Page 61 of The Alpha: Part Three
Desir'ee is on a video call with her brothers now. They are all gathered around one phone screen cooing at the baby and making plans to come visit. My mom and John are getting settled in the bedroom down the hall. Desir'ee asked them to stay with us for a few days.
I spent most of the day thinking about her wanting to be surrounded by people today, and about her asking my mom and John to stay. The majority of the stories I've heard about omegas having babies, including Talia, are that they don't want people who aren't part of their pack near their babies for the first few days. Not even grandparents or close relatives. Corso worked it out, though. He pulled me aside after dinner to explain it and now I feel like an idiot.
Desir'ee's parents are gone. The twins' parents are gone. The only living grandparents Calian has are my mother and John. Desir'ee and the twins grew up surrounded, even crowded, by siblings, cousins, aunts, uncles. I didn't so I don't know what that feels like. I don't know what doting grandparents feel like because my father's parents died when I was a baby and my mother's parents are in another territory and wanted nothing to do with my father. I had no siblings. Being part of a family means something now.
I was never going to have children. I was never going to have an omega. I did everything I could over the years to ensure that I could never curse another person with myself. Now that's over. And it's okay. I'm okay. Everything is going to be okay.
Chapter twenty-five
Desie
I am not ready to have sex with anyone. My body is nowhere close to being healed enough for sex after just three weeks. I understand that. But my libido is coming at me. Hard.
It's watching my guys be daddies. It's seeing Ben walking around shirtless with his hat turned backwards carrying Calian in one of the slings we have. It’s Michael swinging with the baby on the porch, singing songs we grew up listening to. It’s Seth wearing just a pair of basketball shorts while he gives Calian the most careful bath in the world at the kitchen sink. I can't take it.
It isn't fair. They get to walk around looking like sexy daddies and I can't seem to do anything but wear pajamas and anything else that's comfortable while I leak milk and everything else. It's hard for me to not feel gross.
They don't think I'm gross, though. It doesn't matter what I wear, all three of them make it a point to show me that they think I'm still beautiful. Michael especially has been very vocal about how much he doesn't mind the leaking milk. I just think I'd feel a little better about everything if at least one of them had the decency to look less than gorgeous every now and then.
Seth walks into the bedroom with Calian draped across his forearm asleep. That tiny boy can sleep in any position he lands in, it reminds me so much of Ben. Ben could get a good night's sleep on a pile of jagged rocks. “Lopez texted me. He wants to send more diapers. I sent him a new picture.”
I nod. I get a little sad every time I think about Lopez recently. He wanted a family so much. I hope it doesn't hurt him too much to see mine. I know he wants me to be happy, the twins, too. He's done terrible things, and there are consequences for those things, but I still think almost everyone deserves some happiness. Especially if they work as hard as he is to make up for the things they've done wrong.
“Minos texted, too. He got some intel and he wants you to look over it.”
“Why?”
Seth shrugs. “I don't know. But he asked that you look at it and give him a call. Mallory has also requested fresh baby pictures.”
That's unexpected and maybe even strange. Why in the world would I need to look at it? The only people I know who are, or were, involved in the rogue organization is the Flores pack. They're the Lopez pack now, I suppose, but they're still the only ones I'd recognize and they're nowhere near the Northern territory. “Why do I need to look at it? I mean, I will since he's asking me to, but I'm not going to know what I'm looking at.”
“I'm not sure. I thought it was strange that he'd ask you to look over it, too. He sent it to me. I've got it whenever you're ready to check it out.”
“Let's go ahead and look at it. Can you pull it up on your phone, or do we need a computer?”
He takes out his phone and brings up his email. “The phone works, but the screen is small. If you need to see it bigger we can get a laptop or go to the security room.”
He hands me the phone and I push play on the video. It's a little grainy, but I can still make out what things look like with a fair amount of detail. It opens to an overhead view of the compound. It's the same one that was in the footage that Nathan had. It switches to a view of the back corner and the building that everyone decided was some kind of test site.
“You don't have to watch it with me, Seth. I'm okay.”
He tucks my hair behind my ear and tugs on the end. “I'm alright, darlin.”
We watch as a line of omegas are marched around the perimeter. There are several very clear shots of some of their faces. That's good. Nathan can use that to find out who they are. Then the door opens on the side of the building and two big alphas step out glaring into the trees surrounding that area. One of them turns back to the doorway and says something then steps out of the way for someone else to come out.
My heart freezes in my chest and I claw at it, tearing at the fabric of my shirt.
“What?” Seth asks, gripping my arm. “What is it?”
I have to swallow twice before I can answer. “Get Nathan. Now.”
After Seth called, Nathan asked us to come down to the manor to put the footage Minos sent through his system. It's the first time I've been farther than the porch since Calian was born. I wish I could take the time to enjoy it but my heart is beating too fast.
“Are you absolutely sure, Desir'ee? Look again.” Nathan enlarges the paused frame so that it takes up all the space on the biggest monitor in his office.
I don't need to, but I look again. I look at every inch of the person on the screen. I take in the shoulder-length graying hair, the strong, squared shoulders, the familiar skin tone. I look at it all again. “It's her. I'm calling Mateo. He needs to see this.”
I have a few memories left of my mother. I have looked at the picture I have of her and my dads every single day. The woman on the screen is older than the woman in my picture, but it's her.
