by Hawke Oakley
“Oh, yeah, sorry,” I said. “I was just thinking about stuff.”
“No worries,” she said. “Just making sure you weren’t about to faint again. It was scary enough the first time.”
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“So what happened after you went home? I know you didn’t come into work for a couple days,” she said, her brows knitted in sympathy.
I realized I hadn’t told her about the whole double heat thing. How was I supposed to? It was like having a weird, rare medical condition. I didn’t want her to gawk at me, but at the same time, she was my friend. If anyone would understand, it was Beth.
“Well…” I began. “You know Ken, that doctor that helped me?”
“Yeah?”
“He said I was basically fine and that I just had a fever and needed rest, but… there ended up being something else.”
“What?” Beth urged. “Are you dying? What is it?”
I laughed. “Geez, no. You’d think I would’ve been a bit more upset if I was dying.”
“Well, hurry up and spill it, then!” she exclaimed.
I looked around and made sure no one else was listening in on our conversation. I felt like I was about to tell her some huge secret, but honestly, I was just nervous. I already felt like an outsider, or at least I did when I first arrived here - I didn't want to make myself even more alien. Then again, Beth wasn’t originally from Indigo Mountain either. I reminded myself to ask about her past more when we weren’t already in the middle of a conversation.
“He said… I was going through something called a double heat. Have you ever heard of that?” I asked.
She tilted her head in thought. “No. Is that like a normal heat?” Then she paused. “Wait, you’re already pregnant. How can you go through another heat?”
“Exactly,” I said. “It’s like a medical condition or something.”
“So…” Her face scrunched up as she put the pieces together in her head. “You were pregnant, but then you had a heat, so you could be pregnant… twice?”
“Something like that, yeah,” I confirmed.
“That’s crazy!” she cried. Shock was written all over her face. Then she gasped and lowered her voice. “Wait, so are you…?”
“Double pregnant?” I asked, lifting a brow. “I mean… I guess so.”
Her jaw dropped and her eyes glittered. “Wait, with who!?” She grabbed my hands. “You have to tell me all the details! I can’t believe you didn’t already! What am I to you, burnt toast?”
Oh, right. I hadn’t told anybody about that either.
“Yeah, about that… I kind of… mated with Jericho,” I muttered.
Beth stared at me, her jaw to the floor. Suddenly she squealed and squeezed my hands. “Oh my Moon! You’re not serious!”
I nodded. “I am.”
“So wait, you have two pups right now, or does one come out after the other, or…?”
“I honestly have no clue,” I admitted with a shrug. “It’s not like there’s a manual for this sort of thing. Even in omega pregnancy encyclopedias, it’s apparently just a damn footnote.”
“I’ve never even heard of it before, but I guess it’s something that happens… Anyway, I can’t believe it. Jericho is such a hunk. Look at you!” she cried. “Landing a hot alpha like that. You’re so lucky. So...” She leaned in with a smirk. “How was the sex?”
I blushed. “Good.”
“Just good?”
I rolled my eyes. “It was hot, alright? Like, skin-meltingly hot.”
She laughed. “Good, I hope so. I’ve seen the way that man makes bedroom eyes at you.”
I waved her off. “Come on. Look, we have customers coming in. No more sex talk.”
She smirked and said, “Fine”, but I knew it wasn’t the last of the conversation. But I had to admit, all this talk of fucking Jericho made me want to go home and do exactly that.
***
After work, I found Jericho waiting for me outside the building. My heart fluttered with affection as I saw him leaning sexily against the brick wall, one leg hooked over another, and carrying a bundle of flowers in his arms.
Beth gasped as she saw him, too. “Mason!” she whispered harshly, jabbing me in the side and pointing at him. “He’s here!”
I saw him alright. My face was already flushed, but it turned into the surface of the sun as Jericho lifted his chin, saw me, and grinned a sexy, toothy grin. He stalked over to me and said, “Hey, there.”
“Hi,” I mumbled in embarrassment.
