[star478]

Leo stared at Brayden with a blank expression on his face.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Leo said, meaning hearing his own heartbeat if he'd lay in a certain way. It was true. No matter what way he would lay down in, he couldn't hear his own heartbeat. If he'd lie on his stomach, he could feel somekind of heart beat, but he couldn't hear it (though ever since getting pregnant, he's avoided from lying on his stomach in order to prevent any harm to the babies).

[SRuiz]

"Maybe it's just me then...I do sleep rough..." His mind contemplated on how else he could show the male, when perhaps a thought crossed his mind. He took Leo's hand and guided it to his belly. "Sometimes we can hear things indirectly with our other senses. Some call it the "sixth" sense in a way, to be able to detect something." If Brayden was right about it, the kicks would send vibrations up to Leo's hand, sending waves up his arm to his ears. If all went well, the vibrations would create a link to his womb, allowing him to in turn hear the heartbeats.

[star478]

"What are you...?" Leo began when Brayden took his hand, which caused him to blush, only to place it on his belly. As soon as his hand touched his skin, it was like a whole new set of sensations settled over him. He could feel the heartbeats of the babies. He tried counting the heartbeats, but couldn't distinguish one from the other let alone his own. He looked at Brayden in awe.

"I feel them," Leo said in practically a whisper. "I can't tell how many there are, but I can feel them. How can I distinguish one heartbeat from the other in order to count how many babies we're having?"

In Leo's awe of his new discovery, he forgot about his snacks he brought up with him causing the ice cream to melt and the other foods to spoil.

[SRuiz]

(Making my rounds as best I can with finals occurring lol. Bright side is I only have two, but finding time to study has been a pain.)

"That may be a bit more complex" he chuckled. "To determine how many, you have to single out the heartbeats."

His nose twisted a bit as he stared at the ruined food. "I'll go dump these outside. Maybe it will offer you some total silence to listen closely. Tell me how many you hear and I'll do the same when I return."

He headed out the room to go to the patio, where he would casually toss some things out into the cold snow below. When he returned, he wondered if Leo had made some progress or if he was still working on it. He laid back in the bed, swaying his reactions to figuring out the process.

[star478]

(How ironic. I have finals as well this week--two of them to be precise. It's not like finding time to study has ben difficult, it's just that....I haven't felt up to studying for whatever reason. It's kinda like I'm no longer interested in studying--and I never have been to be honest. Even back in high school.)

Leo watched as Brayden took the spoiled food outside.

'How do I single out the heartbeats?' Leo thought to himself without removing his hand from his belly. He then sighed as he closed his eyes, trying to listen closer, hoping to hear the babies' heartbeats.

After several minutes (and blocking Brayden's presence when he returned), Leo could hear the heartbeats when, as if by magic, he could easily distinguish each beat. There was 1.....2.....3......Leo's face paled as he counted a couple more.

"H-How many babies do werewolves give birth to on average per pregnancy?" Leo asked hoping he counted wrong. "And how many is Trevor having again?"

[SRuiz]

( I only had two exams as well. Others I found out I was exempt from and shortly afterwards, I had to leave to pick up my brother from his school only to find out that there is no more internet for now. I had to delete the PM's. Was it Four we agreed to or Three?)

"You can tell by singling out the sources, learning which distance a heartbeat is towards your own." He placed his ear back on Leo's belly, hearing the four heartbeats again as well as Leo's. "We're literally like our wolf brethren. We have litters from three to seven. That count for an Elder goes from seven to ten, which means either someone hit the jackpot with Trevor or it was an Elder that found him."

[star478]

(Nice. And I don't exactly remember either. I tried looking through PMs, but we didn't go over that in PMs. I think three or four sounds familiar.)

"Really?" Leo said and listened closer. He ended up hearing a total of 5 heartbeats: 4 little, fast ones and 1 big, strong one. He smiled. "Four. I hear four little heartbeats. We're having four babies Brayden."

Leo smiles at Brayden while he was talking. He then frowned in confusion.

"Do you know any Elder that would have been in the area when this whole thing started?" Leo asked, placing his hand on top of Brayden's unthinkingly. "Maybe whoever that Elder is is the father of Trevor's babies he's carrying?"

