14. Alaric

14

Alaric

Jade performed a monumental crime that night: he broke the rules and let me sleep over in his room.

Both of us were so drained that a second round of sex never even crossed our minds. It was late, and we were spent, physically and emotionally. We fell unconscious the second our heads hit the pillows.

The next thing I knew, my sleep was shattered by a furious pounding at the door.

I jolted awake, instinctively clinging to Jade.

He groaned and pushed himself up on his elbows. He was so tired last night that he didn't even loose his hair from its tie.

"What is that racket?" he grumbled. Suddenly, he froze and his eyes widened in panic. "Oh, dear."

"What?" I asked, still frazzled from the incessant knocking.

Jade clenched his eyes shut in frustration. "I... forgot the schedule."

I'd never heard him sound so painfully embarrassed. I didn't understand the gravity of the situation until I remembered the third challenge was supposed to take place this morning, and— glancing at the antique clock on Jade's bedside table—it was way past that time. We'd both missed it.

That meant the knocking at the door belonged to—

"Jade Chromatimaeus, open up right now!" Aurum barked.

"You're in big trouble, lizard brain," Thystle growled.

I raised a brow. The taunts didn't sound serious coming from Jade's younger brothers, but then I noticed legitimate shame on his face. He swiftly crawled out of bed, threw on the nearest robe and answered his brothers' demands. He cracked the door just enough for him to be visible. I remained hidden behind it.

"I am so sorry," Jade began.

Thystle interrupted him with a scowl. "Yeah, you should be."

"Like, are you serious, dude?" Aurum said. "After all the times you got on our asses about being late, you apparently have no problem doing it yourself."

"Yes," Cobalt said, his deep voice adding weight to their group grievance. "You punished me during my season for my tardiness."

"Me too," Aurum grumbled.

I felt Jade's shame radiating like the midday sun. He bowed his head. "I know. I'm very sorry. There's no excuse for—"

Crimson sniffed the air. "Hang on. I smell... cat."

I grimaced and sank lower into the bed. Damn that suit-obsessed dragon. Since he was Taylor's mate, he was familiar with feline scent.

"You smell what now?" Aurum fumed.

Before Jade could stop him, Cobalt pushed the door open. I wasn't sure whether to hide under the covers in mutual shame with Jade, or proudly puff out my chest as a fellow culprit of this crime. In the end, I sat there with the covers awkwardly pulled up to my chest and faced my fate—the irate glares of Cobalt, Aurum, Thystle, and Crimson. Oh, and Saffron was there too, for good measure.

Jade's shoulders stiffened as he hung his head. He clearly wasn't happy with himself.

"Really, Jade?" Aurum asked, as if his brother was a pet that had just soiled the carpet.

Cobalt shook his head. "You, of all people..."

My eyebrow twitched irritably. What gave his brothers the right to berate him like that?

"Oh, come on," I interrupted. "I love a little drama, but aren't you all taking this too far?"

Aurum crossed his arms. "Too far? You probably don't know this, but Jade's evil when you mess up his perfectly planned schedules. Hell, I wasn't even late that one time, but Jade forced me and Saffron to roleplay as horses."

That was not the answer I expected. I blinked. "I... Did you actually?"

"Yes," Jade admitted in a sigh.

Sensing it was not the time, I withheld a snort of amusement, but we would be discussing that later.

I cleared my throat. "In any case, he's clearly ashamed of himself. Right, Jade?"

"Ah-ah, not so fast," Crimson interjected. "It's not fair to let Jade off the hook when he's punished so many of us."

The word punished made me flash back to last night's scene. I suppressed a pleasant shudder at the memory. Again, not the time.

Cobalt sighed deeply. "Jade, I don't want to pile on and make you feel worse, but I have to agree with Crimson. We put in a lot of effort for today's challenge. It took a lot of hard work."

"Yeah, and the contestants all showed up raring to go, ready to give it their best shots and everything," Saffron added sympathetically.

Jade winced. "I understand."

A protective feeling flared within me. I didn't want to see my alpha get scolded anymore. "Jade, it's okay."

