“Zac?” There was a knock at the bathroom door, which was slightly ajar. “Are you okay?”
“I’ll be out in a minute,” he promised. “Luca’s in the playroom, can you—”
Another bout of retching stole his voice and his energy. When he finally managed to drag himself to his feet, wash his face, and rinse his mouth, he felt like a dishcloth that had been wrung out one time too many.
There was another quiet knock on the door, and he opened it to reveal Beckett, the alpha holding out a glass of water. Zac accepted it with a murmur of thanks, taking a sip. He was surprised to find it tasted sweet.
“Rehydration salts,” the alpha explained. “You’re probably already dehydrated from shifting. If you’re sick, you should head to bed.”
“I’m not sick,” Zac assured him quickly, cursing inwardly as he wondered how to explain morning sickness without admitting that he was pregnant.
“Oh. Is it a reaction to shifting? I seem to remember it feeling like a hangover sometimes. Long before I knew what a hangover was.”
“Something like that,” Zac said, seizing on the excuse without actually outright lying.
“Alright, then. I’ll handle breakfast. You should sit down for a bit.”
“But Luca…”
“Luca is in the living room, in the middle of a blanket cocoon, watching cartoons. Would you like to join him?”
“I can make breakfast.”
“I’m sure you can, but as I said, I’ve got this.”
“You have work.”
“Nothing that I can’t handle later. Come on.”
Beckett walked him to the living room, and Zac joined Luca on the couch.
“Zac’s not feeling too good, Luca. So you need to look after him, okay?”
The little boy nodded, taking his duty seriously.
“Bear will make you feel better,” he said, passing the teddy over.
“Thank you, sweetheart.” Zac cuddled the bear to his stomach.
Beckett slipped out but returned a minute later with another blanket, which he laid over Zac’s knees. Zac tried to protest, but the alpha only raised an eyebrow at him and left again.
In the end, he just sat there, feeling faintly foolish but also seriously tired. Beside him, Luca was yawning loudly every minute or two. They could both do with a nap.
The smell of cooking filtered through a few minutes later, and he heard Luca’s stomach rumble, the little boy peering hopefully at the door. They almost always ate at the kitchen table, but Zac guessed this morning would be an exception.
Ten minutes later, Beckett arrived carrying a tray in each hand. He set them down on the coffee table and moved around to join them on the couch.
“I wasn’t sure what your stomach could handle, so I made some toast and some of that tea you like. Maybe some jam on the bread? It’ll get your blood sugar up.”
Zac wasn’t used to anyone except Harper taking such good care of him.
“I’m okay, really,” he promised the alpha. “Luca’s the one who needs to eat.”
“I suspect that won’t be a problem,” Beckett said wryly.
Zac glanced over to find that Luca had snatched a piece of bacon from the tray and was chewing happily on it. He giggled despite himself, meeting Beckett’s eyes, which were dancing with mirth.
He gratefully accepted a piece of toast lightly scraped with jam and a cup of sweet tea. Beside him, Beckett ate with quick bites and drank mouthfuls of coffee in between ensuring Luca ate more than just bacon.
“So…” the alpha said.
“So?” Zac prompted. He hoped there wouldn’t be more questions about his nausea. He didn’t want to have to lie, but he wasn’t ready to face the consequences of the truth, like losing this job.
“I feel like I owe you an apology.”
When Zac tried to open his mouth, to insist that he didn’t, the alpha pressed a finger to his lips. The gesture was impulsive and intimate and, for a moment, both of them froze, staring at each other in silence.
Beckett let his hand fall. “But what I really want to say is thank you. Yesterday was just great. I’ve never felt closer to Luca. Look at him… he’s thriving right now.”
In fact, he’d liberated yet another piece of bacon when they weren’t looking, beaming cheekily over at them.
“I didn’t really do anything,” Zac told him. “That was all Luca. He’s fantastic, aren’t you, kiddo?”
“He is,” Beckett agreed with a fond smile, running a hand through Luca’s hair. “But since you’ve been here, things have been so much better. In small ways and in big. And the small matter just as much, if not more.”
Zac was so happy to hear it, but guilty at the same time. He felt like he was letting them down. He could hide his situation for a while, but not forever. And Beckett had been so clear that he wanted Luca to have someone long-term, someone he could really bond with. Zac was sure he was that person, there was just the small matter of the little problem he was incubating inside him. A problem that was only growing bigger by the day.
Chapter Sixteen
Luca’s first treatment went far easier than Beckett had expected. He wasn’t sure what had made the difference. Was it because of the pre-treatment? The fact that Luca was that bit older and stronger? The timely return of his ability to shift? Or maybe it was Zac’s presence? The omega was the blessing they needed to get through such a difficult time. He had a knack for coaxing Luca to eat or take a nap, and seemed to know just what to do to soothe him when Luca was close to meltdown.
Beckett scaled his work back as best he could; Luca needed his dad around right now. He kept up a brave front with Luca and Zac, despite how much he worried about the fate of their lost embryo. Zac, even though he knew none of the particulars, seemed aware that Beckett needed a distraction from his own thoughts. Beckett found himself drawn into their games and fun more and more as the week went on. It felt good to laugh again, to see Luca smiling and playing, acting like the carefree child he should be. And maybe it was all an illusion, about to come crashing down on them, but Beckett didn’t care. If ever there was a time to live in the moment, this was it.
