Love Before Dawn: An Omegaverse Story (Kindred Book 1)

by Claire Cullen

  Miles was taken aback when I told him I lived on the military base. I could see the fear on his face and cupped a hand under his chin.

  “There’s nothing to be scared of. You’ll be living with me, in my apartment. And only temporarily.”

  I could feel Jonathan’s concerned gaze on us through the rearview mirror.

  “I’m sorry, I’m being stupid,” Miles said.

  “No, you’re not. But I need you to trust me. To trust that I’ll keep you safe.”

  “I do trust you,” Miles insisted.

  I stroked my hand across his cheek. “Good, I’m glad.”

  Jonathan loaned me his phone so I could make a call. Blaise answered on the second ring.

  “Oh, thank God,” he exclaimed on hearing my voice. “I’ve been going out of my mind. Are you okay? Is Miles?”

  “We’re both fine. More than fine, we’re bonded.”

  “Yes!” Blaise shouted. I could hear the triumph in his voice and could imagine him punching the air.

  “I’m glad you’re happy. Because we are too.”

  Miles smiled at that, pressing closer to me.

  “Good. Well, give it to me straight. How much trouble are you in?”

  “They’re going to discipline me, it’ll probably mean an extra posting overseas. But that’s the worst of it.”

  I didn’t tell him that they’d put a time line on our starting a family. We could discuss that later, in private, after Miles and I talked it out.

  “Where are you now?”

  “We’re on our way back to the base.”

  “Good. We’ll see you when you get here.”

  I ended the call. “That’s one down and a few dozen to go.”

  “Will they all be as happy as Blaise?”

  I thought of Heath, for whom an active Alpha mark would be more than a little inconvenient. But he was in a vast minority.

  “Maybe not as happy. It’s hard to beat Blaise when it comes to pure enthusiasm.”

  “I don’t know,” Miles said, raising his eyebrows. “I think we could give him a run for his money.”

  “Is that so?” I stole a kiss while Miles was thinking up his reply.

  “How long until we arrive?”

  “A little less than an hour,” Jonathan said. “You should try to rest if you can.”

  Miles edged closer to me, resting his head on my shoulder. I held his hand as he drifted off to sleep beside me.

  I was hoping for a quiet arrival at the base but there was a small crowd gathered to greet us. Mostly unbonded Alphas who worked on the base, friends and colleagues of mine. People who’d be directly affected by our bonding.

  Miles was sleeping soundly next to me, his head on my shoulder. I was reluctant to wake him, especially with the throng of people, of Alphas, waiting for us. But there was nothing for it.

  “Miles, time to wake up.”

  I stroked a finger across his jaw. His nose twitched, bringing a smile to my face.

  “Come on, we have some people waiting.”

  Miles shifted next to me, and yawned, his eyes blinking open.

  “Huh?”

  “We’re here.”

  “Oh, good.” He sat up and glanced around, starting when he caught sight of the group of people waiting for us.

  “Who are they?”

  “Friends. Mostly Alphas who live here, on the base.”

  “Oh.”

  “We’ll just say a quick hello and then head on inside.”

  “I have to be getting home,” Jonathan said, “so I’ll leave you here. You have my number if you need anything.”

  “Thank you,” Miles said. “For everything.”

  “Don’t mention it. It’s my job, remember?” He twisted around in his seat until he was facing us.

  “Thank you from me, as well. I’m very glad there was someone there to have Miles’ back. And maybe we’ll see you and Grant at the clan house when things are settled?”

  Jonathan smiled and nodded at me. “We’d like that.”

  I got out and reached in to help Miles out. Blaise was at my elbow a moment later.

  “You two are a sight for sore eyes.”

  Miles looked a little like a deer in headlights, so I kept him close as we walked toward my apartment building. The others didn’t crowd us, but they were keen to catch of glimpse of Miles and a handful stepped forward to shake my hand and say hello.

