Page 57 of His Prodigal Alpha

I was afraid that I was broken. That maybe I was morehuman than shifter after all.

How would I be able to properly bond with my son if I couldn’t shift when he finally learned to do so?

Eric and Beck both seemed to think those fears were unfounded. Ollie maintained his theory that bonding with Damon would finally unlock my shifting ability. Damon seemed to think that the more I focused on not being able to shift, the more I was preventing myself from doing it.

Whatever the reason, I was beyond frustrated with my stunted abilities.

Two weeks after Cam’s birth, the town assembled for a pack run. It was an initiative Beck and Ollie had implemented for pack bonding, and everyone seemed to love it. Beck had explained that there was something magical about connecting with everyone in shifted form, and I couldn’t help being jealous that I still couldn’t experience it.

Instead of even trying to attempt it, I told Damon to go have fun. He was still recovering from childbirth, but Eric had already assured him that historical accounts suggested shifting would help accelerate the process. And, as it had been so long since the last time he’d been able to run and leap around while shifted, Damon was excited to give it a go.

So I found myself with the other childminders in Beck and Ollie’s house, with a veritable herd of small children who were all too young to shift. At least I could be a little useful, even if I felt like an impotent alpha. I couldn’t even properly compel the older tykes to behave when I tried to do the ‘magical compulsion thing’ Beck said he could do.

“It’s nice havin’ an alpha here with us,” one of the middle-aged women said as she jiggled a set of toy keys over a grizzly baby. I’d already forgotten her name, but she scented like arabbit.

I had, at least, been getting better with being able to scent things.

“I know we haven’t seen hide nor hair of any troublemakers in a while, but I can’t help always being on edge. My old pack was really violent when it came to keeping omegas in line. That’s why we left: my parents didn’t want my little brother suffering.” She huffed and rolled her eyes. “They’d been perfectly content to stay there until he was born.”

I nodded sympathetically. “Some people don’t like to rock the proverbial boat, is all. But they looked out for you and your brother when it counted.”

Rocking Cam in my arms, I knew that I would have done the same thing as her parents. His crescent moon birthmark marked him as an omega, just like his papa, but it didn’t make any difference to me.

Well, no, that was a lie: I’d be brandishing a shotgun at any potential alphas when the time came…at least until Damon could talk me out of it.

“I s’pose,” she agreed with a sigh as Lena, another rabbit shifter, came down the stairs. She had just put Beck and Ollie’s twins to bed, and looked like she’d been through the wringer. Nevertheless, she smiled at me and plucked Cam from my arms, taking him upstairs to be put down in the bassinet Ollie had provided. The hair on the back of my neck stood on end as he was carried out of my sight.

You’re being paranoid, I told myself, almost chuckling out loud at how the voice in my head sounded just like Damon. My kitten found my protective instincts ‘adorable’, or so he said.Lena’s got him. He’s fine.

“Still can’t help feeling like they were complicit in themistreatment of others, though.” Bringing my attention back to the conversation, the woman I’d been talking to looked down at the baby on her playmat and smiled more genuinely than she had earlier. “Thankfully, my kids and grandkids aren’t growing up like that. And Beckett’s turning this town into a proper pack, the way it used to be in the olden days. Well,” she paused, “maybe a bit more eclectic given the different breeds we’ve got living here. But I’m glad these babies are going to have that.”

“Me too,” I agreed wholeheartedly. “I didn’t have much of a family growing up. I’m happy that Cam’s got a huge adoptive family.”

“With dragons for godfathers and all,” Sage’s friend, Dexter, joined the conversation, sauntering in from the kitchen. He carried a tray of snacks and drinks and placed them carefully on the coffee table before gingerly sitting on the couch by the window.

“Speaking of dragons,” I arched an eyebrow at him, “I’d have thought you’d go stretch your wings with the others.”

For all that Ollie and Damon had believed that this guy would stir up problems, he’d actually been a bit of a hermit, hiding out at Sage’s house and barely appearing at any town events. Sage had been remarkably tight-lipped about the whole thing, too. It just made me more curious.

As if thinking the same thought that filtered through my brain, Dexter’s lips quirked and he ‘tsk’d. “Curiosity killed the cat, Rexxie.”

“Seriously, though,” I pushed, sitting down in one of the armchairs. “Why aren’t you out there?”

“Why aren’t you?” he countered, raising his eyebrow in challenge.

My inability to shift was not common knowledge. I wanted to keep it that way. “Damon hasn’t been able to properly enjoy a shift in months.”

“Well, let’s just say there’s a lot of that going around.”

Thatwas a cryptic response if ever I’d heard one. I opened my mouth to tell him exactly that, when a strange scent caught my attention.

I sniffed at the air, frowning.

What the hell was that?

“Weasel,” Dexter got to his feet, also scenting the air. He bared his teeth. “There aren’t any weasel shifters in this pack.” He turned to face one of the other childminders, “Right?”

She shook her head, frowning.

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