Page 40 of Baby and the Beast

She arched an eyebrow. “He’s an omega. Arrives with a very powerful family that you need to befriend. To an outsider who didn’t, for example, know how you felt because you’d never told him, it would be easy to get the wrong idea and feel he had to leave. Especially,” she added thoughtfully, “if I was a shifter in need ofrescuing.”

Kyle gazed at her in horror, then nearly knocked her over leaping for the door. “Get Liam, Pepper and Josh. I want them shifted because we’re running.” ShifterRescue. Of course. How could he have been such an imbecile? He started stripping and just barely heard her words.

“I think my work is done.”

Cyrus had tried to work. He’d met a wonderfully kind she-wolf named Dinah who ran the kitchen, and an omega named Emmett who was just the kind of friend he needed. He’d arrived and started pitching in right away, terrified they would make him leave, but within four hours he had collapsed into a puddle on the kitchen floor. He felt another alpha lift him up, but he was too exhausted to protest and spent the night curled into a ball of misery. The next day, he didn’t have the strength to get out of bed.

But the evening brought misery of a different kind.

He didn’t have to open his eyes to smell Kyle. He knew pity had probably brought him here, and he tried to turn away, but Kyle actually got into bed with him and held him tight.Why?Why would he be so cruel?

“I don’t have long because your guard dog’s alpha will eviscerate me if I can’t convince you how much we are meant to be together.”

Cyrus nodded almost absently, then registered the words. “What?” he croaked out, convinced he was hallucinating.

“Are you listening?” The warm rumble from Kyle soothed his soul. Was he? Did he need to hear he wasn’t what Kyle wanted? Needed?

“Why are you here?” He closed his eyes, bracing to hear the words that would cut him so deeply they would break him in two.

“Because you’re my mate. Because you’re exactly who I need to run the pack and to make a family.” His voice hitched. “BecauseI love you. Because I need you more than my next breath. Because you are the best thing that has ever happened to me.” He paused again while Cyrus desperately tried to believe what he was hearing wasn’t some delirious imaginings. “And because there’s a certain dragon’s mommy called Wolfie, that will roast me alive if I don’t.” He seemed to think about that. “Well, the dragon’s called Wolfie as you know. The mommy and my alpha-heir is called Chloe.”

It took Cyrus a moment, but he lifted his head and stared into beautiful blue eyes. “Alpha-heir?”

Kyle chuckled and squeezed him tight. “I bare my soul for you and all you take away from that is that I’m naming a female alpha-heir?”

Well, put like that he supposed… “But I’m not an omega.” Which seemed to be the sticking point.

“And?” Kyle tried and failed to hide the smile. “The way I see it is this. I have my heir. Hell, technically I have a spare if Chloe doesn’t want it, but I really don’t think that’s going to be an issue. Plus, I spoke to this really cool alpha here—well after we got past the threatening to rip out my throat part—called Ryker, who seems to have this radical idea that a family’s made not born, which I happen to agree with. He has half a dozen cubs who don’t seem to have a forever home we need to talk about, and—”

“Six?” Cyrus nearly screeched which earned him another smile.

“Uh-huh. I said we’d need a couple of hours to think about it.” Cyrus gaped until Kyle took total advantage of his open mouth and kissed him.

A lot.

When Cyrus had recovered from the kissing onslaught—well, not recoveredexactly,more postponed —he took a breath and said in a rush. “But Owen can have babies.” Because he could.

Kyle nodded seriously. “He can.” Then he kissed Cyrus senseless. “Isn’t six enough for you though?”

Cyrus stared at Kyle in wonder, hardly daring to believe what he was hearing. "Six," he repeated softly, his voice filled with awe. "Six cubs who need a home."

"Six cubs who need parents," Kyle said, brushing a strand of pale hair from Cyrus's face. "Who need us. Just like Chloe and Aiva need us."

The tears came then, hot and fast, streaming down Cyrus's cheeks. But for the first time in days, they weren't tears of heartbreak. They were tears of overwhelming joy, of hope, of a future he'd never dared to dream of.

"I thought..." Cyrus's voice broke. "I thought you wanted Owen. I saw you with him, and he's everything I'm not. He's a real omega, he can give you—"

"Hey." Kyle's voice was firm but gentle as he cupped Cyrus's face in his hands. "Look at me." When Cyrus met his eyes, Kyle continued. "Owen is a nice man. He'll make someone very happy someday. But he's not you. He's not the man who saved my pack from a thief. He's not the man who restored my parents' room and gave me back my childhood memories. He's not the man who can calm Aiva's nightmares or make Chloe laugh until her sides hurt."

Kyle's thumbs brushed away Cyrus's tears. "He's not the man I fell in love with the moment I saw him. He's not my mate."

"But Clara said—" Cyrus started.

“What did Clara say?”

Cyrus swallowed hard, the memory of that conversation still painful. "She said that mar-wolves can go into heat with any powerful alpha, not just their mate. That it was like a false positive. That we weren't really bonded because the mating bite would fade."

Kyle was quiet for a long moment, his fingers still stroking Cyrus's face. When he spoke, his voice was thoughtful. "She told me. She’s just as much a liar as her mate. I’m sorry my bonded that I put you in a position where you would believe her lies. They’re both gone.”

---