by Penny Bloom
"What if nothing! Tell me."
Adel looked around, he was cautious. This was serious, I could sense it. Every fiber of my being knew that the threat was nearby and not knowing it made me ten times as more worried than ever.
"Take me home. I'll tell you there."
Home. He said it. He considered the Gunther manor home now. Progress yet again.
I called us a cab and when it arrived, we slipped in and I kissed the fuck out of Adel.
He returned my feverish kisses, and we started to get a little too deep for the cab driver.
He didn't even ask us where we were going until Adel broke the kiss.
"Wait, the driver needs to know where we're going," he said, putting his small delicate fingers over my lips.
"Oh, yeah." I slapped a couple hundred dollar bills into the cab driver's hand and told him to go to my manor.
He followed my directions, and we were taken up to the gate. It was hard as hell to not kiss Adel at all during that painful ten minute ride.
When we got out, the cab driver waved goodbye and drove off.
Inputting the code into the Gate, the double steel gates opened up, and we walked inside.
"I love you, but I'm still pissed off about what you did," I said as we walked up to the front door.
"I know. I understand," he said, walking behind me.
I turned around and scooped him up into my arms. I nuzzled his neck and took him inside.
Once we were settled in my room, Adel took a couple deep breaths of fresh air and began to tell me the truth.
"I… I was kidnapped or sold from my family when I was young. The black market for Omegas pushed me around until I was bought by an abusive alpha named," Adel paused and took another breathe, "Bartley Forshot."
I jumped out of my chair after promising myself I wouldn't have any outbursts. But that fucking piece of shit was an arm's length away. I could go right over there and tear his throat out right now if I wanted to.
But I had to hear the rest of this through.
"Barltey?! That's the man who hurt you? Gave you those bruises?!" I kept my voice tame. My neck was throbbing and spazzing from the anger that rushed through my veins.
"Yes. He… treated me worse than you'd treat a rabid animal. Barely fed me, beat me, and… well, I guess you could figure the rest of it out."
"I'm gonna kill him!" I thundered. "He's dead! I'll torture him!"
My wolf claws were beginning to jet out of my human fingers.
I had the taste for blood. His blood.
I knew he didn't treat the Omegas in his town fairly, but this was it.
"Are there any other Omegas he treated like this?" I asked, standing, willing my body to stay in place.
Adel leaked more tears. "No, but now that I'm gone, he might've gone to buy another Omega. I don't know."
I went over to Adel and hugged him. "How did you escape, beautiful?"
I lifted his chin and his beautiful brown eyes fluttered up at me.
"I swam from his back yard in that lake that divides the Redgor Mall district and the city limits," he explained.
I licked his tears and hushed into his ear, "You're safe. Never again do you have to worry about him."
Chapter Seven
Adel
Telling Dirk about Bartley took its toll on me. Dirk saw how shaken up I was and took me to bed. He locked his arms around me and kissed my forehead with light airy kisses.
I knew he was my mate, I knew I loved him and he loved me back. But something wouldn't settle in my gut.
He was right, my past was going to catch up to me, hopefully that wouldn't be for a while.
I could feel Bartley's anger all the way over here. His seething rage that I drugged him like he drugged me, then ran away.
I smiled, feeling coy that I pulled off such a feat without being caught.
But staying here with Dirk still made me worried. It was possible that good Alphas existed after all. My perception of life was altered because of what I suffered through.
Now that I was healing, I could feel the scabs of the past itching.
Scratching them would mean to confront them.
And I knew Bartley didn't play fair. Dirk was powerful, yeah sure, I knew that. It was just that Dirk was also a fair fighter, and Bartley wasn't.
Would Dirk even be able to see the cheap shots coming?
I closed my eyes and willed my mind to stop racing at a thousand miles per hour. I needed my rest.
Especially since I felt so dizzy and weak.
