“I don’t know. The kid is about ten years old, so I must have hooked up with his dad around then, I mean, I kind of remember him, but…”
“Ten years ago?” She shook her head. “Yeah, that would have been right in your prime drinking period, right?”
“You could say that.” I scowled at her, but it just made her laugh.
“What I’m trying to say is that would explain why you aren’t sure if you remember him. And if he’s your fated mate… Well, you must have been super wasted to have let him just leave.”
Not liking to admit she was obviously right, I shrugged. “Either way, the kid looks just like me. And Kyle is definitely my fated mate,” I told her as I poured a cup of coffee.
“Is that what your wolf told you?” she asked as she raised her eyebrows.
“If prancing around in my chest, howling and whimpering for me to get closer to the two of them is telling me something, then yes.”
“Shit,” she said, finally sounding impressed. “What’re you going to do?”
“I’m taking them to dinner, and then I’m going to claim him.”
“What?”
“Tonight.”
“Gavin, c’mon. Seriously, you can’t just claim him, especially if you only hooked up with the guy ten years ago. You’re going to have to talk to him, get to know him. Find out if you like him.”
“I know that, but he’s my fated mate, I’m certainly not going to let him go. I’ll figure it out.”
“Just… Take it slow, alright?” she warned me, pointing a finger in my face.
“I can’t guarantee I’ll take it slow, but I will be careful.” That was about the best promise I could make to her right then. Until I knew more, I certainly wasn’t making any other promises.
The rest of the morning sped by, my mind and body in overdrive, and it wasn’t just from the extra coffees. A son… The idea gave me a thrill. Almost as much of a thrill as I’d gotten when I’d shaken Kyle’s hand. My fated mate… I could hardly believe it.
After lunch, the rest of the day lagged like an overtaxed games console, and I felt like everything was moving in slow motion. I couldn’t wait to get the hell out of there. Once seven o’clock rolled around I sent a text to Kyle, and then headed straight for Tony’s pizza joint.
Kyle and Brock got there right after me, and I could barely keep myself sitting in the booth from how excitedly my wolf jumped and leaped around in my chest when I spotted them. Brock beamed as soon as he saw me. I smiled when I noticed he was wearing the RuneMaze t-shirt I’d given him. He rushed over and slid into the booth beside me before giving me a quick hug hello. As Kyle pulled up a chair opposite me his scent struck me again, and I had to bite down on my lip to stop from moaning. I’d never realized an omega’s scent could be so amazing. Obviously it was because he was my fated mate, but still, it pressed every single one of my buttons is a good way. He was wearing a black t-shirt of a band I’d only heard of from the radio show I listened to at night, a group called The Feather Boats, and it fit his lean torso just right.
“Thanks for coming,” I managed to say, and was met with a bright, charming smile.
“Thanks for inviting us. We love it here.” Kyle glanced at Brock who was drumming his hands on the table.
“You want to look at the menu?” I asked.
“Nope, no thank you,” Brock shook his head. “Pepperoni with pineapple, the best pizza on earth.”
Kyle wrinkled his nose, but I gasped. “Are you kidding me?”
“Ugh, I know, everyone says pineapple is gross on pizza, but I love it, so the haters can just back off!” Brock said, karate-chopping the air in front of his face.
I laughed and shook my head. “No I mean, I love it too. Pepperoni with pineapple is my usual order.”
“What? No way! Awesome!” Brock high-fived me.
“Are you kidding me?” Kyle asked. There was a hint of genuine suspicion in his voice, and I watched as his gaze scoured my face then looked over at Brock’s. My intuition picked up exactly what was going on. The penny was dropping about who I was. I lowered my eyes to the menu and pretended to look over the drinks selection while I assume Kyle started putting two and two together.
“It’s just the best pizza.” Brock shrugged, responding to his dad’s question.
“It’s gross, but okay.” Kyle laughed nervously, and I worried he’d get up and leave. Maybe I should have said something in the carpark, but then Kyle may not have agreed to meet me. When he reached for the menu, I sighed with relief.