[SRuiz]

Brayden smiled before hopping back in the bed fully, the male genuinely rubbing Leo's hand without thinking about it. Four children sounded like more than enough for them for right now. Maybe there would be more later, but the male was alright with just taking care of his mate and his kids at the present moment.

"I don't know" Brayden's eyebrows furrowed. "The thing with Elders is that they are so old and powerful, they have free reign to roam without needing to be in a pack. Damian hasn't reached that status yet from the meetings we have attended. The issue now would be trying to draw the culprit out if they have not done so already."

A simple knock came to Leo's door where the person from the other side simply awaited a response. As Brayden was invited, he saw no reason to hide away this time. Instead, he simply laid in the bed with his mate still, his nose twitching to what the person on the other side could have come up to inform Leo about. Dinner was clearly ready.

[star478]

"I see," Leo said, smiling as Brayden unthinkingly rubbed his hand, the female part of him--due to the moon cycle--happy. "Shouldn't we try...."

Just then, a knock could be heard from the door, interrupting what Leo was going to say. He tensed a bit and tightened his hold on Brayden's hand before relaxing...once he realized that Brayden had been invited for dinner of course.

"Yeah?" Leo said to the closed door--for privacy reasons. Then he quietly said to Brayden, "I think dinner's ready. I can smell it and I'm starving....again. You ready to meet my family as my mate?"

[SRuiz]

Brayden nodded. Of course he would try in every best interest. Not only was Leo affected, but so was his friend. There was no telling just how messed up the boy's mind was already. He had just tried to kill his friend from being mind controlled after all.

"I'll do my best. If not, the last resort may be to turn him..." The issue with that was that Trevor didn't turn the first time like Leo was currently going through. He could he be certain it would work? Brayden opened the door and in came a slightly younger male. His hair was a mixture of red and brown, leading Brayden to assume this was one of Brad's twins, which made him boil a bit in rage on the inside. Not for the teen, but for the bastard responsible.

"Uh yea" he said a bit nervously. "Dinner's ready." Just as he had arrived, he scurried off instantly like a dog with its tail tucked between its legs.

"Well let's get this over with" Brayden chuckled as he ushered Leo out the door first.

[star478]

Leo sighed as he walked--with a slight waddle--out the door and made his way to the stairs and food. His mouth was practically salivating already.

"Hopefully Uncle Brad doesn't cause a scene with you," Leo said to Brayden as he began to descend the stairs. "If you're going to be a part of the family, he's going to have to get used to you being around no matter how much he may dislike it."

Leo nearly missed a step, but caught himself before he could fall. Thank goodness for the railing.

[SRuiz]

(Happy late Christmas lol)

Brayden followed after him quickly.

"Hopefully..." Brayden would like to get away from another incident given what just happened hours ago, but knowing his luck, that was unlikely. He still had wounds mentally because of a certain figure that was possibly sitting downstairs at the dinner table, possibly chuckling and sharing with everyone whatever tale he could conjure up just to keep their spirits merry. When Leo almost fell, Brayden had rushed in to be a bit protective, but the male had the means to stop himself by holding on to the railings.

"They need to let you all move to the lower floors or something, unless they like you both being their little dirty secret that they can hide away on the upper or lower floors." His blue eyes glanced at the lit candles as when Leo finally made it down first, Brayden took in the full sights of Leo's entire family. While most were probably expecting Brayden to have stepped through the front door, leaving them a bit shocked to say the least, others like Leo's parents, grandparents and his Aunt and Uncle were not really phased.

"Welcome!" His grandfather smiled widely and warmly. A Hunter never did that. That made Brayden feel even more uneasy.

[star478]

"I'm fine," Leo said with a gentle smile. Granted, being on the lower floors would be helpful for later on in the month, but he'll wait till then to worry about it. He then chuckled. "Maybe. They could also be upset that they couldn't protect me from it. Or something along that line."

He then smiled and waved at his grandfather.

"I bet you'll like my grandfather," Leo said smiling then chuckles. "Seems like he likes you already."

All the while, he was unaware of what was going on in Brayden's head.

[SRuiz]

"That's what troubles me..." Brayden said lowly to Leo before smiling as his grandfather came to shake his hand.

