Pregnant With Alpha’s Genius Twins
Chapter 275

"Why not have her on call?" Victor replies, leaning down and giving me a kiss on the forehead. "You spent your last pregnancy at free clinics and eating from the day-old selections available at the gas station. We're doing this one right."

I laugh a little, taking his hand. "Actually, one of those gas station egg salad sandwiches sounds good right now...maybe that was less poverty and more a pregnancy craving..."

"Um," the doctor says, laughing a little, "I'm going to suggest that you...avoid food poisoning, Evelyn, for the next eight months." I laugh with her and she heads out of the room, assuring me that she'll be back in a couple of weeks for my next check-up. Then, once she's closed the door behind her, Victor nearly leaps on me, wrapping me tight in his arms and rolling me around on the bed, laughing with his happiness. I shriek, laughing as well, enjoying the nearness of his body, the press of his weight against mine. "Crap," he murmurs when he realizes that his weight is almost fully pressed on me, "I'm going to squish the babies -" Quickly, he shifts his body, eager to lighten the load, but I stop him, wanting to feel him there.

"No, stay," I murmur, smiling up at him, sliding a hand down the length of his flank. "It feels nice. The babies are too small to smush."

We stay like that, then, breathing softly, for a long moment. I close my eyes, resting, entwining my legs with his and thinking about all of the next steps ahead of us. But I open my eyes again when I hear him speak. "Thank you, Evelyn," he says quietly, looking down at me. "This is...the most amazing gift. I couldn't imagine anything better."

"You don't want boys?" I ask, curious. "Two more magical little Alpha babies who look just like you?"

He thinks about it for a moment and then shakes his head. "No, I want two of you this time," he murmurs. "But we can name them after me, so they know which parent is their favorite. Victoria and...Vikki." "That's the same name!"

"Fine, Viclinda -"

"That's not even a name!"

He laughs, falling on his side, grinning at me. "Well, whatever, it's my choice, you have no say."

"What?" I spit out, appalled. "Says who?"

"You got to name the other two," he says, gesturing towards the door, to where Alvin and lan are somewhere in the house. "I got no say there - so I get to pick these ones."

"No way!" I protest. "I refuse! I will run away again - go have the babies in private and come back once their birth certificates are written out -"

Victor laughs and wraps his arms tighter around me, holding me like I'm in a vice, perhaps trying to demonstrate to me that he's in charge. But I know the truth.

"I'll just change their names when you bring them back," he muses. "That's just paperwork. Say helloooooo to Mildred and Helga Kensington -"

"Don't you dare" I hiss, pushing against him, unable to stop the giggles that bubble out of me - "we are not naming one Helga -"

"Oh, we are," he whispers, wicked, "whichever one is prettier, she gets the really ugly name -"

"Child abuse! Horrible!" I shriek, but Victor silences me with a kiss, his lips warm and laughing, and I kiss him back, knowing that despite his big words he'll let me name them whatever I want.

Because he is my Alpha, and I am his Luna, and I know in my heart that all he really wants in this world is for me, and our family, to be happy.

And there's no way little Viclinda Helga Kensington-Ortega is going to be happy with that name.

So, we'll just have to spend a couple of months thinking of something better.

I come downstairs about an hour later after a long shower. I've decided to take the doctor's low-stress orders to heart as much as possible and indulge in these sorts of things when I have the time. So, when I come downstairs, still toweling my hair, I'm surprised and a little chagrined to see that the house is full of people.

"What's going on?" I ask Victor, moving over to him.

"News," he says, staring at the TV with some of his Betas. "Word got out that your dad is back at his house, and the media is having a little bit of a frenzy with it. My teams are holding, no one's gotten through for an interview or anything but...there's speculation." "Is that...bad?" I ask, looking up at him.

"It's unexpected," he answers, looking down at me, a little grim. "Annabeth and I discussed this - we didn't think people would care much to see Walsh return. But, apparently, some packs are taking it as a sign that I'm...loosing a little of my hold on the situation. They're wondering if Walsh is going to use this opportunity to retaliate, to make a grab for power."

My stomach sinks further and I wonder, guilty, if Rafe was right - if I was too close to the situation and my personal emotions got in the way of Victor's politics. Was this one choice going to lose us a lot of our hard-earned footing and curb our ability to do good things by the people of this world?

"Hey," Victor says, putting a hand on my back, bringing me out of my reverie. "Don't do that?"

I look up at him, confused.

"Don't second-guess your choices just because the media is saying a bunch of stuff," he says. "It's their job to get viewers - they'll say anything. It's not a real reflection of the world. We've still got this."

"Well, what are they saying?" I ask, still anxious. "Why don't they realize that?"

"They're wondering," Victor answers, a little hesitant, "if...my power these past few months was just...a mirage. Or a fluke. Or a passing ship. There's speculation that I'll lose my footing and that my life will devolve into chaos..." "What?" I ask, confused.

"Well," he says, twisting his lips as he looks at me. "There have been some accusations of me as...inconsistent. I ran a good war, but then I let my main prisoner return to his house. I had a strong, mated Luna, but then I left her at the altar. Because they don't know the details, people could be perceive me as...flighty. For an Alpha."

I huff a little laugh, crossing my arms. "Well, if anyone thinks that, they don't know you," I murmur, watching drone footage of my childhood home on the screen, wondering passively what my mother thinks of all this. Then, I turn my attention to him again. "What do we do to fix it?"

"Well," he says, hesitant again. "We could...make it clear to everyone. That I'm not flighty, that my emotional life is consistent. Perhaps by announcing..."

"Our engagement?" I suggest, suddenly excited. Victor blinks at me, surprised.

"Really? You're all right with that? I thought you'd be..."

"I think it's a great idea," I say, my smile big. "Actually, though, I promised Delia that she could break the news on her social media."

He laughs, shaking his head at me. "Why?"

I shrug, still grinning. "Because it will make her happy. She loves the celebrity gossip - it will make her so happy to be at the center of it. Should I tell her to do it now?" I ask, pulling my phone from the pocket of my jeans. "Really?" Victor asks again, surprised. "You're ready for all of this? To be, officially, Luna Kensington?"

"Please," I murmur, pulling up Delia's contact information on my phone and typing out a text. "Compared to the first time I was in the tabloids, with my hands pressed up against a window in someone's hotel room?" Victor blushes a little, glancing around at the Betas who have clearly heard me - "this is nothing."

I grin at him, and press send on my text to Delia.

"All right," Victor says, wrapping an arm around me and pulling me close. "Media frenzy, here we come."