Chapter Sixteen
It was harder than I thought it would be to bid goodbye to Sergio the next day. Even though we all agreed that the sooner he left, the sooner he could come home and settle down for good, I didn’t want him to leave at all. Neither did Sage, if his sullen mood was any indication.
Our alpha spent the early hours of the morning worshipping our bodies, fucking into each of us in turn until we were almost literally puddles of satisfied omega goo, then kissed us both so tenderly, I felt tears pricking my eyes.
“I’ll call every day,” Serge murmured as he snuggled between us, nuzzling his silver beard into the top of my head, then Sage’s. “Multiple times. And I will miss you both terribly. But this has to be done.”
“Is The Magic telling you that?” I snarked with an edge of bitterness, but he only chuckled, making his chest bounce under my hand.
“Yes,” he answered simply. Then, when I pursed my lips and Sage let out a disgruntled huff, Serge chuckled again and added, “It is urging me to close my affairs elsewhere and settle here. This is where it wants me, too.”
“I freaking hope so,” Sage muttered, sounding just as put-out as I felt. “We only just found you. And I know we’re not bonded, but my dragon…” He trailed off, but I understood what he wasn’t saying.
Inside me, my omega was whining piteously. Even though he understood that this was necessary, I had already forced him to part from one of our mates once before. I was secretly terrified that he would go into hiding again until Serge returned.
“My unicorn feels it, too,” Serge admitted quietly. “But it will only be a few weeks. A month at most. Then I will return. And then…”
“Then our lives together really begin,” I finished for him, a thrill of anticipation fluttering in my belly like butterflies.
In the weeks we’d spent traveling with him to originally bring him to Shifters Sanctuary, we had become acquaintances.
Then once he was here, I dared to think we were becoming friends.
But we hadn’t been overly close…at least, not until he came back again.
But then my dragon came out of hibernation, and my heat hit, and the changes of the past few days were wonderful but a lot to process.
Even I understood that it would take time for the three of us to truly get to know each other as romantic partners.
Nevertheless, I loved that we were all in agreement that we would live together and do as fate intended.
There would likely be teething issues as we learned to share the space and our routines, especially when we were all such different people, but my dragon was content for the first time in…
well, in forever. I was certain that Sage and Sergio felt the same way.
But did Sergio feel the same urgent need to bond that Sage did?
That my dragon and, by extension, I did?
Or was that just our omega biological urges at play?
I certainly didn’t want to get pregnant like Sage did, but my dragon seemed to be more than happy with the idea of being knotted and bred by our alpha.
Thank the gods for Eric and Brandt’s omega-specific birth control.
Still, I would be beyond happy to see Sage get his wish; for him to conceive and carry our children.
I didn’t have to contribute to their genetics in order for them to be mine, though some part of me still wished that I could have been everything Sage needed me to be.
Not that Sergio was only good for his alpha abilities, mind you.
Sergio seemed to balance Sage and I out.
While Sage and I loved each other deeply and likely always had, we were too different to truly work as a couple on our own.
I would argue that the past century had all but proven that unequivocally.
We were compatible but also incompatible.
But with Serge tempering our volatility and slotting between us like a missing puzzle piece, it just worked.
And he seemed to genuinely treasure us. Not just because he was an alpha and compared to him, we were young, hot omegas, but because he honestly seemed interested in who we were as people.
He was amused by my snark and sarcasm, and he was delighted by Sage’s kindness and effortless charm.
He encouraged our interests when we spoke about them —even back when we were first traveling together— and he added his own suggestions when he thought he could help.
Case in point: while I had zoned out thinking about how lucky we were to have a bright future together, he was giving Sage advice about the unauthorized scent blockers we’d discovered were being used during the Unlocking party.
It was hard to believe that had only been a handful of days earlier. So much had happened since then.
“…perhaps reach out to local law enforcement?” Sergio offered, carding his fingers through Sage’s long hair, the orange-red strands so striking against Serge’s silvery beard and chest hair.
“Beckett said that there was a surprising contingent of shifters working for the local Sheriff, didn’t he?
They should probably be aware that someone is supplying local shifters with homemade chemical concoctions.
