Chapter Eight

Seth

"It"s awfully late, Pratchett," Devon says, eying the boy behind me.

"It"s only eight-thirty, Devon. We won"t be long."

Devon crosses his arms. He knows why I"m here.

"Is that Seth?" Talia calls from somewhere in the house.

"Goddammit," Devon mutters. "Yes."

"Tell him to come to the kitchen."

Devon gives me a flat look. "Okay." Then leads the way to the kitchen.

"Oh," Talia smiles. "You"ve brought Brandon back. Would you like anything to eat? We still have a few burgers left from earlier."

Brandon looks at the floor and shakes his head. "No, thank you."

Talia looks at me, hands on her hips. "Why won"t you hold the baby?"

Great. Now I"m in trouble. "He"s too little. I"m afraid to drop him."

"Bullshit."

Scrubbing my palms across my jawline, I take a breath and give an answer that"s going to get me yelled at. "I wouldn"t have held the triplets when they were brand new, either. He shouldn"t have to deal with my funk until he"s old enough to fight it off."

"That doesn"t make sense, Seth. That sounds... I"m sorry, but that"s ridiculous. Your funk. Please. Dutch worships you. The girls adore you. You don"t have funk. What are you going to do when Desir"ee has a baby? Not hold it? Don"t be absurd. A funk. What silly shit. Jasper! Will you bring the baby into the kitchen, please?"

I don"t want to have this conversation twice. And this isn"t the reason I came over. Not that it matters. When Talia decides to deal with something, she does. I sit down at the table and dig my fingertips into my eyebrows. I"m going to have to hold the baby.

"Why are you afraid of him?" Brandon whispers. "He"s just a baby. He"s little."

I cut my eye at him and he lifts his own eyebrows and shrugs.

"Seth," Jasper says, tipping his chin when he comes into the room with his sleeping bundle. "And Brandon. Everything alright?"

"Give Seth the baby."

Jasper looks at me, putting real effort into not smiling. "She"s been a little upset about this."

My gaze falls to the baby cuddled in his arms. I can barely see a few tiny fingers curled around the edge of the blanket. Jasper holds out the baby, offering him to me.

When I don"t reach for him, Jasper smirks. "You can take him or I can toss him, either way he"s going to be in your hands in about four seconds."

The image of Jasper tossing the baby to me like a ball flashes in my mind, thoroughly horrifying me even though I know he"d never do that, and my arms stretch out before I can stop them. Jasper gently places the baby into my hands and steps back, leaving me awkwardly holding him out from me. Then he wiggles and I clutch him against my chest before I drop him.

He"s so warm. And small. I completely understand why Desir"ee wants twelve or fifteen of these.

"See?" Talia crosses her arms. "That"s not so bad, is it? There was nothing for you to be afraid of."

"I"m more afraid now. He"s so tiny. And fragile. Take him back." My mouth says the words, but my arms still cradle the baby against me.

"No," Talia says. "Now, why are you and Brandon sitting at my table?" She narrows her eyes at Devon.

"For fuck sake, cupcake. Iris isn"t even three years old and this little asshole is already trying to take her from us. If he goes with us, I"ll have to watch him do it in real time for the next twenty years until she"s an adult and can leave us completely. I won"t do it."

"That"s not it," Brandon argues. "I"d never take her. I just can"t let her go alone. She has to have one of us, and Cody and Joseph can"t go. They have families and they have to finish school. I can go. Then they"ll come when they"re old enough. We"d never take her. We just need to be with her. Tell him, Seth. Make him understand. You said you would."

"What is Seth going to make Devon understand?" Alex asks, strolling in the room and going directly to the fridge. "What have I been missing while I was holed up working all day?"

"The packs here tend to form really young," I start.

"We noticed," Trent says, appearing in the doorway. "Give me my baby, please."

Very carefully, I transfer Luca into Trent"s hands and immediately regret it. I still don"t want to pass on my fucked up gene pool, but I don"t think I"ll mind holding any and all of the babies from now on. "You can see how Iris is with Brandon, Joseph, and Cody. You see how they are with her. It"s obvious."

Devon just looks at me.

"What do you think would have happened if Mateo had tried to keep Desir"ee from the twins? Do you think she would have been okay being separated from them? Do you think she would have been happy?"

He crosses his arms.

