by Nora Phoenix
Grayson smiled. Vieno didn’t miss much either. “I need to talk to Palani.”
“Oh. Do you need me to leave?” Vieno asked.
“No, it’s fine. It’s not a secret.”
Vieno nodded. “I’ll make you some coffee.”
Grayson sent him a grateful look. “Much appreciated.”
“Grab a seat,” Palani said. “What’s up?”
“When Lidon officially announced the pack, we agreed to ask for permission when we wanted to pursue an omega, and you were appointed our go-to guy, so… I’m asking for permission.”
Palani cocked his head as Vieno placed a cup of steaming hot coffee in front of Grayson. “Out of curiosity, is it hard for you as an alpha, and an older one at that, to come to me, a beta, for shit like this?”
Grayson picked up on the genuine curiosity in that question, and he considered it for a moment. His alpha was quiet but signaling his approval with the step Grayson was taking. He wanted them, and he was okay with jumping through whatever hoops needed to achieve that result.
“Not really, no. I think it’s because you’re doing an excellent job as the beta and because I can sense you operate with your alpha’s power behind you. There’s no denying the authority you have, but you don’t try to rub it in, you know?”
Palani’s face broke open in a smile. “Thank you. That’s a big compliment, and it reassures me. I wasn’t sure if you alphas had to, like, force yourself to respect my position. I would’ve hated it had that been the case.”
Grayson nodded, then waited, but Palani didn’t say anything. “Erm, any chance I could actually get an answer to my question?” he asked.
“Yeah, shit, sorry. I assumed you knew my answer, but yes, you can pursue Sven. And Lars, because they’re kind of two for the price of one, aren’t they?”
Grayson’s insides flooded with relief. Not that he had expected anything else, but it was good to hear Palani say it. But he wasn’t done yet. “Thank you. And yes, it’s both. Obviously. But…”
He’d thought long and hard about this, but it had to be brought out in the open. Otherwise it would never work. If others didn’t know, they could try to step in, and that would allow Lars to play them against each other. No, it needed to be one united front with Grayson as the only one responsible for Lars.
Palani studied him with patient eyes, waiting for Grayson to voice his thoughts. “My relationship with them is not exactly conventional. Or it won’t be. And I need your okay on that as well and your promise you’ll inform everyone else that they’re both off-limits, Lars especially.”
Palani’s eyes narrowed. “Define unconventional. Are you talking about the age difference? Because that’s—”
“No. That bothers me a little, sure, but that’s not it.” Damn, for a writer he was woefully bad at explaining this. “Sven and Lars, they need something from me beyond a traditional boyfriend, even a traditional alpha-beta and alpha-omega relationship.”
“Dude, you’re gonna have to use more words because I’m flying blind here. What are we talking about? You gonna tie them up? Spank them? Handcuff them to your bed and make them serve you? What?”
Grayson had to swallow back the flood of vivid images those words painted, and he felt his cheeks heat up, which rarely happened.
“Oh my, baby, you’re on the right track,” Vieno said, lowering himself onto Palani’s lap to join the conversation. “Look at him. He’s blushing.”
Grayson resigned himself to the inevitable. “Lars and Sven will be in what’s called a Daddy-boy relationship with me as their Daddy. They haven’t formally agreed yet, because I needed your permission first, and I need to talk to Bray and Lucan, fuck you very much. But I want to propose to them I’ll be their Daddy for a period of six months, to try and see if we can make this work. It would mean I’m responsible for them for everything, including discipline, which we both know Lars needs. I’d need your promise that no one else will interfere in that timeframe. I’ll make sure he behaves, and if he doesn’t, it’s on me.”
The kitchen grew so quiet that Grayson heard whatever Vieno was cooking bubble in the pot, the lid plopping every now and then when a bit of steam escaped.
“You want to be their Daddy,” Palani said.
“Yes.”
“At the risk of being horribly out of order, was that something you were interested in before you met them?”
“Not that, specifically. I’ve played before in clubs, but with Lucan still at home, it wasn’t the right time to explore anything beyond that. But with these two, it fits. They’re perfect for me.”
