The Alpha 8: Protect. Procreate. Prevail., page 3
But we had a big adventure coming up for us all, so I could just about handle not seeing them for two days. The impending excitement of my big plans made it more tolerable.
After a lot of thought and discussions with my family, I had decided to take Jack Nolan up on the offer to take part in his orchestra.
I was only going to join them for the Californian leg of the journey, but just that in itself was more than I ever thought possible.
At first, I hadn’t been sure whether to go to California or not, particularly because of everything that had just occurred with Theo Finch. But Benji helped me see that I had enough pack members to guard our territory, and it wasn’t like I was the first alpha to ever go on vacation, or leave their pack for a handful of weeks.
It was an amazing opportunity for me, and being part of an orchestra was one of my biggest dreams, so my pack didn’t want me to miss out on it just because of my duties at home. With that in mind, I’d decided on who to take with me and who would stay at home, and within the next couple of days, we were going to be flying off to California.
Since I was going to be leaving for a little while, everything had to be organized before we left, which was why these trips to Canada were so rushed. But now that I had introduced myself to the final group of new betas, I could relax a little knowing that I hadn’t left anyone out.
During the trips around Washington and British Columbia, I’d managed to work out who was who, and I also met a few of Theo’s previous beta captains. He only had two left, because we had killed all the others on Vancouver Island, but the two I did meet, Ramiro and Willow, were incredibly welcoming, and they offered to keep watch on various areas.
As well as the two captains, I also managed to track down Theo’s omegas.
Kind of.
The first omega was Maria, and she lived in Washington with her five children who were aged between thirteen and nineteen. Maria looked to be slightly older than Aunt Eva, and apparently she had been Theo’s omega for twenty years.
It took me a good thirty minutes to convince her that I wasn’t going to kill her or her kids, and then we were finally able to talk about how Theo had treated her.
From what Maria told me, she had been forced to stay in the tiny, coastal town in Washington, and she wasn’t allowed to leave. She wasn’t even allowed to visit Vancouver Island. But Theo would turn up when he wanted to, attempt to get her pregnant, and then he’d leave Maria to fend for herself and raise their five children all alone.
Maria even admitted that she hated it whenever Theo did turn up, even if it was only a few times a year. She told me how much she loved her children, and she would do anything for them, but she didn’t want to have a sixth child. Fortunately, Theo failed in his mission to have more children with Maria, but that made him step back more, because it had started to look like Maria’s body had “stopped working.”
Of course, I was furious when I heard that. I couldn’t imagine treating Nikita the same way. So I told Maria that she was free to leave the pack if she wanted to. I offered her enough money to cover everything, and I even said I would buy them plane tickets if they wanted to move somewhere in particular.
Maria simply smiled and said she’d think about it. She loved the people she lived with, and they were like family to her, but she also had to do what was right for her children. However, she promised me that her children weren’t going to come after me because I had killed their father. According to Maria, the five teenagers hated Theo, and they just wanted their mother to be safe, so they actually thanked me for saving her.
The two other omegas that Theo had tethered to him lived together with their betas near the borders of Alberta. I hadn’t visited this particular group, but Brenden and Kristina told me what they’d found.
The omegas were both about ten years older than me, and they each had two children between the ages of three and seven. It was thought that Theo only came to visit them to get them pregnant at the same time, like with Maria, but no one actually knew that for certain.
However, these omegas didn’t take the news well when they found out about Theo’s death. Even though he treated them like shit, they still loved him more than they loved themselves. So when they heard he had been killed, they knew they couldn’t live without him, and they decided to end their lives together.
Part of me understood the pain the women must have felt, because I wasn’t sure I’d cope if the same thing happened to any of my omegas. However, I couldn’t leave my child all alone, so the women must have been really struggling in order to leave their kids behind.
Brenden said that he didn’t quite know what to say when he heard this. Theo’s mental abuse toward these women had caused them to become completely and utterly dependent when it came to his “love.” He probably made them think they were the only women for him, even as he neglected them and let his actions show anything but true affection. So when Theo died, they literally couldn’t see a way out of that dark hole, and even the children weren’t enough to save the grieving omegas.
I knew I had to be cautious around these children, because Theo’s actions had caused them to lose both parents, and I had been the one to kill Theo. But Willow, the beta captain, reassured Brenden that she’d take good care of the children, and she’d make sure the four kids grew up knowing that I wasn’t a threat or an enemy.
It saddened me to hear that the two omegas had taken their lives, but it was clear that their lives couldn’t have been that enjoyable. Theo literally treated them like garbage, and the omegas knew that. But at least I was able to help Maria and her kids.
It explained why I never came across any omegas on Vancouver Island, though, and it wasn’t exactly a surprise to hear that Theo walked away after he’d fucked them. Gray had been a piece of shit like that, too. He was only interested in trying to impregnate Arielle, and he abused her and cut her down as often as possible. He hadn’t truly cared about her.
Not the way I cared for every single one of my omegas. With them, it was like we all orbited each other, and if I was away from them for too long, everything fell out of alignment. Then when we reunited, we could finally breathe right again.
