9. Jeremiah

JEREMIAH

"I wanted to tell you guys." I sat on the floor with Matias in my lap and Theo in an activity chair beside me. "You would have set me straight."

"What do you mean?" Joey was folding tiny baby clothes while Connor pumped milk for Louie to use for Matias's three AM feeding. "Set you straight, how?"

We were in a room that used to be a guest room but had now been repurposed as a playroom for the kids. It had everything they and their fathers needed.

I shrugged and kept my eyes on my nephews, enamored with how perfect they were. Their tiny little fingers and toes and lips and noses. No flaws. No scars. No pain. "You would have reminded me that a guy like Felik would have no interest in a guy like me, and it had to be some kind of catfishing scam thing. I should have known better than to trust him."

Joey came to my side and placed his arm around my shoulders. "It wasn't a scam. I mean, maybe it started that way, but anyone can see that he truly cares about you. He was in front of you as fast as our husbands were. That wasn't an act."

My eyes began to water again, and that damn lump in my throat was back. I wanted their words to be true. So badly. But even if there was some level of affection that was real on Felik's side, that didn't negate the fact that he was helping to plot my brother's assassination. Plus he was a Mennetti—currently our number one enemy—not that anyone had bothered to keep me in the loop about that.

Joey should have been more concerned about that little detail, but I guess they were used to the constant threat that was now a part of their lives. The threats that I'd been shielded from for most of my life. "Regardless, it's over. Obviously. And I'm back on the market, waiting for my brothers or father to tell me who I have to marry."

Connor put away the pump and scooted into our little huddle, placing his hand on my knee as he rubbed his son's bare foot. "You don't have to marry anyone you don't want to. Andro has changed a lot of things around here after he married Joey and Louie married me. They won't force you to do anything."

I scoffed at the novelty of choice. "Doesn't matter anyway. Clearly, I have terrible taste in alphas. I might as well let my brothers choose for me. At least then I'll know the true motivation of my mate from day one. No fantasy romance or pretend feelings. Everything will be negotiated and agreed to in advance." I sighed and dropped a soft kiss on my nephew's head, inhaling his warm scent as a flush filled me. "Sorry for ruining dinner, by the way."

My brothers-in-law looked at each other and giggled.

Connor shook his head. "Are you kidding? That was the most exciting dinner we've ever had. I'm so glad I was there to witness it all. Since the Mennettis started this war, we've been so secluded. It gets boring."

I rolled my eyes and smiled. These guys needed to get out more. "Well, I'm gonna get to bed. I'm feeling a little nauseous and might be coming down with something." That or the stress was getting to me. Two hours ago, my biggest worry was if Andro would like my boyfriend. Now, I was worried he might actually kill him.

Joey furrowed his brow and placed his hand on my forehead. "Shit, Jer. You're burning up." He lifted Matias from my lap and handed him to Connor. "You need to take a few Aspirin and get into bed. Don't worry about the guys. We'll keep them off your back until you're feeling better." He looked back at Connor and reconsidered. "Well, at least until morning. Get some rest while you can."

I nodded my thanks and headed straight to my suite. It wasn't as big as my brothers' since it wasn't intended to house a family, but I had a balcony that led down to the pool, and if I didn't feel like my veins were on fire, I might have headed down for a swim. A few laps were always guaranteed to quiet my mind.

But right now, my mind was the last thing I was worried about. Something was definitely wrong, and I wasn't sure what was happening.

Sweating through my clothes, I tore them off and slipped into my bed. I hadn't spent much time there over the years, but every time I was at home, my bed was my safe space. The only time I felt like I actually belonged in my own home.

I dozed off and didn't wake up until I felt cool fingers brush against my forehead. "Jeremiah, it's me."

"Hmm." My whole body felt weird, like it was itchy on the inside. I needed to wake up, but my eyes were so heavy.

"Wake up, love." The cool fingers spread down my neck, cupping me gently. "You're burning up."

My eyes opened to find Felik hovering over me. For a moment, I was excited to see him and arousal coursed through me. Then the events of the evening washed over me.

