by Grey, Aspen
“NO!” he roared, and I spun around just in time, blood dripping from my angry lips, to see him toss his cigar into the air and shift, snapping the velvet suit to threads that soared high into the air like ribbons of flesh as he took his panther form. He snarled, as if to finish a sentence he’d started while shifting, and hurled his enormous body at me.
His fur was thick and lush like an otter, with a sheen like coffee. He was so fat I underestimated his speed, and he slammed into me like a lopsided bowling ball, sending me spiraling into the building next to me. I yelped in pain and looked up as the remaining alpha sprung at me. His mouth was open so wide I could see the back of his throat. But just as he was about to find his target, Eric came to the rescue.
His claw snatched the alpha by the shoulder, digging in and spinning him around to face him. He slapped the bastard to the ground, giving me enough time to right myself and rejoin the battle.
I knew I had a mere second—two at most—before the boss was on me, and used it to sink my teeth into the alpha’s belly. It was a killing blow, and the alpha knew it. His death cry rang out through the alley as I tore flesh from his body, hurling myself out of the way just as the boss crashed towards me.
Eric and I both leapt on him together, but he was big—at least half again my size. But he was fat and flabby, and we were muscle. Lean and mean beats big and burly every time, and we knew that.
A cry from upstairs rang out. It was Roberto and he was in pain.
The babies are coming! I thought, my heart racing for a reason that had nothing to do with the fight. The son of a bitch in front of me was standing between me and my children, me and my mates. He was threatening my family, and while of course I cared about my own safety, I cared about theirs more. No matter what happened to me, they had to be safe.
My teeth snapped air as the boss moved more quickly than I’d expected and got himself out of the way. Eric scrambled after him, but a thick foot to the jaw sent him crashing back into me. I tried to get him off me, but Eric was stunned and lay on top of me panting heavily while I watched the boss spin around, foaming at the mouth, and sink his teeth into my already wounded ankle.
I cried out in pain and fought to get away, but his grip was too strong and Eric was pinning me down. I thrashed violently and managed to free my other leg and drove my foot into the boss’ eye. Instantly, his jaws loosened and I pulled my leg back to safety. I was bleeding and the pain was like hot coals beneath my skin, but as I slid out from under Eric and got my feet under me, I knew I was good enough to go on.
I faced off with him—the bastard responsible for all of this—and gnashed my teeth furiously, letting all my rage flow out of me.
Another cry from my apartment. A door slammed.
Wendell, I thought. That’s him coming to help with the delivery!
I needed to be there, and the only thing standing between me and my mates, my children, was the fat bastard in front of me.
Eric was still panting behind me on the ground. Obviously the kick to the face had taken a lot out of him, but it didn’t matter. I didn’t need him—not anymore. He’d saved my ass and gotten me to this point, but I had this. This guy might have been a big bad crime boss or whatever, but he was nothing compared to me. I was a real alpha, and I was going to show him how a real alpha does things.
With a final snarl, and my thoughts on nothing more than the events taking place upstairs in my apartment, I kicked off the pavement with all my strength and raced towards him, my teeth heat-seeking missiles homing in on their mark, the place that would end this once and for all.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Roberto
“You’re getting there. Just keep breathing,” Wendell said soothingly, reapplying another cold rag to my forehead. I sat beside Perry, both of us naked from the waist down, our legs propped up on one of Jedrik’s beautiful coffee tables. I’d managed to get Wendell to cover it with towels so we wouldn’t ruin it with our feet.
“He won’t care,” is what Wendell had told me. He was probably right.
“But I will,” I had replied. I loved his work, and that coffee table especially. Ruining it would have made me sad, no matter what the reason.
“I don’t hear anything!” I gasped, Perry’s hand still clutching mine as we both took the journey of labor together. “I don’t hear anything!”
“That’s because it’s over,” Perry said reassuringly. How was it that he always managed to keep his calm when I was about to lose it? “Jedrik and Eric took care of it, and now they’re on their way back up here to see us.”
“How can you be so sure?” I said, feeling panic rise back up inside me like a fountain of nausea. “How do you know?”
“How did you know that Jedrik was our fated mate, baby?” he asked me. Despite my emotions spiraling out of control, I felt my lips smile on their own. I knew exactly what he was getting at and looked over at him.
“I just knew,” I told him. He nodded.
“Exactly.”
Another contraction shook me. This one was less painful, but held me longer, like an electrical current gripping every muscle in my body.
“Hang in there,” Wendell told me. I tried not to get angry with him.
You don’t know how this feels!
That’s what I wanted to shout, but I didn’t. He was doing everything he could, and I knew how lucky we both were to have him at our side. And then, as if the universe had aligned perfectly for us, the door burst open and I looked up to see my mate, my astonishing, Adonis mate standing there, naked and triumphant, victorious, with only a single wound on his ankle.
“Jedrik!” we both shouted simultaneously.
