Page 8 of His Prodigal Alpha

“It’s not a miracle and it’s not fate,” I huffed, rubbing my belly as the little boy inside rolled over.

Learning that I was having a son was pretty neat, I hadto admit that. Eric had all but demanded that he give me a thorough checkup when I confessed that I hadn’t seen any medical professionals since discovering the little womb usurper’s existence.

He and Brandt had gone all out with the practice they had set up in Shifters Sanctuary, complete with a proper ultrasound machine and all. He’d told me that not only did he anticipate Ollie and Beck would likely require the use of such things again, but half the beta couples in the town would probably appreciate not having to travel an hour away for OBGYN services as well. Blood tests and major issues were still sent off to the nearest hospital, but the basics could now be handled right there in town.

So, I’d found myself on Eric’s exam bed staring at the monitor screen as he pointed out my son’s fingers, toes, and penis. The kid in my belly had not been shy about showing off his goods, that was for sure, spreading his little legs as he wriggled about inside my belly while the transducer wand caught it all on film.

To be honest, I was just relieved there was only one of him. I couldn’t imagine having twins like Beck and Ollie had. Especially not on my own.

“What do you call it, then?” Ollie arched an eyebrow at me.

I shrugged. “Predictable? I mean, Beck and Brandi have both said the same thing: they were thrown for a loop when their bodies changed and, after the panic receded, they wanted answers. Eric’s been working double time with half the town to get word out there about the whole sanctuary thing, which is why so many people are turning up and hoping to join now; myself included.”

There was even another farmhouse they were calling theFrat House on account of the number of potential alphas who were living there — men who had heard on the grapevine about Beck’s background and thought there were enough similarities that they might also be alphas and unaware of it.

I’d met one of the new guys on my second day in town, when he had come to get the results of some blood tests he had allowed Eric and Brandt to run on him. He had been hot as sin and, were it not for the upheaval I was going through, I would have happily volunteered as tribute for him to try and coax out his potential knot. The fact that he reminded me of a younger, darker haired and darker skinned version of Rex meant nothing.

Six months into my pregnancy, my hormones were demanding sex, and the presence of hot men was not helping.

Damn these men and their sexy southern drawls.

“Well, even so,” Ollie scowled back at me, clearly disappointed that I wasn’t going along with his ‘Christmas Fairytale’ ideals, “what are the chances you’d both be here now? Like, within days of each other? That, my friend, is kismet.”

I fought the urge to chuckle at his triumphant smirk. He meant well, but I was still feeling bitter and jaded. “No,” I reminded him with a shake of my head, “thatis the effect of having the old-school shifters and their nutty religion spread all sorts of bullshit about you all as well.”

I’d heard a lot of rumors about the pack as I had road-tripped my way there, and not all of them had been pleasant. At one of the packs I’d stopped in, carefully concealing my growing belly, the local diner TV had shown shifter preacher Joe Morstein sermonizing about the evils of the ‘Neo-Shifter Movement’, as he had dubbed Beck’s pack. I didn’t think itwould be long before they gathered enough support to try and overrun Shifters Sanctuary. I could only imagine the things they thought they could achieve if they had the hierarchical weight of an alpha or two at their disposal.

I’d always felt that the Moonmusic church was more cult than religion. I found their views on omegas downright chauvinistic and cruel. Listening to the sleazy looking, pinched-faced man on the screen prattle on about the risks of allowing omegas equal rights in a pack had only cemented my belief that finding Shifters Sanctuary was the right choice for me and my cub. Older shifters in the diner, though, had been sympathetic to Morstein’s lecture. They had eyed me warily. Not only was I an outsider, but an omega to boot. I hated to think what they would have done if they’d caught sight of my pregnant belly. I’d merely mumbled something about being a college student driving back to my pack and then hightailed it out of there as soon as my bill had been paid.

“More and more people are coming to see it our way,” Ollie argued back, but I just nodded.

“Exactly. Which is why so many shifters are fleeing their oppressive Moonmusic-based packs in search of a better life here. I was one of them.”

Well, there was that and the fact that I had no idea how else to conceal my pregnancy or how I was expected to give birth, so finding the only other documented pregnant omega had been my best bet.

“We’re gonna have to agree to disagree on this,” Ollie eventually conceded with a sigh. Then he pinned me with a much more serious stare. “It doesn’t change the fact that Rex deserves to know he’s going to be a dad in a few months.”

He had me there, I had to admit it. My shoulders slumpedin resignation, and I looked down at my hands, twisting my fingers together. “I know. I do.”

“But you’re scared, right?” Ollie’s voice had softened into sympathy. Before I could answer, he continued, “Beck and I both freaked the fuck out when we found out I was pregnant. I told him he could run for the hills…and I was so afraid that he would take me up on that.”

“But he didn’t.” I did my best not to sound resentful. Beck had knotted Ollie and stuck around, which was more than I could say for Rex, not that our situations were anywhere near the same.

For one thing, it sounded like Beck and Ollie had been talking about a relationship before shit went down. For another, they’d bonded when they first knotted together, and it sounded like there was an emotional tie between them after that. Both of those things would have enticed Beck to stay, even while he was freaking out.

Rex and I didn’t have that. We’d agreed on a quick bathroom fuck, that was all. We hadn’t bonded, or even exchanged phone numbers before the fact. I couldn’t have expected him to change his mind about that after being with me had changed his body so unexpectedly, could I?

“No, he didn’t. But he could have, and that was terrifying.” Ollie’s reply brought me back to the moment. I looked up at him, unsurprised to see the genuine empathy in his green eyes. “Day, you’ve got to tell Rex. But if he does flip out, you’re not alone in any of this anymore, okay? You’ve got me and Beck, and the dragons,” he added, nodding at someone over my shoulder before looking back into my eyes, “and the whole damn pack, really.” He smiled as Mrs. Potter, an elderly rabbit shifter with a sharp tongue, made her way past us towards thefront door. “Bye, Dottie! See you at bingo next Friday?”

“I’ll be whoopin’ your ass as usual,” she agreed, then let herself out, leaving Ollie to chuckle.

“Did I miss something?” Eric asked, circling in from behind me to rest his hip on the side of my desk next to where Ollie had perched himself.

Ollie grinned, tilting his head in my direction and giving it a little jerk. “Damon’s alpha has turned up.”

Even though Ollie was right about Rex deserving to know about our kid, he was wrong about one thing. “He’s notmy—”

“He’s up at the main house,” Ollie kept talking over the top of me. “Beck told me to come grab you while I gave Damon the head’s up.”

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