A few hours later after I woke up, Dirk had loosened his grip on me. His phone was right on the nightstand and I grabbed it. There had to be internet on it. And if Bartley was truly looking for me, I'd know it'd be online.
So I Googled myself and found a few articles in the Redgor Times. Yep, he was looking for me.
But what made my gut drop was that he made it sound like I was loved and missed.
My mouth dropped open at the lies the paper was putting out. Those damn Omegas knew better than that! They didn't even have rights in that town. They stayed for the money and put up with the abuse.
Me? I didn't play that. It didn't matter how many chains were locked to my wrists and feet, I was going to break out of them.
At the end of the article was a dollar amount. Three hundred thousand dollars.
Wow.
He paid about three million to get me a few years ago. And even if someone did serve me up on a silver platter to him, I could bet their ass that he'd find a reason to not pay them or have them killed.
"Three hundred thousand, huh?" Dirk said, peeking at the phone over my shoulder. Damn it, I forgot he was awake!
I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't pay attention to him moving around.
Great.
I flicked the phone off. "Don't worry about it."
"What do you mean? I worry about you every day because of this asshole."
I placed the phone back on his nightstand and turned over to face Dirk.
"Thank you for saving me," I said, rubbing the stubble on his jaw.
"No, thank you for staying."
Another jab at leaving. Okay, I deserved that. I smirked and chuckled at him. "Not funny. I would've been destroyed had you left."
I nuzzled into his chest. "I'm not leaving again. Promise."
He held my back and stroked it, taking his fingers down the dip of my spine, tracing it down to my ass cheeks where he fondled them.
"Do you know why you're safe?" Dirk asked.
"Yes, because you will protect me," I said.
"Besides me."
I nodded my head to the side and searched his eyes for an answer. "Pray tell."
"There's a law. If an Alpha has abused an Omega and they seek sanctuary in my town that Alpha is not allowed to step foot here. If he does, he can be penalized under my system. It's been a law for the last eighty years."
I perked up. "There's laws to protect me?! An Omega?!"
"Yes. There always was and there will always be."
Dirk smiled and caressed my face. "Tonight is special. Did you know that?"
"Special how?"
"Well, other than you being back with me, I'm going to announce to the rest of the pack that you have officially entered the pack as my mate."
He rubbed the bite mark on the top of my shoulder, tickling my neck. The dull pain of his mark still gently radiated. It was calming despite the odd sensation.
Dirk looked over at the clock and sat up.
"Speaking of dinner, let's get ready, it's almost time."
***
This was the first time I had seen the officially dinner hall, usually the Alphas and Omegas and Betas had different halls to eat in for privacy sake. The Omegas liked eating in peace without having to smell a huge horde of testosterone around them.
We stood at the main door and everyone stood still, turning their attention to Dirk. I stepped behind him, shy to be in front of such a huge pack.
Dirk wrapp
ed his arm around my hips and brought me forward.
"Tonight I have an announcement!" Dirk said, his voice strong.
He didn't need a microphone at all. Amazing. He was like a gladiator, declaring that he had won the war on the top of a mountain.
Loris was off to the side, his smile stretched wide across his face. He knew what was coming.
"Adel Priest has officially entered our pack as my mate! Welcome him again, he is one of us. Together we will add to our pack and make the Gunther name stronger than it has been in centuries!" Dirk pumped his fist into the air and the rest of the pack members did the same, hollering and whooping.
Loris ran over to me and crushed me in one of his bunny hugs.
"I'm so happy! You two really have that chemistry that's like off the charts!" he said, smiling.
"Wait until you find your mate too," I said, folding my arms.
Loris and I went around and tasted the various foods that were cooked for tonight. Dirk was with some of the other Alphas and Betas, but all the while he kept his eye on me and I flashed him a reassuring smile that I wasn't going anywhere.
the Omegas and some Betas swarmed me, congratulating me and telling me how they gossiped about me becoming Dirk's mate.
