Reaching the apartment where Mickey lived, and where he had often been staying with Mickey now, he was startled to find the door already wide open.
“Mickey?” he called out uncertainly, as he strode in through the doorway.
Perhaps even more of a surprise than the open door was the fact that there were many, many people already in the apartment. Female wolves, all of them. He thought he could even scent the little white pup in there somewhere.
Alarm chased through him, and another spasm rocked his body. “Hey,” he growled. “What’s going on?”
One of the wolves glanced back over their shoulder at him and he recognized Amelia, the female alpha. “Houston!” she said, and her voice was a mixture of relief and wariness. “I’m glad you’re here. Follow me back outside. We need to talk.”
Houston dug his feet against the ground and snarled at her. “You aren’t making me go anywhere. What’s going on? Where is Mickey? Is he in here?”
Amelia blocked him with her chest, spreading out her arms. Although Houston was still larger than her, he didn’t much like the idea of getting into a fight with her. “Mickey is in here but you can’t see him.” Then, her voice softened slightly. “Not yet. The pup is coming. You aren’t allowed in the room. Technically, I wasn’t even supposed to let you in the door.”
Houston growled at her but reluctantly stepped backward until he was standing just outside the doorway. Amelia followed after him, standing in the way. “Go do something,” she said, gently. “Go parade around and tell everyone that Mickey is in labor. Do something to distract yourself, and cut off all your awareness of him. Trust me when I tell you that you don’t want to feel any of what he’s going to feel.”
He stared at her, but she held his gaze evenly until he reluctantly looked down and backed away. “Dammit,” he grunted under his breath, but did as he was told to anyway. He had known this was coming, as alpha wolves were never allowed in the place where an omega was giving birth—a stupid tradition much like that of the groom not being allowed to see the bride on her wedding day—but he hadn’t done anything to mentally prepare himself for it. And now he was frantic, pacing in circles around the house. Soft whines reached him through the thin walls and he gritted his teeth, agitated.
Something tapped at his shoulder and he spun around, heart pounding in his chest. It was Amelia again, scowling fiercer than ever. “Away from the house,” she commanded, pointing. “Now.”
Houston growled again, feeling like a scolded child, but the wrath of a female is something every male fears, whether straight or gay. He had no choice but to obey and from then on he paced the perimeter of the underground city, while keeping a close eye on the house.
At first, he tried to keep his connection with Mickey anyway, to lend his strength to the omega, but the pain soon became unbearable and he had to cut it off. It was almost enough to drive him mad, knowing his fragile mate was in that much agony and being incapable of doing anything to resolve the problem. He growled and snarled under his breath, pacing even more fervently.
Then, although he hadn’t been doing anything to try and connect with Mickey, a huge spasm went through his abdomen, forcing him to his knees. His mouth opened but the howl that split through the cavern came not from his lips but from Mickey’s.
“Dammit,” he snarled again.
I don’t care what anyone says. I’m getting in to see him right now. No matter what.
Charging back to the house, he forced his way in through the doorway. His squared shoulders scraped hard against the doorframe on either side. “Mickey!” he demanded.
The females all turned to look at him now, but he saw only softness in their expressions instead of aggression. Without a single word, they parted around him like a sea.
“Go on,” one encouraged, gently.
Ice pierced through his chest and he hurried past all of them, barging into the room. He very nearly fell to his knees again at the sight before him.
Mickey lay low on his mattress bed, long dark hair slicked flat and even darker against his head with sweat. There was a blanket across his middle but his rear was exposed, covered in blood and other sorts of fluids. Houston winced at that, jerking his gaze upward towards his mate’s face. His eyes never got there, as he saw the face of another person instead.
And another person beside.
“Twins?” he whispered, voice trembling as he approached. It felt that if he moved too fast he would break this beautiful dream.
Mickey glanced up at him and let out a small growl that might as well have been a purr for all the aggression behind it. “Yeah, twins. Apparently you can’t sense them because they share a soul. Thanks for that, by the way.”
Houston laughed softly, slowly crouching down beside his mate. The twins had damp slicks of hair, one dark and one light. “They’re perfect,” he breathed, reaching out with one hand. They were so small that he could have held one in each hand. Gently, he stroked the cheek of the one with dark hair. Their small button of a mouth moved slightly, opening and closing as though suckling.
“They are,” Mickey agreed, softly. “Although I’m sure we’ll have second thoughts the moment they first start screaming.”
I will never have second thoughts about this, Houston thought, gazing down at his perfect little family. “Males? Females?”
“One of each.”
He smiled. “I love you, babe.”
“I love you too, you big idiot. And I hate you for making me fat.”
Their lips touched sweetly, and then the twin with dark hair opened its perfect little mouth and let out an ear-splitting wail.
Two days later, Houston and Mickey were curled up under the covers with the as-of-yet unnamed twins cuddled up between them. A soft knock came at the front door, followed by a soft call. “Can we come in?”
Houston and Mickey glanced at one another, both of them questioning the other.
