Page 18 of His Prodigal Alpha

“About that,” I said, allowing my mind to go back over the conversation so far, “you said something about having a shifter parent? How would I even go about finding out if that’s the case?” When they all looked back at me blankly, I sighed. “I was adopted when I was three. My birth mom died from a suspected aneurysm, and I didn’t have any other biological family. My father was never in the picture, he’s not even on my birth certificate.” My brain-to-mouth filter proved itself inactive as I turned to Eric and asked, “How do birth certificates work for alpha and omega pairings?”

“The same as any others,” he answered easily. “Ollie’s listed as Rory and Duke’s mother, Beckett as their father.”

“Right,” I stretched the word out as his answer tumbled about in my head. My stomach clenched at the thought of my kid —or was that possibly kids? I hadn’t even thought to ask Damon— having a blank space on their birth certificate. “Okay.”

“So you didn’t really know your birth parents?” Beck asked, shaking me from the dangerous path my mind was traveling down. I shook my head and he offered me a small, commiserating smile. “Me either. I grew up in foster care.”

I winced. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“I survived,” he brushed my words off, but I didn’t think it was because he didn’t appreciate them. “But it only seems to back up the idea that our parents, or at least one of each of our parents, could have been shifters.”

“Anything’s possible.”

I didn’t think I’d spoken truer words that day. I’d gone searching for answers about what I was, already uneasy with my body being other than human, and I’d walked into even more impossible surprises.

Speaking of which…

I cleared my throat. “I, uh, I think I should talk to Damon.”

Ollie sat up straight and glared at me. “Why? So you can hurt his feelings some more?”

“Ollie,” Beck nudged his side with his shoulder, his hands still holding their gurgling children in place on his lap, “that’s not fair. Do you remember freaking out about the twins? ’Cause I sure as hell do.”

“You weren’t an ass about it,” Ollie muttered, still sounding a little petulant.

“Damon didn’t really give Rex much of a chance to talk, though, did he? And I’m not saying his feelings weren’t valid, because they totally are, but I do think giving him and Rex a chance to talk privately about everything might help more than us meddling any more than we already have.”

Ollie leaned his head back and remained silent for a longmoment before he eventually exhaled and nodded. “Fine. You’re right.”

He climbed off the armrest and set his half-empty mug back on the coffee table. Jazz bustled about, collecting the rest and taking them from the room.

Ollie reached down and plucked a baby from his lover’s lap. “How about I take this pair to their aunts, and I can show you how much I appreciate your level-headedness?”

Beck’s cheeks flushed and he looked at me with apology written across his features. “Sorry. We, uh, don’t get a lot of childfree time.”

“Don’t forget,” Eric told him before I could say it was fine, “we’re still monitoring Ollie for signs of a heat cycle starting again. I’m estimating he’ll be fertile again any time now. It’s been just over four months since he gave birth, so—”

“Lalalalala,” Beck clenched his eyes shut and shook his head. “Nope. No. We’re using condoms.”

Eric sighed heavily. “Beckett. How will we know that the birth control we’ve developed will even work if you don’t allow us to try it?”

“I have four-month-old twins, Weldman. Could you imagine throwing more babies into the mix?” He shuddered. “Hard pass for now.”

“As offended as I think I should be,” Ollie added, “I’m with Beck on this one. When the kids are a bit older, we might risk it, but for now…” He booped the kid in his hold on the nose with his free index finger, grinning at the baby gurgle the action elicited. “I love them, but they’re enough for us.”

“We’ll see if you’re still saying that during your next heat,” Eric snarked back at him, but the smirk on his face, as well as the answering exasperated smile and eye-roll from Ollie, toldme that this wasn’t the first time they’d had this conversation.

Eric turned his attention back to me. “Come with me. We’ll head to the clinic, I’ll get those samples, and then you can go and make amends with Damon.”

My heart hammered in my chest at the thought ofthatconversation, but I followed the doctor out the door anyway.

Chapter Seven – Damon

Iwasn’t completely surprised when a knock sounded at my door an hour or so after I’d dropped onto the soft brown couch. It was the kind of couch that you sink into. The kind I was convinced was half cloud, determined to swallow me up.

It was ridiculously comfortable and appealed to the big cat inside me.

Sadly, when the knock sounded again, I knew I had to haul myself out of my squishy cocoon of warmth and actually talk to the person on the other side of the door. I had a feeling I knew who it was, and my stomach tightened with nerves. I grunted as I managed to heft myself up and then grumbled all the way across the room (the whole four steps between the couch and door), steeling myself for the confrontation to come.

---