“Aren’t people are going to see a dragon?” I asked Carrick.
“It’s dark out and he’s over the ocean.” Carrick shrugged. “I imagine he knows what he's doing.”
“Where is the Alpha Parliament?”
“Somewhere off the coast of New England,” he said. “I imagine he'll fly straight up that way.”
“And that's it then? You’re cleared of all charges? If that's what they were.”
“Yup. We don't have to worry that the Alpha Parliament anymore. Now it's just us.” He put his arm around me and our pup.
Wane began to wiggle around my arms and I realized that he was turning back into a human. I quickly adjusted the way I was holding him and soon I was cradling a tiny baby again. I marveled at how different his physical capabilities were in his different forms. It must've been frustrating, if he was old enough to experience such an emotion, to go from being able to stumble around and play as a puppy, to basically doing nothing as a human.
“Shall we go home?” Carrick asked me with a smile.
I knew that he meant our home. Not the house that he shared with his parents, but the actual home on Half Moon Island that I had yet to spend any time in.
“I'd love to.”
Chapter Sixteen
Carrick
I'd say that life went back to normal, but it was hardly normal having a mate and a baby in the house that I had lived in so long in as a bachelor. My once quiet house was now full of laughter. My mate and I immediately set about doing the nursery for Wane. I spent a little time in the skate shop, interviewing employees to find out what processes they used and get some ideas on what more technical things could help them. I also vowed to start spending a little more time with my employees and getting to know them, so that I could avoid another incident like the hunter working under my nose. I had been giving the asshole a paycheck for God’s sake!
When Brooks wasn't working on my new website, which he refused to show me until it was done, he was eagerly planning a big party with Elliott.
At last, one day in May, the whole family descended upon my parents’ house again. This time even the members who hadn't been able to come to Christmas showed up. Elliott and Brooks both decided that they’d like to have rings, so we held a brief ceremony in front of our family where Rion and I exchanged them with our true mates. Since it wasn't traditional for shifters to do that, we left the buying of our rings to our formerly human omegas. I was surprised and delighted that Brooks had opted for silicone rings, which meant we could keep them on even while we were playing hockey.
The party was in full swing as we celebrated not just my bonding with Brooks, and Rion with Elliott, but Verona's first birthday, which was drawing near. She was the first grandchild in quite a long time, so it was a big deal to celebrate. I suspected that the fact she was the first girl grandchild had something to do with it. Finch and Ford jokingly teased my mother that she had forgotten they were her grandkids first. Then demanded to know why my sister hadn’t thrown them a huge party as babies.
I was pleased to introduce Brooks to the remainder of my family and was glad he didn’t seem horribly overwhelmed by it.
Tessa outdid herself and baked an absolutely astounding set of cakes. There were two tiered wedding cakes, bigger than any I had ever seen. One was topped by a set of wolves, who looked remarkably like Elliott and Rion when they were shifted, all coated in beautifully smooth white frosting. The other cake was ice blue, and topped by a pair of wolves that looked like my mate and me. They were a little smaller than the two on my brother’s cake and I suspected it was so that they would match the little trio from the baby shower. Like Rion and Elliott's, each tier of our cake was a different flavor. There were cupcakes for Verona, all decorated with polka dots and drawings of characters from her current favorite TV show. Even though he wasn't barely four-months-old, there was a set of cupcakes for Wane as well, decorated with little hockey pucks and sticks.
I was sitting with most of my immediate family members in a little circle, enjoying cake and watching Verona crawl around.
“I hear you’re doing Carrick’s website for his store?” Tessa asked my mate.
“Yeah.”
“What’s the going rate for web design and management? Ford has been hassling me to get one for my bakery.”
“Depends on what you need, who you hire…,” Brooks threw some numbers at her as he thought.
“What’s your rate?” Tessa asked.
“What?”
She glanced at me and I grinned. “What’s your rate?” she repeated. “I want to hire you.”
“No, no,” Brooks started to protest.
“Yes, yes,” she said flatly.
“It’s no use arguing,” her mate Kylan said. I felt a hint of alpha aura and smirked. “Once Tess makes up her mind, that’s it.”