“I don’t want them in here,” Mickey whispered, his pelt prickling.
Houston could feel that his mate was still protective, so he nodded and stood carefully. “They should be okay, right? If we only leave them for a moment?”
Mickey still looked hesitant. “Can I stand in the doorway?”
Houston patted his ass. “Sure.”
Together they went to see what was going on, and found a number of the pack standing in the living room, waiting.
“What’s going on?” Houston growled.
“Keep it calm, big guy,” Amelia said. She held a package in her hands, which she gestured with him. “We come in peace.”
Mickey narrowed his eyes. “Is that a baby seat?” he asked, pointing toward a seat sort of thing dangling from someone’s hand. “If you’re just here to give presents, it’s really nice of you all, but...”
“That’s not it,” Amelia interrupted. “Look, everyone decided I should be the one to tell you this, but... We think it’s time for you to leave the pack, Mickey.”
Houston felt like he had been punched in the stomach, and the expression on Mickey’s face echoed what he felt. “What?” the omega demanded. “Why? I haven’t done anything wrong!”
“No,” the female alpha said, her voice softening. Her eyes almost seemed to smile despite the shadows beneath them, and Houston knew what she was going to say. “You’ve done everything right. You’re always the one who liked to see people get better and move on, back up to the surface. Don’t you think you deserve that, too?”
He does. We have kids now. We have to be together. I have to provide for my family, and I can’t do that unless we’re all in one place. And it can’t be down here. I want my children to grow up in real cribs, with their own clothes and toys.
Judging from the look on Mickey’s face, he understood and he wasn’t very happy about it. Just then, a thin, hungry cry slashed through the silence and he turned around and hurried back into the bedroom.
Houston stared at the wolves, setting down their presents for the babies. They must have gone
through so much trouble to get all this.
“Thank you,” he said hoarsely. “Thank you all so much for making Mickey the wolf he is today. He wouldn’t be anything without you.”
“And we wouldn’t be the same without him,” Amelia said. A few of the others agreed with her, murmuring softly. “But he’s yours now.”
“He is,” Houston said. “Forever. I’m going to take care of him now.”
And I will. Him and the pups. One step at a time, we have to go from here. And we will.
As the others left, Houston turned his back on them and headed into the bedroom to see his mate. Deep contentment laced with small traces of sorrow weighed on his chest. The future was before them now and they would face it, no longer as merely a cop and a thief, but as a family.
Unexpected Love
Preston Walker
© 2017
Disclaimer
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
This is a work of fiction. Names, places, characters and events are all fictitious for the reader’s pleasure. Any similarities to real people, places, events, living or dead are all coincidental.
This book contains sexually explicit content that is intended for ADULTS ONLY (+18).
Chapter 1
“Ugh, why did I make everything so heavy?” Jack Mason grumbled, staggering inside his apartment for his twenty-third trip. In his arms, he carried the final set of boxes that he’d packed from his room in Arizona. His muscles bulged all the way up his arms and into his shoulders, struggling to hold the weight and keep from dropping it. That was the last thing he needed, to disturb his new neighbors with an enormous crash on their roof before they even saw him for the first time.
Starting to gasp, he decided to just set the stack down in the living room instead of toting them all the way to his bedroom. They would get there eventually, he reasoned. He just deserved a bit of a break.
Looking around, he scanned his new apartment. Two big bedrooms, a living room, bathroom, and kitchen, all to himself. There was no furniture, the carpeting was allocated to the bedrooms, and the curtains were cheap, filmy white things that he wanted to scream at. They were so hideous and ugly. The shower curtain was the same way, a literal sheet of bare plastic that was smudged. Brand new and already smudged. Yeah, that was quality for you.
Still, as he looked around, he felt pride. The door might be flimsy, and the floor tilted down in the middle, and there were tons of holes in the walls from where picture frames had been hung by the last occupants, but Jack really didn’t care about all that. This place was home. It was his, all his. No one else was ever going to live here but him, and maybe that pet mouse he’d been thinking about getting for a while. There was no one to tell him what to do, or when to eat, or how to dress.
Light on his feet, he sat down on the biggest box. It held all his books, a great deal of which were childhood favorites. He left a lot of the others behind in Arizona, figuring he wasn’t going to have much time to do anything at all, so he’d best just only take what actually meant something to him. That meant his old bedroom was full of junk that his parents would have to take care of, but he didn’t care.
This was home.
His home, paid ahead for the next six months. He had that much time to find a job doing what he loved, which was decorate, and then he would be golden.
“I think I did pretty good,” he murmured softly to himself, taking yet another look around. He couldn’t stop. This place was beautiful to him, and he couldn’t wait to start decking it out exactly how he wanted it to be.