  Miles greeted them quietly but left most of the talking to me. Only Blaise came inside with us.

  “I’ve let Cam know things have worked out okay.”

  “Thank you. I owe him a beer or three. Are Heath and Sophie okay? We didn’t bring trouble down on their heads, did we?”

  “They’re fine. Anxious new parents and this situation was just a little more than they’d bargained for.”

  We got to the door and I fished out my key.

  “I’ll say goodnight to you here. You two look exhausted.”

  “Running from the law isn’t as easy as people say,” Miles piped up and Blaise laughed.

  “At least your sense of humor survived intact.”

  I guided Miles in through the door, waving goodbye to Blaise. Home, at last.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Jethro

  Miles slept until almost midday the next day. I didn’t have the heart to wake him, especially since we had nowhere to be. That wasn’t true for the rest of the week. I had a meeting with the disciplinary committee, and the AO Office wanted to meet with both of us. And we had to make a doctor’s appointment to get the implant in Miles’ arm removed. But, by my estimation, we had two days of freedom to enjoy before we had to face up to our responsibilities. Responsibilities Miles didn’t yet have the full picture of.

  I heard him wake, then the patter of bare feet on the floor before he appeared in the doorway of my bedroom, his hair mussed, rubbing sleepily at his eyes.

  “Morning,” he said as I got up to greet him.

  “Good afternoon, I think you mean,” I said, pressing a kiss to his lips.

  He moaned and clutched my shoulder, deepening the kiss. When we parted, I reached out a hand to drag my thumb across his flushed lips.

  “We could go back to bed?” he suggested.

  “How about breakfast?” I countered gently.

  “Breakfast in bed?”

  “Fine, you win.” Putting my hands on his shoulders, I guided him to the table. “You take a seat here, while I do some cooking.”

  Miles twisted in his chair to watch me as I rooted through my cupboards.

  “What are you in the humor for? Waffles, pancakes, bacon and eggs?”

  “You went shopping?”

  “Blaise made sure we wouldn’t go hungry.”

  Miles grinned lazily. “I like him.”

  I grinned back at him. “Me, too.”

  After a late breakfast, and some more vigorous bedroom antics, we lazed in bed in each other’s arms.

  I walked my fingers across Miles’ stomach.

  “They told you about the South’s stipulations?”

  Miles nodded, his expression turning serious. “I have to be pregnant within six months.”

  “That’s right.”

  “Jonathan said it was plenty of time.”

  “It is.” It wasn’t, but I didn’t want to worry him.

  I circled his navel with one single solitary finger, the teasing touch making him smile and squirm.

  “So, does that mean we have to have lots of sex?”

  “Oh yes,” I said, keeping my expression as serious as I could make it. “Every day, and as often as possible.”

  “Won’t we get tired or bored?”

  Grinning, I rolled him onto his back and straddled him.

  “Never, I promise you that.”

  His arms wrapped around my neck, dragging me down into a kiss, leaving us both breathless and giddy.

  It was evening when we finally got out of bed, scrounging up some more food which we ate curled up on th
e couch.

  “So, what do you do when you’re not peacekeeping?”

  “Lounge around eating pizza,” I replied.

  Miles blinked before shoving me lightly. “Stop teasing me.”

  “I’m sorry, you look so cute when you’re confused.”

  Miles glared, which only made him look cuter.

  “In answer to your question,” I said, wiping a smudge of tomato from Miles’ chin, “when we’re not deployed overseas, we train, and perform necessary duties here. Manning bases, taking part in exercises, helping out during emergencies. There’s plenty to keep us busy.”

  “And when you’re not working?”

  “Let’s see… I play football with some of the guys on base, I go running. I hang out with Blaise and Roman. We usually have a gaming night once or twice a week.”

  “Gaming?”

  I nodded, pointing to the games console beside the TV.

  “What about you? What do you do for fun?”

