by Grey, Aspen
My eyes moved quickly over the group, but I didn’t see Sasha anywhere. But his scent was there—clear as day. As I looked and smelled, I saw that the scent was coming from one of the alphas who must have taken an item of Sasha’s, one filled with his smell, and knowing I would smell it and come running, used it to lure me outside.
“Lookie, lookie here,” the obvious boss chuckled. “If it isn’t the boy who thinks he’s got evidence on my crew!”
Instantly, I glanced around the alley, checking for any other alphas that might be hiding, pheromone-blocked, ready to leap out of the shadows and attack. But thankfully, it appeared as though the only alphas were the ones in front of me.
Don’t come out here, I thought, wishing my mates could read my mind. Don’t!
“What do you think, boys?” he asked, stepping forward, his body sloshing like raw ground beef stuffed into a Ziploc bag. “Should we just kill him and take the shit? Or should we let him live?”
“I dunno, boss,” one of them replied, his voice low and threatening. “He did piss off your boy pretty bad.”
“Yeah, Sasha was real upset,” the other alpha agreed. “I don’t think he’s going to get over this guy…”
“He’d have no choice if he was gone,” the other suggested. “Ya know—completely out of the picture?”
“That’s true,” the boss agreed, blowing a funnel of smoke into the air. “That would make my little chicken nugget a bit sweeter.”
Chicken nugget? I thought. Did he really just say that?
“Well, boss,” the red-headed alpha laughed, stepping forward. “That’s all I needed to hear.”
He leapt forward, shifting in midair, taking shape as a crimson furred panther with furious eyes. I dodged left and shifted, then slashed out with a claw as he flew through the air, tearing into his side as he gnashed his teeth hopelessly in my direction. His cry echoed throughout the alley as the second alpha shifted, bursting out of his clothes and taking shape as a jet black panther, his fur oily and glistening beneath the dim bulbs of the street lamps.
“Get ‘em!” the boss snarled.
The black-haired alpha dove in my direction, but before he had time to attack, I vaulted towards him with my head down. I drove my skull into his and felt the pain reverberate all the way down my spine to my feet, but the impact was enough to send him spinning away from me. He crashed into a dumpster but was back on his feet in an instant. I spun around to face him, but it was too late—he was on me.
His claws caught my shoulders and slammed me down against the ground, slapping my chest against the concrete. I yelped and twisted, narrowly avoiding his gnashing teeth as they tried to find the flesh of my neck.
“Come on, you pansies!” the boss shouted. I threw myself out of the way, anticipating the other alpha’s attack, and just managed to get clear as he cut through the air beside me. “Get him! He’s only one guy!”
Something crashed behind me and I whipped around to see Eric, already shifted and snarling, come scrambling around the corner, his fangs extended and eyes filled with fury. He raced towards the red-haired alpha, who was bleeding from his side where my claws had found his flesh, and threw the full weight of his shoulder into his already wounded side. I jumped towards him, but a set of teeth clamped down on my ankle, holding me back. I hit the ground hard and spun around, struggling to get loose of the oily omega’s jaws.
“Finish them off, boys!” the boss yelled. “And then we’ll go upstairs and take care of his bitches!”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Perry
“Hey, I think I’m getting the hang of this,” I chuckled as I moved the blade of the chef’s knife faster on the jalapeno pepper, doing my best to dice it as thin as possible without cutting off the tip of my finger.
“You’re getting there,” Roberto smiled, not even looking at me as his knife moved at light speed as he sliced the garlic into impossibly thin segments that would dissolve into the meal when cooked.
“Okay, showoff,” I replied, sticking out my tongue. Something banged outside and I rolled my eyes. “Think that’s Geoffrey again?”
Geoffrey was our resident homeless guy, who was mostly harmless, but liked to poke around the garbage for random items—not even food—just whatever he felt like picking out that night. We helped him out with leftovers, and I’d even gone so far as to bake him some protein donuts once, but he still liked digging around for things, almost like it was his hobby.
“Probably,” Roberto shrugged. “Let’s ignore him?”
“Sounds good to me,” I laughed, repositioning my blade for another cut. But as I did, I felt something inside me move. Something splashed on my feet, and I looked down to see a puddle on the tile beneath me. My eyes went wide and I glanced over at Roberto to see the same expression on his face.
“Did your—?” I began.
“Water just break?” he finished, a massive smile on his lips.
“Uh huh!”
“Holy shit!” he gasped. “It’s time!”
“Oh my God!” I clapped happily. But my little burst of joy was interrupted as a contraction slapped my insides like a flock of wild birds going crazy, beating their wings like they were trying to churn cream into butter.
“Ugh…” Roberto groaned, bracing himself on the counter beside me. “Ooooh, oooh, oooh, oooh. That hurts.”
“Yup,” I replied, almost feeling groggy as the first pangs of labor made themselves known to my body.
Another crash came from outside—louder this time, and as I gripped the counter and closed my eyes against the strength of a second contraction, I heard a yelp and recognized it immediately.
“Jedrik!”
Roberto heard it too and his eyes snapped to mine with concern as another contraction hit him.
