Chapter Twenty-Nine
Two weeks later
Early May
Lucky
“Be safe and have fun,” his papa whispered and hugged Lucky tight.
“I will.” He held his papa longer than necessary, but no one cared. It would be his birthday a few minutes after midnight tonight, and they wanted to be at the resort before then, to give them time to settle in.
“Pip is crying and won’t speak to us. D’you wanna try?” Ford nodded towards the front door where Wynna stood, Pip hiding behind her legs.
It hurt Lucky’s heart, but he walked down the path, stopped steps from Wynna and sank to his knees.
He wouldn’t force a hug or contact with a child who didn’t want it, no matter how badly he needed Pip to understand.
“I wish with all my heart you could come with us, Pip, but you can’t.
No one could take care of you, and I don’t want you being alone or feeling neglected. ”
Pip peeked out behind Wynna’s legs.
“Am I not your imse?” Lucky swallowed his emotions and held his hand out. “Because you will always be my lyloo.”
Pip darted from behind Wynna to run into his arms. Lucky held him and breathed a sigh of relief as Pip whispered, “Come back for me.”
Closing his eyes, he held Pip tighter. “I promise.” Brushing dark hair from big eyes, he smiled. “I’ll keep in touch as often as I can. I don’t want to hurt you, but I might forget.”
Pip sniffed and swiped his sleeve under his nose. “Because of the heat.”
“Exactly. I can’t control it and even if I really want to speak to you, I might forget.”
Ford crouched beside them and placed his hand on Pip’s back. “When we come back, you’ll stay with us for two weeks.”
Reminded of their compromise, Pip hugged Ford. “I’ll miss you,” he whispered, adding another weight to the strings he’d tied around Lucky’s heart.
“You don’t gotta miss us,” Ford reassured, tightening his hug as Chase appeared and raked fingers through Pip’s hair.
“We ain’t gonna be gone long. Tiloo’s gonna take you to the park, bring you to spend time with Xavier, and Neko wants to take you to the cinema at the weekend.
And you’ve got Lucky's wolf to look after you.” Breaking the hug to smile at the sweet boy, he let Lucky wipe away his tears.
“You’re gonna be too busy to care ’bout us.
We’re the ones gonna be wantin’ hugs from our lyloo. ”
Pip raised his arms until Chase picked him up. While Pip sniffed into his shoulder, Chase met and held Lucky’s gaze, a frisson of emotion passing between them.
“I wish we could take you with us.” Chase released one hand to reach out in invitation.
Lucky gratefully moved into his side, resting his head on his free shoulder to look into Pip’s tired, teary eyes.
“One day you’ll understand. We don’t want to hurt you, but we have to do this if you want to come live with us.
We can’t all live together if we’re not bonded and mated, do you understand? ”
Pip nodded but didn’t let him go.
Afraid he wouldn’t leave if he didn’t go soon, Lucky stepped away and hugged Ford’s waist. “I don’t want to go.” He closed his eyes as a wave of comforting flare washed over him. Ford’s hand cupped his hair and he kissed his forehead.
Lifting his ORT badge―with Omha’s protective pouch attached―over his head, Ford undid the clasp and lifted Lucky’s hand to lay it safely over his palm.
He reached behind Lucky’s neck and undid his flower pendant.
Looping the chain through his necklace, he fastened it and left it pooled in Lucky’s palm.
Chase held out his left wrist with a knowing smile. Ford accepted the offer and removed the leather bracelet he often wore. He unclasped the thin black fabric to attach to Lucky’s necklace, then lifted the whole thing over Pip’s neck.
“There. You got a piece of each o’ us wit’ you at all times.
” Ford planted a kiss on Pip’s temple, eyes tense with worry.
“We gotta go. Be good, and listen to your tiloo until we get back.” Ford lifted him from Chase’s arms and set him on his feet.
“Go inside with Tiloro and watch from the window, where it’s warmer. ”
Xavier was officially tiloro or ‘grandpa’, while Jonah struggled to accept that he’d become the more formal ‘grandfather’ with toltoro. Lucky swore the kid spoke more traditional words than he did.
He gripped Chase’s hand to convince himself to wait. Pip walked towards the front door where Lucky’s papa was waiting. Xavier gave a nod and ushered Pip inside, though he paused to turn and wave. Lucky waved and bit his bottom lip.
“He’ll be fine,” Chase whispered, squeezing his hand. “He’s got my mother, and your parents. He’s got our friends, who have fallen in love with him. He’ll be sad, but he’ll be happier once we get back and can move in together.”
Nodding, he tucked his hair over his ear and let Chase lead him to the car. “We’ll miss him more than he’ll miss us.”
