Epilogue
Four months later
Late September
Ford
Lucky lifted a box from the moving van and staggered as its weight settled into his arms, with no support from the truck.
Ford was caught between the instinct to help and watching Lucky push his limits. He was a stubborn bugger. A second stumble had Ford leaving the front doorway and coming up behind his omega. He wrapped both arms around him and supported the weight of the box.
“Thank you, my wolf.” Lucky tilted his head up and released the box into his hands.
“You’re welcome, flower.” Ford lifted the box to let Lucky duck away.
Lucky reached into the truck and removed a box he didn’t struggle to carry. “I’ll head in and see how Chase is getting on with the garage.”
One step from the truck, the distinct sound of a car approaching on the gravel road made him pause. Ford smiled at the sight of a black car coming up the drive. Trust Wynna to use one of the ORT trucks to visit.
Carrying the box to the open front door, he stepped into the hallway and placed the box on the side table.
The house was big, but he loved having space to grow into—multiple bedrooms, wide-open spaces, clean and brightly decorated with lots of light. After three months of hard graft, renovations and redesigning, they’d finally brought everything up to Lucky’s standards.
Ford headed to the driveway to check the van. There were only a couple boxes left, a table, and a railing of clothes, meaning he’d have to climb inside to check nothing was hiding in the shadows.
The car parked, barely stopped long enough for a seatbelt to be unclipped before the door opened and Pip shot out. “Tauri!” he shouted, running across the gravelled driveway.
Ford bent to catch him and lift him off his feet. When Pip hugged him tight and sniffed, he rubbed a hand up his back to soothe him. “How are you?”
“Good. Better.”
Ford nodded hello to Wynna as she slid a handbag over her forearm. “Boss. You coming in?”
Wynna hovered, inspecting a rose bush Lucky had planted by the window. She cocked her head at Pip, who stayed buried in Ford’s neck, getting his emotions under control. “Are you okay, Philip?”
With a sniff that made Ford worry about his T-shirt, Pip lifted his head. “Yes, Tiloo.”
“Did I hear my grandbaby?”
Ford rolled his eyes as Xavier stepped out of the front door. He framed Pip’s cheeks and beamed at his grandbaby.
Pip squeaked in happy surprise. “Hi, Tiloro.”
Pip wasn’t happy enough to release Ford, but let Xavier smother him in kisses and answered when asked if he was okay. Everyone was on edge about his well-being, now the revocation was official, but he was coping better than expected.
Lucky stood in the doorway, shaking his head. “Come inside. We’re unpacking the kitchen and I can finally find the coffee.”
Wynna stepped inside, chatting with Xavier while Lucky swapped places to greet Pip with smiles and kisses. He had no idea how fucking sexy he was when he got domestic.
After Lucky headed inside, Ford lowered Pip to his feet and crouched beside him. “You need to say anything before we go inside?”
Pip shook his head and gripped his T-shirt, not ready to let go.
He and Lucky had talked about that, worried he would become dependent if they didn’t face the problem soon.
They’d batted around the idea of therapy, but Pip swore that he’d always be honest, telling Ford or Lucky his secrets.
Unless that changed, they’d wait to bring Dr. Kai in for a consultation.
Ford kissed his fingers and crossed to the truck to remove a box they’d left for this moment. He held out the box for Pip, whose eyes widened. “Can you carry this inside for me?”
Pip took the light box and waited as Ford grabbed a far heavier box. Since the railing of clothes and the table had been removed while he wasn’t paying attention, Ford rolled down the van shutter and signalled for Pip to follow him inside.
Once Pip was in the hallway, Ford kicked the front door shut and led him into the living room, where Jonah and Xavier occupied the two-seater.
Lucky was unpacking the kitchen, while Wynna stood in the archway between the two rooms, inspecting a painting Phoenix had gifted them as a house-warming present.
Grant and Neko were picking up Kain, Caroline and Phoenix on the way, for tonight’s house-warming party, while Jesi and Sykes had to wait until they finished work before stopping by, with a few other ORT.
Ford set his box on the wall-to-wall storage in the living room and took a single step back when he heard a door shut. Chase walked in the back door, brushing dust from his shoulders. Lucky’s laughter was full of warmth, as he shook his hand through Chase’s hair, dislodging more dust.