"Come you two. Sit down. Eat. We have much to discuss." He gestured at two chairs near the table, all conveniently placed in the center with Brad across the other side. Brayden waited for Leo to sit down before taking his own, his hands resting in the side pockets of his thick shirt, hands slightly fidgeting inside. At first there were a few intense moment of silence before it was shattered with Leo's Aunt bringing cups of tea. Brayden sniffed at it lightly before taking a sip from it, which garnered a chuckle from Brad, prompting the Beta's eyes to shoot him an icy cold glare.

"I uh....I uh..." Brad simply choked before reaching into his pocket, pulling out a cigarette to indicate he needed to take a break. With that, he rose up from his chair quickly, heading out into the cold for a bit, prompting Brayden to smirk. The man was clearly a coward.

"Dinner is here" Leo's mother announced, setting down the bowls and silverware. Thus this discussion was now to take place.

[star478]

"Just relax and enjoy the food when it arrives," Leo lowly replied from his seat. Sometimes Brayden was a bit too tense, but being hunted by folks like his family does take a toll on your psyche after awhile. Hopefully he can warm up to certain members eventually. It doubtfully looks like Uncle Brad will warm up to any sort of idea that involves Brayden.


Leo began to literally salivate when his mother placed the bowles and silverware on the table. He was hungry, like really, really hungry. And he just ate practically an entire tub of ice cream! Must be the speed of the pregnancy...

"You'll enjoy my mom's jumbalayea. Trust me," Leo said to Brayden, hands twitching as he impatiently waited to begin eating.

(Was in the middle of replying when my computer did an "emergency" restart due to an error of some kind. No idea what that was about, but I lost what I already had typed up. Maybe I should start saving as drafts more often as a just in case....)

[SRuiz]

(I hate when that happens lol. I end up forgetting to make drafts sometimes too, so there's like this small amount of rage every now and then lol.)

Brayden tried to relax a bit more. With Brad hauling out, he could find himself a bit more at ease, though he had to remind himself that he was eating with the enemy and while it seemed civil, it could get out of hand in an instant.

"So tell me, son" Leo's grandfather said in between a bite, only for his wife to smack his hand, ensuring him to not talk with a full mouth. "How old are you?"

"24...hundred" he should have been technically calling the grandfather son instead, but he still respected his elders no matter how young they were to him. "Not to sound ungrateful...I am...it just seemed that you all were hellbent on keeping me away..."

"We thought it through..." Leo's father said. "It isn't right for us, but we cannot necessarily handle a situation like this."

"What situation is that?" He inquired.

"We wouldn't know how to fully help Leo and Trevor with what's currently going on. Despite our practices, we need to prepare for the inevitable which is the end of this month."

[star478]

(No kidding. XD )

'Fuck it,' Leo thought to himself and began digging into the food anyway--especially when he saw his grandfather eating already. He placed a hand on his belly as he started eating. Finally his babies were getting nourishment...again. And his belly felt a bit larger than it was earlier too. Could be just his imagination, but more likely than not it actually was bigger. Thankfully he had thrown on stretchy sweatpants when he got dressed that morning so they weren't quite that tight on him yet. They will be soon though. Might need to do some shopping for bigger clothes sooner rather than later.

As he ate, he listened to the conversation Brayden was having with both Leo's grandfather and Leo's father. Geez. Brayden's 2,400 years old? Leo was basically a child (at 22 years old nonetheless) compared to Brayden. At least his parents realized they needed help for when the babies were born. Leo was pretty sure Uncle Brad disagreed, but it made the most sense. Especially in Trevor's situation.

The rest of the conversation faded out of focus as Leo focused on feeding himself and the developing young inside the womb he unknowingly developed after shooting Brayden's former girlfriend. 

[SRuiz]

(Apologies for this huge delay. School started and I am currently under the weather. I will try to post as soon as I can.)

[star478]

(It's fine. School started back up for me as well. Fortunately, I'm not under the weather like you are. XD Take as much time as you need. I can wait however long is necessary. Hope you feel better soon!)

[SRuiz]

(Back for now, but I'm stuck with a writers block. You have any suggestions on how to continue this part? >_<)