“Grayson, what aren’t you saying?” Palani asked.
Apparently Lidon hadn’t shared his suspicions yet with his second-in-command, which wasn’t surprising, considering everything that had happened with Bray’s attack and then Sven’s heat.
Grayson sighed. “I suspect we’re fated mates, the three of us. I know Lars and Sven have mated. We all know it. We’ve threatened Lars with kicking him out, but we’d never make good on that threat, because it would kill him and Sven to be apart. But I’ve connected with them as well. It would be ironic for me to deny what’s happening when I’ve always prided myself on instincts and old traditions.”
“Thank you for being honest with me,” Palani said. “Have you told them?”
Grayson shook his head. “No. I want them to have a choice, not feel like they’re being coerced. Hence the six-month trial. If I’m right, they won’t want to walk away after that.”
“That’s honest of you,” Vieno said. “And we won’t tell anyone, aside from Lidon and Enar, obviously.” He paled as he no doubt realized what Grayson had thought of earlier that morning when he prepared this conversation. “Oh, fuck,” Vieno said slowly. “Enar. How are we gonna get around his rights as their older brother? He could make a case he has a say in this.”
Palani kissed his head. “Leave Enar to me. You have my permission for the relationship, and I’ll inform the whole pack that they’re off-limits to all disciplinary interactions.”
“Thank you. I appreciate it. I’ll let you know when I’ve talked to them.”
“And Bray and Lucan,” Palani reminded him helpfully.
“Yes, really looking forward to that one, as you can imagine.”
Vieno grinned. “Explaining to your kids you wanna be a Daddy to your lovers? Have fun with that.”
Grayson emptied his coffee, then rose. “Har, har. Thanks for the moral support.”
“You’re welcome,” Vieno said, still smiling. “Good luck.”
Good luck, Grayson thought as he walked outside to find his sons. Fuck knew he was going to need it. He found them together in the shed Bray had transformed into his office, Lucan helping Bray with some research into building codes. Lucan was good at details like that. He’d become his brother’s right hand the last few weeks, at first to stay busy, but later because Bray really valued his work. They’d found a way to work well together.
“Hi, Dad,” Lucan said when he spotted Grayson.
He walked over and kissed him on his head. “How you doing, kid? You staying busy?”
“I try.”
“Dad,” Bray offered, always more reserved than Lucan.
“Your brother been helping you?” Grayson asked.
Bray nodded. “Yeah, very helpful. I think we can present a plan to Lidon that would get approval from the city.”
“Good. Listen, I need to talk to you two for a minute.”
“What’s up?” Lucan asked.
Grayson looked around to make sure no one was listening in. “As you guys know, I was asked to help Sven through his heat.”
Lucan rolled his eyes. “God, yes. Don’t remind me. I can’t wait till that omega wing is ready, because I do not need to hear that ever again.”
Grayson cleared his throat. “About that. Palani has given me permission to pursue them. For a relationship,” he added when both his sons looked at him as if he was speaking a foreign language.
Bray was the first to recover. “Why? I mean, you’re… They’re younger. Much younger.”
“Yes,” Grayson admitted. “They are. In fact, they’re younger than both of you.”
“You don’t think that’s inappropriate?” Bray asked.
“I didn’t go looking for this, for them. It happened. If you recall, Sven asked me. He chose me.”
Bray’s eyes hardened. “Because I attacked him and he felt safe with you. I get it, but that doesn’t seem like enough reason to pursue more.”
“It may surprise you, Bray, but not everything revolves around you,” Grayson snapped. “My wish to develop a relationship with Lars and Sven has nothing to do with you.”
Lucan’s eyes widened at Grayson’s outburst, and he regretted it immediately. It brought him nothing to antagonize his sons, least of all Bray.
Bray crossed his arms, staring at Grayson with an icy look. “Then illuminate us because I sure as fuck don’t understand why it has to be them. Surely if you’re lonely, you can find—”
“They need me,” Grayson interrupted him. “They’re hurting, and they’re trying to be brave, but they need me.” He took a deep breath. Now came the hard part. “They need a Daddy.”