"No, it's not all right, Alaric," Jade said, shaking his head. "They're right. I made a terrible blunder."

My skin prickled. "By sleeping with me?" I spat, ready to be offended.

"Absolutely not," Jade snapped, his gaze suddenly burning.

The force of his statement was so visceral that everyone went silent.

Jade cleared his throat. "No, sleeping with you was not a mistake." He allowed himself a smile. "My critical error was being late. That's all."

Aurum and Saffron glanced sneakily at each other.

"Does he mean literally sleeping, or...?" Saffron whispered.

"I dunno, it's kind of hard to tell," Aurum whispered back.

"I assume he means sex," Crimson said at normal volume.

"Dude, be quiet!" Aurum and Saffron hissed simultaneously.

I almost snapped that no, we didn't have sex—at least, not the penetrative kind they probably assumed—but that was none of their business. Besides, if I thought about it for more than two seconds, I'd get hard again.

Thankfully, Jade responded in my place. "Regardless of what happened, I overslept and caused trouble for all of you. For that, I'm deeply sorry. I will accept whatever punishment you have in store for me."

I huffed grumpily. I didn't love seeing Jade act so deferential, but this was clearly an ongoing family issue, so I kept my opinions to myself.

Aurum blew out a sigh. His brother's apology had diffused his frustration. "Man, now I get why you were so annoyed at us when we weren't on time."

Jade smirked. "It's bothersome, isn't it?"

"You have no idea—well, actually, I guess you do."

"So, what do we do now?" Thystle asked. "All the contestants are waiting out there, and the challenge is already set up." He glanced at me. "Although since Alaric is here, it's safe to say you're not interested in the other contestants, huh, Jade?"

"Your deduction is correct," Jade confirmed.

I sat up straighter, feeling smug and satisfied. Jade's disdain for the other omegas felt so damned good.

Crimson rubbed his temples with a sigh so dramatic it could rival mine. "Jade and Alaric are an hour late, so it's not worth trying to salvage it. We have no choice but to go out there and disperse the contestants with a scripted apology."

"I'm responsible for ruining the schedule. I should be the one to do it," Jade insisted.

His brothers exchanged a scheming glance.

"Actually, I think I have a better idea," Thystle said slyly.

In the half hour it took me and Jade to get properly dressed, five children manifested in our care.

Unlike earlier this morning, we showed up to the living room on time. There, we were greeted by the adorable faces of three dragonets and two ferret kits. My heart soared when I saw them crawling around on the rug together.

"I see we've got a full house," Jade said warmly. "Where are the omegas?"

"Taking a break from childcare," Taylor replied, stepping into the living room alongside the other omega fathers. They were all dressed in comfortable clothes and nursing drinks.

Taylor took a sip of coffee and handed a second steaming mug to Matteo.

"We were told there was a mix-up today, and that we're free from babysitting duty," Matteo said with a slight grin.

"Yeah, ‘cause Alaric made my big, sweet Cobalt wake up early for nothing," Muzo complained, yawning. As usual, there wasn't a hint of malice in his voice.

"Excuse you, mutt," I said. "I did no such thing."

"Yeah, Jade's the one in trouble," Aurum confirmed. "Right, Mylo?"

His mate, Mylo, was the only omega sitting on the floor with the kids. As the newest parent, he seemed reluctant to let his twins be watched by unknown-quality babysitters.

"Uh-huh," Mylo said. He sounded unsure, but he smiled as Kiara and Desiree clambered over his legs. "Erm, I know we omegas are supposed to have a break today, but why isn't Viol babysitting instead?"

A bitter grunt broke into the conversation.

"I got kicked off duty," Viol muttered with a scowl. He leaned against the opposite wall like a sulking teenager. "Thanks to somebody ," he added, shooting a murderous glare at Jade.

Jade didn't seem to care that Viol was trying to blow him up with his mind. "You were not ‘kicked off' duty. You were relieved of it for a single day so Alaric and I can take over," he said calmly. "I know it's hard, but you'll live."