“These are for you,” Jericho said. He handed me the bouquet. Bright orange tiger lilies, red roses, and pink carnations bloomed cheerily up at me. My heart swelled with love for him. I hugged him carefully so as to not crush the flowers.
“You like ‘em?” he asked.
“I love them,” I said. Suddenly I remembered we were being watched and I peeled myself off of Jericho and cleared my throat. “Anyway, ready to go home?”
“Not quite yet,” he said with a smirk. “I actually arranged a little celebratory dinner down at the outdoor cafe.”
“Huh?” I asked, blushing.
“You know. Celebration. For your new baby,” he said with that sly look on his face.
Behind me, Beth was giggling. I grumbled.
“Fine,” I said. “If I have to go then Beth, you’re coming too.”
She gasped. “Oh! Yay!”
Jericho laughed. “You don’t have to go. It’s not a chore,” he said. “It’s just a fun shindig. I can cancel the reservation if you want me to.”
“Well, if you made reservations, then I’ll look like an ass if I don’t go,” I said with a fierce blush. “Come on, then, let’s go.”
I knew I was acting like kind of a jerk, but Jericho’s surprise had taken me so off guard that I didn’t know how to react. No one had ever thrown me a party or planned a celebration on my behalf before. Was what I was wearing okay? I looked down at my outfit. Just a simple graphic t-shirt and jeans. Was I underdressed?
While I was busy stressing, Jericho slinked an arm around my waist. “Chill out, my little omega.” His words were teasing, but he wore a gentle smile on his face. “Don’t stress out so much.”
I sighed. “It’s hard not to.”
“This is a night for you,” he reminded me. “So if something’s not going your way, tell me and we can fix it. Okay?”
“Alright,” I said.
“Just so you know in advance, I invited some of my friends,” he said. “Flint, Charlie, a couple of the guys. Is that cool?”
Oh, right. Flint and Charlie. I winced inwardly, remembering how cold I’d been to them the first time we met. They were only trying to help me and I’d acted like an asshole because I thought I’d never see them again, considering my plan was to ditch Indigo Mountain and run once my first baby was born.
But now I had a whole set of other problems. How was I going to run with two babies? An image of myself with two young pups stuck out in my mind, lost and alone and cold in the forest with nowhere to go. A protective streak flared up in me. I couldn’t let that happen.
Did I even want to leave this pack anymore?
“Yeah, that’s fine,” I said to Jericho, who was still waiting on a response.
He grinned. “Cool! I’ll bet they’ll be super excited to hear the news.”
“I know I was!” Beth said.
“So Mason already told you, huh?” Jericho asked with a smile.
“He sure did. Although I nearly had to drag the truth out of him. He’s so cagey sometimes!”
“Right?”
“I’m right here, you two,” I grumbled.
We all chatted on the way to the outdoor cafe. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. But whatever image I had in mind was shattered when I saw the display that was waiting for me.
My jaw slowly dropped as the view came into sight. Sparkling strings of white lights were placed among the branches of a birch tree that stood mightily among the cafe grounds. The cobbles
tone underneath the sitting area was sparsely decorated with ground lights that shone upwards. The tables each had a brightly shining candle on top.
And at the tables, a bunch of people were waiting for me with huge smiles.
I stopped and stared. I didn’t know how to react. No one had ever thrown me a party or anything similar to this before.
“Hey, guys!” Jericho called. I felt his hand on my shoulder, which brought me back to reality. “The gang’s all here!”
We sat down at a table. There were a few people I didn’t recognize, but most of them I did know - Flint, Charlie, their daughter Casey and son James; Shadow, the alpha bouncer from the club; and Ken, my doctor.
“Jericho, these are my friends from the hunting guild, Tyson and David,” he said. “Guys, this is my mate, Mason.”
Tyson smiled at me. He was a young alpha, about my age. His shaggy dark hair and gentle features made me instantly relaxed around him. We shook hands.
David was another story. He was a big, burly alpha with none of the gentleness in his face that Tyson had. His mouth barely quirked into a smile when he reached out to shake my hand. But he was Jericho’s friend, so he was probably a nice guy, and I tried my best not to be uncomfortable around him.
