31. Binnie
Strong fingers dug into the muscles of Binnie’s back. He groaned into Ollie’s belly as the omega combed fingers through his hair. Deke sat on Binnie’s thighs, working his mean little fingers deep into his shoulders, trying to break up the knots there. They were currently lying in the pack nest, Ollie propped up on pillows, Binnie lying between his sprawled legs, his cheek resting on his belly, the steady thud of two heartbeats lulling him—one fast, one slow.
Fen and Seth were sound asleep beside them, tangled up in each other like two sated puppies, happy and warm in the safety of the nest. Binnie had attempted to decline Deke’s offer of a massage. It wasn’t like he and Ollie weren’t dealing with problems of their own. But Deke said he needed a distraction and his massages were too rough for Ollie’s pregnancy-sensitive muscles.
Binnie had agreed but only if Ollie would act as a pillow. Hearing the baby’s crazy fast heartbeat soothed him almost as much as Ollie’s fingers combing through his hair or Deke’s fingers untying the knots beneath his skin. Part of him felt bad for needing a break. San’s rut had taken a lot out of him. His body just wasn’t made to be bred repeatedly for days on end.
San somehow managing to wear even Seth and Fen out had made him feel a bit validated. They had to call in their alphas. Neither Saint nor Loch were equipped to handle San’s rut either, but they’d take it without complaint, whether he wanted to fight or fuck…or both.
Saint had purely selfish motives. He was hoping to throw himself into rut so he could finally put a baby in Seth. Binnie’s chest lit up at the idea of two babies. Babies just made a pack better. It would make their big, cold fortress of a house a home. Well, more of a home. Deke collapsed on top of Binnie, blanketing his weight there, nestling his nose against his scent gland, inhaling deeply. The three just laid there, breathing each other in, content in the silence.
It had been two days since the info dump from Shane and Bas. Seth had been carefully adding each new detail to his murder board, little pink tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth as he happily wound different colored string over strong magnetic push pins. It was cute. Seth was cute. Everything he did was also cute. Seth pregnant would send the pack’s cuteness aggression to a hundred. They could barely keep their hands off Ollie and he was borderline standoffish on a good day.
“What are you gonna name her?” Binnie asked suddenly, caressing Ollie’s stomach.
“Her?” Deke mumbled against his throat. “Do you really think it’s a girl?” Ollie’s scent withered, immediately snagging Deke’s attention. “What, you don’t want a girl?”
Ollie shook his head. “It’s not that. I just think maybe we shouldn’t get too…” Binnie looked up to see Ollie had tears in his eyes.
“Too attached?” Seth asked.
They looked in the direction of the omegas to find them awake. Ollie nodded.
The two omegas flanked Ollie immediately, scenting him.
“Don’t think that way,” Fen said. “We’re not going to let anything bad happen to you or the baby.”
“He’s right,” Seth added. “We’ll keep you safe. Promise.”
Ollie smiled weakly. “You can’t promise that. There are no guarantees. We don’t know who we can trust or who we can’t. We don’t even know if my body is equipped to sustain a viable pregnancy.”
Binnie moved off Ollie, letting Deke take his place. The baby alpha pressed his face to Ollie’s belly, pushing his shirt up to kiss the skin there. “Your body was equipped enough to get pregnant in the first place. There’s no reason to think you won’t be able to carry them to term.”
Ollie shook his head. “That’s just wishful thinking. I haven’t even seen a doctor. I can’t see a doctor. It’s too risky. Am I supposed to go through this entire pregnancy not knowing if the baby is even okay?”
“Do you want me to call Bas?” Deke asked. “I can push him, tell him if he wants anything from me, he needs to deliver. I can do whatever you need.”
Deke climbed up Ollie, scenting him, careful not to put too much pressure on his mate’s stomach.
Ollie tilted his head to the side for Deke, but it didn’t seem to stop his panic. “Pushing him won’t make this happen any faster, and it definitely won’t make them inclined to help us with our registry problem. We just have to…wait and see.”
“They’ll do whatever they need to get my blood,” Deke said. “They’ve run out. That’s why Dresden and Hearst were stalking potential enigmas in the first place. I’m it. Well, as far as they know, anyway.”
“Are you really okay with them using your blood for experiments?” Binnie asked, sitting next to Fen before pulling him into his lap.