  “I read, but only stuff my father’s approves of. I play the clarinet. And I paint.” Miles was very hesitant to offer up his reply, so I probed gently.

  “What do you paint?”

  “Mostly our garden; plants and trees.”

  “That’s what you like to paint?” It seemed very limited.

  “It’s the only thing Father thought appropriate. I used to paint things from my head, or scenes from stories I read but…” He shrugged and I filled in the blanks.

  “Your father didn’t think it was acceptable for an Omega.”

  “No. It was the same with the books I read and the music I played. I remember painting something for Ben, my brother’s, birthday. It was from his favorite children’s story. Father tore it up. Ben cried and…” He paused. “I’m sorry, you don’t want to hear this.”

  “Of course I do. We’re in each other’s pockets now. I want to know everything about you, the good and bad, all the things that make you who you are.”

  “There isn’t much to know,” he said. I knew that wasn’t true.

  “Would you like to play a game?” I asked, nodding to the console.

  “I’ve never played before. I won’t be any good.”

  “You can’t know until you try.”

  As I set it up, Miles tidied away our plates. He came back to sit next to me, listening patiently as I explained how to play.

  After we lost the first campaign, we took a break.

  “What does it mean, Alpha Prime and Omega Prime?” Miles asked me, drawing his legs up to sit sideways on the couch. It wasn’t the most straightforward of questions, but I gave it my best attempt.

  “Do you know anything about wolf packs or lion prides?”

  “Not really. Why?”

  “Well, there’s a sort of hierarchy in them that parallels the hierarchy in human Alphas and Omegas. The Alpha in a wolf pack is top dog, so to speak. And in a lion pride, there is a single adult male who leads the pack and sires the cubs.”

  “So you’re…” Miles paused. “I don’t get it.”

  “An Alpha Prime is an Alpha who is powerful enough to found a clan once he’s bonded to an Omega. And not just any Omega, but an Omega Prime.”

  “Are you sure that’s me? I don’t feel like I’m a Prime-anything.” Miles’ face fell as he spoke.

  I cupped his chin and kissed him, running my other hand across his mark.

  “You are the Omega Prime,” I murmured in his ear. “There’s no getting away from it now.”

  Miles stole another kiss, then sat back. “What happens now?”

  “Well, we can play another game or go back to bed…”

  “No, I mean the clan. What happens with that?”

  “Once the AO Office recognizes our bond and approves our application to establish a clan, we’ll be given the deeds to the clan house and the estate. They’re about ten minutes walk from here.”

  “Why so close?”

  “Traditionally, Alphas were conscripted into the military as a matter of course, like in the South. It’s voluntary now, but it’s still about sixty percent or so. The military base was built in proximity to the clan house rather than the other way around.”

  “And it’ll be ours?”

  “It’s held in trust for us, so if we’re permitted to form a clan, we’ll be allowed to live there alongside any other Alphas or Omegas who join us.”

  Miles frowned. “That seems like a lot of responsibility.”

  “If there’s one good thing we can say about your Father, it’s that you are well prepared to shoulder responsibility.”

  “Even this?”

  “Especially this.”

  His frown disappeared, his smile making his eyes sparkle.

  “I hadn’t thought about it like that.”

  I could see that he liked the idea of drawing something positive from all the negatives. This was it, the start of our new life together. And I couldn’t wait.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Miles

  Two weeks after we got our stay of execution, we were standing at the gates to the clan estate. The sprawling lawns and scattered cottages and houses were criss-crossed by roads that led to the clan house.

  “It’s huge.”

  “Well, it is meant to house a whole community. It seems large and empty now, with just the two of us. But once the other Alphas and Omegas join us, the place will be full of life. It may even start to seem crowded.”

  We left the car at the gate and walked up the driveway, hand in hand. The closer we got to the clan house, the more its size became apparent.

  “That’s not a house, that’s a mansion.”

  My family home was big, grand even, but it didn’t compare to this.

