Epilogue 3
Dominic
My daughter has cake in her hair, frosting on both fists, and a piece of wrapping paper stuck to her cheek that she's been trying to eat for the past three minutes.
The living room of the condo looks like a toy store detonated.
Wrapping paper covers the hardwood in layers.
A stuffed elephant from Tamsin sits on the couch with a bow still attached to its ear.
The cake occupies the center of the kitchen table with a chunk missing where Soleil grabbed a fistful before anyone could stop her as our baby girl sits in her high chair surveying the destruction with visible satisfaction.
"She's eaten more frosting than cake." Amos picks a piece of wrapping paper off the floor. "The sugar intake is going to hit in approximately twenty minutes and we should prepare accordingly."
"She's one. Let her eat frosting." Mattaniah leans against the kitchen counter with a glass of sparkling cider and an energy that's been pushing against me all day. His scent has been running sweet since breakfast, brushing against my senses every time he moves past me.
The cider registers somewhere in the back of my mind. He hasn't touched his wine in a week. I file it away but don't say anything, cataloging everything else that has been off.
It started at breakfast when he wore my shirt to the table with nothing underneath it and made eye contact while licking syrup off his thumb.
It continued through the party preparations when he bent over to pick up a dropped streamer and stayed bent for three seconds longer than the task required.
During the party he sat on my lap instead of the empty chair, shifted his weight until I was half-hard beneath him, and stood to greet Tamsin's arrival as if nothing had happened.
He's been doing this for months. The Omega who used to be slightly more timid now takes what he wants without an apology. I love it. I also want to pin him to the nearest flat surface every time he does it, which is the point.
"Dominic." Mattaniah's voice cuts through. He's standing by the counter with one hip cocked and the cider glass held against his lower lip. "You're staring."
"I'm looking at my mate."
"You're staring at my ass. There's a difference." He takes a sip of the cider and his eyes hold mine over the rim. "Our daughter's birthday party is not the venue."
"You sat on my lap during the party and ground against me while Tamsin was talking about her promotion. You don't get to lecture me about venue."
His cheeks flush but the grin doesn't falter. Amos makes a noise from somewhere behind me that could be a laugh or could be a cough. By the time the party guests start to empty out, I’m on edge, waiting for the last of them to disappear.
Tamsin is the last to go, pressing a kiss to Soleil's frosted forehead and pointing at Mattaniah with a look I wasn't privy to. The condo is ours again, three adults and one sugar-fueled infant who is now attempting to put her entire foot in her mouth.
"Bath time." Amos lifts Soleil out of the high chair while holding her at arm's length because the frosting has spread from her hands to her elbows. "I'll handle this. You two handle..." He looks between us. "Whatever is happening here."
"Nothing is happening here." Mattaniah's voice comes off innocent but nobody is fooled.
"Something has been happening here since breakfast." Amos carries Soleil toward the bathroom. "I have eyes and a functional bond, Niah. Clean up the cake."
The bathroom door closes and the faucet starts running as Soleil's shriek carries through the wall. She hates bath time with a passion Amos attributes to my genetics.
Mattaniah picks up the cake knife and starts cutting the remaining cake into storage portions, his back to me, his loose clothing hinting toward something I now need an answer to. I wait for a little while, though, content to watch our Omega. "You've been bratty all day." I say it from the doorway.
"I've been festive." He doesn't turn around. "It's our daughter's birthday. I'm celebrating."
"You're testing me."
"Maybe." The cutting pauses as he glances over his shoulder, the look in his eyes making my cock twitch against my zipper. "What are you going to do about it, put another baby in me?"
My hands grip the door frame. His scent has shifted, the coconut deepening into the cream that means he's aroused, filling the kitchen between us. "Maybe I will."
"Too late." Amos' voice carries from the bathroom doorway. He's standing there with Soleil on his hip wrapped in a towel, his glasses fogged from the bath steam. "I already did."
The kitchen goes silent except for Soleil babbling against Amos' shoulder.
"You knew." I look at Amos.
"He threw up Tuesday morning and again Thursday. He's been avoiding his morning coffee for a week. His scent changed three days ago, the same vanilla and honey shift from last time." Amos adjusts Soleil on his hip. "I bought a test yesterday. He took it this morning before the party."
"You took a test this morning and didn't tell me." I turn to Mattaniah.
"I was going to tell you before the party." His hand stays on his stomach. "Then you kept staring at my ass and I got distracted."
"You're pregnant."
"You both fuck me constantly." He sets the cake knife down. "What did you expect?"
"I'm not complaining." I push off the door frame and cross the kitchen. His back hits the counter as my hands find his hips and lift him onto the granite.
"I’ll put Soleil down for her nap and I'll join you." Amos carries her down the hall toward the nursery. "Give me five minutes."
"Five minutes." Mattaniah says it against my mouth. "We can work with five minutes."
I carry him to the bedroom, eagerly taking in everything about his body. How did I not notice? The changes are subtle but he’s got that same glow as when he was pregnant with Soleil.
"Stop looking at me like that." His voice comes out breathless when I lay him down on the mattress.
"Like what?"
"Like you're cataloguing me."
"I am cataloguing you." I pull my shirt over his head and toss it on the floor. "I'm cataloguing every part of you that's different from the last time I had you on this bed."
"I'm fatter."
"You're fuller." I press my mouth against his collarbone and his back arches off the mattress.
His scent blooms under my mouth, coconut cream and the new vanilla undertone.
My mouth moves down his chest to his belly, tracing the faint silver lines left behind from the first pregnancy.