They exchanged a few words, quiet and barely a step apart.
Whatever Chase said had Lucky blushing, no doubt teasing him for his antics that morning, when he’d kept them in bed for two hours, despite his heat ending three days ago.
Their bed being a mattress on the floor, for one night, hadn’t stopped him from getting creative.
Ford was tempted to go through and find out what they were talking about, but Chase nibbled on Lucky’s ear and his eyes darted up.
Ford winked to acknowledge their flirting.
As Lucky’s true mate, Chase was twice as susceptible to the heat hormones. Whereas Lucky’s heat made Ford horny as hell, Chase had been insatiable for the entire four days, and he was pleasantly exhausted from catering to their needs.
A tug on his T-shirt had Ford looking down to find Pip holding his box. “Where would you like me to put this, Tauri?”
Ford evaluated the wall of bookcases and folded his arms. “That shelf. Can you unpack the box for me, as well?”
Pip beamed, like he’d been given an important task, and placed the box on the lower shelf. With gentle hands, he unfolded the box they’d cut the tape from, and removed thin paperback books. He placed them into a pile on the shelf and frowned, unaware everyone’s eyes were on him.
Xavier whispered to Wynna, while Jonah covered his mouth with a hand, no one wanting to ruin the surprise, even when Pip scratched his head.
Pretending to unpack the other box of books he’d brought in, Ford waited for Pip to speak.
“Why d’you have picture books?”
“This’ll be our home. We gotta make sure everyone’s got what they’re needin’, and kids need books, right?”
Pip touched the books tentatively and rubbed his eye. “Is Imse having a baby?”
Chase choked on his sip of coffee as he walked into the room. “I fucking hope not,” he muttered, not quiet enough to avoid being heard.
Lucky folded his arms with an unimpressed raised eyebrow.
“What a shocking way to talk about your future child,” he complained, which made Chase turn to Ford in panic.
“I’m not pregnant.” He rolled his eyes and left the kitchen to cross to Pip, where he sank to his knees beside him.
“But we are bringing a baby into the house.”
Pip rubbed his eye harder, until Ford worried he would hurt himself.
Lucky took his hand and held eye contact. “You.” He patiently waited for Pip to look up, the tears he’d been hiding finally falling. “You’re ours, aren’t you?”
“I’m not a baby,” Pip said, sounding lost and broken.
Brushing aside a strand of hair from his eyelashes, Lucky sounded like he wasn’t far from crying. “You’ll be my baby. My first baby.”
Ford crouched beside Pip and rubbed his back as the tears flooded, a perfectly natural response.
Lucky was the first person outside of his family to want him, love him and claim him, without condition.
Lucky had promised that, no matter what children they had, Pip would always be their first child, even if he wasn’t of their bond.
He wished to fuck his heart didn’t bleed emotion to the point he could barely hold back.
Pip leaned against his side and allowed Ford to comfort him. “S’ppose.”
“You’ll like the books.” Lucky leaned in close. “They belonged to Ford, when he was little.”
They were some of the few possessions he still had from his childhood.
Hidden in a safe place that was nothing but an old safe in an abandoned office building.
When he’d got his first stable place to live, a squat barely worth calling ‘home’, he’d gone back from pure curiosity, stunned to find they were still there.
It turned out one of the local gangs he’d fought for had made sure they stayed safe, and Ford had been lugging them around ever since, as the only reminder of his childhood he cared to keep.
He never thought he’d be giving them to his own kid.
“You’ll let me read them?”
“Let you?” He brushed at the tears on Pip’s cheeks. “Nah. They’re yours now.”
Chase abandoned his coffee to kneel next to Lucky.
Ford opened the bottom drawer of the bookcase and pointed to the box inside. “That’s for you, too.”
Confused, Pip let Ford hold the box while he lifted the lid.
He handled the frame inside delicately, not even noticing when Ford discarded the box.
Peeling back the cover Lucky had used to protect the glass during transit, Pip hiccupped and pressed a fist to his mouth.
More tears trailed his cheeks as he looked at Lucky, then at Chase and Ford.
“It’s all legal.” Chase brushed at Pip’s tears and kissed a tear from Lucky’s cheek.