Thinking back about the omegas only made me miss mine more, and as our private plane finally landed in Oregon, my palms itched with the need to have my women in my arms again.
It was just nearing three in the morning as we loaded the Range Rover with all our belongings, so we just had to get through another few hours, and then we’d be back in Monroe.
The drive home was almost completely silent. Christopher had the radio playing quietly, Spencer and Dexter were fast asleep in the back, and I gazed out the window as I felt myself slowly falling asleep.
But then I startled in my seat as something black whizzed past the car.
“Did you see that?” I asked as I twisted around to look through the back window.
“See what?” Christopher asked.
“I…” I hesitated for a moment. “I dunno. But it was huge and black, almost like a dark cloud.”
“That’s exhaustion talking, Jess,” Christopher chuckled. “I haven’t taken my eyes off the road, so I think I would have seen something. It’s also pretty dark out there, so it was probably a tree or a bush.”
“Yeah…” I mumbled. “Maybe I fell asleep without realizing it.”
“You probably did,” he replied. “Either that, or it was the adrenaline from earlier playing tricks on you.”
“Oh, probably,” I scoffed.
Yet no matter how much I tried to fall back to sleep, I kept on getting the feeling like someone was watching me, and my skin tingled as the eerie feeling increased.
I glanced through the window, and I checked the mirrors, but I couldn’t see anything around us. I even rolled down the window at one point to sniff the air, but all I could smell was the nature around us.
Christopher was right, it was probably paranoia from the lack of sleep, but it was still really weird.
However, that feeling was long forgotten as we pulled up outside the cabin, and I thanked the betas as I left the car.
I was home, and I’d barely made it to the front step before the door was thrown open, and my omegas ran out to greet me. All four of them were wearing their pajamas, and they looked just as tired as I was.
“Jesse!” Hailey and Blair squealed in unison as they threw themselves into my arms.
“You’re home, you’re home!” Arielle cried out.
“It took you long enough.” Nikita smirked.
Their mixture of scents engulfed me, and I held them all close as I let out a deep sigh.
“I didn’t think you were going to stay awake,” I said as I placed a kiss on their heads.
“I struggled to, but the excitement was too much,” Nikita said.
“I also had the tracker loaded on my laptop, so we were able to see when you finally landed in Oregon,” Hailey replied.
“Aunt Eva tried to stay up to greet you, but she didn’t last that long,” Arielle giggled.
“Yeah, and Benji collapsed in front of the TV a few hours ago,” Blair explained. “But that’s his usual bedtime anyway, so it made no difference.”
Hailey and Blair picked up my bags for me, and Nikita and Arielle looped their arms through mine as they walked me inside.
“Oh, Jesse, you need to see what I made for you!” Arielle squealed as a giant smile crossed her plump lips.
“Can’t it wait until the morning?” Blair asked. “I mean… the actual morning? Not this godawful time?”
“No, I have to show him now!” Arielle fussed. “I made this for you yesterday, Jesse, and I can’t wait to show you!”
“Okay,” I chuckled. “Let’s take a look, and then we can go to bed.”
My little werecoyote clapped her hands together excitedly, and then she took me toward the kitchen and turned on the main light.
“Ta-da!” she sang as she motioned toward the counter.
Because it was Arielle, I had a feeling her surprise would be something baking related, and I was right. There were ten cupcakes displayed neatly on a wire rack, and each cupcake had a different letter iced in the center.
I wasn’t entirely sure why I had to see the cupcakes now, or why they couldn’t wait until we’d had a nap, but I didn’t have the heart to say that to Arielle.
“These look great.” I smiled at my omega.
“Try and decode them,” Hailey giggled.
“Decode them?” I asked. “Oh, you mean the letters?”
“Yes.” Blair grinned.
My omegas now appeared to be overly excited to show me the cupcakes, despite what Blair had said, so that made me think my women had been planning something secretly.
They were known for doing that.
I glanced down at the cupcakes as I tried to work out what the letters meant, but it took a second for my bleary eyes to work properly.
The ten letters in total were: I, N, P, T, G, E, M, R, A, and another N, but I felt like I needed a dictionary in order to piece a word together.
But then it hit me.
It hit me like a ton of fucking bricks from a skyscraper.
“Arielle…” I paused to take a deep breath. “Are you pregnant?”
Chapter 2
My werecoyote’s reddish-brown eyes widened as they filled with tears, and then she delicately placed both hands over her flat stomach as a smile began to form.
“Yes,” she said quietly as a single tear rolled down her cheek.
Nikita, Blair, and Hailey squealed and clapped as they hugged Arielle, but I was in too much shock to fully react. I had only been away for a couple of days, yet I hadn’t noticed any changes in Arielle’s mood or scent to even think that pregnancy was a possibility yet.
However, as that word formed and became thicker in my mind, I started to realize what it meant.
Arielle was pregnant.
I was going to have two children, and my first child wasn’t even born yet.
“Holy shit,” I chuckled. “I… Fuck, I don’t even know what to say!”
“Say that you’re happy, of course!” Nikita giggled.
“I mean, I think that’s a bit of an understatement.” I smirked.
Then the omegas stepped to the side, and I threw my arms around Arielle and brought her in for a tight hug. Her feet lifted off the floor, and she let out the sweetest laugh as she pressed her face against my shoulder.