"Every part of you that changed from carrying Soleil is the part I want to worship. "
"Worship is a strong word for a man who just carried me to bed like a sack of potatoes."
"You weigh more than a sack of potatoes and I'm not apologizing for the delivery method." I mouth the skin below his navel and his hips lift off the bed. My teeth press against his hip bone and he gasps. "You've been pushing me all day. You wanted this."
"I wanted this since I woke up this morning." His hands find my hair and grip. "I'm pregnant and hormonal and you looked stupidly attractive holding Soleil while she smeared cake in your hair."
"Stupidly attractive is a new one."
"It's the only accurate description." He pulls my head up by the hair until we're face to face. "Are you going to keep talking or are you going to fuck me?"
I kiss him because the answer is both. The taste of sparkling cider and frosting on his tongue makes the last thread of restraint snap.
His legs wrap around my waist, his heels digging into my lower back.
The sound he makes when I grind against him is loud enough to carry through walls.
A whine that starts low in his chest and pushes out of him before he can catch it, the Omega response he used to choke back and now lets fill the room.
"Amos is going to hear that." I pull back enough to strip my shirt off.
"Good. Maybe he’ll get Soleil down faster, then." Mattaniah's hands find my belt and pull. "Get these off."
His pants follow mine, the slick already there, warm against my fingers when I slide my hand between his thighs. His body is more responsive since the first pregnancy, his need for us growing over the past year we’ve been together.
"Dominic." His voice cracks when my fingers push inside him. "Please."
"Please what?"
"Please don't make me beg when I'm already wet and pregnant and asking nicely."
"That's not asking nicely. Asking nicely involves the word please without the commentary."
"Please fuck me, you insufferable Alpha, before I finish without you and ruin your ego."
The bedroom door opens and Amos slips in, pulling his shirt over his head as he crosses to the bed.
"She's asleep. The sugar crash hit early.
" He climbs onto the bed behind Mattaniah after setting the baby monitor on the nightstand, our Omega's body settling back against his chest. "What did I miss? "
"Your mate called me an insufferable Alpha and threatened to come without me."
"Both accurate assessments." Amos’ pine and cedar scent wraps around us from behind, mixing with ours making the bedroom smell like all three of us. "A second pregnancy, Niah. You're going to give Dominic another excuse to hover."
"I'm going to give Dominic a heart attack." Mattaniah tips his head back against Amos' shoulder, exposing the bond marks on both sides of his neck. "He removed the step stool last time. What's he going to do this time, bubble wrap the furniture?"
"I'll consider it." I position myself between his legs and push inside him.
The warmth of him around me makes my vision narrow. Amos holds him from behind, one hand on his stomach, his mouth on the bond mark on Mattaniah's neck. The Omega between us arches, a small sound escaping his lips and into the room.
I’m instantly glad we sprang for soundproofing the bedroom or we’d never be able to have moments like this, where it’s still just us three.
I thrust deep and hold there. His eyes find mine, the challenge from the kitchen still there, burning through the pleasure.
"Harder." He says it looking directly at me. "I've been waiting all day."
The bed frame protests against the wall as I pull out and slam back in, Mattaniah's hands fisting in the sheets.
Amos shifts behind him, pulling away from Mattaniah's back. He moves up the bed and kneels beside Mattaniah's head, his hand sliding into our Omega's hair. Grinning, I pull from Mattaniah and flip him over before thrusting back in.
Mattaniah opens his mouth before Amos is even fully in position. The sound Amos makes when Mattaniah takes him in is raw, his hand tightening in Mattaniah's curls, his pine and cedar scent flaring sharp with arousal.
Mattaniah’s lids slip shut as he finds Amos' thighs for balance. His scent has gone wild, the coconut so sweet it coats the back of my throat, mixing with the slick and the sweat and Amos' until the room is thick with all three of us.
"Look at you, firefly." I say it against his throat while my hips drive into him. "Taking both of us like you were made for it."
Amos' thumb traces Mattaniah's cheekbone. "So good, Niah." His voice has gone rough, his hips moving in shallow thrusts that match my deeper ones. "So good for us."
Mattaniah whines around Amos and the vibration makes Amos’ stomach constrict, my bite mark in his side morphing with the movement.
My attention moves back to our Omega as I lean down and seal my mouth over the bond mark on the left side of Mattaniah's neck, his orgasm hitting so hard his whole body locks.
The clench around my cock pulls me over the edge as I thrust one last time, my knot swelling in his ass. Amos follows a breath later, his hand fisted in Mattaniah's hair before he pulls out. I twist us onto our sides as my knot continues to expand, fully locking our Omega to me.
I press a kiss to my mark on Mattaniah’s shoulder, his whole body shuddering at the contact before he groans and then relaxes. Amos snorts as he climbs onto the bed and curls around Mattaniah. “Feel better?”
Mattaniah nods, kissing the Alpha’s chest. “I’ll feel even better knowing that Dominic isn’t going to get all weird again now that I’m pregnant.”
I slide my hands between Amos and Mattaniah, cradling the barely there curve of our Omega’s belly. “It’s not weird to be protective of my mates, of our Omega, firefly.”
“Then leave the step stool this time so I can get to the mugs.”
Amos just laughs, knowing very well I’m not going to give up on that. “No, I won’t be doing that. Step stools are a hazard. I'll get your mugs for the rest of your life." I press my mouth against his shoulder and then back over the bond.
"You're going to get my mugs for the rest of my life? Really?” He turns his head and looks at me. "That might be the most romantic thing you've ever said."
A small smile splits across my face as I kiss him, feeling him melt completely between us. “Don’t tell anyone,” I whisper against his lips. “I’ll deny it.