A few of the Alphas teetered over to congratulate me as well. They kept it brief and respectful.
Many months later, peace resumed in the Gunther pack household. I've started my job back at Cafe Gun and added to the menu some delicious muffins.
It grew in such popularity that Alphas stuffed themselves in to get a few. I made them hilariously expensive at twenty bucks a muffin, but that didn't stop anyone from buying them.
It even got to the point that Dirk almost banned Alphas from coming into the store because he was concerned about me being alone near them.
But now that I was mated and had the bite to show it, I got him to relax and lay off of the cafe before he started guarding it like Fort Knox.
I was back in the kitchen, baking up another batch of muffins when my stomach churned again.
At first I ignored it and chalked it up to being an upset stomach from eating too much in the morning. But then that sick feeling crawled up my throat, and I ran into the bathroom.
...
Ugh, my body shook and the shivers wouldn't stop. Despite just emptying last night's and this morning's meals down into the toilet, I had the nastiest craving for pickles and muffins.
"Oh god, what am I thinking?" I asked myself aloud.
"Adel?! Where are you?" Loris asked, walking into the back.
I wiped my forehead and stood up. Opening the door, I peaked my head out. "I'm right here."
He skipped over. "God, you look pale. I know you've been eating. Hell, you've been eating up a--wait! Oh. My. God!" Loris said, throwing his hands over his mouth. His eyes sparkled like two rare diamonds. What was going on?
"What are you talking about?"
He rubbed my belly. No. That couldn't be true.
"You're pregnant, aren't you?!" Loris squealed.
I shushed him. "Don't say that too loud. I might just have an upset stomach. I used to get that a lot in the past. So I doubt that I could be… pregnant."
Loris frowned and threw his hands on his hips, tapping his foot.
"Really? The way you two go at it? I wouldn't be surprised if you had a whole litter of ten pups inside you!" Loris shot me that side smile.
"Hey!" I said, heat exploding inside my cheeks.
"Why don't you go take a day off and go to the doctor's? I'll cover for you! Dirk won't mind."
I sighed. After taking what Loris said into consideration, I nodded my head and stepped out of the bathroom.
"Fine, I'll go. But I really doubt--"
"Don't say anymore! If you're pregnant, then you should know! You shouldn't be working or anything!"
"Alright, alright. I'm going."
I went to the doctor's office down the street. Gunner town was a mid sized town, but there were a good amount of doctor offices so that people who lived here could get the treatment they needed at a timely fashion.
There was only one town that was allowed to have a hospital and that was Redgor. The next hospital was fifty miles away from here.
I walked into the office. Loris called my cellphone and asked if I was there yet. Dirk must've told him to keep tabs on me, which reminded me to ask him something before we hung up.
"Loris, I need a favor."
"What is it?" he asked. I heard the metal clanging of the baking dishes in the background. He better not hurt himself back there while he was on the phone.
"Don't tell Dirk where I am."
"Whoa, that's gonna be hard to do. He knows how nosey I am!" he chuckled.
"I know. But this is so… private. I'd like to tell him myself."
Loris sighed. "I understand, Adel. You can count on me."
"Thank you."
We hung up, and I walked up to the secretary's window.
"Hello, how may I help you?" she asked.
"Um, I need to see a doctor."
"Sure, fill this out. Are you affiliated with the Gunther pack?" she asked, handing me a clipboard with a few papers.
"Yes, why?"
"They have insurance that covers all official members. You won't have to pay a dime out."
"Oh, good."
I sat down and scribbled on the papers. I didn't have a social security number that I was aware of, I didn't even know my parent's names.
A lot of the spaces were left black and when it came to the Gunther affiliation question, I wrote down that I was Dirk Gunther's mate.
I handed the papers back to her and she must've immediately read the affiliation part, because when she did, her eyes bugged out of her head.
"A doctor will be with you shortly." She ran into the back and before I could sit my ass back in my seat, a doctor came out and called my name to go back with him.