"Did they try to take her from her family, or in any way come between her and her family?"

"I don"t know, Pratchett. But Desir"ee isn"t Iris, and the twins aren"t this kid. And I"m sure as shit not Mateo."

"He just wants to be near her so he can see for himself that she"s safe. He"s young, but he"s going to be an alpha. He"s already protected her once, from something big. Can we just talk about a compromise?" I look from him to the other alphas in the room, and then to the omegas. "You can"t say you don"t understand where he"s coming from."

All eyes land on Brandon. He squares his shoulders and makes himself as tall as he can in his chair. "If you don"t let me go with you, I"ll walk. I don"t care. I"ll sleep in the woods. I"m used to it. I"m going with her."

After a moment, Talia sighs. "Well, to be honest, I can"t think of a better situation."

"Pardon?" Devon asks, the vein in his temple very prominent.

"If he"s staying with us, he"ll get the best possible education. And training. He"ll get the same training you did."

Alex sits at the table with a plate full of lunch meats and bread. "You"re not wrong, sweet pea. And he won"t step a toe out of line with all of us watching him the way you know we will. He"ll probably end up COT."

Devon and Trent both rub at their chests.

"And Joseph and Cody can come over when they"re old enough and they can be whatever that is, too. We"ll learn how to be the best." Brandon looks very pleased with all of this.

"You don"t even know what a COT is," Trent mumbles.

Brandon nods. "I don"t care. I"ll be whatever I need to be. So will Joseph and Cody. We"ll learn."

"I can"t say I"m excited about it," Jasper says. "But I"d rather her pack be strong, and they"re obviously her pack. Even I can see that. Who better to make sure they"re strong than us?"

"Goddammit," Devon grumbles. "She"s just a baby."

"And he"s just a kid," Talia goes to stand in front of Devon, leaning against the front of his body even though his arms are still crossed. "A kid without a family or home."

"Where will he sleep?"

"In the garage apartment," Corso answers as he, too, comes into the room. "We"ll have to discuss it with everyone else, of course, but this is the right thing to do. I don"t want Iris to wilt even a little just because we"re afraid of the inevitable. Jasper is right, if he"s with us we can help him grow into the alpha he should be."

"We can"t put a child in an apartment," Talia argues.

"You can," I tell her. "He"s used to being on his own. He"ll be more comfortable there than in a bedroom in the main house. And all my stuff is there. He can use any of it until he has his own. I"ll pay for anything he needs."

"We will all take care of young Brandon," Corso smiles.

Devon sighs and finally wraps his arms around Talia"s waist. "I don"t like it."

"I know, handsome. But sometimes we have to do what"s right whether we like it or not."

Brandon and I are both quiet on the way back to the house. I don"t know what he"s thinking about, but I"m still thinking about how that baby felt in my arms. When I park, neither of us moves or says anything for a minute. Someone turns on the porch light and he sighs.

"You can stay with us, Brandon. We have room. You can stay with us until it"s time to go."

He turns in the seat to face me. "Is it always that easy? With Iris"s parents? They just decided it was okay. Is it always like that?"

"No, it isn"t. But Talia is right. Sometimes you have to do the right thing no matter how much you don"t like it. I think you just have to be smart enough to see it and brave enough to do it."

He nods. "What"s COT?"

The corner of my mouth lifts. "Devon, Kaleb, Trent, and Nathan are a COT unit. They"re basically council-operated mercenary teams."

"So, complete bad asses?"

I laugh. "Something like that. You"re going to make a good one."

Brandon sleeps on our couch for the next two weeks. He"s helpful and respectful and puts effort into learning as much about the East Coast as I can teach him without being there. He"s doing his best to keep everyone from seeing how excited he is about the garage apartment, and Desir"ee is babying him as much as he"ll let her. But then it becomes obvious that Desir"ee is going to go into heat any day and Brandon doesn"t want to be anywhere around when that happens. Understandably. He very politely informs us that he"s going to stay with Cody"s family for a few days and blushes all the way out the door. His timing couldn"t have been more perfect. Desir"ee goes into heat within hours of Brandon"s exit.

From the very start it feels different. It"s more intense, and I didn"t know that was possible. She keeps running her fingertips across the little puckered scars on Michael"s and Ben"s hips where their implants used to be and snarling over the fact that mine is still firmly in place. My implant hasn"t stopped her from wanting my attention, though, and I"m unbelievably relieved. I didn"t realize I was worried that she would reject me during her heat until she didn"t.