“You’re pregnant!” I grinned.
“I knew I could do it!” Arielle sobbed. “I just knew I could! I just needed to be with a man I loved!”
“Oh, my god!” I cried. “How? Or… well, I know how, but… When? When did you find out?”
Arielle continued to laugh, and as I placed her back down on the floor, I noticed her tears had simmered down slightly.
“I had a feeling before we went to Vancouver Island, remember?” The werecoyote smiled. “I wasn’t pregnant then, otherwise you would have found out before now. But that feeling continued to escalate. At first I thought it was just wishful thinking, and maybe my body was playing tricks on me. But then throughout the last week I started to get minor symptoms, plus my period was late, so I just knew it was no longer a phantom pregnancy. I officially found out shortly after you left for Canada, and then I told the others yesterday.”
“I had no idea,” Hailey said. “I don’t think I even believed you at first.”
“I definitely believed you,” Blair chuckled. “I know you love your tits, Arielle, but even you were touching them more than normal.”
“Me, too,” Nikita added. “But that might be because I know the signs now, so I could tell you and I were in the same position.”
“But…” I rubbed my forehead with three fingers. “How did I not realize? Even now, your scent doesn’t appear to be that different.”
Arielle had a warming, chocolate-cinnamon scent, yet that changed dramatically when an omega was pregnant. Even the betas automatically felt more protective toward an omega, even if they hadn’t been informed about the pregnancy.
“I tried really hard to hide the change,” Arielle explained. “And I mean really hard. But Benji was actually the first to realize. He even told me to be careful when I was slicing an onion, and… well, we all know how talented I am in the kitchen.”
“And when he asked if you and Nikita wanted something to drink, he didn’t bother asking us,” Hailey chuckled. “In Benji’s defense, Blair and I already had a drink with us. But when does Benji ever think about that when he’s grabbing a soda from the fridge?”
“That’s true,” I snickered.
My mind was running a mile a minute, and as I held Arielle against me, I tried my best to sort out the clusterfuck which had formed in my head. I was still trying to come to terms with Nikita’s pregnancy, even though it was clear for everyone to see. So that made everything ten times harder to process when I added Arielle into the mix.
It was crazy to think that I loved something so much, when it was barely even the size of a poppy seed. But as I placed my hand over Arielle’s stomach, a tingling sensation raced through my palm, and I couldn’t wait to see her stomach grow as our child developed.
Arielle sniffled back her tears as she locked her fingers with mine, and Nikita, Hailey, and Blair struggled to keep back their emotions, too.
I was glad to see that Blair had taken the news better this time around. The smile on her face was genuine and real, and even if she was jealous that she wasn’t in the same position, she didn’t allow that feeling to overpower her. Blair loved Nikita’s baby as much as she did, so I knew it was going to be the same with Arielle’s.
But this was the first time Hailey had been with us from the start of a pregnancy, so I was interested to see how she reacted. From the way she squealed into her hands and wiped away her tears, I knew she wasn’t struggling with Arielle’s news.
It could be really hard for some omegas to accept other babies, especially if they struggled when it came to conception. Blair thought her body was “broken” because she hadn’t managed to get pregnant before, and Arielle was sort of in the same position.
For a while now, we had a theory that her body simply didn’t allow Arielle to have Gray Mackenzie’s child, but I knew she’d had the same fears as Blair. So it meant so much for Arielle to realize there weren’t any serious issues.
As I brought all four omegas in for a hug, I heard someone slowly coming downstairs. I knew it was Aunt Eva from the sound of her footsteps, and as my aunt wandered into the kitchen, I noticed that her eyes were also lined with fresh tears.
Aunt Eva had her dark brown hair clipped back, and a fluffy blue robe was tied around her waist. Eva was usually the first to wake up, and she must have been listening in on our conversation before she decided to join us.
“I see you’ve heard the news,” Aunt Eva said with a smile.
“I have,” I snorted. “Maybe I’ll need to leave the country more often if this is the greeting I receive.”
My omegas stepped to the side as Aunt Eva gave me a hug, and her hand patted my back in a calming gesture.
“It’s good to have you home, Jesse,” she mumbled. “The cabin felt very quiet without you.”
“Really?” I asked. “Even with Benji here?”
“Okay, maybe not that quiet,” she chuckled.
“We didn’t wake you, did we?” Arielle asked as Aunt Eva stepped back.
“Don’t worry, my dear.” Eva grinned. “My alarm actually went off shortly before you walked into the house, Jesse, but I wanted to give you all some privacy.”
“That’s very sweet of you, but you didn’t need to do that,” I replied. “There’s no such thing as real privacy in a house full of shifters.”
“I suppose you’re right.” She nodded. “Now, enough talking. You all must be exhausted.”
I hadn’t even given my lack of sleep much thought since I’d first been shown the cupcakes, but when Aunt Eva brought it up, I instantly felt how tired my body was, and a nap was definitely in the cards.
“I managed to sleep for a couple hours on the plane.” I shrugged. “However, I don’t think I’ve ever needed my bed as much as I need it right now.”