“What do I care? As long as they’re not using it to hurt anyone,” Deke said. “I don’t plan on taking their word for it, though. I want to see their facilities. I want to know exactly how they plan to use my blood. I want to know what happens to someone’s body when an enigma’s blood is introduced into their system. Am I just a genetic defect, or is there something more I should be doing to help people?”
Binnie nodded. Would Deke going into rut again, change more of the pack? Was it something that could be done consciously or was it triggered in some way? Was it proximity, or did it have to do with some kind of exchange of bodily fluids? And if so, how did he trigger Loch going from recessive to dominant without touching him? Or had they just not noticed the exchange at some point?
“Your thoughts are so loud,” Fen said around a yawn, snuggling deeper into his arms. “I think we should let them prove they have the pull they do and then we tour the facilities, make them show us everything, even the restricted stuff.”
“Should I let Win be my doctor? I know she has the medical knowledge, but can we trust her with the baby?” Ollie asked.
Binnie could smell Deke’s anxiety growing more and more sour by the second. He wished he could think of something to say that would in any way reassure him, but he didn’t know if they could trust her…or Bas or Shane or any of them. The only people they could trust were in this house.
“If they fix your name in the registry, you can have a regular OB just like everyone else,” Fen said. “If that’s what you really want.”
“But Win is the only one who knows that I used to be a beta,” Ollie said, shaking his head.
“Being a beta isn’t that much different than being an omega,” Seth pointed out. When they all looked at him incredulously, he added, “Ollie always had the equipment to get pregnant, they were just non-functioning. He didn’t magically grow a uterus overnight. The plumbing was always there. There’s no reason to think he couldn’t carry a baby just like everyone else now that Deke accidentally jump-started those organs again.”
“That’s true,” Fen agreed. “Being beta-o and getting pregnant isn’t as much of a miracle as being beta-a and suddenly getting pregnant. Haven’t there even been urban legends of some people thinking they’re betas their whole lives and then just having a really late presentation?”
“Well, yeah, but those people weren’t registered as betas. And those stories have never been confirmed like you said. They’re just kind of…urban legends,” Ollie muttered.
“Fenny’s right, though,” Binnie said. “Your body was always equipped with what you needed to carry a baby. It was just never…activated.”
Fen took Ollie’s hand and squeezed it.
“If Deke was to accidentally turn San or me or any of the other alphas, what would that mean?” Binnie asked. “Would our knots go away, would we magically grow organs that weren’t there before? Is the only reason Loch went from recessive to dominant because an alpha can’t become an omega or is there more to it than that?”
“It is possible to grow organs,” Ollie said begrudgingly. “At least in the animal kingdom. Some frog species have been known to experience sex reversal when certain environmental factors come into play. Maybe Deke is that environmental factor that could cause even an alpha to get pregnant.”
“Great,” Deke muttered. “Are you telling me I might accidentally knock up any of you?”
“It’s fine with me.”
They looked up to see San and Loch standing in the doorway.
It was San who had spoken. “I don’t think anyone in the pack would be upset about a baby, right?”
Loch nodded. “A pack full of omegas to Deke’s enigma would probably be a highly unique situation, but since he only managed to trigger my dominant side, it may not work that way for everyone.”
Ollie nodded, kissing Deke’s forehead. “He’s right. A lot of things have to line up for that kind of severe change to take place. I think you changed me so easily because, like Fenny said, I already had the organs, they were just dormant. I’m afraid we won’t know the full extent of what being an enigma means for you or us unless we agree to Bas and Win’s terms.”
“Where’s Saint?” Seth asked.
“Um…I may have triggered his rut,” San said, a grin tugging at the corners of his mouth.
Seth’s eyes lit up. “Really? You’re serious? You’re not messing around with me, right?”
“What kind of mean joke would that be?” Loch asked. “He’s still in pre-rut. Mostly, he’s just sweaty and cranky, but give it another twenty-four hours, and you’ll have an alpha in full rut.”
Seth’s excitement made the whole nest smell like an apple orchard. “Do you think it will work this time? I wish I was in heat.”
Ollie scoffed. “Believe me when I say this: Saint’s rut might be all that’s needed to force you back into heat. He’s…intense. Right?”
He looked at Binnie, then Loch.
Binnie immediately nodded. “Yeah, Saint in rut is…something. I’m honestly a little worried for you. You’re very small and he is extremely aggressive when he’s in that state.”
“You’re not going to try to talk me out of helping my own mate through his rut, are you?” Seth asked warily.
