CHAPTER NINE

RAIN

About a month and a half into Kay's pregnancy, the heat waves finally subsided. His body adjusted to the new situation, and the mating bond between us completely stabilized his condition.

He still needed closeness, but it wasn't as frenzied, nor did he have painful cramps. This didn't mean that the amount of sex we had significantly decreased. Our chemistry as True Mates was a big factor, and we continued to enjoy each other's bodies many times during a regular day. Adam and Marco worked long hours, and we had a whole house to explore different places and scenarios, adding to our sex life. Kay's growing belly limited us in some ways, but the middle months of pregnancy also introduced some new elements, such as his nipples beginning to produce tiny drops of milk, which introduced an unexpected and rather kinky element to our activities.

Kay just loved how I would latch onto his nipples, sometimes he would ask me to do it for long minutes. For some reason, it seemed to increase his overall skin sensitivity, allowing for incredibly powerful sensations and his orgasms became even longer, more like full-body experiences.

I was glad that the new intensity was now due to the natural course of the pregnancy and our True Mate status, rather than the high-risk pregnancy mechanism that widowed omegas go through that makes them cling to a new alpha.

But the most wonderful aspect of these changes was that Kay and I could enjoy each other without stress, knowing his pregnancy was going well and his body 'knew' he was safe again.

***

My family first met Kay about a month later at Skye's graduation ceremony. We decided to go because Dad had been writing to me almost every other day for the past two months, inviting us over or suggesting a visit. I felt that I shouldn't stress Kay out with my somewhat overwhelming family and wanted to give him more time to get to know me better and build a bond based on real trust, not just on our True Mate magic, before introducing him to them.

Additionally, the city where Skye studied was halfway between White Cliffs and my parents' house. It was also where Adam and I studied, so it seemed a perfect place to start.

The trip took us several hours, most of which Kay slept through.

My parents rented a few hotel rooms so we could rest comfortably. There was also a planned celebration for Skye after the graduation ceremony. We arrived just in time, about an hour before the event. Kay was still a bit worn out and not fully recharged since we had to wake up very early. Since his pregnancy hit the halfway point, he got tired more easily and slept longer hours.

In front of the hotel room, we met my parents for the first time. The initial moment was truly emotional. Kay seemed a bit shy and surprised when he saw how my parents looked. Their youthful appearance always shocked everyone, revealing the nature of their True Mate status. I think this was the first time he saw the effect of that extraordinary magic face-to-face.

My omega dad immediately approached him and hugged him tightly. "I'm so happy to finally meet you, Kay," he whispered through tears, visibly moved.

For some reason, tears appeared on Kay's face too. He rarely showed his emotions to strangers, so this was a big surprise. Kay looked down at my dad from his almost six-foot-one height, while my dad, at five-foot-eight, couldn't match him in height but certainly did in beauty.

"Oh my God, it's hard to believe you're Rain's parents," Kay stammered, blushing intensely, realizing it was his first sentence to his future in-laws, even before "hello"!

My dad laughed joyfully. "Yes, the True Mate bond preserves you, making you look no older than 30 until almost 80, and then maybe around 40," he quipped, winking. Indeed, both of them looked adorable. My dad with his white-gold braid, turquoise eyes, and angelic features, standing next to Kay with his long jet-black braid and perfect model-like face.

My alpha father also approached Kay and hugged him. He was the only alpha whose presence and hugs I could tolerate around Kay.

"Welcome to the family, Kay. You have no idea how overjoyed Lake and I are that Rain found you. It might sound selfish, but this way, I know our son will be happy because I know firsthand how the True Mate bond works!"

Kay nodded, blushing deeply. His usual proud and aloof demeanor melted away, leaving him shy, happy, and clearly touched by the warm welcome. Meeting another True Mate couple meant a lot to him; it showed just how powerful these relationships are and how partners can magically boost and rejuvenate each other's life energy.

We drove together to campus to meet the rest of the family. Dad and Kay sat in the back seat, talking about Kay's pregnancy and even about baby names. Kay was leaning toward the name Ray, which he thought was short—and contained an element of mine with the 'Ra' part, and Kay's with the 'ay'. I was hearing this for the first time; we had never discussed it before. Listening to their conversation, I felt quite surprised and somewhat astonished that Kay wanted to name the baby after me. He even mentioned that in my family, names were often related to water elements, seasons, and nature, and Ray symbolized a beam of light, a hope that brightened his life.