“My mates!” he shouted back, stepping into the apartment and racing over to us. Eric came in behind him and shut the door. He looked dazed but made his way quickly to the bathroom.
“I’ll get you a bandage, Jedrik!”
“Yeah!” Jedrik called back, but his eyes were on us—Perry and me—looking back and forth between the two of us like a concerned father. “Are you all right? How are they, Wendell?”
“They’re just fine, Jedrik,” Wendell assured him. “Just normal pregnancy pains.”
“Good!”
“Yeah, easy for you to say!” Perry laughed to Wendell. “You ever had an industrial-sized eggbeater running rampant through your insides?”
Wendell smiled and shook his head. “But then again, you probably already know what it’s like to have something big tearing up your insides, don’t you?”
He winked at Jedrik and the three of us burst out laughing. A dose of humor at a time like this was unexpected, but entirely welcome. Eric stomped quickly out of the bathroom and made his way over to Jedrik.
“What’s so funny?” he asked as he sprayed Jedrik’s ankle with some kind of antiseptic spray and began to wrap it with gauze.
“Nothing,” I smiled, closing my eyes and focusing on nothing else but my contractions and the aromas surrounding me. “I can feel it, Jedrik. The baby’s coming.”
“Mine too,” Perry whispered. A calm came over the room. Our chests rose up and down in unison as we experienced our labors together. I felt a hand on my leg and knew it was Jedrik’s. I also knew that he had a hand on Perry’s leg as well. He was there for us and he always would be. He’d fought for us and come out the other side.
“Was it them?” I asked. “Sasha and his gang?”
“Sasha wasn’t there,” Jedrik replied. “Just those criminal bastards. But never you mind that right now. Just focus on bringing my babies into the world.”
“Yes, sir,” I joked.
“It’s time to start pushing, boys,” Wendell said in a voice like a soccer coach. “Time for the main event.”
“Okay, sir,” Perry replied, his voice a whisper of a laugh. “Here we go.”
With Perry’s hand in mind, and Jedrik’s hand on my leg—with both of their scents dancing through my nose and a vision of our futures spinning together in my mind, I summoned
all of my strength, smiled, and pushed.
Epilogue
Jedrik
One year later…
I opened the back doors to the shop and the smell of lacquer wafted out into the alleyway. I looked in on the dresser, finally finished and ready to be delivered up to a house in La Jolla to another family that just happened to be quite similar to our own in the fact that they were also a relationship of three, only they were an alpha, beta and an omega all living together.
Max, Elijah and Sawyer were their names. Sawyer was some big-shot lawyer downtown and we all just happened to run into each other one day while we were out walking at Balboa park. I hadn’t even noticed that there were three of them, but overheard them discussing the need for new furniture in their beach house and took the opportunity to step in and hand over my card.
Sawyer was a handsome alpha and had been out with Max, his omega, with their three children.
“We’ve only got two,” I’d joked, nodding over to Roberto and Perry as they played with Perla and Rodrigo in the shade of the trees. “But I’m not opposed to more.”
“Even one more is a handful!” Sawyer joked to Max who was doing his best to hang on to two of them at the same time.
We’d gotten to talking, exchanged numbers, hung out a few times at their beautiful home and eventually Sawyer had commissioned a new dresser from me. It had taken a few weeks and was one of the pieces I was the most proud of in my entire career. I’d finished it up last night. All that was left to do now was to get it up to them. I grabbed my phone from my pocket, snapped a picture of the final product and texted it to Sawyer. It barely had time to send before my phone rang. I answered immediately.
“Holy shit!” Sawyer practically screamed from the other end of the phone. “Is that it?”
“Sure is,” I grinned. There was nothing better than someone loving your work—except of course the love of your family. “What do you think?”
“What do I think?” he scoffed. “I think it’s ballin’, son! Real nice. Real nice. I should have you whip up a few things for the office too.”
“Hey, whatever you want,” I replied. “But corporate work costs double!”
“Oh, sure,” he joked. “I’ll just write it off as a business expense.”
“Perfect!” I laughed. “So, when do you want to send the truck? Today?”
“Not today,” he replied. “The boys and I are up in Orange County for a little trip, and I’d like to be there when it’s delivered. How about tomorrow?”
“Whatever works for you,” I replied. “We’ll be here. I’ll be in the shop working.”
“How’s that family of yours?” Sawyer asked. “Everyone behaving themselves?”
“So far,” I told him. “We’re finally starting to get some sleep—Roberto, Perry and me.”
“Still have a sex life?”
“Thankfully, with three of us, someone’s always horny,” I joked. “And there are only two kids in this house, so we manage to look after them.”
“That’s good,” he laughed. “When our three came, I don’t think I got laid for a month!”
“Oh, that’s rough,” I laughed in reply.
“Anyways,” Sawyer said. “I don’t want to be rude to everyone else, so I’m gonna let you go, but I’ll talk to you tomorrow and we can iron out the delivery details. Sound good?”