Lucan looked puzzled, which didn’t surprise Grayson. His middle son had always been wonderfully naïve when it came to sex. Even his asshole boyfriend hadn’t managed to change that.
“I thought you said you wanted a relationship with them,” Lucan said slowly. “I don’t understand.”
Where was a severe thunderstorm when you needed one? Or a tornado? Anything to interrupt this horribly uncomfortable conversation. Grayson mentally shook his head. He’d better see this through.
“It’s a type of relationship,” he explained, making sure his voice was level, as not to embarrass Lucan. “It involves Daddy-boy role-play and elements like discipline and rewards. It basically means I’ll become responsible for them, and they will allow me to make decisions for them.”
“But you also have sex with them,” Lucan asked when he’d closed his mouth again after staring at Grayson for several seconds in apparent shock.
“Yes, I sure hope so,” Grayson answered with candor.
“They…they want that?” Lucan asked, and Grayson’s heart softened at his son’s honest attempt to understand it.
“I haven’t discussed it with them yet, because I needed Palani’s permission first, and I wanted to talk to you. But yes, my guess is this is what they want.”
“It’s inappropriate,” Bray said, his voice cold like a glacier. “You’re twice their age.”
“Yes, as is often the case in these relationships, Bray. As you know damn well.”
Grayson wasn’t above playing a little dirty, and if his son kept up this ridiculous attitude, he had no trouble revealing what he knew about him. This was a friendly warning shot, and hopefully, Bray would get the message.
“I can’t believe Palani is on board with this. Does Lidon know?” Bray asked.
Grayson took a step closer to his son. “That’s a dangerous path to go down, son. Palani is Lidon’s beta, and he has his full trust. Don’t even try to play them against each other, or I’ll—”
“You’ll what, rat me out? You’d choose Palani over your own blood?”
Grayson slowly shook his head. “You still don’t understand. Pack comes first, Bray. It has to. My first loyalty is to the alpha and his second-in-command, then to my mates and you and Lucan. It’s the only way a pack can function, with many family members being a part of it.”
He didn’t realize what he’d revealed until Lucan paled. “Your mates?” he whispered. “You think Lars and Sven are your mates?”
Dammit, he’d fucked up in his frustration with Bray. He’d let out way more than he’d planned to. “I’m not sure, but I think they are. My bond with them is too strong otherwise. But I’d prefer for this to stay between us.”
“Fated mates.” Bray scoffed. “I should have known. It’s the perfect excuse, isn’t it? You wanna fuck a couple of hot boys, and all you have to do is shout ‘fated mates.’ Nothing anyone can do against that.”
Grayson clenched his fists, trying to keep his alpha in check, who was bristling at the crude remark. If anything, it only proved the strong protective instincts he had toward his two boys. “Bray, I swear to everything holy, I hope you’ll find your fated mate one day, and I hope he will bring you to your knees, you arrogant shit. You think that because you’re an alpha, you’ve got it all coming, but you’re dead wrong, kid. And I know you think you’re all that, going to the club where everyone falls at your feet, but you know shit.”
Bray froze at those words, and Grayson let out a short laugh that was anything but friendly. “You think I didn’t know? There’s little I don’t know about you…Master.”
Bray’s cheeks reddened. “We both know that whole fated mate thing is bullshit. But you keep playing ‘daddy’ with those two mis—”
Grayson’s alpha wouldn’t be denied anymore, and he pushed forward with a growl. Bray took two steps back, then another one, his hands trembling.
“Do not insult my boys!” Grayson roared.
Bray’s obedience was instant. “Yes, alpha.”
Thank fuck Bray had enough self-preservation instincts to not push it further. Grayson had come remarkably close to losing it as it was, courtesy of Bray’s insolent behavior.
“I know you think that someday, a sweet, obedient omega will fall into your lap and serve you for the rest of his life, but that’s not gonna happen. You don’t deserve a sweet, pliant omega, and moreover, you’d be bored to tears by one. But you keep pretending, son, and we’ll see who’s right. In the meantime, if I ever hear you breathe even one word of disrespect about my boys or my relationship with them to anyone, I’ll kick your ass first myself and then report you to Palani. Do you understand me?”
