Chapter Seventeen #2
While we hadn’t known each other long enough to exchange declarations of love, it would probably crush me if that was the case.
And, if Sergio found other omegas, I doubted he would want to settle down and start a family with me.
Even now, I worried that he would come back and tell me that he really did think he was too old to sign up for newborns and diapers and bottles and colic.
He had every right to feel that way. Babies weren’t easy.
Even if infancy was barely a blip in our extended lifespans, it would still be understandable if Serge didn’t want to sign up for parenthood.
He’d gone several hundred years as an unmated beta, after all.
And he already has a biological child. Maybe even more that we don’t know about.
Those thoughts made me squirm with discomfort, too. I was technically cradling one of my alpha’s grandsons in my arms, and knowing that still made me feel weird, even if neither of my mates seemed bothered by the Jerry Springer-esque tangle of relationships forming in our pack.
“Perhaps with the mass Unlocking events…” Brandt tried again, clearly wanting to soothe my pain.
I almost broke. The words were right there on the tip of my tongue.
I have an alpha.
I bit the confession back, forcing a smile instead. “Maybe,” I said cheerily, ignoring the tightness in my belly. I hated lying, even by omission.
But, until I knew for sure where we all stood and where our relationship was going, I wasn’t going to say anything.
Especially with Brandt knowing how badly Dexter had hurt me in the past. I didn’t need a lecture on being fooled twice.
If everything fell apart again, I would rather keep that to myself.
Brandt eyed me warily for a moment, slowly nodding. “Alright,” he eventually said, “I will let it drop for now. But I am here for you, Sage. Do not forget that.”
Ugh. He was only making me feel worse. “I won’t.”
“And no more withdrawing, either,” he continued, then gestured between the babies. “Your nieces and nephews need you in their lives, too.”
Oof.
As if to punctuate the statement, Finlay stirred in my arms, stretching his tiny body and jerkily flailing his arms. His eyes opened into narrow slits and his tiny face scrunched in displeasure before he let out a loud wail.
“Aww, sweetheart,” I cooed, rocking him, “did Papa’s melodramatic ranting wake you up?"
Brandt snorted and rolled his eyes, reaching for Patrick who was also whimpering his way into wakefulness. “They’re hungry,” he told me, “and probably need to be changed as well.”
I’d done a pretty good job of avoiding most of the girls’ diaper changes to date, but it felt mean to make Brandt manage on his own when he was only two weeks post-partum and had walked all the way to my house.
Looking down at the unhappy baby in my arms, I pretended to sigh. “Well, buddy, I can take a hint. At least you’re only wet, hmm?” Reaching for the diaper bag, I waved off my brother’s attempts to get up. “You get that one fed while I deal with this little guy, and then we’ll swap.”
Brandt slumped back in his seat with relief, then began unbuttoning his shirt with one hand, expertly cradling Patrick in his other arm. “Thanks,” he said, peeling a round gauzy patch from over his nipple with a slight wince.
I knew from having seen this routine after his first pregnancy that the adhesive from the breast pads pulled at his skin and the light chest hair he had over his pecs.
But I also knew that he hated the feeling of leaking against his shirts, so the discomfort of taping the breast pads on was worth it to him.
As much as I desperately wanted kids, I wasn’t jealous of everything Brandt was experiencing as a modern omega. However, as he guided Patrick to his exposed chest and the baby latched on, suckling rhythmically, I couldn’t help but notice the contentment and adoration on my big brother’s face.
That I was jealous of.
With a lump in my throat, I pushed to my feet and carried the diaper bag and wailing baby into my bedroom, giving in to the distraction of the task at hand.
I scarcely allowed myself to hope that I could have all of this for myself one day after all.
If only my alpha would come home to discuss it all properly.
“I miss you both terribly,” Sergio said, looking almost as miserable as I felt on the phone screen. Dex’s phone was propped on the coffee table, and we were squished against each other, leaning forward as we sat on the couch, having our daily conversation with our alpha.
He’d been gone almost a month by this point, and even though Dex and I had each other, the house didn’t feel like home. We could both feel it. Something —someone— was missing. It was upsetting us both.
“I thought you said you’d be back by the end of this week,” I complained, unable to prevent the pout in my voice. The fears that he would change his mind or find other omegas were swirling inside me, growing with intensity the longer he remained so far away.