“It’ll be good for your portfolio,” I said with a grin, knowing he’d know I was behind it.
“I’m not taking charity or your money.”
Tessa snorted. “You rake in money from the bakery whether you like it or not. You might as well earn it.”
Brooks’s mouth snapped shut. There was no arguing with that. “Okay. We’ll talk it over and get you started.”
“I need one for my wedding cakes,” Ford said.
“Could you do one for my photography business?” Finch asked. “Mine’s pretty lame.”
“We’re trying to go into business together, so we’ll need a joint one or something linked together,” Ford added.
“Okay,” Brooks said weakly.
“The restaurant could use a website,” my mother said thoughtfully.
“My hotel site needs an update,” Dell added.
I soon I soon found myself leaning against the door of the back porch, looking out of my family as they bombarded my mate with website requests. He had gone from looking exasperated by the perceived charity, to eagerly taking notes as design ideas came to him. Someone kept handing me cake, and I kept eating it. I was certain that Tessa had baked more than enough for everyone. As I watched Verona pulled herself up on a chair, while Rion and Elliott cooed to her. Then, she released it, turned, and took two shaky steps toward Wane, who was doing tummy time on a blanket by Brooks.
“She's walking,” Rion cried. “She's walking!”
Verona plopped down onto her butt, then rolled and crawled the rest of the way. Elliott scooped her up with a laugh and gave her a big kiss on each cheek. “You did it, sweet girl!”
Brooks looked over and caught my eye, with a small smile. I could hear Dell giving Rion grief about how excited he was about something so simple, but I knew I would be no less joyful when Wane took his first steps. I was ecstatic the first time I saw him roll over. I smiled back at my mate and puckered my lips into a kiss. He kissed back at me, before returning his attention to Wane.
I sighed contently. Kessel squeezed past me to get outside.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“Brooks invited me, he says it's weird not to have me hanging around all the time. Besides,” He held up a plate with a large piece of cake on it, “free food from Tessa? Done!”
I laughed as he started out onto the lawn. “Kessel?”
He turned back to me. “Hm?”
“Thanks, man. For watching out for us all those months and keeping my mate safe.”
“Brooks is the one who got him in the end, don't thank me.”
“Someday you’ll have a mate of your own and you'll know just how much that means.”
He smiled, but it was a little force. Not one of his usual grins. “Maybe,” he said.
“it’ll happen,” I said confidently.
“I don't doubt that I'll meet my true mate someday. But it won’t matter, I’ve already turned an omega.”
“What?!” I blurted. “Who?!”
“My son,” Kessel said. Then, he nodded, and jogged across the grass to greet my mate, without elaborating. I frowned in confusion. If he had a son,
his son would be a shifter and wouldn't need to be changed. That didn't make any sense at all. It was clear however, that he had no intention of explaining., All these months with him shadowing me and I guess I hardly knew the guy.
Brooks joined me a few minutes later and held out Wane to me. Wane reached both hands at me and giggled.
“You want to see daddy?” I asked him with a smile. I took the precious bundle from Brooks and gave our son a kiss on the nose, causing another round of giggling. “Having fun?”
“Yeah, you?”
I nodded. “You and Rion planned one hell of a shindig.”
“Yeah, I'm really pleased with the turnout,” he said. “It's like your entire family is here.”
“I think they are,” I laughed. “Except…” My mood immediately dropped a little bit.
“I'm sorry Cambry couldn't come,” Brooks said softly. “I know how much that would've meant to you.”
“It's his year away anyway,” I said, trying to conceal my disappointment. “I wouldn't have expected him to come. I just hope he’s okay…” I said more to myself than my mate, but Brooks nodded anyway.
“I'm sure he'll be just fine,” he said, putting a comforting hand on my shoulder. “Maybe the change will be good for him.”
I nodded. In my experience spending a year away just made you feel even lonelier. Maybe that didn't hold true for cats, but I knew a lot of Cambry's feline aloofness, was just an excuse to keep us at arms’ length. For whatever reason, he never let himself be as much a part of this family as we all felt he was.
Brooks leaned forward and planted a gentle kiss on my cheek. “I’m running in to steal some more of your sister's wonderful cake. You want any?”
