by J. L. Wilder
“It’s a boy,” Ozzy reported.
A boy. A new alpha. Of course the firstborn son would someday take over as the new alpha of the pack. For a moment, it occurred to Chuck to wonder whether the boy was biologically his, or whether he was Gage’s or Ozzy’s.
But the thought left him as soon as it had come to him. They had discussed it many times. The babies belonged to all of them in equal measure. They would parent equally, and they would raise them together. They would love them all the same.
He’s my son. I’m a father.
One of the pack’s beta women came forward. Chuck hadn’t noticed until that very moment that they were standing by the wall watching the proceedings. Ozzy passed the new baby into the beta’s arms, and the beta moved away.
“Where is he going?” Natalie asked, her breathing still coming in little gasps as she watched her son go.
“She’s just going to clean him up,” Gage said soothingly. “Nothing to worry about. He’ll be back in a minute.”
“Another one will be along by then,” Ozzy said. “Drink some water if you need to, because I think things are going to start moving pretty quickly now.”
“Water?” Natalie asked.
Chuck held the straw to her lips. “Just a little sip,” he cautioned her.
She nodded and took a slow sip, then released the straw. She gripped Chuck’s hand. “I think the next one’s coming now—”
“Yeah, it is,” Ozzy said. “You can do it, Natalie. Push.”
Chuck watched her muscles contract throughout her body—arms, legs, abdomen—as she worked to give birth to their second child. He marveled. Shifting was nothing compared to this. There was nothing he could do that even came close.
Then a second cry split the air, and Ozzy was holding up a red and squalling baby girl, beaming at them. “She’s here,” he proclaimed. “Ten fingers and ten toes.”
The new baby was passed along to another beta to be cleaned up.
The process continued. Between births, Natalie did her best to rest against her pillows, to catch her breath or hydrate herself with little sips of water. Chuck couldn’t believe her stamina. Each birth seemed to require so much effort, and yet she just kept going, delivering a third baby, then a fourth, and then a fifth.
By the time the sixth baby was born, she was panting with exertion and clinging to Chuck’s arm with both hands. Gage had moved around behind her and was supporting her shoulders. “You’ve got this,” he said. “You’re getting there. Not too much more.”
“I’m all right,” she panted. “Don’t worry. I can do it.”
Chuck leaned over and kissed her. “I know you can,” he said. “I’ve known all along that you could.”
“Seven,” Ozzy said. They were coming more quickly now. Chuck had lost track of how many of them were crying—he believed some had fallen silent since they’d been taken away and cleaned up, but the cries around them were still cacophonous.
“Eight,” Ozzy added.
Chuck looked up. “Really?” It had happened so quickly. There hadn’t even been a break, and Natalie seemed almost not to have noticed at all. She was resting her head on Gage’s arm, her eyes closed, breathing deeply and quickly.
“Here comes number nine,” Ozzy said. Baby number eight was still in his arms, and he barely managed to pass it off to a beta before catching number nine.
Chuck reached out and laid a hand on top of her abdomen.
“I think we might be done,” Ozzy said.
Chuck moved his hand cautiously from one spot to another, careful not to apply pressure. “I think so,” he agreed. “Natalie?”
She opened her eyes and blinked up at him.
“You did it,” he said quietly. “The babies are here.”
“Does that mean I can hold them now?” she asked.
Gage laughed lightly. “We’ve made you wait a long time,” he said. “I’m sorry.”
“I miss them,” she said. “I actually miss them. Isn’t that weird?”
“It’s not weird,” Ozzy said. “They’ve been part of you for a long time. For as long as they’ve been anything at all. I’m sure they miss you too.”
He brought her one of the babies and laid him gently on her chest. “This is the first one,” he said. “Our new little alpha.”
“Will he definitely be an alpha?” Natalie asked.
“Definitely,” Chuck said. “He’s the firstborn son of the current alphas, so the role passes directly to him. It’s a lot more straightforward than things have been in this pack for a long time.”
She closed her eyes. “That’s wonderful,” she said, her hand coming to rest on the baby’s tiny back. “What are we going to call him?”
“Anything but Randy,” Ozzy said with a smile.
“What?” Gage asked, feigning astonishment. “You don’t think Randy would like to have a namesake?”
It had come as a surprise to all of them when Randy had chosen to stay with the Pacific Northwest Wolves after having been deposed as alpha rather than going rogue. But when he’d given it some thought, Chuck had realized that it did make sense. Randy had always been weak, and now that he didn’t have the burlier betas of the pack standing behind him, that weakness was easier to see than it had ever been. Of course he wouldn’t want to go off and try to live on his own.
