DAVE
Open Eyes
The moment arrives at 6:15 AM, eight days after birth. Hikaru's eyes crack open first—thin slits revealing cloudy blue that will eventually become something else. He can't see me, not really, but his unfocused gaze tracks toward my voice when I whisper his name. Within minutes, his brothers follow. Takeshi fights his sealed lids like they're personal enemies, thrashing until they finally give way. Akira's open smooth and deliberate, everything about him already calculated.
"Suzy." I barely breathe the word, but she's already stirring. Mother's instinct beats exhaustion every time with her. "Their eyes."
She shifts from dead sleep to full alertness, that particular transformation I've watched all week—Katana the alpha bleeding into Suzy the mother without losing either id