Right now, she"s turned away from me, using my thighs as leverage while she rides me. I"ve got a gorgeous view of her ass as her hips rise and fall, and perfect access to help guide those movements. Her heat has completely overtaken her and I"m barely hanging on. I want to hang on. I don"t mind going into rut now that I have a pack that I can trust, but I love being with Desir"ee when she"s in heat. Desir"ee is every single good and perfect thing an omega should be, and being with her is everything I ever imagined being with my own omega would be. It"s more than that. I never would have thought to even fantasize about how being with her and our pack would be.

"Ben, Michael," Desir"ee gasps their names, reaching for them.

This is how it goes with us. There is no jealousy. No animosity. No hard feelings. I am buried inside her as she rides me, my thighs are soaked in her slick, but she needs the twins, too, and all I can do is try to come up with the most comfortable way for her to have them.

"What do you need, Desie?" Michael asks, reaching to push her hair back over her shoulder.

"You."

Michael smiles at her and nods at Ben. They each straddle one of my outstretched legs and shuffle closer to her.

"You good," Ben asks as he hands me a hair tie.

It takes me a moment to understand why he"s asking and I fight back a snort of laughter when I realize why he"s asking. They"re both basically dragging their balls up the front of my legs on their way to Desir"ee. "Yeah," I smirk. "All good."

Honestly, I don"t care about any of it. From what I remember of her last heat, the only thing the twins and I didn"t do for our omega is each other. And to be really honest, I"d do everything up until the actual act if she said she wanted to see it. I"ve never been attracted to males and that"s not likely to ever change, but I"d do just about anything if she asked for it. Especially if she asked for it when she"s in heat.

Ben pulls Desir"ee to him for the kiss she needed and Michael guides her searching hand to his dick. I gather her hair into what"s supposed to be a ponytail. It isn"t as neat as what she"d do herself but it gets the job done.

I hate that my mind keeps recognizing the differences between this pack that has become my home and the first pack I was involved with, especially when I"m in the middle of giving my omega all the things she needs. But this would never have happened with Jay and Derek. When we shared females between the three of us it wasn"t often about sharing, just doing. I like sharing. I like sharing so much.

While Michael and Ben take turns kissing Desir"ee, I reach around her to hold her breasts. I love how they fill my hands and how her nipples bite into my palms. I love how her back arches when I tug at them and I love the way she gasps into their kisses when I do it. I really love it when the things I do causes her to lose focus. Capturing both her nipples between my fingers I gently twist them back and forth, smiling when she hisses and moves her hand from Michael"s dick to cover mine. I smile even harder when Michael drags her hand back down to continue working him over. Ben pulls her other hand to his cock and covers it with his own and she purrs as they all work together to make sure the twins finish when I do because she loves that.

Ben bites into his bottom lip and Michael"s mouth lifts into a small snarl and that"s my cue to hurry it up. I can"t cum until she does, though, so I growl against her shoulder and push one of my hands down to circle her clit. "You"re so close, darlin. Just a little bit more. You feel so good, so tight and hot around me, dripping wet. Fuck, it"s good." I lift my hips, thrusting deep, pushing my swollen knot against her. "Can you feel that, Desir"ee?"

"Yes," she hisses. "I want it."

"I know you do, darlin. I want to give it to you. Can you feel how hard Ben and Michael are? They want to cum for you, too. But you have to cum for us first. I need you to cum all over my cock before I push my knot inside you. Then Michael and Ben can get off. We"re all waiting on you, honey. Give us what we want so we can give you what you need."

She tightens around me with such a violently immediate orgasm that it takes my breath; and once I feel her rhythmic contractions around my length, I move my hands to her hips and push her down over my knot. Desir"ee throws her head back, crying out as she stretches around me, and Ben and Michael take advantage. They each latch onto our marks on either side of her neck and she screams for us. Then she passes out.

Michael climbs out of the nest and goes down the hall for a wash cloth. Ben announces that he"s going to go find some snacks, and I maneuver Desir"ee and I around until she"s on her side and I"m curled around her. Another of those differences surface when I start purring for her. I never purred before I was with this pack. Not once.