroom.” He looked at me curiously. “Feeling alright?”
I shrugged. “Why are you looking at me?”
“You are the only human one among us.” And then he grinned at Alex. “How often you been sick?”
“Hardly ever, actually.”
“My point.” Ryan grinned.
Alex frowned. “Are you saying he’s more human than I am?”
Ant growled. “No, and yes.” He sat down and grabbed a plate with food on it and didn’t wait for anyone else to start eating.
“I thought you weren’t hungry?” Alex asked.
Ant looked down and then over at me. “He is.”
“I’m hungry. Not starving.”
“I’m starving,” Alex said. He pulled a few pancakes over to his plate and a pile of bacon.
I let them eat while I tried to get the answer to Alex’s question from Ryan. “So why did you ask me?”
Ryan’s grin was wide. “You take all our strengths and weakness to an extreme. The Cesari skills are over to top. Your empathy is strong, you are reading people with ease. You heal extraordinarily fast, yet you get sick all the time.”
“Dorian said it was because even though Venatori don’t get sick, they carry it around and because I’m not exposed to it everyday like a human I get sick.”
“He is right, but you shouldn’t get sick Nox. You aren’t killed by nepenthe. So why do you catch the common cold, the stomach bug, and common regular human things?”
I shrugged. “I don’t have an answer.”
“Your strengths and weaknesses are exaggerations of the parts of you.”
“So a common cold kill me?”
Ryan snickered. “Not now, but I expect that you’ll still get sick. And sooner than anyone else.”
“So I’m your gauge to Rider’s plight?”
Alex snickered. “He could be pregnant.”
“Men in any world can’t do that.” I rolled my eyes.
“He’d be rich,” Alex said through a bite of pancakes.
I leaned over Alex’s shoulder and whispered, though I knew Ant and Ryan could hear. “If men could get pregnant there would be no doubt which of us would be carrying our children.”
Alex laughed. “Such a bottom.”
Ant groaned as I walked away. “I’m going to check on Rider.”
I found my brother behind the bathroom door. He was puking his guts out. “Alex says you might be pregnant.”
Rider pulled the door open and stared at me incredulously. He had paled even more at my statement I was sure of it.
“It’s not possible,” I said and he relaxed but another wave of nausea passed over him and he didn’t hesitate to let it all go, drying heaving until it was done. “At least that I know of.”
“I hate you.” He growled at me. It wasn’t a human growl.
“Rider…”
He looked up at me with amber eyes. “Well fuck!” I grabbed my brother’s hand and pulled him along. “Don’t sick up all over the floor.”
I burst into the room with the other twin and he was curled up in a ball whimpering with both Matt and Hunter hovering over him.
Matt looked up at me. “I don’t know what’s going on.”
“I do. Matt, take Hunter to get some breakfast. Wake Fae and bring him here. Don’t let anyone else in.”
“Alex isn’t going to listen to me, if you are in this room,” Matt said.
“I’ll handle that.”
I helped Rider lie down next to his brother and they instinctively curled around each other. I pulled Matt and Hunter out of the room by their hands. “Do what I said please. I’ll take Hunter. Bring Fae here.”
I picked up Hunter and he asked”Are they going to be okay?”
“You are asking me?” I laughed.
He gave me a smile. “They will be fine, you know they will.”
“But they’ll be different.” Hunter said.
“No different than who they were before the change. They’ll just turn furry once a month.”
I set Hunter down next to Alex and wrapped my arms around my love and pressed a kiss to his cheek. “We have a situation.”
“A situation? Don’t fucking tell me he’s pregnant!” Alex exclaimed.
“No, but this is the early signs of a change. I’ve seen it a few days before the full moon with Abby.”
“The full moon was on the 7th,” Ryan said. “Your kids were bonkers.”
“Tonight’s the new moon,” Ant said.
“There is supposed to be some epic solar eclipse I was going to mention watching later,” Alex added.
“Fuck!”
“What?” Alex asked.
“Rare phenomenon and wolves close to turning,” Ryan said, “Can mean bad things.”
“They are too young to turn,” I said flatly.
Ryan laughed manically and I growled at him. “I know shut the fuck up Ry. My magic is tied to them. I know.” I sighed and kissed Alex again. “Babe, I need you to keep the kids out of the house until I tell you it’s safe to come back.”
“Nox, what are you going to do?”
“I’m going to do my job, as Alpha. Faelen will stay with me, I need his help cause I can’t channel pack without that strong connection.”
“And he’s omega, he’ll help solidify the boys in the pack hierarchy,” Ryan said.
I nodded. “The omega is always with the Alpha when the new ones turn. It’s a pompous ceremony. I might be able to get them through this without a sacrifice.”
“I wouldn’t Nox,” Ant said.
“Nothing needs to die, Ant. We don’t have time to find a goat, or a chicken. I have enough magic I know I do.”
Alex turned from his food and looked up at me from his position on the stool. You promise me nothing bad is going to happen.”
I nodded. “They are changing, it’s not a big deal. But I want to be careful. My magic tends to fuck things up.”
Alex smirked. “Ya think?” He gave me a nod. “After breakfast we’ll all go find an eclipse party.”
“Thank you Alex.”
He pulled me close and kissed me long and hard. I broke away breathless and biting my bottom lip, I whispered, “My Alex.” And gave him a final peck on the lips before walking away ruffling my son’s hair as I did. I had to take care of my brothers.