Chapter 21
GABE
It was strange to be back here, holding a baby close to my chest and hand in hand with my fated mate. The bright neon letters flashed overhead, spelling "Tattoo" through the fog. We ducked inside the concrete alcove, damp with condensation, and into the bright interior of the shop.
"There's the machine that changed my life." I pointed to the coin-operated monstrosity that had kicked out lucky number thirteen for me. The thirteenth flash tattoo on the wall was now an otter holding a flopping fish in its hands.
"Look who's here!" Keith's gaze hooked on mine for a moment, but then dropped to Jett. "Oh, wow. What an adorable little one."
"This is Jett," I said, bobbing his clenched fist on my finger in a wave. "And this is Mika."
"The man of the hour," Keith held out his hand. "Pleasure to meet you in person."
Mika frowned. "In person?"
"Sorry. I had a dream about a meerkat shifter looking for his fated mate. The next morning, I drew up the flash piece, and you know the rest." He turned to me with a grin. "Did you learn all about meerkats?"
"More than I wanted to know." I made a show of rolling my eyes before grinning at Mika.
"We don't get many shifters looking for ink," Keith said. "Before you mentioned it on the phone, I'd never thought of using henna."
Mika must have made a face behind me because Keith backpedaled quickly. "I mean, I worked with henna a lot at art school, but here, we specialize in permanent ink."
"Gabe's the one who thought of it," Mika placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed. "I had a bruise that looked like a meerkat once. He wouldn't let it go."
"What can I say? It was sexy." I couldn't see Mika, but I sensed his glare trying to bore through my skull. "Don't look at me like that."
"I've got some designs for you," Keith said, leading us into his cubicle.
The walls went all the way to the ceiling, but it reminded me a lot of my workspace in the courthouse.
Between the drafting table and massage chair sat an adjustable stool on wheels.
Keith rolled it over to the table and motioned Mika to sit in the chair.
I sank onto the padded guest chair by the door.
During my tattoo, I'd daydreamed of a boyfriend sitting in the chair, waiting for me to finish so we both could drool over my new ink.
This was better than I'd ever imagined. Mika's tattoo wouldn't hurt.
When we went home, we still had an evening to ourselves before the party tomorrow.
After putting Jett to bed, I planned to take full advantage of my sexy inked mate before he became my husband tomorrow.
Tonight, we would already be mated in ink.
"What do you think?" Mika pointed to the bust of a meerkat above two peony blooms. "Flowers are wedding-ish, right?"
"It's pretty," I said. "Perfect for a wedding." The best part was the curious meerkat's face, which looked just like my tattoo.
Once Keith laid the stencil, the application took an hour. I watched in rapt attention as Keith followed the lines with the dark green ink.
When Jett grew fussy, I fed him and changed his diaper. Already, his eyes could focus on the cool sketches hanging on Keith's walls. He studied them until he drifted to sleep again.
"All done," Keith said, placing the thin brush down on the implement tray and stretching his arms over his head. "What do you think, Gabe?"
I shuffled Jett to my right arm so I could stretch my tattoo next to Mika's ink. "They match!"
"As they should." Keith laughed. "I've only dreamed of one meerkat, so all my sketches are of him."
He helped Mika stand and walked him to the three-way mirror at the end of the hall of cubicles. "What are your thoughts?"
"It looks great," Mika said. "Even with the temporary ink, the eyes are so expressive."
"Thank you." Keith bowed his head. "I know you probably need to get home," he jerked his chin toward Jett, who was still sleeping in my arms. "Dave wanted me to share how excited he is to meet with you on Monday. He's sketched a few designs that will work with your drawings."
Dave, Keith's husband and designer of awesome otter mobiles, had agreed to meet with me while I was on paternity leave from the courthouse.
He'd been keen on my drawings right away.
When I'd told him about Becca's porcelain bead designs, he offered to make a mold of them for mass production.
We weren't guaranteed success, but if our ideas caught on, it would be easy to replicate them.
"Your art style works better in three dimensions than mine does," Keith continued. "Dave's constantly harping on me to add more detail."