Viol glared daggers at him. Then his gaze slid to me. Its intensity wavered, like Viol wasn't quite sure what to make of me. I stared right back at him with a matching frown. I didn't know what Viol's problem was, but I certainly wasn't about to smile at an alpha who was glaring at me.

That threw Viol off guard. He blinked, confused, then let out a noise between a scoff and a laugh.

"That's one stuck-up cat," he said, not unkindly.

Jade's hand sneaked around my waist possessively. "Yes, and he's my stuck-up cat, thank you."

Viol's brain seemed to load like a slow website. Then he understood.

"Oh. It's practice for them ." As Viol walked off, he muttered, "Whatever. Still mad about it."

Ignoring Viol's adult temper tantrum, I strode over to the middle of the rug and sat next to Mylo. His twin girls stopped to peer curiously at me. Then, in unison, they crawled over my legs like a pair of furry snakes.

Mylo smiled, apparently reassured by their approval of me. "Watch their needle teeth. Baby ferrets are terrible."

I smiled back, unable to contain my bubbling happiness as the pair of ferrets explored my legs. I recalled the omegas' night we'd attended before Mylo laid his egg, and how much he'd wanted it to hatch as a rare black-footed ferret. His wish was granted when the egg hatched into not one, but two kits—a pair of twins.

As Kiara and Desiree squeaked and nosed my pants, the other kids took notice of the new toy—namely, me. The three dragonets ran closer on all fours. Ruby, the oldest, had the best mobility. With the tiger-striped pattern on his rich orange scales, he was a total visual fusion of Crimson and Taylor.

Next came Heather, the second oldest. Their lavender scales matched their name perfectly. Heather found my cotton slipper particularly interesting and started gnawing on it.

"Take it, if you want," I said. "Jade will buy me a new pair. Right, Jade?"

My mate chuckled as he kneeled next to me. "Of course."

Lazuli was last. She pounced on my other slipper, joining Heather in the hunt. Together the dragonets relinquished my bare toes from their cotton cage. Lazuli growled triumphantly, shaking her head like a dog killing a squeaky toy.

"Atta girl! You get that slipper! She takes after me," Muzo declared proudly.

I couldn't keep the smile off my face. My heart felt warm and full of joy. To be honest, when I found out I'd be babysitting other omegas' children today, I expected to be consumed with jealousy. That was a bad habit I didn't think would disappear anytime soon... except, out of nowhere, it vanished.

Was it because Jade confessed his love to me last night?

"Looks like these two have it under control," Aurum said, nudging Mylo. "Don't worry. Jade's a prick and Alaric's annoying—"

We both pointedly raised our eyebrows at him.

"But they're family," Aurum went on, smiling at his mate. "They'll do a great job. Right, guys?"

An unexpected happiness spread through me. Jade hadn't told anybody about our relationship yet, but Aurum had just called me his family.

Then again, being found in Jade's bed after a dinner date wasn't exactly subtle.

"Right," I replied, suddenly finding it easier to talk to the obnoxious alpha.

"And that means we can have some alone time," Aurum teased as he pulled Mylo closer by his thick waist.

"Uh, what about the whole dealing-with-the-challenge thing?" Saffron asked. "Don't you have to be there for that?"

Aurum shot him an angelic grin. "That's what having an identical twin is for. See ya!"

He ran off with Mylo in tow before Saffron could argue.

Saffron scowled. "I'm so getting him back for that later..."

After the rest of the parents bid us good luck and left, Jade and I wrangled the miniature pack by ourselves. It turned out that their good behavior was an illusion—as soon as their dads were out of the picture, they devolved into wild animals.

"Kiara, Desiree, get out of Jade's hair, please. Thank you—hey! Do not eat that stuffing!" I cried.

Diving between the ferret twins and the chewed-up remains of my slippers, I wrenched the stuffing into the air. As they both grunted in disappointment, I sighed in relief. I didn't need the girls to eat plastic on my watch right after I'd earned Mylo's trust.

Meanwhile, Jade coaxed a scrap of fabric—torn from my pants five minutes earlier—away from Ruby and Lazuli, who were fighting over it like vultures with a bone.

"Please, you two, there's no need to argue," Jade said civilly, as if they understood his appeal. "There's plenty of other toys to go around."