As Kay spoke, my alpha father listened with interest, occasionally glancing at me with a warm smile. Although I had always been closer to my omega dad, my father was like the cornerstone of our family, providing silent support and serving as a role model for my behavior.

Imagine my surprise when, arriving at the college parking lot to join my brothers, I saw Storm! His huge stature towered over everyone. He stood on the outskirts of the group, only next to Nathaniel.

Apparently, Skye had invited him too, which stunned me—still, he didn't seem to be integrating well with the rest of the family. Hesitant about what to do, I tightened my arms around Kay but decided to approach Storm first. Might as well start on a high note!

"Storm, how nice to see you," I managed to say, stretching my lips into the most gracious smile I could muster, though I wasn't sure it was entirely sincere.

Kay stared at Storm with great surprise in his eyes. Out of all my brothers, Storm and I looked the most alike—except for our eye color. Storm had inherited our omega dad's turquoise eyes, reminiscent of tropical waters, but our faces were almost identical. However, I noticed how shocked Kay was seeing Storm's height. I stood at 6'8'', which was impressive in itself, but Storm was 7'2'' tall. Like a giant, he stood out in our family, where he was the tallest. Nathaniel and I were next in line in height, followed by the rest, most of whom were around 6'5" or 6'6", except for my only beta brother Winter, who was 6'1".

Storm greeted me with a slightly predatory smile.

"Hello, tiny brother," he drawled, his eyes immediately shifting to Kay, and his smile grew even more ironic and somewhat irritated.

I wouldn't even begin to explain to Kay why he called me tiny. But oh well, it came from one situation—he caught me jerking off to some omega-on-omega porn and claimed my 9.5-inch dick was a dwarf compared to his. I really didn't need to know that, but I guess I just had to live with the feeling of having a 'tiny' dick since, as he claimed, his was more impressive. But I didn't ask how much bigger because I really didn't need that knowledge, duh!

"And this must be your True Mate. Magic, absolute magic happened, right? Such wonders! Some hit rock bottom, while others rise to the top! Where's the justice in that?" Storm sneered, unaware of my angry musings.

The envious, venomous tone made me grit my teeth and hold Kay closer.

"Kay, this is my brother Storm, charming as always! Maybe if you changed that cynical attitude, you'd soar to the top too, instead of looking for shortcuts? Those often lead to cliffs."

"A lucky guy and a wise guy in one premium package, you truly are. While I am just a common criminal and a jealous fool. What a faux pas on my part to even open my mouth! But, but, despite my envy of your extraordinary luck, I'm not rude. Welcome, my esteemed brother-in-law, to our family, and congratulations on the upcoming parenthood!"

Kay extended his hand, looking quite flustered, and mumbled a brief thank-you.

Storm eyed him appraisingly. "The rumors about your otherworldly beauty turned out to be true," he said with a mock bow, despite already seeing Kay's picture, but he just had to say it, I guess.

"Thank you," Kay whispered again, holding me tightly around the waist. Storm's intense energy was irritatedly overwhelming.

I was about to retort something cutting, but luckily Nathaniel stood beside us. Sensing the tension in our conversation, which was only seemingly lighthearted, he quickly extended his hand to Kay, greeting him warmly and thanking him for the graphic projects he had done for his company in recent months.

Thankfully, this new topic, introduced by Nate, improved the atmosphere. I noticed Kay was trying hard to avoid looking at the scarred half of Nathaniel's face, a reminder of the fire he miraculously survived as a teenager.

For a few minutes, we talked about current projects while Storm remained silent, looking grimly over our heads toward the crowd of students and parents gathering for the ceremony. Shortly after, the rest of my brothers joined us, and each one introduced themselves to Kay, saying their congrats on our TM status.

I could see Kay was a bit overwhelmed by the number of people interested in him and the sheer number of eyes watching him intently. Luckily, my older brothers were the unobtrusive types—calm and even a bit withdrawn. None of them were married yet and had come to the gathering alone. Only Winter approached Kay separately to congratulate him on the upcoming childbirth, sticking to his usual stiff demeanor.

My youngest brother, Sun, who was eighteen, wouldn't have come over at all if Dad hadn't gently pushed him in our direction. He greeted us with a somewhat sulky expression.

