Meredith's Pride [Galactic Nuptials 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour ManLove) by Missy Martine Page A

nonsense, and climbing all over Jacy who didn’t seem to mind. Nodin screeched as only a toddler could when Taima grabbed a block from his hand. He was just the right amount of cute mixed with a little bit of impatience, making him an attention-seeking monster.
    Mer ignored his outburst and bent to pick up Yuma. With tears in his eyes, Yuma’s small hands twisted in Mer’s hair, pulling just this side of painful. “Okay, little man. It’s all right. You’re okay.” He crooned to the small boy as he carefully extracted his hair from the tiny fingers. His glance went to Hakan. “Will you get me a couple of blankets from the bedroom?”
    “Sure.” Hakan scrambled to do as he asked. It took less than a minute for him to come running back with a couple of blankets and a stack of towels. “Here you go.”
    “Spread the blue one on the floor next to the playpen.” He watched as Hakan carefully laid the blanket out. When he was done, he lowered Yuma down and placed his on his tummy. The chubby baby cooed, giggled, and kicked his arms and legs. “Another month and we won’t be able to keep up with him.”
    Mer turned his attention to the last baby in the pen. Keme was curled in a ball, her breathing even and deep. She looked adorable, her brown curls framing her cherubic face. Her eyelashes rested on apple-round cheeks. Carefully, he lifted her into his arms, patting her bottom and hugging her tight. She twisted, rooting at Mer’s shoulder, making small grunts. “She’s gonna be demanding a bottle soon.”
    Knoton jumped to his feet. “I’ll heat it if you’ll feed her.”
    Mer snickered and looked down at his cubs. Jacy was giggling as she tried to push her toy up under the couch. Nodin was trying to get his big toe in his mouth, and Taima was lifting his arms demanding to be picked up. Sighing, Mer dropped to the floor and made himself comfortable with his back against the couch. With one hand he pulled Yuma’s blanket closer so he could reach the baby.
    Immediately the cubs began to climb all over him, laughing and chattering constantly.
    “How do you do that?” asked Hakan. “We’ve been trying to get them to stop crying for over an hour.”
    Mer shook his head. “It’s the playpen, guys. They don’t like being confined.” He rocked Keme back and forth as she sucked on his index finger. “They just wanted freedom and a little attention.”
    “It makes sense.” Knoton bent and turned Yuma around when he started to crawl off the blanket. “Our lions don’t like cages, so it stands to reason they wouldn’t like to be confined. I’m sorry if we made it worse.” He moved to sit next to Hakan on the couch.
    “Don’t worry about it. Kids are resilient. They bounce back fast to their little happy selves.”
    “We could…” Hakan frowned, glanced at Knoton, and then both men stood and stared toward the door.
    “What is it?” Mer cuddled Keme closer to his chest. He jumped when the door flew open and Delsin and Etu walked in.
    Delsin ran his fingers through his hair. “Hakan, Knoton, in the office. We need to have a meeting.”
    “No.” Etu put his hand on Delsin’s chest when he turned to walk away. “Mer’s life is on the line, same as ours, and he deserves to know the truth.”
    Struggling to his feet, Mer faced his mates. “Okay, you’re scaring me. What’s going on?”

Chapter 5
     
    Mer bit his lip hard enough to leave a coppery taste in his mouth. He watched as Delsin and Etu looked at each other.
    Delsin sighed and motioned for everyone to take a seat. “We’ve received a communiqué from Arrida.”
    “What about?” asked Hakan.
    “Their planetary sensors tracked another ship following Hakan into their space when he brought Mer from Earth. They tracked them for a while and then lost the signal right before they circled behind one of the other moons orbiting their planet. They can’t pick them up at all now, so they’re either cloaked or they’ve landed on the other moon.