He pulled back the sheet and the air around us changed. "Fuck, Jer. You're in heat."

"What?" I squirmed but reached for the sheet, pulling it back as I tried to clear my head. "What are you doing here?" I looked around the room, expecting to see my brothers all pointing guns at him, but then I realized the back door was open. "You snuck in here?"

He nodded and pressed his lips to my forehead. "I'm so sorry, Jeremiah. I know you don't believe me, but I promise that what we have is real. I love you, and there's no way I would let my brother or anyone else hurt you. Ever."

New tears flowed down my cheeks as his words hit me right in the feels. "How can I ever trust you again?"

"I don't know." The same tears I was shedding were flowing down Felik's face as he dropped his head to my shoulder. "But please believe me. Forgive me. Tell me you love me too. If I had a chance to do it over, I would do things very differently, Jer. I promise you."

I coughed out a sob as my arms flew around his neck and held on tightly. "I do love you, you big jerk." I took a shuddering breath and kissed his jaw. "Which is why it hurt so fucking bad when I found out you were just using me. You wanted to hurt my family. And me."

"The very first meeting was a setup, but after that, it was just you and me. I haven't fed my brother any information, and I've been working on how to get out of this. Vince will not hurt you or your family." He pulled back and looked me in the eyes. "Just you. Just me. From this moment forward."

Nodding, I kicked the sheet off me and reached for his zipper. "Why is this happening to me?" I was reaching into his jeans before he even realized what I was doing. I needed to touch him, to have his hands on me and mine on him. He was my alpha. Even if we still had issues to work through, in my heart, I knew he was mine.

"Whoa, hold on." He gently lifted my hand up between us and locked both my wrists in his solid grip. "I'll help you, of course. I want to give you my knot so fucking bad." He inhaled through his nose as a new flood of slick flowed from me and made him shiver. "But only if you really want this. Want me. Because if we fuck while you're in heat, you know what's almost guaranteed to happen."

My eyes clenched tightly as I gave an honest effort to focus. "If you promise that you're not going to hurt me or my family." I opened my eyes and looked right into his. "Or allow anyone else to hurt us, then I believe you."

"I promise, love. I swear on my life." He placed his hand on my cheek, cupping it as he brushed his thumb over my lips. "Me and you. You're in?"

I swallowed hard and bit down on the tip of his thumb, swiping my tongue over it before letting it slip from my lips. "I'm in. And I need your knot, alpha. Please. I'm burning for you."

Felik was naked and on top of me in seconds, not bothering to stretch me with his fingers for very long before his bare cock finally slipped inside me, taking me the way we were meant to be connected. "Fuck, omega. You feel amazing."

My fingernails dug into his back, urging him deeper. "So amazing. Faster." My hips bucked forward, meeting him thrust for thrust.

His pace increased, moving in a way that made my entire body rock in time with his. We moved in sync for minutes or hours, I had no idea. All I knew was that the fever inside me got hotter and more intense until I was crying out against his shoulder. "Breed me, alpha. Make me yours."

Felik slipped his hands beneath my knees and rolled me up so he could get impossibly deeper. "You ready, love?"

My ankles rested on his shoulders as he drove into me. "Yes, alpha." I gripped my cock and barely needed any friction before I was shooting streams between us, soaking us in yet another layer before I felt it. The sweet relief of my alpha's knot widening, thickening, filling me with the seed my body was aching for.

And finally, after months of waiting and imagining and wishing and fantasizing, it was happening. Felik was claiming me as his omega, properly breeding me to not only break my heat but to rebuild my spirit.

"I love you, omega." With his knot locked inside me, he kissed me gently, finally taking his time to appreciate the commitment we'd just made to each other without the burden of my heat between us.

My lungs sucked in air as if filling to capacity for the first time, and the world seemed to all come together in perfect order. "I love you too, alpha."

After a brief rest, we made love again. This time, it was slow and gentle, all about learning each other's bodies and reactions without any barriers or lies between us.

Though we'd done this so many times before, it felt like the first time.

The first real time.

And it was fucking amazing.