His phone buzzed in his pocket, interrupting his thoughts. Jack sighed and reached for it, knowing exactly who it would be. The name on his phone screen told him that his instincts were correct. His mother. Again. She had been texting him every hour, on the hour, ever since he started off driving with the little moving trailer attached to the back of his truck. For the first half of the journey, he pulled over each and every time to answer her, but he soon grew tired of that. Everything she said, he already knew about and was actually looking forward to. The funny thing was, the moment she told him to do something, it stopped being exciting. So far, he was dreading registering to vote, changing his license and insurance information, registering with Portland City Hall, and literally every other thing that people have to do when they move. And all that stuff was supposed to be his favorite part. He was supposed to finally be able to enjoy doing things all on his own, but how was he going to do that if his mother kept nagging at him?
And his father too, although he tried less often.
So, in the effort of preserving what enjoyment he was supposed to be getting out of this, Jack stopped answering his phone.
Over the course of eight hours, he had watched his mother’s texts go from curious to alarmed to furious and now to panicked. She just couldn’t understand that he wanted some space—which was why he’d left in the first place. Just because he was an omega...
He sighed and slid his thumb over the phone screen, figuring he would just see what she had said for this last one and ignore all the rest.
“Oh great,” he growled, looking at it. The text read, I’m calling you if you don’t answer in the next minute.
This wasn’t what he needed after working his ass off to bring all his stuff inside, but his phone jumped and rang in his hand right on cue. Groaning, he looked at it and contemplated just not answering at all. He should just cut all ties, right then and there. But, no, he couldn’t do that. They meant well. He was sure of it.
Putting the phone to his ear, he said, “Hello, Mom.”
“Why haven’t you been answering?” his mother demanded, her voice shrill. In the background, Jack could hear the murmuring voices of his brothers and sisters. Five of them, all younger than he was, and every single one of them an alpha, so he was the lowest of the low even though he was the oldest. That never seemed fair to him.
He also heard his father’s voice, closer now. “Is he answering, Margaret?”
“Yes, Jim, dear,” his mother snapped impatiently. “That’s why I was asking why he wasn’t answering.”
As unbothered as always, his father said, “You coulda been talking to his voicemail.”
Jack put a hand to his forehead and stifled a huge groan. “Mom. Please. You’re on the phone with me now. Pay attention.”
“Answer my question, Jacky.”
“Seriously, Mom? I was driving. I wanted to get here like, today, you know? Okay? I couldn’t do that if I kept having to stop to talk to you. I’m really busy over here.”
“Maybe you should ask one of your neighbors for help with all those heavy boxes,” she suggested, switching tactics because she knew she was right. That was what she always did. There was no arguing with her when she pretended the conversation didn’t exist. “You sound exhausted.”
“I already got all the boxes in, Mom. I am exhausted. I drove a ton today and I unpacked the trailer, and now I’m talking to you.”
“Well, there’s no reason to be rude about it. I just wanted to make sure that you were doing okay.” Now she sounded hurt, and he sighed inwardly. He just couldn’t win...
“Yes. I’m fine. Okay?”
“Good! Now, don’t forget that you need to speak with the pack there as soon as possible. Okay, Jacky? Jack?”
Jack stared desolately at the phone in his hand and then he hung up without another word. Then he turned his phone off entirely and dropped his head in his hands. Geez. How was anyone supposed to live with a nag like that on their back all the time? It really was the reason he’d moved. He was tired of being forced to depend on other people. Just because he was an omega didn’t mean that he could
n’t do anything for himself, but that was the way his family seemed to think. He always came last, the afterthought who was too much trouble to take care of because he needed to be protected from big bad scary alphas wherever he went.
Yeah, right. He was an adult now. He had a career freelancing with design and color coordination, and pretty soon he was going to get a steady job doing it, too. He didn’t need to be taken care of anymore, and if the first thing he had to do was cut his family out of his life entirely...
A twinge of sadness ran through his body, but it wasn’t enough to cancel out his frustration. His heart beat rapidly, pumping adrenaline through his blood, coursing through his body. Almost to his horror, he felt fur pushing at his skin from the inside, and when he shut his hands tight into fists, he felt claws pushing against his palms instead of nails.
Please, he silently begged, trying to hold onto his self-control. Not at a time like this. I really don’t need this right now. I really don’t. This is a terrible time for this, Jack. Please hold on.
He shut his eyes tight. “I am human,” he said softly. He bit his lip with flat teeth, focusing on the sensation. He wriggled his fingers and wiggled his toes inside his socks and shoes. Human clothes on a human body. “I am human,” he repeated, struggling to hold onto his mantra, but it wasn’t going to be enough. He opened his mouth again to repeat the words but his lips pulled back from his teeth canine-like, and his mouth felt full of fangs. His tongue was heavy, and his face felt strained as it started to push outwards in a muzzle.
“No,” he growled, but it was a huff of animalistic sound as he fell forward off the huge box, landing on arms and knees that were rapidly rearranging themselves. Fur ran down his shuddering flanks in a ripple of brown, all the way to the tail sprouting from the base of his spine. Ears turning mobile, senses sharpening even further, his organs and skeletal structure adjusting for the change coursing over his body; the transformation was complete in a matter of ten rapid, frustrating seconds as the wolf inside his body burst free of his caged soul.
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