“I've already eaten more than enough of it,” I laughed. He gave me another kiss and headed inside.
I adjusted Wane my arms and kissed his little forehead. He blinked sleepily at me, then reached a tiny hand up and grabbed my nose. I snorted into it, sending him into a fit of giggles.
“Uh, Carrick?” I turned at the sound of my mate’s voice, half expecting him to be offering a piece of cake anyway. To my utter shock he was standing there with Cambry by his side. And I wasn't the only one of us holding a baby
The End
Coming Soon
Espresso for His Omega
Book Three
Welcome to Felines and Fine Grinds…
Who wouldn’t be content in a coffee shop full of cats? Cambry Silvanus isn’t. His parents died when he was a baby, leaving him the only cat shifter in a family of wolves. While they never treated him any differently, he always felt just a bit left out. Cats are expected to be aloof, but Cambry is just plain lonely. Even his popular coffee shop has lost its allure for him. As each full moon gets harder to endure alone, Cambry knows that any one could be his last. Desperate for a change of scene, he leaves Half Moon Island in search of something that will bring him joy again.
The Caffeinated Cat’s days are numbered…
If the cat-themed coffee shop hadn’t been Louis’ mother’s dream, he would have closed and sold it the day he inherited it. Despite hating both coffee and cats, he grudgingly took over the establishment for her sake. Without the business experience or the passion needed to help the café thrive, Louis quickly finds himself floundering. When a cat turns up on his doorstep one snowy night, he quickly brings it inside, not knowing what fate has in store.
Roasting their way to happiness…
With a dwindling savings and mounting debt, Louis now wants nothing more than to save the shop, but is he already too late to turn the business around? To his surprise, Cambry offers to help him, but there’s a catch: if he doesn’t agree to become Cambry’s mate in three days, their memories will be erased, and Cambry will vanish from his life, perhaps taking with him the only chance the café has. If Louis agrees, Cambry knows that he needs to help Louis discover a love for cats and coffee, and maybe, in doing so, Cambry will rediscover his.
The Last Alpha Dragon
The Full Moon Mates Series Book Four
Available to buy or borrow from Amazon
Chandler has long been resigned to the fate of his race.
He’s one of the last two dragons in the world and in spite of being immortal, he knows that someday there may be no dragons left at all. For centuries he’s been dreaming of a tropical island paradise with other dragons on it. After the dream becomes a nightmare of a hurricane ravaged island, he wonders what if the dreams are real? What if there really are more dragons? And if there are… are they in trouble?
Rask wondered if this was the end for him and his friends...
It has been centuries since Rask and his companions were shipwrecked while fleeing the dragon massacre. Life hasn’t been easy, but nothing could have prepared them for the devastation of the worst hurricane to ever strike them. Leaving the island has proved deadly in the past, but now Rask thinks it may be better than slowly dying of starvation. He dreams of returning to civilization, finding his true mate, and having children of his own. That is, if the threat of dragon slayers is truly over…
About the Authors
Harper B. Cole
Harper B. Cole is the pseudonym of three bestselling authors and best friends who lie to their mothers about how they make their money. We love telling stories in the Omegaverse, and absolutely adore reading them. We are all mothers, and we'll probably lie to our kids about the existence of our books as well.
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Kallie Frost
Kallie is the pseudonym of a USA Today Bestselling Author who normally writes young adult fantasy and dabbles in paranormal romance. She’s lucky enough to be friends with the Harper girls, who were thrilled to discover she loves mpreg. While she devoured their books, they busied themselves nagging her to start writing mpreg as well. It worked, and now Kallie is hooked on writing in the Omegaverse and is eagerly outlining tons of books.
Keep up with Kallie
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More Books by Harper B. Cole
The Café Om Series – M/M Non-Shifter Alpha/Omega MPREG
Maple Ridge Wolves – M/M Shifter Alpha/Omega MPREG
Wolves of White Falls – M/M Shifter Alpha/Omega MPREG
Written with Crista Crown
The Outcast Chronicles – M/M Shifter Alpha/Omega MPREG
Written with Susi Hawke
The Three Hearts Collection – M/M Non-Shifter Alpha/Omega MPREG
Icing the Omega Page 18
