The sound echoed all around, bouncing off the surrounding mountains in the distance. River howled in answer, deep and edged with dominance; and a moment later, answering howls from individual pack members volleyed around them. The moment was primal and satisfying in a way Josiah had never experienced before, solidifying his place as the pack alpha’s mate and first omega.
Josiah lay panting in the grass, River’s knot stretching him. The alpha leaned over, hot breath brushing Josiah’s neck, and sank his teeth into the place of their mating bite. Josiah stiffened beneath him and came hard, spilling onto the grass. The earth seemed to tilt, and Josiah felt a part of it. As River thrust shallowly, Josiah heard short, whining noises and realized they were coming from his own mouth. They sounded more wolf than human.
Locked with his mate, Josiah was shocked to feel his fangs lowering from his gums, the muscles in his back, legs, and arms rippling, and fur sprouting along his skin. He was distantly aware of River shifting, too. They were both wolves, locked together by the knot with River’s fangs still planted in Josiah’s neck and River still pumping into Josiah as best he could.
River growled and snarled, shaking Josiah in his mouth, and Josiah whimpered and pushed his ass back against his mate until River’s knot broke and filled Josiah with seed.
* * * *
The sun was coming up when Josiah awoke in the field, his mate spread out on his back beside him. Both were completely naked, River’s clothes in tatters from having shifted while he had them on.
Sitting up, Josiah put a hand to his neck. His mating mark throbbed and ached. River must have done a number on it the night before. The omega smiled. He couldn’t believe he’d been brazen enough to ask River to fuck him outside in the field.
He scrambled to his feet and pulled on his pants.
“Good morning.” River’s voice was a seductive purr.
“Don’t even think about it. We’re supposed to have breakfast with X and Christopher, and I need a shower.”
River grinned and sat up. He looked absolutely gorgeous sitting in his birthday suit on the dewy grass as the sun peaked over the horizon.
“Weren’t you the frisky one last night,” River teased as he got to his feet, walking unabashedly naked toward the pack house with Josiah beside him trying to wrestle into his shirt.
“You started it. It was all that talk of topping an alpha,” Josiah said.
Brooks was sitting in the living room drinking a cup of tea when they entered. River headed up the stairs, but Josiah paused to talk to the beta, what River had said still on his mind.
“You’re up early. Everything okay?”
Brooks looked like he hadn’t been sleeping much. “I can’t rest without David. I’m so worried about him. I know River says he’s okay, but what if one of the other prisoners attacks him?”
“River said they keep The Turned sedated. I really think the lawyer Angela found will get him out on bail quickly. David will be upset to find you looking like you do.”
Brooks shook his head. “I can’t help it.”
“I’m sure you’re glad to have Jax here with you,” Josiah said.
Brooks nodded and tried to smile.
Josiah looked over his shoulder to make sure no one was behind him. “Can I ask you something?”
“Sure.”
Josiah moved closer to the beta. “I was just wondering…River said something that had me thinking. Have you ever heard of an alpha bottoming for a beta or another alpha? Or maybe a human? I know because of Jax your dynamic is kind of different, so I thought maybe…I don’t know. I’m sorry if that’s too private. I was just very surprised it might be a thing that happens.”
Brooks seemed to think for several long seconds, and Josiah was kind of embarrassed he’d brought it up. Finally, Brooks said, “I think shifters do whatever works in a relationship. Alphas don’t normally bottom, but never say never.”
Josiah wasn’t going to pry any more than he already had. He nodded and went upstairs. The girls were still asleep in their room, and Josiah decided to join River in the shower. The water had turned cold by the time they’d gotten out.
When Josiah had dried off and dressed, he could hear Sadie and Sophie were awake and playing in their rooms. The smell of bacon wafting up the stairs tempted his appetite.
River pulled out clothes from the girl’s dresser and while they dressed, Josiah tidied up the room.
Downstairs, Sam and Leo sat with Jimmy. Christopher and Xavier had just arrived and sat down to a pancake breakfast.
“What time do you have to be at the hospital?” Josiah asked Christopher.
“Eight o’clock.”
“I’ll drive you there,” River told them. “I need to check on Nick. Austin said he might be coming home today.”
“That’s awesome!” Sam said.
“He’ll be upset, so we’ll give him some space,” Josiah said. Nick didn’t know what had happened to his baby, and Vik Carver claimed not to know, but that was under investigation. The men who had taken Nick had been hired by Carver, but they’d disappeared before the raid on the Omega Oasis.
“Do you think they killed the baby?” Sam whispered.
“We don’t know,” River said. “They might have sold him on the black market.”