Ruby hissed like a tiger cub while Lazuli barked at him. Jade leaned down to intervene, but Ruby's lashing tail slapped the glasses off his face.

"Oh, shoot," Jade mumbled. "I can barely see without those..."

As he felt around for them, the two dragonets launched at each other and tumbled around in an orange-and-blue blur on the rug.

I picked up his glasses and handed them to him. "Jade, they're toddlers, not members of high society," I pointed out.

He sighed as he put his glasses back on. "It's been a long time since I had to deal with toddlers by myself..."

"Excuse you. I'm here, remember?"

He smiled. "Yes, you're right. I'm sorry. Ah—look out, Heather is about to jump off the couch."

My animal reflexes kicked in—I shifted into cat form, leaping onto the top of the couch and bit Heather on the scruff.

"You are not going anywhere," I declared, the words muffled through a mouthful of baby dragon.

Heather struggled against me, but my parental instincts awakened hard and fast. There was no way I'd let this toddler topple from that height. I sank my claws into the couch for support—sorry, dragons—then carefully carried Heather down to the safety of the rug.

At once, the kids stopped what they were doing. They stared at me in curious awe.

"What?" I said, flicking my tail.

A second later, they scrambled towards me. To my surprise, they cuddled against my fur, mewling and squeaking contentedly.

"Ah, I see," Jade said, amused. "No child is immune to the cuteness of a cat."

"I am not cute," I grumbled. "I'm stunningly handsome."

The dragonets yawned and nestled their heads into my neck fur, while the ferrets quieted down, burying themselves between my front paws.

An instinct burst forth from within me—I started purring.

Jade laughed. "Sorry, Alaric. You're cute, and there's nothing you can do about it."

My whiskers twitched, but I didn't have a comeback. Maybe I was cute. And if that meant a pile of babies curled up to sleep against my warm fur, that was fine by me.

Jade sat cross-legged on the rug a foot away. He observed me with a peaceful smile for a few moments.

"You know, you look very natural like that," he remarked.

A flush of warmth coursed through me. "You think so?"

Jade was happy to indulge my not-so-subtle soliciting. "Absolutely. Look how calm and safe the children feel with you."

I glanced down fondly at the five of them dozing off. Since the dragonets had no fur, I draped my furry tail over them so they wouldn't get cold. They nuzzled closer. If Jade thought I was cute, the kids must've been mind-meltingly adorable.

As I met Jade's eyes again, I suddenly remembered what he'd said to me during the dinner date—about how he thought I'd look good if I gained weight. My ears grew hot. At the time I didn't know if he meant actually gaining weight, or becoming pregnant, or both. In any case, it was nice to hear.

But if he meant the latter...

"There's no point dodging the topic," I blurted out. "If you want to say something, then say it."

I don't know what drove me to be so forward. I blamed it on the toddler-induced flood of oxytocin consuming my brain.

Jade's eyes glinted with fondness. "All right. I'd like to have children with you, Alaric."

I hadn't expected him to be so straightforward. I mentally reeled, my ears flattening against my head and my tail poofing with emotion. My heart went into overdrive. It pounded so fast and hard I worried I'd wake the ferret kits nestled against my chest. I forced my fur to lie flat so I didn't disrupt the sleeping kids.

To calm myself down, I licked my paw and drew it rhythmically over my whiskers. "I see," I said, attempting to sound more relaxed than I felt. I wanted to say more, but no thoughts coalesced in my brain. Jade's statement rendered me speechless.

"Why are you surprised?" he asked with a light laugh. "I already told you you're my fated mate, and that I love you. Unless your hesitation is because you don't want children, which is also okay."

"It's not that," I said quickly so he didn't get the wrong idea. "I'm simply... absorbing what you said."

"Take all the time you need."

An alpha mate. A true love. Children.

It was all I'd ever wanted. The gravity of it sunk in, rippling across my fur in a shudder. The perfect life I'd always craved was here, right now. I was living my childhood dream.

"All right, I'm done thinking," I announced.

Jade grinned. "And your conclusion is?"