Once we went into his room, I sat on the bed and kicked my feet up. Sleep seemed so good right now.
"So, you've been feeling nausea and stomach cramps?" the doctor asked. "Any bleeding?"
"No," I said, looking at the ceiling. Dirk would pop a vein to know I was at the doctor's without him.
"Have you had sex recently?" he asked, smiling.
"Doctor, I can't be pregnant. There's no way!" I exclaimed, sitting up.
"We'll see. We'll run a test. Why do you think you wouldn't be pregnant?"
I swallowed and bit my lip. "B-because. I—I um. I used to be abused by another Alpha before I met Dirk, and he… well. He would hurt me so bad and kick me repeatedly. So wouldn't I be messed up down there?"
The doctor's face wilted. "That's horrible. We'll run a sonogram and take a look. Hold on for a few minutes."
A few tears leaked out of my eyes. If I was pregnant… then what would I do? My belly was poking out, but then again, it could’ve been weight gain from all the eating I was doing. Right? Right?
Would I even be capable of being a good father? What if someone tried to take them the same way I was kidnapped as a kid myself?
The doctor came back and took me into another room. At first I went to the bathroom and peed in a cup, then I went out to lay down and get the sonogram.
A nurse came to pick up the cup, and the doctor ran the ultrasound on my stomach. The jelly was could, but then a picture of my womb showed up. I turned away, afraid that I'd see something abnormal.
"Well, looks like everything is fine here. No damage that I can see. And if it isn't visible, then you can have a healthy pregnancy, that is, if you are pregnant. Any other symptoms?" he asked, turning the machine off.
"Well, I have been getting dizzy and my chest area is sore."
"Ahh, I see. Sit tight."
The nurse and doctor came in. I sat up and looked at both of them with eagerness filling my stomach.
"Congratulations, Mr. Priest, you're pregnant!"
Chapter Eight
Dirk
I stopped by
the cafe to check on Adel. He wasn't there.
Loris said he wasn't feeling well, so he probably went home.
Probably?
"Loris, you're supposed to follow him everywhere he goes!" I said, groaning.
"You need to let him have his space! He's not going to leave, and he needs his privacy too!"
I sighed. As much as I didn't want to admit it, he was right.
Adel deserved the freedom he thought he'd never had. I wasn't trying to look anything like Bartley to him.
Everything was going smoothly so far.
"I'll be at home then. Thanks, Loris."
"No problem!"
I walked cooly to my car, then cranked that fucking engine and sped home. He had to be there. He wouldn't leave me again, right?
I ran upstairs like a maniac and was relieved when I smelled his fruity scent down the hallway.
But for the last week or so, his scent was changing. It shared my scent. Maybe it was because we were bonded?
I opened the doors and saw him in the living room part of the bedroom, eating some food.
"Adel, I was worried--"
"That I had left you again? Sheesh, honey, you should have more faith in me," he said, wagging his finger. It was coated with barbecue from the brisket he was eating.
When I got closer, I saw that he wasn't only eating brisket, but had ice cream, pickles, and sour cream.
Gross.
What kind of appetite was that?
Wait!
"Adel, this food. Are you… pregnant?"
He stopped eating and exhaled. "Yes. I went to the doctor today--"
"Without me?! Wait, did you walk?"
"Yeah. Why? I enjoy walking."
I slapped my forehead. "If you're pregnant, then you can't work, walk or do anything strenuous!"
He cocked and eyebrow and laughed. "You're being way too cautious."
He picked up a vanilla envelope and handed it to me.
I opened it and saw the confirmation. He was two weeks pregnant. It was expected that he'd have pups and kittens since he was a cat shifter.
A proud feeling bubbled up into my chest. I was a father! I howled for joy and called the head chef from my room phone. I told him to prepare another banquet.
"Do we have to make such a big deal out of it," Adel said, shy from all the attention he was receiving.