The waiter didn’t bat an eye when we ordered, and as she walked away I whispered to Kyle and Brock. “They should just put pepperoni pineapple on the menu, I bet we order it so often.”
The two of them chuckled and I felt myself getting a little addicted to the feeling of making them laugh.
“How’d you like the conference?” I asked Kyle.
“It was pretty cool.” He smiled at Brock. “We had a good time.”
“I had a good time. Dad humored me,” Brock explained in a very grown-up voice.
I chuckled and nodded. “You don’t game?”
“Not like Brock does,” he said, looking at me over the table. As our eyes met, I was once again struck by how gorgeous he was, and how very familiar even if I didn’t actually remember him or much of the night we’d gotten together. If Brock was my son, but I didn’t have any doubt at that stage, and I think Kyle had certainly figured that out too.
“I like some of the bright colored puzzle games, some of the romance roleplay ones, too. Not into the violence or gore, though.”
“RuneMaze isn’t gory,” Brock told him. “That’s what I like about it the most, that it’s not gory. You have to defeat bad guys but it’s more about the puzzles and the maze and using your head to get out of tough situations and get away from people who want to hurt you.”
A heaviness settled over Brock. I looked at Kyle to see if he was picking up on it or if it was something only my wolf intuition noticed. I couldn’t tell. Kyle seemed oblivious.
“Do you, uh, do you game?” Kyle asked me “I guess you do. That’s a stupid question, sorry.” He laughed nervously again, but he didn’t seem as anxious now as he had been before.
“No, not a stupid question at all. Honestly, I don’t play all that much. Creating the game took a lot of time and energy, and I had to play it over, and over, and over again to test it out. So I’m kind of tired of games. Still getting back into gaming in general. I do like going live and helping out kids who are stuck in tricky parts of RuneMaze, though. That’s always cool.” My heart fluttered when I noticed Kyle nibbling on his lower lip as his eyes scanned my face once more.
I cleared my throat. “What do you do for a living?”
“I’m a radio host,” he said.
“Wait… Seriously? Are you Kyle Shannon?”
“I am,” he said with a nod.
“The Nightlight Love Lounge?”
“That’s the one.”
“No shit,” I said, bewildered.
“Is that… Not good?” he asked, his nervousness coming back again, which I didn’t want to see.
“No! It’s incredible. That’s literally my favorite show. I listen to you almost every damn night. Don’t tell anyone, though. Everyone who finds out makes fun of me.” I laughed as I leaned forward and smiled at him.
“I love it when alphas tune in,” he said with a chuckle.
Just then, the pizzas arrived. Brock and I split the large pepperoni with pineapple, but the kid ate most of it. I remembered he was an adolescent shifter who was probably due for another growth spurt in the next year, so let him go for it. I hadn’t forgotten what it was like for me at that age. I’d been ravenous.
“Is yours good?” I asked, eyeing off Kyle’s margarita.
“Mm! Of course it is,” he said as he wiped his mouth with a napkin. “Because it doesn’t have pineapple on it.”
We laughed, and he shared his slices with me. I watched as his lips
parted every time he took a bite, and I barely kept my wolf under control. It was already doing crazy dances because it was close to our mate. I didn’t need it jumping out in an attempt to claim him.
We chatted about video games and music for an hour or so, until Kyle called it a night.
“Brock has lots of a homework to get done this weekend,” he explained, almost apologetically.
“Oh, of course, no problem.” I said, grimacing on the inside. I didn’t want to let them go, not yet, and certainly not before I had a proper chance to talk to Kyle about Brock and who he was to me. As I got up out of the booth to see them off, I reached out and touched Kyle’s shoulder. He looked at my fingers, and then right into my eyes.
“But we should talk soon,” I said, hoping he’d understand why.
“We should talk really soon,” he agreed, before turning to his son and urging him to say goodnight to me.
“Goodnight!” Brock said, and again threw his arms around my waist. I gave him a short hug while I grinned awkwardly at Kyle, then watched as they walked out.