I glanced down at my tattoo, which looked like it could hop right off my arm, it was so lifelike. "I don't understand."
Keith shrugged. "What can I say? Skin is my ideal canvas. It's alive, while everything else is dead."
Mika snapped his fingers. "You're fae."
Keith winked. "Maybe."
"I've been trying to place your scent for the last half-hour." Mika grinned. "A friend of mine is part fae. Your tattoos must be magical. That explains why Gabe felt our bond as soon as I did."
Keith shrugged. "I can neither confirm nor deny what you felt. All I know is, I had a dream of a meerkat, and here you are a year later."
Mika extended his hand, and they shook. "I owe you my thanks. Without the tattoo, Gabe would have kept looking for a big, burly alpha."
I wanted to argue, but he had a point. The pull from the tattoo had given me the courage to question my dad's premise that alphas had to be large, dominant types.
"I'm glad you came to your senses." Keith shook my hand, too, and led us back to the lobby to pay before wishing us a good night.
Jett stirred in the damp air and fussed when I buckled him into his car seat, but he went back to sleep the moment the SUV started moving. Car rides always knocked him out. He didn't wake when I changed his diaper and put him to bed in his crib.
"Now where were we?" I asked Mika as I stripped off my clothes and tossed them in the new wicker hamper we'd bought for our bedroom.
The room was just as big as his old bedroom, and I was still getting used to having so much open space.
It was a long walk to the bed with my semi-erection swinging between my legs.
Still, it had the desired effect. He swallowed hard and patted the bed next to him. "You said something about meerkat tattoos being sexy."
They sure were.
The next day, people started arriving around noon with wrapped gifts for Jett and bottles of wine for our housewarming.
About 15 minutes after Mika's siblings arrived, a yellow SUV pulled up with Nevada plates.
I didn't recognize the man who stepped out of the driver's seat.
When the passenger door opened, there stood my alpha dad.
I did a double take at the driver, and it was Ross, my dad's pretend roommate for the last thirteen years.
He reached into the backseat for a box the size of a microwave.
I owed him an apology for all the grief I'd given him when I was a kid, but first, I needed to say hello to my dad, the guy who had given me life and tried to make a happy home with my omega dad until he just couldn't.
"Hey, Dad," I said, holding my arms out to my side for a hug.
"Gabe." He approached cautiously, as though I might drop my arms and run for the house if he seemed too eager.
When his arms wrapped around me, something snapped in my chest, the last lock I had erroneously put in place to protect my heart from the big bad alphas of the world.
My dad wasn't a bad alpha. He was a man who needed more from life than what my omega dad and I could give him.
"Ross! Good to see you," I said over Dad's shoulder, unable to let go just yet.
"Pipsqueak! You've grown. I hear you have one of your own, now."
I grinned. "Jett's inside with Mika."
Dad squeezed me tight before letting go. "Let's go meet them!"
"Wait," I said, resting my hand on his elbow. "I have something I need to say to you both."
"Just as dramatic as your father." Dad huffed a laugh, but he stayed where he was.
I extended my hand to Ross. "Welcome to the family. I'm sorry I was too stupid to know you were partners."
Ross took my hand, shaking his head. "You weren't stupid, kid. You were blinded by society norms. It's okay."
"We didn't expect you to accept us," Dad said.
The pain in my chest was so sharp, it stung my eyes. "You're my dad. I thought … well, it doesn't matter what I thought. Now that I know the truth, I want you to know I'm happy for you both."
He pulled me into another hug, and then I was the middle of an alpha sandwich with Ross hugging me from behind.
He ruffled my hair and Dad kissed my forehead, and I felt like a kid again.
Only this time, instead of hating being touched by people I assumed hated me, I now knew how much love they had offered me, expecting nothing in return.
"Come on," I said, wiping at the tears flowing freely down my face, "Let's get you some food and show you around."
Food was the Mears family specialty. Mika and Talia had spent weeks planning today's spread, from appetizers to desserts, all spanning the globe and laid out on our kitchen island for everyone to sample at their leisure.
A large bed of ice chilled the cold items, while hot plates and crock pots kept the warm dishes warm.
