Chapter Eight – Bride #2
“My mother was a very stupid human woman who thought my father could survive without his brothers. She didn’t want anything to do with the rest of his pack; she just wanted him to live with her. And he was even more stupid than she was, so he tried.
“His pack was a Tier-Five, and they had been kicked out of a training quarter before he met my mother. Permanently unstable, all of them. And every time he spent a night or two at her place, away from his brothers, he got worse.
“He and my mother were on and off for years, but when I was nine, she’d had enough and decided to break up with him for good.
Along with all his stuff she took from her apartment and dumped at his pack’s house, was me.
But he clearly had no idea what to do with a kid.
A year later, he saw a news story about the Strays Program.
He told me to pack a bag and dropped me off at West Kempton the next day. ”
She turns to him again. “I’m so sorry, Jay. You never saw them again?”
“Thankfully, no.”
Shane’s voice drifts from beside Jay. “My mother was human too. My fathers were soldiers, and she was a librarian at the base community center. She fell in love with them, and they loved her back. So they bonded. Not the way we will tomorrow, but they lived as if they had. They were together for over ten years, but they died on a mission when I was seven.”
“I think she felt guilty, because without the physical bond with a nyra, they stayed stuck at Tier-Four, with the worst deployments and assignments,” he continues. “She fell into a deep depression… and a few months later, she killed herself.
“I ended up with her parents. But they were the bad kind of religious people. From what you’ve told us, not much different from yours. They didn’t want to raise an aegis. So when they heard about the Program, they gave me up in a heartbeat.”
I feel movement. It takes me a minute to realize Jo’s switching places with Jay to be closer to Shane. I think she’s hugging him, or touching him somehow, because I hear his voice, soft and surprised.
“Thank you.”
It feels like a good sign how easy it was to talk to her. But it’s not a topic any of us enjoy, and I’m more than ready to leave it behind.
“What’s your favorite movie?” I ask her.
“Hmm…” she mutters, thoughtful. “I don’t think I have one. I love zombie stuff. Movies, shows, anything.”
“Really?” Jay chuckles, surprised. “I never would’ve guessed.”
“What about you guys?” she asks.
“Face/Off,” I answer without hesitation.
Jo laughs. “Isn’t that the weird one where they switch faces?”
“Yeah. That one,” Shane confirms.
She laughs harder. “You’re kidding. That’s really your favorite movie?”
“In this pack, we don’t speak badly of Face/Off,” Jay says, dead serious.
Jo’s still laughing. “I can already tell movie nights are going to be interesting.”
My heart stutters a little at the way she said movie nights . Like she’s already imagining a future with us. I can’t see my brothers' faces, but I’d bet they are smiling just like me .
After a while, she breaks the silence again, but this time her voice isn’t playful. It’s hesitant and serious. “What about kids?”
“I want them,” Shane says bluntly.
“We all do,” Jay adds. “But it’s up to you whether we actually have them or not.”
We talked about it a few times, and we all want to be something we never had growing up: fathers.
We want to raise kids of our own, to give them what we missed.
Let them grow up surrounded by a pack of dads who show up, who protect them.
Let them have biological brothers, and see them form a pack easily and naturally, without the pain and desperation we went through.
I know it’s not the most noble reason to want kids, but I want them badly enough to do everything I can to become the kind of father who makes up for bringing them into this messy world for my own selfish purposes.
But if she says no, we’ll live with that.
Her voice is still uncertain when she finally answers. “I want them too. Just… not yet. I still have three years left in my medical residency. And it’s not just the insane hours. I want to focus on my career right now. So I can’t think about kids for the next few years.”
“It’s okay,” I say quickly. “We don’t have to rush anything.”
And it’s true. Just knowing it’ll happen someday is enough. I can wait.
We all fall silent again, until she sighs and whispers, “You guys smell so good. I don’t think I’ve ever… It’s green and dense, like I can almost taste the birch. Like walking through the woods right after it rains.”
My smile stretches. “You smell like lilies. It’s the best thing I’ve ever smelled in my life,” I tell her.
“Lilies?” she asks.
“Yeah,” Jay replies. “Just floral and fresh.”
She lets out another long, slow sigh. And after a while, her breathing deepens, quiet and steady, as she slips into sleep.
I drift off a little later, her scent wrapped around me, just like I always dreamed.
When I wake the next morning, she is still sleeping.
I meet Jay’s eyes, and from his face, I can tell he’s been awake for a while already, but he’s obviously staying still to avoid waking her in his arms. Behind him, Shane is awake too, lying on his back, hands folded behind his neck, staring at the ceiling with a big smile on his face.
I thought I’d slept well last night, but I didn’t know what good sleep was until now. I passed out so hard it might as well have been a coma. I don’t think I’ve ever felt this rested in my entire life.
The alarm I set for our appointment at the administrative building hasn’t gone off yet, but the light coming through the window tells me it’s not too early anymore. And since there are four of us and only one bathroom, I decide to get things moving.
I sit up and carefully crawl off the nest. Then I head to the shower.
Half an hour later, when I step out of the bathroom fully dressed, Jo is awake, still sleepy-faced, curled in Shane’s arms, her expression peaceful as he rubs her back.
“Morning, you,” she says, making me smile.
Jay is heading into the bathroom when Shane suddenly asks her, “Do you like beards?”
Jay snorts. “What kind of question is that?”
Shane ignores him completely, eyes still locked on Jo, waiting for her answer.
She shrugs, thoughtful. “Short ones. That stubble you get after a few days.”
Instantly, I regret shaving. I didn’t even think twice this morning, just went through the motions. I’m glad Shane thought to ask. And despite teasing him, when Jay comes out of the bathroom, I notice he didn’t shave.
Great. Just great. Shane won’t now, for sure, so I’ll be the only one with a smooth baby face while my brothers grow the kind of beard she likes.
Shane kisses her on the top of her head and gets up.
She stays curled in the nest, reaching for the phone he gave her to make a call.
Her clear voice carries across the room as she speaks to someone at Joseph Monson Hospital, explaining that she needs to extend her leave.
She was supposed to be back in two days, but with the bond and everything ahead of us, we all need a little more time.
After Shane showers and gets dressed, Jo goes into the bathroom.
When she comes back, draped in a towel, I catch the scent of her shampoo mixed with her lily scent. She’s a vision — skin damp, hair wet and trailing down her back. My cock twitches, desperate.
I immediately turn away, pretending to check something on my phone. I cannot walk across MAB with a fucking boner, so I focus, hard, on literally anything else.
I keep my eyes on the screen while she goes back into the bathroom, the hum of the hairdryer filling the quiet. When she finally steps out, fully dressed, I glance at her, and forget how to breathe. From across the room, I hear one of my brothers gasp.
She’s wearing white. All white. A long dress that clings in all the right places before flowing down to her ankles. Simple, but… fuck.
And then it hits me: she looks like a human bride. Not the princess-ballgown kind. But a bride all the same.