” There was a hint of disgust in the way he said it.
“Not a fan of science, magic man?” I prodded with a smirk into his skin.
Sage reached over our alpha’s chest and lightly slapped at my arm while Serge exhaled through his nose, reminding me of his equine form.
“I am, so long as it is used correctly or where the chemicals have been sourced from someone reputable and authorized,” he admitted.
“I can understand why such things exist —and I have been known to use them myself when I am traveling through unknown packs— but to be misused in such a way…” he shuddered and shook his head.
“It makes me uncomfortable. Especially when we don’t know if they are safe, or what else they might be supplying our community. ”
I sobered at his serious tone. “Yes, well, it made our scales bristle, too. Metaphorically speaking.” I recalled my fears about their unknown origin and what kind of nefarious things might happen once our people were lulled into a false sense of security.
“So, I think you’re right. We should see if Beckett can get in touch with some of the shifters in the Sheriff’s office. Get them to keep an ear to the ground.”
“In the meantime, promise me you’ll both be careful,” Sergio tightened his hold around me, and I suspected he was doing the same with Sage. His protective streak was unexpected, but really quite cute. “I don’t like not knowing what else is being distributed around the pack.”
“We’re big boys, Alpha,” I teased lightly, “we’ve managed to survive this long.”
Sage snorted, muttering “Barely,” just under his breath. Removing my hand from toying with Sergio’s delightful silvery chest hair, I poked at Sage’s soft belly, making him squeal and recoil.
“You can speak for yourself,” I told him primly, but my smirk refused to remain hidden.
“Please. I’m not the one who—”
“Children,” Sergio cut Sage off, sounding amused and exasperated, “you’re not going to bicker like this the entire time I’m gone, are you?”
“That depends,” I couldn’t help replying, grinning before I even finished forming the words, “will you punish us, Alpha?”
“Oh, dear lord,” Sage groaned and rolled away from our little cuddle pile. “Really, Dex?”
Stretching out on my back, I shrugged. “Tell me you wouldn’t love a spanking from our sexy silver fox, baby.”
“You’re going to scare him off before he bonds with us,” my best friend pouted at me as he pulled fresh clothes out from the wardrobe.
Sergio laughed. “Nonsense. It would take a lot more than a bratty omega to scare me off, beautiful.”
I gasped, clutching imaginary pearls. “Bratty?!” I feigned outrage, even though I’d thought the very same thing about myself before. Honestly, I wore the adjective with pride, but…I wanted to fuck with my alpha.
Gracefully sitting up and swinging his legs over Sage’s side of the bed, Serge turned his head to face me, arching an eyebrow. “If the shoe fits, dear-heart.”
Snickering, I dropped back onto my pillow. “Well, you’ve clearly got my number, don’t you, darling?”
“I do,” his voice lost its teasing edge, instead going back to that soft, tender place that made me ache inside. “And, like I said earlier, I will call you every day.”
That did not make it any easier to let him go.
"I don't like it," Beckett frowned as we sat around the boardroom-style table, Sage and I having just explained our findings from the Unlocking party. With everything that happened, it felt like a lifetime had passed since then, though it had been less than a week.
I nodded, gazing around the room to take in everyone's matching somber expressions.
The Alpha's meeting room was a large, converted formal dining room in the house he shared with his mate, their two rambunctious children, and the Alpha's sister, Sandy.
Years earlier, Eric had had the room soundproofed for meetings of this nature, and I silently applauded his forward thinking.
Even though the Alpha's house was far enough from the main strip of the town, shifters were inherently nosy folk, most of whom had enhanced senses (including hearing).
It just made sense to have a private space to discuss sensitive topics.
Leaning forward onto the polished surface of the solid timber table, Beckett continued, "Even if the scent blockers are chemically safe, I don't like the idea of them being so readily available.
" He flicked his gaze across the length of the table to where Rex, another alpha, sat scowling in displeasure.
"The Moonmusic people wore blockers when they came for the kids, didn't they? "
Rex and I bobbed our heads in unison, and I averted my gaze from his, ashamed that I hadn't been able to keep the children, including his then-newborn son, safe at the time.