“What? No. Of course not. But we are going to need you to do regular check-ins like Fenny did,” Loch said. “Just so we know you’re safe.”
“What if he throws me into heat and I’m too far gone to text?” Seth asked.
“You’ll know if you’re going into heat. Just let us know, so if you go radio silent, we will know that you’re giving as good as you’re getting,” Loch said. “I know how much you want a baby, but it’s not worth you being permanently injured. Saint would never forgive himself.”
“Is it weird that I’m excited to get mauled by him?” Seth asked shyly.
Fenny shook his head, cheeks turning pink. “No, Loch’s alpha was super hot. Even if he wouldn’t stop trying to use me as a chew toy. He probably would have knocked me up that first day if not for both of us being on suppressants.”
Seth was suddenly tugging at Deke. “Sit up.”
Once Deke was sitting criss-cross beside his mate, Seth climbed right into his lap.
“That’s the wrong alpha, sweetie,” Ollie teased.
“Come on, baby enigma,” Seth said. “Do your thing. Make me super fertile or something.”
“What if I accidentally turn you into an alpha instead?” Deke said, sounding horrified by the possibility.
Seth scoffed. “There’s not an alpha bone in my body?—”
“Not yet,” Fenny quipped, making Seth giggle.
“Seriously, Deke. Help me, just scent me and think ‘breedable’ or something. Get your alpha all riled up,” Seth whined.
“If you keep letting Deke scent you, the only alpha you’ll be riling up is your own. He’s going to go crazy if he smells another alpha on you while he’s in rut. Even in pre-rut,” Loch warned.
Seth whined and Deke relented, rubbing his cheek over Seth’s scent gland on his throat, then at his wrist.
Binnie couldn’t tell if Deke was just humoring him or not. Ollie watched the two, amused, his hands lying across his own bump. Well, at least Saint’s rut had pulled Ollie out of his spiral. For now, anyway.
They all sat there while Deke made a show of scenting the tiny omega. The poor kid had no idea what he was in for. Saint was going to mark every inch of him the moment he smelled the enigma on him. Seth might see that as a good thing, but Saint had been known to go totally feral during a rut. There had been times where they’d had to cage him.
“Let Deke scent you all you want,” Binnie said. “But you need to shower before you go to Saint’s room. I’m not kidding when I say it’s dangerous not to. Right, Loch?”
Loch nodded. Ollie did, too.
“It doesn’t happen all the time, but every now and again, Saint would snap,” Ollie warned. “If that happens, do not try to ride it out. Just because you’re an omega, it doesn’t mean your body is equipped for whatever a feral alpha might do to you.”
Seth looked rightfully unnerved. “You make it sound like he might…kill me.”
“We just want you to be cautious. If you think it’s getting dangerous, just give us the word and we will get you out,” Binnie said.
Before Seth could respond, a phone began to ring from deep within the layers of blankets, pillows, and dirty laundry.
Deke’s phone. “It’s Bas,” he said.
“Answer it,” Binnie prompted as Seth slid off the baby alpha’s lap.
Deke looked at Ollie, who nodded reassuringly. “It’s okay, baby.”
Ollie’s words didn’t match his scent and they all knew it, but there was nothing to be done.
Deke blew out a breath through his nose then slid to answer, hitting the speaker button. “Hello?”
“Hey, baby brother,” Bas said, his tone neutral enough to give no clue as to what he was about to say.
“What do you want?” Deke asked.
“It’s done,” Bas said.
Deke’s gaze flew to Ollie’s, then Loch’s. “What?”
“The National Registry. It’s fixed,” Bas said.
Fen and Seth’s excitement was heavy in the air, but Ollie’s still remained sharp, like a campfire.
“How do I know you’re not lying?” Deke asked.
There was a sound like water falling into a bucket, indicating a message on Deke’s phone. “I just texted you something.”
Deke thumbed to it and stared.
“What is it?” Binne asked.
“It’s a screenshot of Ollie’s National Registry listing,” Deke said. “He’s listed as an omega.”
Fen deflated with relief, launching himself off Binnie to curl himself into Loch’s side where he still hovered with San, no longer in the doorway but also not in the nest.
“We’re seeing what we can do about his military status. We’re not sure we can access it without triggering some kind of internal alarm that would raise warning bells.”
“I can,” Fen said. “If I can hack Cerberus, I can hack the military.”
“It’s up to you, Deke. We can keep trying or you can have your people handle it,” Bas said.
