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I blinked at them. They were planning an entire operation around one cot.

“Do you really think we can pull it off?” Five sets of eyes turned towards me. “Keeping the babies a secret, I mean. Until well after they're born.”

“If anyone can accomplish it, we can, my darling,” Lucien said.

“We shall protect you and our daughters at all costs,” Alaric added.

“As long as at all costs doesn't mean hurting anyone else, of course,” I said, studying the empty plate in my lap.

Nobody said anything, and the bonds went quiet too.

I looked up. Alaric’s face gave nothing away. Caius looked down at his cup, Leon reached for his tea, and Lucien went back to the display. Only Darius was still looking at me.

Something cold had slipped into his expression, but it was gone almost immediately.

Maybe they knew exactly what I was asking.

I looked back down at my plate. Gilda had given me a slice of the cake I’d made the night before, and she would never admit it, but she always cut mine a little thicker.

I loved my mates very much. Their obsession with nutrition, though? Not so much.

They watched what everyone ate, how much they ate, when they ate and whether the meal was balanced. Nothing escaped them, and this was completely normal here.

“It is a valuable skill, my love,” Caius had explained when I'd complained about it one day. “Restraint and self-control are taught from childhood, particularly to those who show promise for military service. Food is one of the earliest ways to develop that discipline. We eat to sustain ourselves and may occasionally eat for pleasure, but habitual overindulgence is considered a weakness.”

I'd stared at him. “Then I am weak, Caius. I am very weak!”

My other mates had laughed. Even Alaric.

Unfortunately, laughing about it hadn’t made them stop. Food remained one of the few things we never seemed to agree on.

When I looked back at Darius, he was still watching me.

“I know, I know. I've already had one slice, and I'm on a strict diet, but can I have another one?” I cradled my stomach with one hand. “I think the girls really want it.”

“I'm responsible for your security, sweet Omega,” Darius said. “You will have to ask Alaric.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. Traitor.

With a sigh, I turned towards Alaric at the other end of the L-shaped sofa.

“Thaddeus and the nutrition specialist were very clear about your diet, Elowen. You've already had more sweets than they recommend for one day.”

I held my stomach more dramatically. “But our daughters want cake, my heart.”

Caius laughed. Darius and Lucien smiled too, and Leon wasn’t even trying to hide it. Alaric ignored all of them.

I stared straight back at him, refusing to give up, with one hand still around the two completely innocent babies I had just dragged into my campaign for cake.

Eventually, he shook his head and raised his wrist pad. “Gilda, bring another slice of cake for Lady Stormforge.”

“Right away, Master.”

I smiled, probably too smugly, as amusement ran through our bond. My mates found it endlessly funny that I somehow managed to get my way with our Pack’s strictest Alpha.

Alaric would never admit he enjoyed giving in to me, but his bond gave it away. I could feel exactly how much he liked giving me what I wanted: feeding me, looking after me, and letting me have one more treat even after he’d told me I’d already had enough.

I met my Head Alpha's eyes. “Thank you.”