Serge’s expression fell. “I know, beautiful. But arranging transport for some of my possessions has proven more difficult than I anticipated.” He scrubbed a hand over his face tiredly, sighing, “It was much easier transporting things internationally thirty years ago.”
At my side, Dex chuckled. “Technology has improved too much, hasn’t it, old man?”
“Brat,” Sergio’s reply was affectionate, but he sighed again. “If I could just leave it all here, I would, but many of the relics are irreplaceable. And some of the tonics and herbs are hard to come by as well.”
Swallowing down a sudden wave of irrational anger, I tried to put myself in our alpha’s shoes.
He was moving his entire life to be with us, and if these things were important to him, they should be important to me, too.
Or, if not important to me, I should at least try to understand their significance to him and to his work.
“We’ll also look into ways to ship it all back here,” I said, considering who of my contacts in Europe might be able to help.
Shifters had an underground network to bypass human laws with these kinds of issues, after all.
I wondered how many people Sergio had already reached out to.
“Send us the list of the people you’ve already approached for help so we don’t double handle things. ”
“Mmm, but I do so enjoy being double handled,” Dex gave my shoulder a playful nudge with his own.
I fought a smirk as Sergio groaned on the other end of the call. “Don’t tease me, dear-heart, that’s cruel.”
“You could always put on another show for us, Serge,” Dexter flirted back.
I nodded enthusiastically.
We had become masters at the art of phone sex, and I was glad that we had found our mate in a time where video calls were possible. Just the idea of going through something like this twenty or more years earlier —or at a time before phones at all— made my stomach churn and my heart squeeze.
Sergio laughed, scratching at the beard which had grown longer during our month of separation. “Will you also put on a show for me?”
Like getting naked and naughty with Dex is any kind of hardship.
My omega mate shot me a sly grin, letting me know he was probably thinking along the same lines I was. “Oh,” he drawled, “I think we can think of something.”
Before I could come up with my own playful lines, Dexter’s mouth was slanted over mine, his tongue coaxing my lips to part. I whimpered into his mouth, sliding my hands under his t-shirt, needing to feel skin-on-skin.
“That’s it,” Serge’s voice had gone low and raspy, “I love watching you together. Fuck, you’re perfect.”
I wished he was there with us instead of just on the video call, but I had to admit that I felt a thrill of excitement every time we did this. I felt kind of like we were Serge’s personal porn stars or something.
Adrenaline spiked at the thought of having sex on camera for someone —for my alpha— and being able to hear his enjoyment and his requests for how he wanted us to move or fuck each other got me almost as slick as if he was in the room with us.
Dexter’s mouth moved away from my lips, giving me a chance to breathe and moan as he peppered kisses down my jawline and neck.
We tugged each other’s shirts off and wriggled out of our pants at our alpha’s requests, and I turned to look at the phone screen when Dexter started sucking a hickey onto the other side of my neck.
Sergio had moved into the bedroom of the tiny apartment he’d spent the past month packing up.
It was barren now, with a stack of boxes just visible on the other side of the bed from where he must have propped his phone on the nightstand.
But that wasn’t where I focused my attention.
Sergio was stretched out on the mattress, his own shirt discarded and his jeans open at the fly.
I groaned as I watched him stroking himself, his hooded eyes staring back at us intently.
“Are you getting wet for me?” He asked between heavy breaths. “I miss sinking inside your perfect, slick bodies so damn much.”
“Yes,” I hissed, writhing on the couch, my ass clenching at air.
I missed the feeling of having my alpha inside me, too. Not only that, but I regretted not letting him knot me. I’d thought I could handle a few weeks of not experiencing it, but now I wished that I had thrown caution to the wind and let my alpha fill me up and lock himself inside me.
As it was, the thought was a reminder that I really did need to talk to Eric about taking the omega birth control pills. If I arranged that immediately, I would hopefully be all set for when my alpha returned…and then he could finally knot me.
“Spread your legs for me, beautiful, and let Dexter tell me how slick you are for us.”
I did as I was told, slinking down into my seat to part my thighs further. My eyes fluttered shut as Dex’s long fingers trailed down my taint and to my dripping hole. He made a pleased sound as he sucked on my earlobe, then he turned to the phone.