Now and then, his thoughts drifted back to that morning after they’d shifted, waking up with Luca and Zac. Sure, there’d been some discomfort and embarrassment at the situation, but when Beckett pushed past that, he found himself lingering on Zac’s scent, on how beautiful the omega had looked that morning, all sleepy and bathed in sunlight.
Shaking his head to bring himself back to the present, he focused on the task at hand. Brendan would be there any minute to give him an update. He wasn’t expecting much. Their last meeting had proved that the world worked at a snail’s pace where situations like this were concerned.
He heard the doorbell and got to his feet, but Zac beat him to it. Making his way to the front hall, he waved Brendan in.
“Hi, Brendan. Thanks, Zac.”
Brendan followed him back to his office.
“Luca’s nurse?” the alpha asked.
“Nanny,” Beckett corrected absentmindedly. “Grab a seat. Do you want some coffee?”
“Sure, that’d be great.”
While Beckett busied himself pouring drinks, Brendan set a folder on the desk and started leafing through it.
“I didn’t want to tell you this over the phone, but I’ve made some progress.”
Beckett jerked upright at that, almost spilling coffee over his hand.
“Progress? What kind of progress?”
He carried the cups back over, handing one to Brendan and taking his seat.
“I believe I’ve found the omega that the clinic thinks was accidentally implanted with your embryo.”
Beckett sat back in his seat and took a deep breath, letting it out slowly. “Great. That was… quicker than I was expecting. What can you tell me?”
“It turns out this omega, Aaron, has moved to Japan with his alpha husband.”
“Japan.” Beckett said flatly. “Is tha
t why the clinic was talking about him being so difficult to contact?”
“If their experience was anything like mine, then it’s not the physical distance that’s the problem. I found a phone number and called. Aaron answered. I was careful, didn’t give any details, just that it was in regard to the events at the clinic on the date in question. He hung up on me. I called back, no answer.”
“You could go there, right? Track him down, talk to him in person?”
Surely a visitor on their doorstep would be harder to ignore than a phone call.
“That was my next step, until yesterday afternoon. Something’s been bothering me about this whole thing. If it had been me, and I’d had a medical procedure and, afterward, multiple attempts were made to contact me… Well, I’d be worried someone had screwed up somewhere, and I’d hear them out. Why be so evasive unless you have something to hide?”
Beckett could understand Brendan’s reasoning, but was confused about where he was going with it. “I’m not sure what you’re getting at.”
“Neither was I, at first. So I did some more digging, just trying to put together a timeline and look for inconsistencies. And I found one. A big one. It was on his husband’s social media. Aaron’s is locked down tight, but the alpha is some sort of teaching fellow at a university, taking part in a long-term research exchange. He posted all about their move to Japan, including these.”
Brendan showed Beckett a tablet, flicking through a series of pictures.
“These were taken the day they arrived in Japan.”
“Okay, what am I looking at?” Beckett struggled to keep from focusing on the omega’s face. Was this the man carrying his child, the one who potentially held the power of life and death over Luca?
“It’s in the metadata of the photo: the date and time it was taken. That’s this, here.”
The picture was replaced by a text box of information.
“I don’t see—” But then he did.
“They arrived in Japan on the tenth. The day before the IVF procedure.”
Beckett sagged in disappointment, feeling the beginnings of anger curling inside him.
“You’ve made a mistake. You tracked the wrong person.”
“That’s what I thought, at first, so I checked my information through another source. This is definitely the patient the clinic identified as the recipient of your embryo.”
“Then the clinic is wrong. What’s one more mistake to add to this dumpster fire?”
He felt bitterly disappointed, as if Brendan had offered him hope, then pulled the rug out from under him.
“That’s possible, but unlikely. As far as the clinic is concerned, the paper trail says that they’ve got the right person, in the right place, at the right time. Plus, he and your surrogate have similar names, Aaron and Austin, just like the clinic claimed, and they’re close in age.”
“But you’ve just told me it can’t be Aaron. He wasn’t even in the country that day.”
“Sure, it’s not him. But why hasn’t he just told the clinic that? Answered the phone and said, ‘Sorry, you’ve got the wrong guy?’ Why is he dodging their calls instead?”
Brendan was clearly hinting at something.
“He’s the right person on paper,” the investigator emphasized. “His name, his medical insurance. It just wasn’t him.”
“You’re saying someone else was checked into the clinic under his name?”
“Exactly. Medical fraud is growing more common every year. Especially for omegas, since their coverage is getting increasingly restrictive, and many of them don’t work jobs that offer insurance.”
Beckett wondered for a moment about Zac. He usually added their nanny onto his insurance in a limited way. It covered emergencies and accidents in the home as well as very basic healthcare, but he knew that wasn’t the norm. What did he and the other nannies do when they got sick or had other problems only omegas dealt with?
