Page 21 of Riley Goes Home

I was raised an alpha, expected to protect, to look after my pack my whole life, but it was now I realised how hollow that was. We couldn’t take this pain away from Riley. We couldn’t do this for her. There was nothing to fight or slay, and god, how I wish there was. Anything but watch her hurt. But my girl was always tough as nails, and she showed it now, making clear we would all have to fight to keep this pack together. We wouldprotect it from external threats and she… She would fight to give us all the greatest gift of all.

One long,ragged sigh, that’s what it took to birth the last of the kids, and Riley collapsed, seeming to know her work was done. It was her head lolling on Fen’s shoulders that had us all moving. She looked so limp and pale.

“Riley?” I said, not daring to raise my voice, but when she didn’t reply, I waded closer. “Riley?”

“Babe, are you OK?” Fen asked, all the tension I felt in his voice.

“Lets get her out.” Candy the idiot was gone, and Candy the highly qualified medical professional stepped forward. “Onto the concrete. That’s it.” She crouched down beside Riley, her fingers going to her pulse. “Her heart rate is strong and it doesn’t look like she’s lost too much blood, though…”

She blanched as she looked back at the water and so did we. This wasn’t a safe place anymore, our wolves told us, forcing us out of the pool and around our mate. We needed to get her into our den. We needed?—

“Heart monitor now.” Candy clicked her fingers, and the rest of the team moved. “Oxygen and?—”

“My babies…” Riley’s voice was barely a whisper, but she rolled her head up and looked around her, getting more and more frantic by the second. “My babies?—”

“Here.” I slid down beside her and then tucked our son into the crook of her arm as the others moved closer. Riley couldn’t seem to work out where to look. One child, then another, then us, her bottom lip quivered for a second before she burst into tears. Seeing our son was safe in her grip, I moved behind her, cradling the woman that held my son. “Baby, you did it. You did it.”

I said that over and over as I stroked her hair, her shoulders, anything to stop her from crying, but in the end, it was our boy that recentred her. He let out a lusty wail, then started rooting around, unconsciously seeking nourishment. She moved then, tucking him against her breast, right before he latched on. Those small sounds of contentment, I had about 2.5 seconds to enjoy them before the rest of the babies started up.

“Here you go,” Fen said, tucking his baby in against Riley. Both boys seemed to have a quick and easy latch, suckling hard from the get go.

“How the hell does this work?” Candy sounded somewhat panicky. “How do you feed five babies when you only have two tits? Why didn’t we think of this before? We don’t have any formula. There’s some milk in the fridge, but god knows when that was bought and you can’t…”

I grinned as my son popped free, because I knew something that Candy didn’t. Omegas were a picture of feminine beauty because they were like beta mothers on steroids. Their milk supply was legendary, meaning our children could fill their stomachs in seconds rather than minutes. The next child was passed over and then next until everyone was fed.

“They’re all OK?”

Riley sounded exhausted, and I hated the crushed look on her face right now. I looked down, watching our son suckle before meeting her eyes.

“Better than OK,” I told her, my voice breaking on every word. “So much better. They’re perfect. You’re perfect.”

Her arms curled around the children she was feeding, and then she let it out. One, long, shaking sigh, and I knew why. Relief, joy, pain, and need, that’s what I caught in her scent as I held her close.

“Everything is perfect.”

Chapter 14

Riley

We were home, safe, warm, and in our den. I was dozing in and out of sleep, but the wolf knew. She was vigilant presence inside my body, standing over our young while I rested, but not for long. Another thin wail had me shifting, and so did they.

“Here you go.”

That was Blake, his voice low and soothing as he moved forward, bringing my baby closer. I resisted the urge to snatch him from my mate’s hands, some shockingly selfish impulse rising right before I pushed it back down. We were pack. He was our son. We’d made him. God, was I always going to be this bloody emotional? The mere idea of it had my eyes filling with tears again.

“Hey…” He looked stricken. “Riley?—”

“He’s just perfect.” I looked down at that tiny little person and watched him settle in the crook of my arms as if it was made for him. Blindly he sought my nipple like a pup might, whatever finely honed instincts he had kicking in quickly before he latched on. Strong, almost violent pulls surged through me as my body provided him with everything he needed.

I did.

I did it. It wasn’t the grotto, but in the end it hadn’t mattered. While I loved that there was a space sacred for omegas in every alpha run town, that wasn’t what I needed. The saying might be you can’t go home, but I could recognise that while the structures there worked for so many people, they didn’t for me. I didn’t want to be a petty queen who bore the next generation of kings. I didn’t want my sons to be watched with avaricious eyes by the mothers of all of the appropriately aged daughters, wondering if one day my sons would choose them.

I just wanted this.

My pack slept on our bed, each man keeping one of our sons tucked up close to them. No blankets because I’d been firm with that. Co-sleeping I could accept, but not with anything that might smother a child. The absence of bedding gifted me this view.

We did it.

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