Talia walked in from the patio, the delicious smell of barbecued ribs following in her wake. She wore a black apron with, "Don't make me poison you," in flowing white cursive letters.
"Dad, Ross, this is Talia, my soon-to-be mother-in-law. Talia, this is Carl and Ross."
"Lovely to meet you both," she said, shaking their hands. "It's been a delight getting to know Gabe this past year. I hope you're staying long enough to catch up."
"If the food tastes as delicious as it smells," Ross said, taking a step toward the open sliding door, "you'll be lucky to get rid of us."
Talia's eyes sparkled. "We've started construction on two more houses. It's my dream to have our grandchildren's extended families living within walking distance."
My laugh sounded a little strangled as I tugged on Dad's sleeve, pulling him toward the main bedroom. "Don't mind her."
"Jerry told me he lives here," Dad said, stopping me in the alcove beside the hallway closet. "Is he still as overbearing as ever? I always thought he was too hard on you."
Since my omega dad had moved in with Mr. Bartleby, the turtle shifter and my former teacher, he had changed his tune about the "right" kind of alpha.
He'd also apologized for his impossible standards, and then almost burying me in books in my efficiency apartment.
We still clashed on some of his traditional views, but we got along much better as neighbors than we did when we lived in the same house.
"He's loosened up," I admitted. "He's happier now."
"Good." Dad's gaze softened, and he nodded. "I'm glad. I would kick his ass for you, though."
I laughed at the absurd comment. Dad didn't fight, not even when my omega dad started shit and tried to piss him off. "He called you a coward, but you're the bravest man I know."
He hugged me, and I puffed my chest out with pride. "You'll like Mika. He's not a fighter, but he's been patient and kind to me, and he's wonderful with Jett."
I took Dad's hand and led him the rest of the way to our bedroom at the back of the house. The low rumble of Mika's voice was answered by Jett's coos. We stopped at the door, grinning as we listened, and then I knocked gently.
Mika and Jett were dancing. That was the best way to describe his gentle rocking as he rubbed Jett's back.
"He just finished a bottle. I didn't want him to spit up on our guests.
" He stopped swaying when his gaze fell on the man behind me.
"Oh, hi! You must be Carl. Nice to meet you.
" He crossed the room with shifter grace and speed, extending his hand.
"Nice to meet you, Mika. And Jett." Dad patted the baby's dark hair. "Already such a big boy!"
"Do you want to hold him?" Mika asked. "He might spit."
Dad laughed as he extended his arms. Mika draped the towel over Dad's shoulder, and Jett made more happy baby noises, perched against his chest. The motion was enough to get him to burp, thankfully with no projectile milk vomit.
"Fabulous," Mika said. "It's time to meet the rest of the family. Where's Ross?"
"I left him with your mom," Dad said.
Mika laughed. "She'll have your new house all picked out and decorated for you by the time we get back to the kitchen."
We gave Dad the tour of our house, ending in the living room. On the smaller side of the corner sectional, my omega dad and Mr. Bartleby flipped through our old photo albums.
"Carl." He said the name without animosity. "Good, you're here! Come look at these pictures from when Gabe was a baby. They say Jett looks like Mika, but I can see Gabe in more than his eyes."
Dad's eyes crinkled as he looked down at Jett, still in his arms. "I see it, too. The way his forehead wrinkles, and the crease between his eyebrows. That's all Gabe." He smiled at me.
"Carl," Ross stood in the kitchen doorway, waving him toward the food. "You have to try the kimchi salad Talia made."
Dad grinned as he handed Jett to me. "He's hooked, for sure."
"This is a great place to live," my omega dad said. "If you're looking."
I blinked at the veiled peace offering. As much as he'd changed, it surprised me that he would be willing to live in the same compound with his ex.
"We'll see." Dad kissed my temple, shook Mika's hand again, and followed Ross back into the kitchen.
I passed Jett to my omega dad for cuddles, my chest still tingling.
I'd expected to be nervous about our sunset nuptials, or worried about my dads' interactions with each other.
I hadn't anticipated being charmed by how cordial my family would be.
The neighboring forest, our house, and the meerkat compound was special, indeed, if it could bring my broken family back together.