Kay shot me a quick glance, and I felt he was surprised by Sun's appearance. Despite being an alpha, Sun's beauty was more akin to the most gorgeous omegas than the most handsome alphas. He had long golden hair and angelic features, looking just like our dad. Unfortunately, his behavior was far from angelic; he was the youngest and most spoiled. He also only dated alphas, and every other month he had pictures of himself and his 'new boyfriend' posted all over his social media. He considered himself an aromantic, with great disdain for love and long-term commitment as just boring—simply 'not fun' enough.

Seeing him standing there with his nose buried in his phone, blatantly ignoring our presence, I was relieved when I finally spotted Skye approaching, dressed appropriately for the graduation ceremony. However, I was stunned when I saw his face.

I knew my younger brother well—there were four years between us, but as kids, we had been close, holding a united front against Storm.

However, today Skye looked terrible. His usually unfazed face was almost gray-green, as if he were ill. There were dark circles under his eyes, and his hair was tousled and unkempt.

I approached him and hugged him, murmuring in his ear, "Hey bro, you look rough. What's going on? Are you sick? Or hungover?"

"No," he grumbled. "Nothing like that, just some minor problems."

"They don't seem that minor, you look like shit."

Though I wanted to ask more, I had to include Kay in the conversation since he was standing next to us.

"Listen, I want to introduce you to someone. This is Kay, you've probably heard; he's my True Mate."

"Yeah, I've heard," Skye muttered, barely glancing at Kay before his eyes returned to my face. He was the only one of my brothers who wasn't interested in Kay's looks and wasn't impressed by our TM status. There wasn't even a flicker of curiosity in his eyes, unlike the others, which made me pause.

"Nice to meet you," he mumbled absentmindedly while I eyed him intently.

"Congratulations on graduating with such good grades," Kay said politely.

"Thank you," Skye replied shortly, staring grimly at the ground.

I nudged him lightly in the side. "Hey, what's up with you, little bro?" I couldn't help but ask again; he really did look terrible.

"Nothing, really, it's not worth delving into," he said, then quickly walked away as the ceremony was starting.

I glanced at Kay. "Something is definitely wrong. Skye isn't the type to get easily upset about anything. He's always been the most laid-back of all my brothers, rather level-headed. Even when he broke up with Martin, we only found out much later! He's usually good at handling life's ups and downs and has a good tolerance for stress!"

"Maybe it's a romantic issue," Kay murmured, glancing at me from under his lashes. "At his age, I'd bet on that."

"Who knows, who knows…"

Soon, the ceremony began, and students started receiving their diplomas. All went smoothly. Skye was given his diploma with distinction, but shortly after, something strange happened. As he stepped off the stage and headed toward us, a student blocked his path and said something to him. Skye, with clenched jaw, passed by the guy and walked determinedly toward us, leaving the other student standing alone.

When he reached us, congratulations and hugs began immediately. No one paid any attention to the incident except for Storm and me; we stared at the student who was walking slowly next to our group. I also eyed him, and he was a pretty fascinating, weird guy.

The sides of his head were shaved, but the black hair on the top and back was tied in a braid that reached down to his mid-back. His earlobes were pierced with a multitude of earrings, and he had a rather scary tattoo of barbwire or a shoot full of thorns climbing up both sides of his face from his neck to his temples. He also had piercings in his eyebrows, and in the corner of his lip. Despite all these eccentricities, his face was quite interesting. With somewhat hostile yet strikingly beautiful features, it looked like he purposely tried to tone down his beauty with all those 'edgy' accessories and unconventional styling. Well, to each his own; I preferred a more classic look, but if Skye was into that sort of thing, who was I to judge?

But that wasn't the end, Storm was intensely eyeing the pierced guy, but as he passed us and walked away, my beloved purple brother quickly turned to Skye and said very loudly, almost aggressively, "Who was that?"

"No one important," Skye growled, his jaw muscles twitching, a telltale sign that it was quite the opposite—this person was clearly extremely important.

"I think you should talk to him, it might be worth it," Storm muttered with a strange smirk, but as the rest of our brothers glared at him, his face flushed a bit as if he realized how uncalled-for his suggestion was. Some random eccentric guy, and here Storm was getting involved and encouraging Skye to… what exactly?

Storm's comment was so out of character that all my brothers and my parents stared at him in surprise. Finally, he cleared his throat and mumbled, "What are you all staring at? I told you I have a knack for matchmaking! I was earning top bonuses at the matchmaking firm I worked for!"

"In the past tense, might I add," Skye snarled, his face painted with all shades of angry red.