"I'm ready when you are."

It was late afternoon when Jade's brothers and their respective mates returned. After my cat form turned out to be magic, I remained that way all day, happy to doze in a scale-and-fur pile with the kids. Miraculously, the dragonets and ferret kits stayed sleepy after their parents picked them up.

Assuming our community service was done, I shifted back to human form and got up to leave, but Thystle and the twins pulled me aside. Saffron was still giving Aurum the stink eye for the stunt he pulled earlier.

"Hey, can we talk to you for a sec?" Thystle whispered.

I glanced over my shoulder at Jade. He was a good distance away, talking with the older half of his brothers. They were probably catching him up on what he missed.

"Sure," I said to Thystle. "What is it?"

"We set up the third challenge before we knew, uh, officially that you two were together," Thystle replied. "So, we thought it'd be a good idea to ask you for advice."

That actually made sense, given the preposterous challenge they'd cooked up the first time.

"All right," I agreed. "What do you need from me?"

"What's Jade into, besides reading? We had a classic lit trivia match set up, but all the challenges have been about books so far. It's getting old."

One thing sprang to mind immediately. "Well..."

The twins broke into matching smirks. Any lingering annoyance from Saffron disappeared as the twins brainstormed a scheme together.

Thystle raised a brow at them. "What?"

"Oh, we can think of another thing Jade's into," Aurum said shiftily.

Saffron snickered. "Yeah, it starts with B and ends in DSM ."

I blinked. Did the twins know about that, too? Maybe it was the extremity of Jade's kink that was secret. That and the pool toy thing. That was definitely not common knowledge, and I intended to keep it that way.

"How do you know about that?" I asked, making sure I wouldn't accidentally out Jade to the world.

"We borrowed a book about it from his library a while ago," Saffron said proudly. When Thystle stared at him, he said, "What? I was curious."

I crossed my arms. "Did you actually borrow it, or did you steal it?"

"We gave it back!" Saffron insisted, suddenly blushing. "Listen, do you know how embarrassing it is to ask your brother if you can borrow his kink book?"

I uncrossed my arms. "Okay, I see your point. But it was still taken from his hoard without permission."

"Yeah, I know," Saffron mumbled, obviously guilty. "Trust me, he chewed us out plenty."

Aurum rolled his eyes. "It wasn't that interesting anyway. It was just basic boring rope play stuff. There wasn't even any spanking. Not that I'm into that."

Thystle groaned. "Can we stop talking about this?"

"Dude, you're the one who wants to create a kinky challenge," Aurum argued.

I mulled it over. Their suggestion wasn't that outlandish. Plenty of reality TV dating shows had risque content. The Dragonfate Games was tame by comparison. One naughty episode wouldn't hurt. Besides, it wouldn't be the first time the Games featured bondage-related material. I didn't forget that time on the first season when Taylor and Crimson were literally handcuffed together.

When I mentioned that, Thystle nodded thoughtfully and said, "You're right. Handcuffs are way kinkier than a little rope play. Okay, let's do it."

"Are Jade and Alaric gonna be tied up together like the first season?" Saffron asked.

"No, it has to be something different," Thystle mused. As his creative juices flowed, he snapped his fingers. "What if we tie up all the contestants with rope and—"

"That's called kidnapping," Aurum said with a snarky grin.

"With consent, obviously, dickhead," Thystle snapped. "Anyway, we tie them up— consensually— with loose, easy knots."

"Oh, now knots are involved?" Saffron said, barely holding back a snicker.

"If you two don't shut the hell up, I swear to Holy Drake—"

"I see," I interrupted. "The rest of the omegas are in easily breakable bonds, but mine will be complicated and difficult to unravel, meaning Jade will be forced to spend the most time on me. Is that correct?"

Thystle looked pleased and relieved that I'd understood him. "Exactly. Are you cool with that?"

"Yes, it's fine with me," I said.

"Okay." He yawned. "I'd practice tying ropes and knots tonight, but I'm wiped after today's debacle..."

"It'll be fine," Aurum said casually. "It's just wrapping fancy string around stuff. How hard could it be?"