“Night…” I said.
As the door shut behind them, my phone buzzed in my pocket.
We’re at Kay’s Diner if you want to join before your dinner. N & C.
I wrote back straight away. Order me a shake. Be there in five.
I drove right there, and Nicole looked stunned when I walked over to their table by the window.
“Uh, that was fast? Did you come from the convention?”
“I came from Tony’s. I told you, I was having dinner with Kyle and Brock,” I said while I gave a high-five to, Cole.
“The convention was pretty cool,” he said, playing with a toy on the table.
“Yeah it was cool,” I agreed. “What’s that?”
“Some free toy someone was giving out. It sucks,” he said, but kept playing with it.
“So, how was your dinner?” Nicole asked pointedly to grab my attention.
“It was very clear but also very complicated,” I said, looking down at Cole and giving Nicole a pointed look.
“Hey, Cole can you go check on our order?” Nic asked. Cole nodded, and then happily wandered over to the line.
“Complicated how?” Nicole asked in a whisper.
“Well, I think Kyle put two and two together, but we couldn’t talk about it while the kid was there.” I glanced up as the waitress brought over my shake, and I gave her a big smile before she left.
Nicole just squinted at me like she was having a hard time accepting it all.
“Nicole. I have a son,” I said before taking a sip of my shake.
“And do you think this is a good thing?” Nicole asked. There was a quiver in her voice that touched right on the bundle of insecurity that had sat in my gut since I left Kyle and Brock. If I had a son, that meant I was a father, and I had absolutely no idea how to be one of those.
“Sure… I mean… It can’t be a bad thing, can it?”
“For some people, yes, but does Kyle have any idea that his son is a shifter?”
“Damn,” I said, letting out a long breath between my lips. “I don’t know. I mean… Shit. He had to. Brock certainly wouldn’t have been able to hide his nature all this time. The kid would have shifted as a pup without even thinking about it. Cole was shifting at just a couple of years old, and it was sometimes hard to get him to shift back to human, remember? He loves being a wolf.”
“Then Kyle must know, which means you need to tell Jaxon. We can’t have a human knowing about shifters if he isn’t part of a pack. Unless Kyle found another alpha shifter to help bring Brock up? Someone from one of the other packs in the area?”
I hadn’t thought of that. Kyle hadn’t mentioned he was with an alpha. God, what if he was? What if he didn’t want me around Brock? Was that why Kyle hadn’t acknowledged Brock was my son? Had an alpha shifter adopted Brock as his own?
I think Nicole must have realized what was going through my head because she placed a hand on my arm.
“Maybe you should speak to Kyle first. Find out what he wants to do,” Nicole suggested gently as Cole came back to the table. We sat back in our chairs as the waitress brought over the food they’d ordered. I thought about Kyle being my fated mate, about Brock being my son. I didn’t think I could let that go, continue with my life while knowing they existed and not do anything about it. Even if Kyle didn’t want me, I still had a right to know my son, didn’t I? After a few minutes I made a decision.
“Cole, want my shake?” I asked as I slid it over to him. “I have to get home and make a phone call.”
4
Kyle
So I was a little slow on the uptake. But at least I got there, eventually. There was no denying that Gavin looked exactly like my son. Or rather, my son looked just like Gavin… And it wasn’t too far a stretch to realize Gavin was my son’s father.
As soon as Brock got his seatbelt buckled outside the pizza joint, he was out like a light. It had been a huge day for him. After our morning at the gaming convention, he’d spent all day playing the games that Gavin had given him before we’d headed out for dinner. As I drove us home, I wondered whether Brock had realized what Gavin was to him. As that whole concept sank in I shook my head. Brock definitely would have said something if he had.
After we pulled up to our modest home, I woke Brock gently and helped him stumble into the house. I would have loved to carry him to bed, but he was a big kid, and I was very much not a big dad. I couldn’t help but imagine how easily Gavin could lift him with those thick tree trunk arms that had looked so good in the tight t-shirt he wore.