“What’s happening!?” I shouted, panic filling my mind like it was being pumped into my skull with a garden hose.
“It’s Sasha!” Roberto cried out. “It has to be!”
“What do we do!?”
“Nothing!” I heard a shout from the hall. It was Eric’s voice. “Stay inside!”
I glanced back at Roberto with terror as the back door slammed open and more snarls and sounds of battle rang out through the night.
“We have to—ahhhh!”
The contraction took my legs out from under me, and I would have fallen if it weren’t for Roberto taking me by the arm and holding me up. He guided me to the couch where we both slumped down. Luckily, I’d left my phone on the side table and snatched it up and immediately dialed Wendell.
“Come on…” I muttered as it rang. Outside, someone—not Jedrik—howled in pain. “Answer!”
Finally, Wendell picked up the call. “Hello?”
“Wendell!” I shouted.
“Get over here, buddy!” Roberto cried out. “We need ya!”
“We’re in labor!”
“Oh, shit!” he gasped. “How long?”
“Like two minutes!” I stammered. “And—don’t go out back! Something’s happening!”
“What do you mean?”
“Someone’s fighting!” Another contraction tore my voice from my lips.
“Jedrik! Sasha!” Roberto called out, twisting on the couch beside me.
“Okay, I’ll be right there!”
I didn’t have time to respond. Wendell hung up. I dropped the phone and clutched Roberto’s hand with such force that I thought I might hurt him, but he replied with just as much strength of his own. I stared at him as the sounds of the fight from outside battered against the windows to our apartment.
“He’s got Eric, baby,” I told Roberto, trying to calm him down, despite the fact that I wanted to race out there and help him out like we’d done before.
“But, we—”
“Are about to have his babies!” I replied. “We can’t even stand, let alone shift and go out there to fight!”
“Fuck!” he bellowed. “Why is this happening now?”
“He’ll be okay, baby,�
�� I assured him. “You have to relax. We can’t bring these babies into the world surrounded by anger and negativity. We have to be strong for them. Eric and Jedrik can handle whoever’s out there.”
Another cry rang out, hitting me in the stomach like one of my contractions, but I did my best to stay strong and not focus on it. There was nothing we could do now. Eric was out there helping Jedrik, and I had to believe they could handle things. I had to.
“How are you doing, baby?” I asked Roberto. His eyes were twisted shut and sweat was beginning to form on his brow. I leaned over and kissed him, doing my best to ignore my own pains. Just like when Chad had fired us, and countless other times before, I did my best to keep Roberto calm—that was the way it had always been and the way it would always be. It was the balance we brought to each other.
But suddenly, a new thought occurred to me. With the strength that Jedrik brought to our relationship, we’d be unstoppable. All three of us were like the corners of a triangle, an unbreakable shape that would stand against anything, and the children we were about to bring into the world would be beneficiaries of that strength.
“It hurts,” Roberto said, his mouth clenched tight. Outside, another cry, and as though in response, the baby inside me moved as another contraction came over me.
“Where is Wendell!?” he shouted.
“He’s coming, baby,” I told him as he leaned his head against my shoulder, nuzzling into the corner of my neck. “Don’t worry. Everything’s going to be all right.”
If you believe it, it will be true…
“How can you be so sure?” he asked me. “You’re always so sure about things.”
“You know I’m right, baby,” I reassured him, using the back of my hand to wipe his forehead clean of the sweat that had formed there. “Just look into yourself and you will feel it. We’re going to be okay.”
If you believe it, it will be true.
“If they hurt him—I’ll kill them!” he shouted. “GET AWAY FROM HIM!”
Jedrik’s roar filled the air. It was strong and filled with fury, not pain. To my ears, he and Eric were winning. I could just picture him coming back in the door, naked and glorious, a few scratches on his beautiful, towering physique, but nothing serious. He’d come over to us as we gave birth, and hold his newborn children in his arms, and the world would be exactly where it needed to be.
If you believe it, it will be true!
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Jedrik
Something’s happening upstairs!
I don’t know how I knew it, but I did. Maybe I’d heard something—a cry or a shout—lost amidst the thrashing sounds of battle, or maybe I smelled something different in the air, or maybe there was just a connection now between me and my mates, but I knew that something was going on in my apartment, and there was only one thing that it could be.
The realization was like a strong wind filling my sails, sending me racing forward towards the alpha who had fallen after Eric slammed into him. His neck was exposed to me, and I sank my fangs true and deep, finding the jugular vein and severing it with one quick jerk. His cry was lost in the sound of the boss howling in anger.
“NO!” he roared, and I spun around just in time, blood dripping from my angry lips, to see him toss his cigar into the air and shift, snapping the velvet suit to threads that soared high into the air like ribbons of flesh as he took his panther form. He snarled, as if to finish a sentence he’d started while shifting, and hurled his enormous body at me.
His fur was thick and lush like an otter, with a sheen like coffee. He was so fat I underestimated his speed, and he slammed into me like a lopsided bowling ball, sending me spiraling into the building next to me. I yelped in pain and looked up as the remaining alpha sprung at me. His mouth was open so wide I could see the back of his throat. But just as he was about to find his target, Eric came to the rescue.