Bray’s eyes spewed fire, but he still answered. “Yes, alpha.”
Grayson sighed. Well, that had gone well.
12
Sven was waiting for Lars to make a move. Their previous conversation had stunned him, as he never had any idea this was what Lars had been looking for. But once Lars had explained it, it made total sense to Sven—not that he’d admitted that to Lars.
Lars had been clearly scared of Sven’s rejection once he’d confessed the reason he was so attracted to Grayson. And Sven could understand why. After all, revealing he wanted a Daddy was not easy, considering the relationship they had with their dad, for which “complicated” was too tame a word.
Sven didn’t have an issue with it, though. He understood that Lars had been as confused as Sven about the whole thing. It wasn’t like he had known all along he yearned for a Daddy-boy relationship. He just hadn’t figured out what it was he craved until he met Grayson, maybe even until that spanking, which had been hot as fuck, by the way. So how could Sven be upset with Lars for not understanding what he longed for?
And it was obvious to him that a Daddy relationship with Grayson had everything to do with the convoluted issues with their own father, though not in the way Lars had reasoned. Sven wasn’t stupid. He didn’t jump to the conclusion that Lars had some weird sexual fixation on their own father, just because he wanted Grayson to be their Daddy. But in this case, the two had to be related, the messed-up relationship with their father, with both their parents for that matter, and Lars’s deep desire to have a Daddy relationship with Grayson.
Not that Sven knew a whole lot about Daddy-boy kink. Sure, he’d known it existed and had appreciated the daddy porn he’d come across, but that was about the extent of his knowledge and experience. Then again, he suspected Lars didn’t have that much more know-how than him in this area. If his lover had come across it in his experiments in the club, he’d never mentioned it to Sven.
But ever since their conversation about it, right after Sven’s heat had ended, Lars hadn’t brought it up. Sven had asked him how he wanted to proceed with Grayson, but L
ars had shut down that particular line of conversation. Maybe he needed time to get used to the idea. Who knew?
It was now four days later, and Grayson seemed to have avoided them. Or maybe they had managed to avoid him. Sven wasn’t sure. He wouldn’t put it past Lars to make a considerable effort to avoid the alpha until he had figured out what he wanted from him. And since the whole concept of a relationship with Grayson beyond a heat deserved some consideration, Sven was okay with being in a holding pattern for now. The ball was in Lars’s court or maybe in Grayson’s, but it was definitely not up to Sven to take the initiative—and that was fine with him. He couldn’t care less if it made him the most stereotypical omega ever, but he didn’t have a shred of dominance in his body, and he was perfectly okay with that.
He was lounging by the pool after having cleaned the bedroom and bathroom they had used during his heat. The first days after his heat, he’d been exhausted and had slept and rested most of the day. Vieno had said that was normal after their excessive heats, but today he’d finally gotten some energy, so he’d decided to clean.
The smell of sex had still been overwhelming, courtesy of the dirty sheets that had been dropped in a corner of the room. He’d brought them to his nose, inhaling deeply, easily detecting Grayson’s strong alpha smell.
His cheeks heated at the memory of his heat. Vieno hadn’t been lying when he’d warned Sven that all he would want during his heat was cock. He never experienced anything like it, this craving inside him that demanded to be fulfilled. And how Grayson had filled him and fulfilled him, taking him again and again, knotting him until that emptiness had all but disappeared.
And the way he’d bossed Lars around, the intoxicating combination of tenderness and dominance he’d used on him. Sven had been captivated by the look on Lars’s face. He’d enjoyed every single second of it, no matter how hard he tried to deny it to himself or to Sven.
And god, the way Grayson had fucked Lars, bringing him to the edge of insanity by telling him he couldn’t come. Lars had been shocked, to put it mildly, and he’d certainly tried to change Grayson’s mind a few times. Grayson had been firm, calmly explaining that Lars couldn’t come until Grayson gave him permission.