“We’re not calling any of my children Randy,” Natalie said.
Gage grabbed a blanket that had fallen to the floor and gone unnoticed by all of them in the excitement. He carefully draped it over Natalie and over their son. “What do you want to call him, then?”
“Brody,” she said.
“Brody,” Chuck repeated.
“Do you like it?” she asked.
“I like it just fine,” he said. “It’s a good strong name for a boy.”
“Brody,” Gage repeated.
“The next alpha of the Pacific Northwest Wolves,” Ozzy said.
“Hard to imagine, isn’t it?” Chuck asked. “This little guy growing up and leading the pack one day.” His mouth was opening and closing sleepily as Chuck watched. “I think he’s hungry.”
Natalie smiled down warmly at her son. “Looking for something to eat, Brody?” she asked, lowering the blanket slightly and bringing him to her breast. He latched on quickly and began to suckle.
“What about the others?” Natalie asked, looking up at her alphas. “I can’t possibly feed nine all at once.”
“We’ll do it one at a time,” Ozzy assured her. “I know it’s hard, but we’ll make sure everyone is fed.”
“Nine babies,” she marveled. “I thought it would be a lot, but I never imagined nine!”
“Well, it’s normal for omegas to be really fertile,” Gage pointed out.
“Yeah, I know,” Natalie said. “But I went so long thinking of myself as infertile. Even when I got pregnant...I guess there was a part of my mind that assumed that I wouldn’t be able to do as well as other omegas might. That I wouldn’t have as many babies, and that that would be the way my infertility would translate into this life.”
Ozzy shook his head. “I don’t think you were ever infertile,” he said. “I think you couldn’t conceive a child with a human man, that’s all. As an omega, you were made to carry shifter babies.”
Chuck agreed. “It’s the same as how none of us would ever have imprinted on a non-shifter woman, no matter how much we might have liked her,” he said. “Biologically, it couldn’t have happened that way. It’s not what we were meant for.”
Brody yawned in Natalie’s arms and shifted his weight slightly. She smiled down fondly at him. “I think our little alpha is asleep,” she said.
“Ready for another one?” Gage asked her.
She nodded. He took Brody away, and though she was clearly reluctant to part with him, she eagerly accepted the next baby that was placed in her arms.
“We’ve got a lot to do,” she mused. “Coming up with names for all of them.”
“We’ll do it,”
Chuck assured her. “But there’s no rush. Wait for the perfect names to occur to you. We have time to make our decision.”
They hadn’t bothered to plan any names ahead of time because they hadn’t known how many they would need. Though Chuck hadn’t wanted to say it out loud, he would have found it kind of sad to come up with more names than they needed.
Of course, never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that they would have this many children. It was a blessing beyond anything he could have predicted.
When the baby was finished, Chuck lifted him away from Natalie, allowing Gage to bring in the third one to be fed.
Chuck walked over to the window and held the baby in his arms up to it.
“I don’t know if you can see out there,” he said. “I guess your eyes probably aren’t that good yet, huh? But this is your home. This is where you’re going to live. And I’m your dad.”
Then he laughed. “Well, I’m one of your dads,” he amended. “You’ll never lack for loving parents. You’ll probably feel like you’ve got too many of them sometimes. But I hope you always know that it’s much better to be part of a family than it is to be alone.”
Epilogue
Five Years Later
NATALIE
It was one of the warmest days of the year so far, and the sun shone brightly overhead.
Natalie sat on a blanket in the middle of the yard, an open can of beer beside her and a book in her hand. She had often dreamed, when she was younger, of having time to lay around in the grass and read, but she had been so occupied with her career that it had never seemed possible.
Not that she was any less busy now. Raising nine children was taxing work, and it filled every moment of every day. But it was rewarding, too. She enjoyed her life now, in a way she never had before that fateful evening at the hotel in New York. Every moment felt precious.
“I can do it, Marcus!” one of the boys called.
“No you can’t, Ian!” Marcus sounded very upset. Natalie glanced over at them to see whether she needed to intervene, but it looked like they were doing all right on their own. So far, the fight was only verbal. She wouldn’t get involved unless it turned physical.
Now Ian focused his attention for a moment. She could see him straining, and she knew what he was doing. She could remember doing the same thing herself.
He’s trying to shift. That’s what Marcus doesn’t think he can do.