  “Well, we won’t be living there by ourselves. And the clan, once it’s up and running, will be managed from there.”

  “Managed by us?” It seemed like a tall order.

  “Not alone. Think of us like a wolf pack, or a lion pride, or, I guess, just like one big family.”

  “So we set up house and just… wait for others to come?”

  “Yep,” Jethro said, squeezing my hand. “And they will.”

  It took a week for us to get settled in, moving Jethro’s things over, choosing rooms to live in, and sorting out the boring, everyday stuff of moving house. I’d never lived anywhere except home, other than the two weeks in Jethro’s apartment. This place was different. It was ours.

  Jethro had been given additional leave in light of our bond, eight weeks in total. But after that, he had two weeks of training and a four-month deployment. His penalty for taking me from the South. It didn’t seem to bother him but I wasn’t sure how I’d manage with him gone.

  We set to painting and decorating our wing of the house. When two weeks passed with no new arrivals, I started to worry. Jethro seemed unconcerned.

  “It’s only been a matter of days. Others will come. We just have to be patient.”

  We were lying on the grass outside in the garden, enjoying the summer sun.

  “But not even Blaise has moved in,” I pointed out.

  “Blaise is in the middle of some high-intensity training in preparation for deployment. He’ll move in once that’s finished with.”

  “But what about the rest?”

  “All in good time.”

  “Maybe it’s me,” I blurted out.

  “What do you mean?” He turned toward me, a look of pure confusion on his face.

  “They know who I am, don’t they? They’ve all seen me on TV, heard all those things I said. I’m a traitor to Omegas everywhere, to the Omegas your Alphas are supposed to bond with. And then I betrayed my own people and escaped, leaving the South’s Omegas to be taken in by my lies. I betrayed both sides. Why would they want to join a clan with an Omega like me heading it?”

  Jethro reached for me but I turned away. I didn’t deserve his kindness, his comforting touch.

  “They’re not fools, Miles. No Alpha or Omega in the North is blind to what the
South does. And most of the South know that the Omega Intake Center spews propaganda twenty-four hours a day. They don’t hold you responsible for that, and anyone who does is not worth our time. We’re literally just in the door and word is still getting out. People have to make arrangements. These things don’t just happen overnight.”

  I couldn’t turn back around, not wanting him to see the tears I couldn’t hold in. But he knew anyway, pressing against my back as his arm snaked around my waist. When I tried to muffle a sob behind my hand, his strong hands tightened around me, turning me to face him and pulling me close. I buried my head against his chest, my tears wetting his T-shirt as I sobbed.

  He didn’t try to tell me everything was okay. He didn’t ask me to stop crying. All he did was hold me, rock me, and wait until I’d calmed.

  “If I could change things,” he said, “I would. I’d make it so that you were born here in the North, that you grew up excited that one day your mark might come alive and you’d know out there in the world was an Alpha waiting just for you. An Alpha who’d love and cherish you and who you’d love in return. So you’d never have darkened the door of an Intake Center and you’d never have suffered at another Alpha’s hand.”

  I bit my lip and looked up at him, seeing the sincerity in his eyes. If it had been in his power, he’d have spared me all that.

  “After I read Stars and Crosses, when I was older, I used to… fantasize, I’d guess you’d call it, about an Alpha like the one in the story, who’d come and save me. He’d arrive at the door and push past my father, take me by the hand and lead me to freedom. Even as I got older and I knew that those kinds of things only happened in stories, I still had this idea that somewhere out there, someone was waiting for me.”

  “And I was.”

  More tears escaped my eyes, but I was smiling this time. “And you were.”

  The toaster and I weren’t getting on. It seemed to have two settings. Still bread and burned. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t seem to get toast.

  When an odd ringing sound carried through the house, I ignored it at first. Until it came again.

  “Is that the doorbell?” Jethro asked, stepping into the room. He was shirtless and I was distracted for a moment watching the muscles of his abdomen that rippled as he walked.