353 All Work And No Play
The cruise ship left Amaranthus Haven the next morning and headed back to Abermagne Port.
The bad times never passed quickly enough while the good times never lasted long enough.
After sailing with the ship for a week, the birthday cruise vacation was slowly coming to an end.
Just before the four werewolves parted and went back to their own pack houses, Lucien and Ronan had something to say to both Annalynne and Lowell.
“We hope that you can treat the matter with the babies a secret for now,” Ronan told them, his eyes drifting between his sister-in-law and her boyfriend.
“Huh, why?” Annalynne was confused by the request. She had initially planned to supersize the first sonogram and hung it in her bedroom.
Heck, she even thought about holding a party at the Silent Walkers Pack House to celebrate the babies!
“The fetuses are only two weeks old,” Lucien explained.
“During this time, too many things can happen. We don’t want to draw unnecessary attention to the fertility center.”
.....
By saying that, he hinted that there might just be a second Lucrethia lurking around. They never knew. The fetuses were weak and defenseless. It was better to keep their existence a secret. At least for now.
Once it clicked in her head, Annalynne’s lips formed a huge O. Of course she would never do anything to harm the babies!
“Understood!”
Annalynne then swore by her ancestors — who were ironically also Lucien’s ancestors — that she and Lowell would not breathe out the news about the unborn heirs of the Infinite Eclipse Pack.
Having harvested the promise from Annalynne’s lips, Ronan and Lucien were able to breathe out of relief for a while.
As soon as the couple got off the ship, they left their luggage with Milroy and took a flight to West Coast City right away.
The fertility center pretty much expected their visit.
Gordon Clearwater was even there to welcome his son and his son-in-law when the two werewolves arrived.
“Lulu, happy birthday,” the elder man said while hugging his son. “And congratulations to both of you for the successful insemination.”
“Thanks, Dad,” Lucien hugged his father in return.
“Thank you, Father.”
“Well then, I suggest you want to take a look with your own eyes before you are able to believe it.”
Both men nodded.
“Come with me, then.”
The fertility center director personally led them to the Mother And Child Center, which was located at the core of the facility.
The vast room had changed a lot compared to the first time Lucien came to visit.
At the center of the room was a tall glass column that was full to the brim with bright red, translucent liquid. Inside, the tiny flesh-colored artificial womb was suspended in the middle by a lot of cables and tubes.
Gordon gestured toward the glass column and explained, “This glass column acts as a replacement for the human body. It simulates the environment in which a human being’s organ can survive. All the important parameters such as temperature, pressure, pH, oxygen level, and also nutrients were strictly controlled, day and night.”
Lucien too put his hands against the glass column and stared at the artificial womb.
Amazing, he thought.
Attached to its walls from inside were the two tiny bubbles that he saw in the sonogram.
Lucien could hardly believe that it was true.
But his father wouldn’t lie about this kind of thing, would he?
“Lulu?”
Ronan put his hands on top of Lucien’s.
“Are you alright?”
“Huh? What?”
Apparently, Gordon had continued to speak but Lucien went into a daze so he didn’t hear a single word.
“Sorry, Dad. Did you say something?”
Gordon cleared his throat and repeated, “Their development is as normal as it could be. If everything goes well, the babies will be born in about 37 more weeks.”
Lucien’s father went between the couple and put his arms around their shoulders.
He then lowered his voice and spoke discreetly, “Everyone is very excited about the successful insemination and wants the babies to be born safely. So now that you have seen it, please leave.”
“...”
“...”
The smile on Gordon’s face did not at all match his harsh words.
“Your presence here adds unnecessarily additional tension to this facility and makes the already hardworking team even more nervous. For the sake of my grandchildren, please don’t come back until you receive a personal invitation to return.”
“...”
“...”
Just like that, the future parents were kicked out and banned from the fertility center until they received further notice.
By then, there were only two more weeks before their wedding day arrived.
Ronan’s and Lucien’s return to the Infinite Eclipse Pack House was met with enthusiasm.
Ronan was quickly dragged by Jake to tend to a few urgent matters regarding the Silverback Corporation and the pack.
Lucien had a few Luna responsibilities to attend to. At the same time, there were a few e-mails from the art gallery with a request for him to come and pay a visit.
Even Clearwater Finance required some attention. Dedicated to overseeing the growth of his grandchildren in the fertility center, Gordon Clearwater passed the director position of Clearwater Finance to Annalynne with Lucien’s blessing.
The problem was that Annalynne was a complete novice. She was even a novice as an Alpha! The woman was quickly overwhelmed by jargon that she did not understand, projects that she was unable to fathom, and numbers that appeared out of nowhere.
Lucien thus agreed to personally teach his sister how it all worked when they met up at Blue Hill City.
Ronan was unable to come back at night because he had to travel overseas for some business events. He barely had the time to kiss Lucien before he was dragged away by an overloaded Jake.
Left alone for the night, Lucien thought that he would finally get a moment of peace.
Before he decided whether he should light some scented candles and take a long, relaxing bubble bath before ending the night with a good book, another person came by and demanded his attention.
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