Ford nodded for Lucky to step in, then got into the driver’s seat and adjusted the mirror.
They all waved to Pip, but he didn’t realise why Ford was so worried and reluctant to leave until he turned the key in the ignition. Ford glanced through the rear-view mirror and sighed. “This time, he knows his parents want him.”
* * * *
Lucky had done his crying in the car, worrying about Pip.
He’d set an alarm on his phone to remind him to call Pip once a day, if he could.
They were booked for two weeks, and it wasn’t until he stood under the shower in their suite at the resort that it occurred to him that he’d never been away from home for so long.
Wrapping a towel around his waist, he gathered his wet hair over one shoulder and stepped from the bathroom to find someone had opened the balcony doors wide.
A pleasant breeze fluttered through the room, directing him to Chase, who stood at the railing, cigarette in hand, already in his bare feet and stripped to his jeans.
They’d unpacked and ordered room service before they’d settled, not knowing when Lucky’s heat would spark. He’d skipped his Heatwave this morning, as planned, and it was only a matter of time before the effects wore off and he was at the mercy of his first heat.
The resort his parents had gone to had been made into a regular hotel, but they’d found an alternative farther from the city.
Their balcony overlooked the pool and private garden of their apartment, the beach and ocean beyond.
A private entrance and exit meant they wouldn’t bump into anyone unless they wanted to.
Stepping behind Chase, he wrapped his arms around his waist.
“How you feeling?” Chase lifted Lucky’s hand from his chest to kiss his fingers.
“Better.”
Chase stepped closer to the railing and turned to lean back on it, smiling as he raked a hand through Lucky’s hair. “Want me to brush it for you?”
Lucky nodded, appreciating the offer. There was something special about the flash of connection between them when Chase brushed his hair. Taking his hand, he led Chase into the bedroom, where the bed sat opposite the doors, to give a beautiful view.
Chase grabbed the brush from the bedside table and sat cross-legged in the middle of the bed, leaving space for Lucky to sit and lean back on his hands, hair hanging down his back.
“Thank you. For accepting me as I am. For letting me keep Pip.”
“I didn’t let you keep Pip, baby. I just accepted the fact you two were made for each other. The same way I accepted you and Ford were made for each other. Like I was made for him.”
“Ooh, I got back at the right time,” Ford’s voice cut in.
They both turned to find him brandishing his phone. “What are you doing?”
Ford pressed a button and set the phone face down on the bedside table. “I made a video for Pip. If we take some when we’re least likely to get hormone-whipped, we can schedule them. Then it won’t matter if we forget.”
The reasoning was sweet and shockingly apt for the ORTa he’d bonded with, giving Pip contact, while giving them the privacy they wanted and needed.
“Well done,” Lucky congratulated him, enjoying the view as Ford lifted off his T-shirt and unbuckled his jeans. An act that inspired Chase, who dropped a kiss to Lucky’s shoulder, fingers locking with his where they pressed into the mattress. “You boys are trouble.”
Ford’s jeans dropped to the floor and he stepped free from his boxers. Ford pressed his hands into the mattress by Lucky’s hands, looming over him, threatening and powerful. “We’re not boys.”
Lucky hummed and figured there was no better way to start their two weeks than being caught between his two alphas.
“Mister Wolf―” He tipped his head to lean on Chase’s shoulder as he lifted his right leg, deliberately draping it over Ford’s thigh and around his bare waist. “Are you going to eat me?”
Chase
He’d never heard Lucky use that voice before.
Ford nearly swallowed him whole with a hard kiss that had Lucky whining, the scent of his slick permeating the room. His eyes found Chase’s without error while he sucked on Lucky’s tongue, tormenting him.
Chase slid off the bed to remove the last of his clothes. Lucky’s towel was whipped off and tossed aside within seconds of Chase undoing his jeans. By the time he returned to the bed, Lucky was flat on his back, with Ford draped across him.
“Thank the Gods you stopped filming.” Chase nipped at Ford’s neck and hummed when he was kissed hard. He enjoyed a long, lazy taste of his tongue before he broke away to look down and find Lucky biting his thumbnail.
Lying alongside his omega, he turned Lucky for a kiss. Frowning over the angle, Chase broke the kiss and mouthed at Lucky’s neck. He lingered over Lucky’s pulse, working down to his nipple, the ridges of his abdomen and his obliques.
Chase alternated between licks, kisses and nips until Lucky whined and gripped his hair in a tight fist, squirming beneath their dual attention. Lucky murmured and tightened his grip on Chase’s hair, while Ford’s hand tugged more and more noises from his lips.