His claw snatched the alpha by the shoulder, digging in and spinning him around to face him. He slapped the bastard to the ground, giving me enough time to right myself and rejoin the battle.
I knew I had a mere second—two at most—before the boss was on me, and used it to sink my teeth into the alpha’s belly. It was a killing blow, and the alpha knew it. His death cry rang out through the alley as I tore flesh from his body, hurling myself out of the way just as the boss crashed towards me.
Eric and I both leapt on him together, but he was big—at least half again my size. But he was fat and flabby, and we were muscle. Lean and mean beats big and burly every time, and we knew that.
A cry from upstairs rang out. It was Roberto and he was in pain.
The babies are coming! I thought, my heart racing for a reason that had nothing to do with the fight. The son of a bitch in front of me was standing between me and my children, me and my mates. He was threatening my family, and while of course I cared about my own safety, I cared about theirs more. No matter what happened to me, they had to be safe.
My teeth snapped air as the boss moved more quickly than I’d expected and got himself out of the way. Eric scrambled after him, but a thick foot to the jaw sent him crashing back into me. I tried to get him off me, but Eric was stunned and lay on top of me panting heavily while I watched the boss spin around, foaming at the mouth, and sink his teeth into my already wounded ankle.
I cried out in pain and fought to get away, but his grip was too strong and Eric was pinning me down. I thrashed violently and managed to free my other leg and drove my foot into the boss’ eye. Instantly, his jaws loosened and I pulled my leg back to safety. I was bleeding and the pain was like hot coals beneath my skin, but as I slid out from under Eric and got my feet under me, I knew I was good enough to go on.
I faced off with him—the bastard responsible for all of this—and gnashed my teeth furiously, letting all my rage flow out of me.
Another cry from my apartment. A door slammed.
Wendell, I thought. That’s him coming to help with the delivery!
I needed to be there, and the only thing standing between me and my mates, my children, was the fat bastard in front of me.
Eric was still panting behind me on the ground. Obviously the kick to the face had taken a lot out of him, but it didn’t matter. I didn’t need him—not anymore. He’d saved my ass and gotten me to this point, but I had this. This guy might have been a big bad crime boss or whatever, but he was nothing compared to me. I was a real alpha, and I was going to show him how a real alpha does things.
With a final snarl, and my thoughts on nothing more than the events taking place upstairs in my apartment, I kicked off the pavement with all my strength and raced towards him, my teeth heat-seeking missiles homing in on their mark, the place that would end this once and for all.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Roberto
“You’re getting there. Just keep breathing,” Wendell said soothingly, reapplying another cold rag to my forehead. I sat beside Perry, both of us naked from the waist down, our legs propped up on one of Jedrik’s beautiful coffee tables. I’d managed to get Wendell to cover it with towels so we wouldn’t ruin it with our feet.
“He won’t care,” is what Wendell had told me. He was probably right.
“But I will,” I had replied. I loved his work, and that coffee table especially. Ruining it would have made me sad, no matter what the reason.
“I don’t hear anything!” I gasped, Perry’s hand still clutching mine as we both took the journey of labor together. “I don’t hear anything!”
“That’s because it’s over,” Perry said reassuringly. How was it that he always managed to keep his calm when I was about to lose it? “Jedrik and Eric took care of it, and now they’re on their way back up here to see us.”
“How can you be so sure?” I said, feeling panic rise back up inside me like a fountain of nausea. “How do you know?”
“How did you know that Jedrik was our fated mate, baby?” he asked me. Despite my emotions spiraling out of control, I felt m
y lips smile on their own. I knew exactly what he was getting at and looked over at him.
“I just knew,” I told him. He nodded.
“Exactly.”
Another contraction shook me. This one was less painful, but held me longer, like an electrical current gripping every muscle in my body.
“Hang in there,” Wendell told me. I tried not to get angry with him.
You don’t know how this feels!
That’s what I wanted to shout, but I didn’t. He was doing everything he could, and I knew how lucky we both were to have him at our side. And then, as if the universe had aligned perfectly for us, the door burst open and I looked up to see my mate, my astonishing, Adonis mate standing there, naked and triumphant, victorious, with only a single wound on his ankle.
“Jedrik!” we both shouted simultaneously.
“My mates!” he shouted back, stepping into the apartment and racing over to us. Eric came in behind him and shut the door. He looked dazed but made his way quickly to the bathroom.
“I’ll get you a bandage, Jedrik!”
“Yeah!” Jedrik called back, but his eyes were on us—Perry and me—looking back and forth between the two of us like a concerned father. “Are you all right? How are they, Wendell?”
“They’re just fine, Jedrik,” Wendell assured him. “Just normal pregnancy pains.”
“Good!”
“Yeah, easy for you to say!” Perry laughed to Wendell. “You ever had an industrial-sized eggbeater running rampant through your insides?”
Wendell smiled and shook his head. “But then again, you probably already know what it’s like to have something big tearing up your insides, don’t you?”