Deke looked at Fen for a long moment, then said, “We’ll handle that part. I just wanted you to prove that you had the access you said you did.”
“Well?” Bas asked. “Did we pass the test?”
Deke looked to Loch, who gave a single nod. “Yeah. What do you want me to do?”
“Come to the lab. See the research we’re doing,” Bas said. “If you feel you can trust us when you’re done with the tour, let us do a blood draw.”
“He’s not going to that lab alone,” Loch said, voice loud enough for the phone’s mic to pick it up.
“You’re all invited,” Bas said. “Is Ollie there?”
“He can hear you, but you can talk to me,” Deke said.
“I was just going to ask if he’d like us to do an ultrasound when he comes with you. We just thought you guys might want to get pics of your baby,” Bas said.
“And what will you do with those pics?” Seth asked before anyone else could.
“Nothing,” Bas answered. “We’re not trying to turn Ollie into a science project or an incubator. Win just wanted to do something nice so you know you can trust us. Plus, it will help reassure you that everything is fine if you can see it with your own eyes, right?”
“When do you want us there?” Deke asked.
“When can you come?” Bas countered.
Once more, Deke looked at their pack alpha. “Loch?”
Loch shook his head. “I’ll leave that decision to Ollie.”
“Tomorrow,” Ollie said quickly. “We can be there tomorrow.”
“Excellent,” Bas said, relief evident in his exhalation. “Will you be bringing the whole pack? I have to let security know.”
“Saint and I can’t go…for obvious reasons,” Seth said to Loch.
“I don’t feel comfortable leaving you alone in the house with Saint in rut,” Loch said softly.
“I’ll stay,” Fen said, giving Seth a reassuring smile.
“Me, too,” San added. “Binnie can tell me whatever I miss. It’s better to have an alpha here if we have to get Seth out for any reason.”
“So, just the four of you?” Bas asked.
Deke threaded his fingers with Ollie’s. “It looks like it.”
“Just send me your first and last names for security,” Bas said.
“Yeah, sure,” Deke mumbled, voice dull, still watching Ollie warily.
“I know you don’t trust us,” Bas added. “But I’m really excited for you guys to see what we’re doing here. I think, once you do, you’ll understand why the work is so important.”
“We’ll see,” Deke said. “See you tomorrow.”
He disconnected before Bas could say goodbye.
San came and settled in Binnie’s lap. Seth crawled over to them, rubbing his face against San’s. His rut was over, but he still smelled like an alpha who could breed him. San giggled, accepting the bundle of omega into both of their laps, letting him rub his face against whatever skin he could access.
“You’re already so horny. It’s hard to believe you’re not in heat,” San teased.
Binnie glanced at Ollie, who was stroking his bump, a faraway look on his face. Deke watched him anxiously.
“Hey,” Binnie said, grabbing Ollie’s attention.
Ollie startled. “What?”
“We get to see our baby tomorrow,” he said with a grin.
Ollie tried to capture his bottom lip between his teeth to worry it like he did whenever his anxiety got to be too much, but Deke stopped him, lying beside him to rest his head over his heart.
“Oh, my God,” Seth whined. “I can’t believe I have to miss it. You have to take a video so I can see him or her wiggling around. I bet she’s the size of a gummy bear.”
“You’re the second person to say she,” Ollie mused. “Do you really think it’s a girl?”
“We could use a girl around here,” Loch teased.
Fen snorted. “She’s gonna be outnumbered.”
“Unless she’s an alpha, too,” San said. “Oh, she’s gonna be so cute. Or he. They. They are gonna be so cute. Make sure you get a hundred pictures. We’ll put them on the fridge.”
“You can also get an idea of what Win would be like as your doctor,” Binnie said. “That way if we need to start looking elsewhere we can do it now before it gets any further along.”
“I’ll spend the day doing what I can to purge Ollie from Cerberus first since Dresden has easier access to his own records than the military’s. After that, I’ll see what I can do about disappearing his military files. I may have to go do it from my work computer,” Fen said.
“I’ll babysit while Saint fucks a baby into Seth,” San said. “To make sure he doesn’t also fuck him into a coma.”
“I’ll…get laid, I guess?” Seth said.
Loch looked over his pack, looking steady as ever. “Sounds like tomorrow is going to be a very eventful day…for all of us. We should make sure we get plenty of rest.”
“Yes, alpha,” they all sang at the same time, causing the tips of Loch’s ears to go red.