“Guys, this is Beth, my friend and co-worker,” I said, introducing her.
“You both work at the community kitchen, right?” Tyson asked.
“That’s right,” I said.
“That’s awesome!” Tyson smiled. “It’s pretty cool that you and Jericho both have something to do with it.”
I nodded. Jericho and the rest of the party’s hunts yielded a ton of meat for the pack, and we had a lot of folks who came in and asked for meat. “Yeah.”
“So, Mason,” David said in his low, deep voice. “Where did you come from? I don’t believe you’re from Indigo Mountain pack.”
I bristled. “No, I’m not.”
Charlie seemed to notice the tension between us and quickly stepped in. His voice was gentle and almost motherly. “He’s originally from Scarlet Ridge pack, just like me. But he’s just as much a member of Indigo Mountain pack now as the rest of us,” he said firmly.
David nodded and growled, “I know that. I’m just wondering what the hell’s going on over there that’s making it apparently unlivable for omegas.”
“Everything,” I muttered.
Charlie covered Casey’s ears and gently told her not to listen. Charlie and Flint already knew, but I explained the shock collar situation to everyone else gathered there. Their expressions turned to horror and fury.
“What the hell?” Beth cried. “I cannot believe they treated you that way!”
“Seriously,” Tyson agreed, shaking his head. “That’s just not right.”
“First sending Hector after Charlie, and now this collar thing with Mason? Scarlet Ridge needs to be stopped,” David growled deeply.
“Who’s Hector?” I asked.
Charlie looked at me with a grim expression. “He’s basically Gunner’s second-in-command. Although I don’t know if that’s still the case, since he wasn’t able to return with me in his possession like Gunner told him to…”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. To be honest, with the crazy way Gunner’s been acting after you left, I wouldn’t be surprised if he killed him.”
A heavy silence fell over the group for a moment before Flint spoke up.
“We can’t worry about our enemies right now,” Flint said. “Right now we have to focus on keeping our own families and pack safe.” He looked at Jericho. “You feel it, don’t you? That protective streak driving you?”
Jericho nodded. “Yeah. Ever since I took Mason as my mate, keeping him safe is all I can think about.”
A warm feeling flooded my chest. He really did care about me.
“What can we do besides keeping the borders safe?” Tyson asked.
“For now, I don’t think there’s anything else we can do,” Ken muttered. “And right now, Scarlet Ridge has shown no sign of attacking. Not since we chased Hector off. I think we should focus on ourselves, not our enemies.”
“What are we supposed to do?” David growled, turning to him. “Wait for them to attack us again?”
“What do you suggest?” Ken growled back, narrowing his eyes. “Going in there and getting ourselves killed because we don’t know what we’re up against?”
“Guys, cool it,” Jericho snapped. When Ken and David stopped glaring at each other, he continued. “I think Ken’s right. We should protect our borders fiercely, but we can’t just go in there and start fighting them off.”
“What about the alpha army?” Tyson asked, looking back and forth between Charlie and I. “Wasn’t there something about that a few months ago?”
“Yes, it’s still going on,” I told him. “My first pup - the one I don’t know the father of - was planned to be in the alpha army, if it did turn out to be an alpha. There are tons of other pregnant omegas right now whose pups are destined to be in the army, too.”
A few people shook their heads. Others growled in anger.
“He can’t make an army until the pups are at least adults,” Ken mused. “So hypothetically, he won’t be able to finish his army and launch an attack for at least 18 years.”
David and I let out a humorless chuckle at the same time.
“He doesn’t have to worry about that,” I muttered. “Do you really think Gunner has any qualms about sending pups into battle?”
Charlie and Beth gasped. Tyson murmured sadly, and Ken and Flint just shook their heads in anger. Jericho had his hand on my shoulder and it gripped me hard. I was suddenly glad he was here, touching me like a lifeline, otherwise I don’t know if I could’ve gotten through this conversation.
