The Alphas And The Orphan

Sunday 22nd January

Stars POV

I wake up to the gentle snores of my mates. It is still dark out, so I try to go back to sleep. After twenty minutes or so, I give up and carefully climb out of bed.

Lex must be exhausted because he doesn’t move a muscle. I quietly open the door and head down the corridor. At the nurses’ station, I let them know I was heading to the nursery to see the babies.

I take the elevator to the fourth floor and walk down the familiar corridor. At the door I ring the buzzer and Samantha, one of the midwives, welcomes me in with a tight hug.

“Oh my goddess, we have missed you, Star. We have some new cuddly newborns and you are just in time for the 2 am feeds.”

I tip in excitement. We head to the kitchen and grab the bottles, each full of their mother’s milk.

We push open the door to the bursary and Samantha hands me a bottle and points to a cot.

I grab a changing trolley and push it to the cot. I find nappies, wipes and a clean vest and baby grow in the cupboard and set everything out on the trolley.

I look at the chart and see that the gorgeous baby girl is called Amilie.

I gently pick her up, cooing and humming a lullaby, holding her tiny body to me as I inhale her scent.

“Hello little Amilie, let’s get your nappy changed, shall we, baby?” I lay her on the changing mat and unsnap her baby grow, she wriggles and kicks her legs at me, making me giggle.

After changing her nappy, I settle in a rocking chair and give her her bottle, crooning to her as she latches on to the teat.

After I finish with little Amilie, I move on to the next baby. Samantha and I work away through the twelve babies like pros.

I am just settling with my last infant, a chubby little boy called Sid. When I feel eyes on me, I turn to look and see Lex standing at the window, an odd look in his eyes.

He walks through the door and pulls a chair next to mine. He leans down and k****s Sis’s head, “hey baby, I was worried when I woke up, the nurses told me where you were.”

He looks at me with so much emotion in his face that I caress his cheek, “what’s the matter Lexi? You look sad.”

He grins at me, “not sad baby, hopefully, seeing you holding the baby like this makes me think about our children. You will be an amazing mother.”

“Goddess, I can’t wait Lex. I know we are young, but as soon as you guys are ready, we will be getting pregnant.”

“But what about college? You always wanted to go to college, baby.”

“Only to get away from Clementine. I am going to be Luna. I don’t really need a degree to do that, do I?”

I think we need to talk about this together, but as far as I am concerned, I can’t wait to see your belly grow with my child.”

I pucker my lips to him, demanding a k**s. He leans in just as Sid does a massive fart and fills his nappy. Lex wrinkles his nose at the baby. “dude, that’s gross.” I chuckle, “you could get some practice in nappy changing, daddy.”

His face goes white, and he whispers, “my children will not smell like that,” idiot.

I let him off the hook and change and burped Sid before putting him down to sleep.

We say goodbye to Sam and the other staff and walk back to our room with our fingers linked.

“So how often did you use to come and see the pups?”

“Oh, at least three times a week, I would do the night shift every Saturday night. I was thinking of training as a nurse. Doc Phillips offered me a job if I started training.”

Back in our room, he lifts me into bed and then spoons me, “get some more sleep baby, I love you.”

I love you too, baby.”

I fall asleep with Lex’s hand spread protective on my stomach.

Ashton’s POV

Ace and Star were released from the hospital an hour ago.

Star is having a long soak in the bath, and my brothers and I are watching a game of Rugby on the wide screen in the lounge.

Liam and Campbell are spending the day helping dad assess the damage caused by the attack.

We are all meeting downstairs in the pack dining room for dinner.

Lex is a bundle of nervous energy. “what the f**k is wrong with you, dude? It’s like you have something crawling under your skin.”

He leans forward with his elbows on his knees.

“I woke up early this morning and Star had snuck out of bed. The nurse told me she had gone to the nursery, so I followed. She was cradling a chubby baby when I got there, giving him a bottle. My f*****g heart nearly stopped watching her singing to that baby.”

“She used to spend a lot of time there before the coma. Maybe we should push her to start again.” I am not sure why Lex is so bent out of shape about it. I mean, we all want pups with Star as soon as she is ready.

“She wants a baby, like now.”

Ace leans forward, “no, she wants to go to university. We said that we would wait until she had finished that before we pushed for pups.”

Lex is shaking his head. “no she only wanted to get away from her aunt and uncle, and Doc Phillips offered her a job if she trained as a nurse. She told me that as she will be Luna now, she has no need to go to uni, she wants babies, plural lots of them.”

Ace jumps to his feet, a huge smile on his face, “I think I could do with a soak as well. Ease some aches after the fight.”

He doesn’t give us a second glance as he strides from the room.