“Sounds like a plan, Stan,” I told him. “Talk to you then.”
“Great, bye!”
I hung up and turned around as Perry and Roberto came downstairs. They were each holding their namesake: Perla in Perry’s arms and Rodrigo in Roberto’s. For some reason, Rodrigo was dressed like a sailor.
“Hey, daddy!” Perry said, almost whispering to little Perla, her blonde locks swaying back and forth in the gentle Pacific morning breeze. “Can you say hi to daddy!?”
“Daddy!” she managed to say. They were both already starting to pick up on words, and of course, like most shifter children, were already getting around on two feet with ease. The real problems came when they decided to turn their little roughhousing matches into shifter roughhousing matches, and one of them would forget how sharp their teeth were. We’d gone through boxes and boxes of Band-Aids before they started to realize what kind of power they had in their mouths.
“Hey, girl!” I said, stretching out my arms to take her from Perry. “How’s my little princess?”
“Good!” she replied, obviously proud of herself and her ability to communicate.
“Hey, Roberto? Why’s Rodrigo look like he’s about to go pilot a yacht around the world?”
“It’s beach day!” Roberto replied indignantly. “Or have you forgotten?”
“Of course I haven’t!” I protested. I had. “Let’s go!”
I closed the shop doors behind me and the three of us began walking down the alley towards the beach when I heard a call from upstairs and looked up to see Eric waving down at us.
“Hey, boss!” he called out. “Is it okay if I make myself some food while you’re gone?”
“Go right ahead!” I replied. He waved happily and headed back inside.
Eric had really become a good friend and part of the family after the children came. He loved babysitting and would often stay after work to look after them, despite me telling him that he should be out hitting the clubs or the bars and searching for a mate for himself.
“How about mates?” he would joke.
“Hey, it’s not for everybody,” I warned him. “I wasn’t even sure if three people in a relationship could work. But I guess it was fate!”
“Well, I wouldn’t mind a couple of omegas for me,” he grinned. “Or even a couple of betas! You know? Two holes is better than one!”
As we rounded the corner, I smelled the ocean and felt the wetness in the air. It was a beautiful June morning that hadn’t grown too hot just yet. By the afternoon that would be different though.
I walked behind my mates and children and just watched them in front of me as we took another one of our little excursions together as a family. It was almost surreal. No matter how many times I saw little scenes like this, I almost felt as though I was watching a movie or a music video or something designed to make people happy.
This can’t be my life, can it?
After the horrible beginnings all three of us had, it didn’t seem possible for us to find such happiness. But there we were—walking together down to the beach to look at the ocean, happy and safe with good friends and a hopeful future.
I’d made up with Sasha—sort of. I’d forgiven him for our past, as well as the trouble he’d gotten us into with his boss, who I later learned was named Cash, and told him that if he could find a way to stay out of our lives, I’d let everything go between us and we could both go our separate ways. It was a difficult thing to do considering just how furious Perry and Roberto were with him, but I knew it was the right thing to do. I was a father now with children, and the only energy I was going to be putting out into the world they were living in was going to be positive. And holding a grudge against Sasha was not positive.
“Okay,” he had replied when I’d told him my decision. He bit his lip and I knew he had more that he wanted to say, but he managed to hold back and simply nod as he looked at me. “Okay, Jedrik. Goodbye. And I’m sorry.”
“Goodbye, Sasha.”
Somehow I knew I wouldn’t see him again. Despite everything he’d put me through, I wished him the best. I had my own family now, and maybe one day he would find his.
“Come on, dada,” Roberto joked, looking over his shoulder at me and nodding for me to keep up. I realized I’d been lagging behind as I watched them walk, caught up in the beauty of the situation. I jogged forward and pinched both of my mates on the butts as we came out on the beach, the morning waves spraying into the air beyond the palms.
“Eeeee!” Rodrigo squeaked, throwing his hands into the air, signaling to his dad to let him down.
“Careful now!” Roberto told him.
“You too,” Perry told Perla as they both set the children down and let them run forward.
“Not too fast!” I warned them. They looked back at me and smiled. Wrapping my arms around my mates’ necks, I followed my children as they raced into the sand, laughing and smiling in the rays of the morning sun, still somehow unable to believe that the life I was experiencing was mine.
No more hardship.
No more pain.
No more sorrow from our pasts.
Just love. And a happily ever after.
“I love you guys, you know that, right?” I asked Perry and Roberto. They looked at me strangely, as though I’d just said something that never needed to be said.
“Of course we do,” Perry replied.
“And we love you too,” Roberto added.
“We do,” Perry agreed. “We love you too.”
The End
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Part One
An Omega For Two
Chapter One
Max
As I stood on the balcony of the Golds’ sprawling beach house on the coast of La Jolla, San Diego, watching the spray from the waves as they crashed against the cliff breaks, I felt myself wondering about what my life would be like if I was the one living in this house—not the one cleaning it.