“You know what?” Jericho said. “We can have this talk another time. Right now, we’re supposed to be celebrating.”
Charlie smiled and nodded. “You’re right, Jericho. Sorry for delving into this topic.”
He uncovered Casey’s ears and she let out a dramatic sigh. “What was that all about?”
“Nothing, honey,” Flint growled softly to her. “We’re going to start the party now.”
“Yay! Is it Mr. Mason’s party?” she asked.
I blushed. “Yes.”
“Yay!” she cried, throwing her hands in the air. “Happy birthday!”
We all laughed.
“It’s not a birthday party, sweetie,” Jericho said with a grin. “It’s a… What should we call it? Baby-announcing-party?”
Casey gasped. “Uncle Jericho, you’re having a baby, too?”
“Yup.” He grinned and put an arm around my shoulder affectionately. “Well, I guess we’re having two, aren’t we?”
“You got yourselves a whole litter!” Beth said.
“Wait!” Shadow gasped, looking back and forth between Jericho and I. “You two are together now?”
I rolled my eyes, but I was smiling. “I guess so. It turns out you were right after all.”
We eventually ordered our lattes, cappuccinos, hot chocolates, and small sweet pastries. I liked that Jericho picked a cafe instead of a restaurant or something - it felt more cozy and casual. The tense atmosphere from earlier had vanished, and I found myself having a great time.
At the end of the night, I was totally wiped. Even after a couple lattes, I had to lean on Jericho to get up from the table. We all thanked the servers and said our good-byes before heading off to our homes.
I don’t know what compelled me in that moment, but I stared up at the sky. Maybe it was the moon and stars calling. And there, on the highest branch of the tree, was a pitch-black raven, barely visible against the night sky. I squinted and wondered what such a bird was doing here, in the middle of the town, since usually ravens stayed closer to the out-of-town wilderness.
Suddenly, the raven spread its wings and took off into the air. It flew until it disappeared from sight. I had a strange feeling in my gut as I watched the bird disappear.
/> “What’cha looking at, my dear?” Jericho asked.
“Huh?” I said. “Oh, it’s nothing. Just the sky.”
“Beautiful, huh?” he murmured, looking down at me. “Just like you.”
“Oh, shut up,” I muttered, my face turning red.
He chuckled. “Come on, gorgeous. Let’s get you home.”
Chapter 8: Jericho
Nearly two months into Mason’s pregnancy - almost halfway done, I reminded myself - and his weird food cravings hit him in full force. I had to run to the store to grab some mint ice cream, corn dogs, and sour candy. For some reason he wanted to stuff all of them in his mouth at the same time, but I wasn’t complaining. As long as he had an appetite, that was fine by me. I’d seen him be sick for so long that I was happy that he wanted to eat, even if it was weird food by my standards.
As I neared the house, I stopped. There was a strange black shape on my front step.
Curiously, I approached it. It was a pitch-black raven just standing there in front of my door. But immediately I knew this wasn’t an ordinary bird. It didn’t fly away when I approached. Instead, it looked me dead in the eyes. It nearly sent a chill down my spine.
“Um… hello?” I asked, then felt stupid immediately.
But then I noticed the raven was carrying something in its beak. It dropped the item and I picked it up. It was a rolled up note. Furrowing my brow, I opened it up.
Be wary. There is a traitor amongst you.
I stared at the note, re-reading it a couple of times. Was this some kind of joke? I wanted to throw it out, and I nearly would have except for the dead serious stare in the raven’s beady eyes. The bird did not break eye contact with me for a long time. When it finally did, it stretched its wings and took to the sky, flying off into the night.
With a sense of unease, I entered the house.
“Mason?” I called.
“In here,” he yelled. I followed his voice to the living room, where he was curled up on the couch watching TV. A blanket was draped over his now-swollen belly as he ate an entire cucumber with his eyes glued to the screen.
“What’s up?” he asked as I walked in. But then he turned and saw the expression on my face and he asked with concern, “Jericho, is everything okay?”