“Does that mean we’ve reached a dead end? If this omega stole someone else’s identity, what are the chances we’ll ever track them down?”
“Maybe not stolen so much as borrowed.”
“What?”
“Why else would Aaron be avoiding the clinic’s calls? He’s protecting them.”
“You think he knows the omega who attended the clinic under his name?”
“That’d be my guess. No other reason I can think of why he’d be so damn evasive. There’s also the matter of the co-pay for the procedure. It was paid in full on the day.”
And why would Aaron pay for a procedure he’d never had, unless it was to make it look above board?
“What does that mean for us?”
Brendan closed the folder and sat back in his chair.
“It means two things: we’re close to tracking down who actually got your embryo, and we have leverage if we need it.”
Beckett ignored the second part and focused on the first.
“But if we don’t know anything about them, and Aaron isn’t talking, how are we going to find them?”
“Would you commit fraud for just anyone? This is someone he knows, a relative or a friend. Track down his social circle, narrow it down to omegas, and we find our accidental surrogate.”
“You said something about leverage?”
“It’s not my favorite method to encourage cooperation, but I wouldn’t be doing my job right if I didn’t mention it. Medical fraud carries prison time. The quickest way to solve this would be to use the fraud as leverage to get Aaron, and anyone else involved, to cooperate. It does lose you any goodwill you might start out with, given your situation.”
Beckett considered and almost instantly dismissed the idea.
“No, I don’t want to do that. It isn’t fair. This wasn’t their mistake, and I don’t want to scare the people involved in this.”
Scared people did stupid things. Beckett didn’t want his baby to be a casualty of that. He wanted these people to want to help him.
“If we need leverage, I’d prefer to offer money, not threats.”
“I understand.” Brendan packed away his folder. “I recommend holding off on offering money except as a last resort. It might lead to attempts at extortion by someone involved, especially if they realize how desperate you are. You need to be prepared for that eventuality.”
Beckett didn’t want to believe that anyone, especially an omega, would hold an unborn baby hostage knowing there were two lives in the balance.
“I get it,” he told Brendan. “Do what you think is best, but keep the fraud out of it for now.”
“I’ll let you know when I have news.”
Beckett walked him to the door, and they passed Zac and Luca in the playroom, the latter running around with a makeshift cape trailing behind him. They paused to watch them for a moment.
“There’s reason to be hopeful, Beckett. We’re a whole lot closer to finding your embryo than we were last week.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Chapter Seventeen
For the week after they’d shifted, Zac had to remind himself over and over about the first rule of nannying. The most important one. The one that said you should never fall for your employer. He did his best to create distance between them—throwing himself into his work, being careful to minimize their time alone, and only talking about things that related to Luca and caring for him.
Zac had been warned by Beckett to expect the worst after Luca’s first treatment. But they were both surprised when he seemed to tolerate it well. There was no denying it affected him—he was far sleepier than normal, with a tendency to drift off in the middle of whatever he was doing. Zac encouraged lots of naps and lots of snacks, keeping Luca’s favorites at hand to combat the loss of appetite.
Beckett seemed to be holding up well but, toward the middle of the week, he had a visitor. Zac didn’t know who the alpha was or what he said to Beckett, but there was an undeniable dark cloud hanging over him for the rest of the week. Beckett did his best to hide i
t when he was around Luca, but now and then, Zac caught a look of near-despair on his face. It made him worry, not just for the alpha, but for Luca too. He couldn’t imagine what would put that expression on Beckett’s face except for something to do with Luca. He didn’t want to pry, so he did what he did best—held it together. He looked after Luca, cooked meals, and did his best to facilitate quality dad time between Luca and Beckett. It wasn’t his place to ask. If it was something he needed to know, Beckett would tell him.
His resolve lasted until late Saturday evening. His morning sickness had morphed into morning and evening sickness, much to his disgust. Harper had come to the rescue with a specially blended ginger tea the day before. Zac wasn’t a fan of ginger, but even he had to admit the tea was soothing for his stomach. But the taste was a little bitter without something to sweeten it, so he headed to the main house to borrow some sugar.
He padded into the kitchen, slowing to a stop when he spotted Beckett sitting in darkness at the breakfast counter, his shoulders slumped. The alpha didn’t look like he wanted company, so Zac decided it was best to leave him alone. But guilt tugged at him, reminding him that while technically Luca was his only responsibility, Luca’s well-being and happiness depended on Beckett’s. The alpha didn’t seem to have that many people he could talk to.
Steeling himself, he walked into the room, murmuring a greeting as he switched on the soft lighting under the wall cabinets. Beckett didn’t move, but Zac could feel the alpha’s gaze following him as he moved around the room.
“Tea?” he offered, turning around to look at Beckett. He was a little taken aback at the dark rings under the alpha’s eyes. “It might help you sleep.”
“Sure, thanks.”
Zac made himself ginger tea and gave Beckett chamomile, hoping the alpha wouldn’t ask why. He slid Beckett’s cup onto the counter next to him and took a seat opposite, letting the mug warm his hands.
“Is the sky falling down?”
Beckett looked startled at his question. “What?”
“Just… you look like something terrible has happened. Would it help to talk?”
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