Pip held the framed adoption certificate to his chest, cosied into Ford and cried.
Ford rubbed his back while Chase handed Lucky a tissue.
“You’re mine, Lucky’s and Chase’s first kid.
You’re ours, from your stubborn head to your toes.
When we do have a baby together, you’ll be a big brother, helping us take care of our omega, right? ”
When Pip gazed at Lucky, teary-eyed and adoring, their omega summoned a smile. “Would you like a tour? You have your own room, with a door connecting to the playroom, and a library on the other side.”
Pip chewed his bottom lip. “Where do you sleep?”
“We’re at the other end of the hall. Just knock on the door if you want us.”
Since they couldn’t blatantly warn Pip about Lucky’s heats, they’d agreed closed doors demanded a knock. That way they’d set a good example for Pip, and he wouldn’t walk in on anything he couldn’t scrub from his memories.
“Tiloo says it’s polite to knock.” Pip gave an accepting nod, then peeked at Ford. “Can I wait?”
Lucky opened his mouth, happy to give Pip whatever he wanted and needed, but Ford suspected what Pip was thinking and signalled for Lucky to wait. Lucky squeaked, cutting himself off, waiting impatiently as Ford tipped Pip’s head up.
“Tell me why.”
Hugging the frame tighter, Pip couldn’t look him in the eye. “I don’t wanna see until I can stay there.”
He hugged Pip tight, relieved by the hand that gripped his T-shirt in proof that Pip felt safe leaning on him, without shame or being told he shouldn’t need comfort.
They’d forgotten that surprises had never been kind to Pip and hadn’t anticipated him thinking the worst. They’d made such good progress in the last few weeks, even Ford hadn’t expected this.
“You’re adorable.” He brushed away Pip’s tears. “See that adoption certificate in your hands? That means you’re ours. Always. You ain’t gotta stay with Tiloo, unless you wanna. If you wanna live wi’ us, ain’t no one can stop you. You don’t have to leave today, because this is your home.”
“You can sleep with us, tonight, if you don’t like being in a strange house at night,” Lucky promised, something they’d all agreed on.
Being in a new place might be overwhelming and their new bed was big enough for one kid to join them.
They’d decided to make the offer and let Pip decide what he wanted to do.
Pip sniffed and rubbed at his eyes, glancing between the three of them before he barrelled into Chase so hard he fell onto his ass. Ford could see the curse he’d bit back, but he held Pip, despite the frame he clung to in one arm now pressed against Chase’s shoulder.
“I’ve got you.” He rubbed his back and shifted to sit comfortably on the floor. “Thank you,” he mouthed when Ford slipped the frame from Pip’s grip.
Setting the frame onto the bookcase, he noticed Xavier was crying and whispering to Wynna, who looked as pleased as Jonah. As Chase removed one hand from Pip’s hair to brush away Lucky’s tears, his mouth pinched, fighting tears.
“Don’t you start.” Ford hated Pip’s sadness, sobbing and clinging to Chase, but if Chase started crying he was a goner.
The sweet kid hiccupped. “Papa?”
Chase held him tight and rocked Pip. “Yes, I’m your papa.”
That vulnerable, helpless look in Chase’s eyes, Pip’s tears and Lucky’s sadness, hit Ford like a brick to the gut.
Shifting to sit against the bookcase, he bent his knees and raked a hand through his hair.
“Get over here.” Ford wiped at his eyes as the tears fought through.
Dropping one knee, he smiled when Lucky practically crawled into his lap and leaned against his chest.
Chase had to half-lift Pip off his feet to get on his knees, but this was better. Sitting beside him, Pip took advantage of the proximity to snuggle half against Chase and half against Ford’s arm.
Lifting his arm around Chase, he brushed his fingers through Lucky’s hair and closed his eyes. This had been a long time coming.
This wasn’t just a house to live in but a place to build a life, to have a family—a solid, stable home to raise Pip.
This was his fresh start. A chance to be a real alpha to his omega.
A chance to be a father to his child, whenever his boys were ready.
To be Pip’s father. To help Chase transition from uncle to father.
There was still shit to sort through, chaos and upheaval as they settled into the house and learned to live under one roof. This would be the most chaotic roller-coaster of his life…and he couldn’t wait.