“How awful.” Sam touched his pregnant belly, and Leo wrapped an arm around him.
When River finished eating, he arose from his chair to carry his plate to the sink but stopped beside Josiah’s chair.
Josiah looked up at him. The pack alpha had gone very still.
“What? What is it?”
River set his plate on the counter, and, bending close to Josiah, took a deep sniff of his neck.
Josiah’s heart started to pound. He could feel every shifter in the room’s eyes on him. Was his fear true? Did River detect he’d been darted and never realized it?
“River, what?”
Leo, who was sitting to Josiah’s left, leaned forward and took a sniff, then met River’s eyes.
“For Fenrir’s sake, River, put the poor boy out of his misery,” Leo said.
A broad smile spread across the pack alpha’s face, and he lifted Josiah out of the chair and swung him around while whooping so loud, everyone in the house ran into the room.
“River!” Josiah yelled. “What the hell?”
“You’re carrying!” River shouted so loudly, Josiah had to cover his ears. “It’s barely there, but I scented it, and obviously Leo did, too.” The pack alpha looked to his third-in-command, who nodded as he resumed shoveling pancakes into his mouth.
Josiah dug his fingers into his mate’s shoulders. “Wait, wait, put me down. God, stop swinging me around, or I’m going to lose my breakfast.”
River set Josiah on his feet and grinned down at him.
Josiah couldn’t believe he’d really conceived after four years. “Am I really pregnant? Are you sure?”
River kissed Josiah soundly on the mouth. “Yes. I’m sure. Must have happened last night out in the field.” He winked, and Josiah felt his face heat up.
“Congratulations,” Sam said, looking truly pleased for Josiah, and the others echoed him.
“I’m sorry to break up this celebration,” X interrupted, “but if we’re going to make our appointment we’d better go.”
River grabbed the car keys from a hook on the wall and kissed Josiah again. “I’ll see you when I get home.”
Josiah watched River, X, and Christopher leave before sinking back into his chair and picking up his fork. Leo stood, kissed Sam, and excused himself to take Jimmy outside.
When Josiah looked up from his plate, Sam was grinning at him from across the table.
“I’m so happy for you.”
Josiah couldn’t help but smile back. He shook his head. “I can’t believe it. I’d convinced myself I couldn’t get pregnant again.”
“Well, you can, and you did!” Sam suddenly sighed. “Would it be too much to ask for things to get back to normal?”
“What’s normal?” Josiah picked up his plate and took it to the sink. “I think ever since I came to the pack, things have been in turmoil.”
“Sometimes a little turmoil is needed to bring about necessary changes,” Sam said. The doorbell rang, and he started to get up.
“I’ll get it,” Josiah said. “You rest for once.” He crossed the foyer and opened the door, surprised to see Sid standing on the front porch.
“Hey,” Josiah greeted him. “Come in.”
“I just wanted to check on you guys after what happened.” Sid stepped into the house.
“Oh, well, we’re doing okay, but you probably heard Parker’s pressing charges against David for attacking him. We’ve got a lawyer working on setting bail.”
“He’s in the shifter prison?” Sid asked, looking troubled.
“Yeah. River says it’s full of the Turned.”
“They can’t keep him there,” Sid said. “For attacking a rapist and murderer? That’s ridiculous.”
“I know.” Josiah sighed.
Sid stood looking uncertain, so Josiah invited him into the living room.
“Is something wrong?”
“I was thinking about…” he trailed off.
“What?” Josiah prompted.
Sid looked the first omega in the eyes. “Do you think River would let me come back to the pack?”
Surprised, Josiah said, “Yes, of course. He never wanted you to leave. None of us did. But I thought you didn’t want to be here.”
“I didn’t want to leave the pack; I just wanted to live at the university. But I’m starting to rethink that.”
“How come?”
Sid took a deep breath and let it out. “I don’t know, really. I just know I want to be here.”
Josiah didn’t want to press the beta. “Okay. I can get some guys together to help you move.”
Sid smiled. “Thanks, Josiah.”
* * * *
A week later, Josiah lay in River’s arms in their bed. They’d just gotten the girls to sleep after each reading them a book, and all around them, Josiah could hear the pack settling.
Sid had moved back in three days before, and Josiah could tell how pleased River was to have the beta back. He knew the pack alpha took it personally when Sid left. River also seemed to be more content with Nick safely on pack territory again. They still didn’t know where baby Brett was. Austin believed Max had the baby. That the alpha had made a deal with Vik Carver and was hiding the kid. Josiah thought that certainly would make sense. He even hoped it was true because otherwise there wasn’t much hope of getting the child back.