“Hey boys, how was dinner?” Britt asked from the living room. Brock mumbled something incomprehensible, and I gave Britt a quick wave before helping him up the stairs and getting him into bed.
“Did you have a good night?” I asked him as I tucked him in.
“Mhm. Gavin is so cool,” he mumbled. His eyes were so heavy he was barely able to keep them open.
“Yeah, he seems pretty cool. You two have a lot in common, don’t you?”
“He’s such a cool alpha…” Then Brock’s eyes finally closed. My heart beat hard, and I felt a gnawing sensation in my guts. Once he was out, I switch off his light and ran a hand over my face as I walked down the hall. What a fucking crazy day.
I headed downstairs to the kitchen to get myself a glass of water before bed, but Kennedy appeared out of nowhere, grabbed my wrist, and hauled me into the living room.
“Tell. Us. Everything!” Britt insisted.
I silently groaned, not wanting to say anything until I had it straight in my head first, but this was Britt, her hair was still in that high bun. She’d never let me rest until I spewed out the whole story, and she’d certainly know if I was holding something back.
“Oh man, I don’t know where to start,” I admitted, rubbing my hands over my face.
“Was it a hot date or what? Wait, was he a creep? A loser? A nerd? Was it disappointing? It was bad, wasn’t it?” Kennedy asked, making me laugh.
“No it was actually really great,” I said as I sat down on the couch between the two of them.
“So what’s with this face?” Britt asked, pointing at me and wiggling her finger.
“There was just a strange…coincidence,” I admitted.
“Oh, a synchronicity,” Britt exclaimed. She glanced over at the bookshelf that was overflowing with her metaphysical books, so I put a hand on her knee to stop her from getting up.
“No, not a synchronicity,” I insisted. “A very weird, very strange coincidence.”
“That’s what a synchronicity is,” Britt said, then she slapped my hand. “Let me get my books so we can look up what it means!”
“I know already know what it means,” I said quietly as I stared at the muted television.
Britt and Kennedy shared a look, which was impossible to miss it was so obvious.
I cleared my throat knowing it would be best to voluntarily offer the information in
stead of having it dragged out of me. “Gavin looks…exactly like Brock.”
“Uh… Okay. So you think you’re related to him?” Kennedy asked as she scratched her head. “Like a long-lost cousin or somethin’?”
I looked at Britt, who looked back at me with huge, shocked eyes.
“I know,” I said to her.
“Oh wait,” Kennedy said as she slowly cottoned on. “Wait… Wait! What?”
“I think he might be…”
“He’s Brock’s dad?” Kennedy asked none too quietly.
“He might be,” I said, holding my hands up. “I don’t actually know, but…”
“Does he look like the guy you slept with that night?” Britt asked.
“Maybe! I don’t know, it was literally ten years ago and I was so drunk, you guys. I mean, totally off my ass.”
“Which he got into.”
“Britt!”
Kennedy giggled and I gave them both a glare.
“So he lives in Timberwood?” Kennedy asked with a frown. “And he never reached out?”
“Why would he? As far as he knew, it was just a one-night stand,” I stated.
“Well, does he know now?”
I sighed. “I have to assume so, I mean, he was definitely looking at Brock in a way that made me think he’d guessed, and they spent the whole night talking about everything they have in common. They’re both into games, they’re both into gross pizza toppings… And… If Gavin is his dad then that means that Gavin is…” I didn’t need to say any more because both Britt and Kennedy knew what that meant. It didn’t take long before they reacted collectively with a gasp.
“Oh my god,” he’s a shifter, Britt said.
“Yeah.”
“That’s great.” Kennedy smiled. “Now Brock will have someone to help him.”
“I don’t know. I’ve been a single dad for ten years. Brock’s doing okay.” Which was a total lie, especially recently. I remembered the other night when he’d almost cried with how hard a time he was having.
Britt raised an eyebrow. “You’re an omega dad dealing with an alpha kid—”
Secret Daddy Page 4