Biting my lip, I averted my gaze. I was strangely reluctant to publicly support his claim, but the truth was—he told me Kay was my TM before I had a certificate, so maybe Skye should listen to him after all.

"Give it a rest, Storm, save yourself the embarrassment, we have guests!" added Sun, seizing the opportunity to jab at our least favorite brother.

Storm muttered a curse under his breath and turned away from us.

Oh, how easily I could have stepped in now and told them that perhaps they should pay attention to his words, but my own pettiness stopped me. It wasn't my business, right? And I was a jerk.

We all headed to our cars, eager to end this cringey situation, as we had a reservation at a nearby restaurant.

When we were getting in our car, I caught Storm's gaze on me, his brows furrowed. I smirked, and he… showed me the 'fuck you' sign. Whatever. I guess getting mauled by him as a teen still held its power over me; I wasn't one to easily forgive.

As we drove, this bothered me a bit, and I wasn't totally happy with how I acted, especially because Skye might have needed to hear that information. I promised myself I'd message him later on Messenger. As for Storm—oh well, the moment had passed anyway.

We got to the restaurant, but the family gathering wasn't exactly joyful, despite celebrating Skye's impressive graduation results.

Skye sat there, almost paralyzed, staring blankly at the wall. He barely answered any questions and seemed completely numb. Storm wasn't much different, looking broody. Snow was his usual silent and impassive self, while Sun was glued to his phone.

Only Bay tried to make some conversation, mainly speaking to our parents about his impending concert. Nathaniel was trying to engage with Winter, since they were both programmers, but Winter was mostly ignoring him. Winter was the head of the programming department at a large company that made mobile games, called DevApp, and he looked with some contempt at Nathaniel's small startup business, especially because my cousin employed only alphas and Winter had strong opinions about alphas being programmers.

At one moment, Kay leaned toward me, and whispered, "Skye looks like he's in shock. Something serious must have happened; I know that look. It's similar to physical trauma."

"You're right, he's almost catatonic. But I'm not sure he wants to tell us what's going on. Besides, talking about it in front of my brothers would be overwhelming. Storm will criticize him, and Sun will mock him. And Winter would be happy to rant about 'stupid' alpha-omega mating games that make us miserable. It's not a good idea to press him now. I'll message him later on Messenger."

Kay nodded in understanding.

The meeting ended fairly quickly as all my brothers had to go about their business. Soon we were all saying our goodbyes. I gave Skye a strong hug and whispered to him to call me if he needed any help, but he barely reacted.

I could see my dad was also deeply concerned about his behavior, his turquoise eyes fixed on Skye almost the entire time we sat at the table.

After dinner, Skye packed his things into my parents' van, and we all congratulated him one last time. Of course, my parents invited us to visit them at their home again, but I would rather not promise anything, not wanting to stress Kay with longer trips given his advanced pregnancy.

On the way home, I was brooding and Kay slept through the whole drive. Just as I reached Adam's house, I received a text from my dad informing me that he had managed to get the reason for Skye's behavior out of him.

It turned out to be about the pierced guy, nothing surprising here, but Skye refused to give any more details. He just said the matter was definitively over and not worth dwelling on. He only asked Nathaniel to assign him as much programming work as possible, and immediately started working as soon as he entered our parents' house.

Nate, of course, couldn't complain about gaining a full-time employee. And I was surprised to find that Skye's programming skills had significantly improved—I no longer needed to spend as much time checking his code, which was good news.

When I reached out to him on Messenger later, trying to probe into the matter, he shut down every topic about the pierced guy.

There was only one time I had a small success. I messaged him, "That guy was hella good-looking. I'm not usually into the bad boy vibe, but his face is something else. He could be Kay's cousin!" I knew I had to write something that would catch his attention.

After seeing the moving dots for a while—like he was starting and then stopping writing his answer—he finally settled on one comment: "Yeah, he is very beautiful, but also toxic as fuck. It's over anyway. I'm not talking about it."

"Listen, I hate to say it, but Storm said you should talk to this guy. Maybe it's a good idea."

"The fuck? Since when are you aligning yourself with whatever shit Storm has to say?"

"He might… he kinda guessed about me and Kay. His intuition might be legit. I think you should give it a chance."

"I don't want to talk about this person. The guy's trash and a fucking whore. Can you leave me alone?!"

No matter what I wrote after that, he ignored it. There was no chance of getting through to him. He focused only on work, and the rest of my family also had no success in getting any more details from him.