Page 14 of The Alpha: Part Three
“I don't understand,” I repeat. “Why don't you want to have babies with me?”
“No. Fuck. Listen. I want to have babies with you. I just don't want to make a kid suffer through my gene pool. I don't want to pass on anything... bad.”
“What could you possibly pass on that was bad?”
He sighs. Deeply. “Desir'ee, you didn’t know my father. He wasn't the best person. He did a lot of terrible things. To me and to other people. Look at what I've done. I just don't want to, I don't know, pass that on. I don't want to taint our children.”
That makes me want to cry. And shake him. And cry while I shake him.
“Don't cry, darlin. It's just the truth. Our kids are going to be perfect and good.”
“They'll be perfect and good regardless.” I sniff. “I want a little boy with red hair and freckles.”
Seth leans across Michael and cups my cheek. “Let's work on a little girl with dark hair and her mama's eyes first, okay?”
At least he's leaving the window of opportunity cracked.
The next week is busy. Between my shifts at the hospital, calls with Alpha Minos, and going to check in on Talia and Luca, my pack is wearing a little thin. On top of that, I'm beginning to have heat spikes, and Amber has had a bout of what we jokingly call practice contractions. I told her she wasn't allowed to go into labor early because I am simply too tired. She said she'd do her best to keep my niece on the inside until her due date. I really hope she does because I actually am too tired right now, and I get the feeling that it's just going to get worse. Especially when someone starts pounding on my front door the moment I step out of the bathtub.
“I've got it,” Michael yells. I listen as he opens the door and tells someone to calm down.
I towel off and put on my fuzziest pajama pants and coziest hoodie as quickly as I can. I can't begin to express how excited I am to have to deal with something that requires someone to calm down right before bed.
Brandon is pacing the living room when I walk out of the bathroom. He stops long enough to apologize to me, then he goes right back to his agitated stalking. He's going to be a menace when he gets older.
“What's the matter?”
“They said I couldn't go with her,” he spits. “Sorry. I don't mean to be a jerk to you, Desie. I'm just upset.”
“I can see that. They who?” I sit on the couch and pull a pillow into my lap.
“Devon. He doesn't understand. He's such a dick.”
“I'm not going to argue with you. Devon isn't the friendliest person. Why don't you tell me what happened, exactly.” I cut my eyes at Michael to stop him from laughing. Devon has rubbed all of us the wrong way, apparently including Brandon.
Brandon huffs and throws himself into the armchair. “I was over there visiting Iris and the other kids. I didn't even bother the baby. I was just reading books with them and stuff. They, Devon and the rest of them, were in the kitchen talking about when they're going to leave. It's soon, Desie. Really soon. Talia says she'll feel up to it in the next week or so. Anyway, they were talking about leaving, and I went in there and asked if I could go with them. They said no. Devon said no. He did that whole stupid thing where he looks at Kaleb and crosses his arms.”
“Did Kaleb say no?”
Brandon shakes his head.
“What did Talia say?”
“She said, 'Oh, honey',” he wrinkles up his eyebrows and does a pretty decent impression of Talia's gentle twang.
Ben comes in from the kitchen and hands Brandon a bottle of water. “Did you lock your bike?”
Brandon nods and drinks half the bottle.
“Why are you trying to go with them? Joseph and Cody are here. You'd be leaving them.”
Brandon caps the bottle and looks down at it. “Yeah, I know.” He looks back up at Ben with watery eyes. “But they have their parents. And she can't be that far away from us. It's too far. It has to be me. I don't have anybody here, and she needs one of us with her.”
“Did you explain that? That sounds like something Devon would understand.” I'm trying to comfort him, but unfortunately it doesn't sound anything like something Devon would understand. He doesn't understand how intensely we form bonds at such a young age. There's also the fact that it wouldn't matter if Iris was thirty years old, Devon is always going to stand between her and the world.
“I tried, but he wouldn't listen. He said I was just a kid and I couldn't just go to another territory. He didn't even care when I told him that I was on my own anyway, and that I could go if I wanted to.”
I sigh. Michael sighs. Ben blows out a forceful breath. Then Seth walks in the door.