River had already fallen asleep, and Josiah listened to the alpha’s heart beating beneath his ear. When headlights arched over the wall from the window, the omega disentangled himself from River’s arms and sat up. Who would be visiting this late?
Going to the window, he looked out over the front of the house. When he recognized the car as that of David’s lawyer and then saw the flash of blond hair from the passenger’s side, he turned and pounced on River on the bed.
“What the hell?” River asked groggily.
“It’s David!” Josiah said, already off the bed and mid-way across the room. “He’s here!”
Josiah didn’t wait. He ran down the hall and opened the door to Brooks’ and Jax’s bedroom without knocking.
“Come outside!” he told the two stunned men before scampering back the other way, down the stairs, and out the front door. River must have gotten out of bed immediately, because he was already outside embracing David.
“What happened?” River asked.
“I’m out on bail.”
“But…nobody called me!”
“They set it for an enormous amount, no doubt so no one would be able to pay it,” David’s attorney, a short man with graying hair, said. “David didn’t even want me to mention it to you.”
“Because I knew you’d do something stupid, like sell the farm,” David said.
Josiah didn’t doubt River would do it to get his friend out of that place.
“Grier posted it,” David said.
“Sid’s boyfriend?” Josiah frowned at River. They hadn’t heard anything about Grier since Sid had moved back in.
“Evidently, his family has a lot of money.”
“They do.”
Josiah hadn’t realized Sid had come outside. The beta stood on the path, eyes wide. “They’re rich. Did Grier really post David’s bail?”
“Yes—” the lawyer’s words were drowned out by Brooks’ cry of joy as he came running out of the house and hurtled into David’s arms. The alpha would have fallen backward, but River steadied him.
“You’re here; you’re really here.” Brooks kissed David every place he could reach.
David held his mate tightly in his arms.
“I’m so sorry to be putting you through this.” His gaze moved to the porch where Jax stood with a sleepy Jarrod-Grant in his arms. Holding Brook’s hand, David walked toward them.
“Daddy!” Jarrod-Grant reached for David, and Jax transferred the little boy to David’s arms.
“Well, I’ll be heading home. I just wanted to give David a ride. I’ll be in touch,” the lawyer said, and River walked the man back to his car.
Josiah was about to ask Sid what was going on between him and Grier when the beta abruptly turned and headed back toward the beta houses. When River joined Josiah, he put his arm around the first omega’s shoulders.
“I don’t know why he did it, but I’m thankful to Grier for putting up David’s bail,” the pack alpha said.
“Maybe he did it because he’s an alpha shifter, too,” Josiah suggested. “Even though he chooses to suppress his instincts, he can’t deny who he is and seems to sincerely want to help the shifter community.”
“Sid sure didn’t hang around long.”
“I get the feeling something happened between the two of them. Sid hasn’t talked about it, or even why he wanted to come back.”
River squeezed Josiah’s shoulder and then kissed his temple. “Let’s go inside.” David, Jax, and Brooks had already entered the house where Josiah could hear others joyously greeting David.
“I’ll be in in just a minute,” Josiah said.
River looked at his mate with concern.
“Nothing’s wrong. I just want to think for a minute, that’s all.”
“Okay.” River kissed Josiah’s lips. “Don’t be too long.”
When the pack alpha had disappeared inside, Josiah turned and looked out over the dark fields. Things might not be perfect, but the pack was whole apart from baby Brett, who he hoped they’d find soon. The strange illnesses among the shifters had been accounted for and an antidote prepared that appeared to be working. Mark had become a shifter—something Josiah never would have imagined just a few months ago—and he was in love with Jaime. Senator Parker and his son were in custody, Jax was home safe, and David had been released from shifter prison, at least for the time being. Josiah could only hope David’s lawyer would be able to keep the second alpha from having to go back.
And Josiah was pregnant.
The omega covered his still flat belly with his hands, thinking about how a piece of both himself and of River was growing inside him, a brother or sister for Sadie and Sophie. He couldn’t help hoping it would be a shifter son, because River deserved to carry on his ancestry.
Josiah had to believe that everything would be all right. He and River had made a new life for themselves and their friends in Cascade City and had broken the bonds the human faction had cast over them. Whether they would choose to suppress their nature and integrate with the humans or to keep themselves separate and demand equality remained to be seen; but from Josiah’s point of view, things were finally beginning to look up.
THE END
ABOUT REBECCA JAMES
Rebecca James majored in English literature, loves reading and writing, and resides in the United States of America.
ABOUT JMS BOOKS LLC
JMS Books LLC is a small queer press with competitive royalty rates publishing LGBT romance, erotic romance, and young adult fiction. Visit jms-books.com for our latest releases and submission guidelines!
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