The kids had begun to control their shifting over the past year or so. Before that, when it had happened, it had always been inadvertent, always a surprise to both the one who shifted and their brothers and sisters. Some of them would quickly shift back, wailing and clinging to Natalie, frightened by what had happened. Others enjoyed the thrill of a new physical form and would spend hours running around the yard before Natalie could cajole them into coming inside.
In time, of course, they all got used to it. These days, if they shifted accidentally, they tended to see it as an annoyance rather than something to be feared or celebrated. But none of them had mastered the ability to do it at will yet.
She watched Ian carefully. If he managed to shift while he was still irritated with Marcus, it might turn into a scuffle. Their fathers had taught them well how to play without hurting one another, but still, claws were sharp.
Eventually, though, Ian seemed to give up or to get distracted. He grabbed a rock and chucked it at a nearby tree trunk. Marcus picked up a rock and imitated his brother, and as the two of them settled into their new game, Natalie allowed her attention to wander.
Brody sat on the newly painted porch with Ozzy by his side. A large book lay open across both of their laps, and from where she sat, Natalie could see Ozzy pointing out something on the book’s pages. Brody was watching attentively and nodding along.
He’s learning the pack history. She knew that Ozzy had been intent on sharing all he knew of pack history with all the children, but especially with Brody, who was already showing signs of the leadership ability he would one day need as alpha.
Even now, she could see Brody looking up every few seconds, scanning the yard, checking on his siblings before returning his attention to the book. It was a habit she had noticed in him over the years. He kept track of the others, kept watch on where they all were and how they were doing. If a fight had broken out between Ian and Marcus, Brody would have been right behind her to break it up.
“Mama?”
She turned. It was Gracie, her youngest, and when Natalie held out her arms, Grace threw herself into her mother’s embrace.
Natalie laughed. “Look at you,” she said, holding Gracie at arm’s length. “What is this all over your dress?”
“Dirt,” said Gracie matter-of-factly.
“And why is there dirt all over your dress?”
“I got dirty.”
“Yes, you did.” Natalie reached into the canvas tote back she always kept nearby when she was with the children and pulled out a plastic baggie of apple slices. “You want a snack?”
Gracie nodded and held out her hands.
“What do you say?”
“Snack please.”
Natalie handed it to her. Gracie pulled out a few apple slices and laid them out neatly on the ground, then picked one up and took a tiny bite. Her fastidious eating was so at odds with her messy appearance that Natalie couldn’t help but laugh.
Gracie would be the omega of the group. It was all but certain. That was a hard thing to think about, and Natalie had fought hard against the idea of having her tattooed young, as the pack had done to her. “Wait until she’s ten,” she’d insisted. “If you’re still sure, we can tattoo her then.”
“That’s an awfully long time,” Gage had argued.
“We usually do it young because the memory of the pain doesn’t stick with them,” Ozzy agreed.
“It’ll hurt her just as much now as it would when she’s older,” Natalie said. “And if you do it now, you won’t be able to explain to her why you’re doing it. It’ll damage her trust in us.” She shook her head. “If you don’t want to do it when she’s ten, wait until she’s an adult. I’m just as happy with that. I don’t need my daughter marked as an omega where everyone can see it. It isn’t anybody’s business.”
They had given in. And now she looked down at Gracie’s unmarked wrists and wondered how her own life might have been different if she’d never had that tattoo on her arm.
In the end, she couldn’t help but be glad it had been there. Even though it had gotten her into trouble many times, it was also the thing that had enabled her pack to find her again. It was the thing that had eventually brought her back to her family.
But the fact that she was an omega—a known omega—was what had put her in danger from the very beginning of her life. And that certainly wasn’t what she wanted for her daughter. Someday, Gracie would find an alpha, either a leader of another pack or one of the rogues who roamed independently in these lands, and she would start a family of her own. But until that day came, she belonged among the Pacific Northwest Wolves.
My parents were here on this land when I was born, she thought, as she so often had before. This was their home. A long time ago, it was my home too.
They had run because they had feared for her safety. They had feared what might happen to her if she stayed.
There was no doubt in Natalie’s mind that if she had to, she would run away to keep Gracie safe, just as she would have for any of her children. But the pack was a different place now, and she knew that her daughter wouldn’t be harmed. She would grow up safe and happy, and she wouldn’t have to learn for a long time that there were places in the world that weren’t safe for omegas to go alone.
She had grown up alone in the world, passed from family to family, desperate to finally find the place where she belonged. She had reached adulthood and had found herself clinging to her relationship to give her meaning and a sense of being a part of something.
But her daughter would never go through that. S
he would know all her life who she was. She would never have to question whether she was wanted.
Thank God. Thank God I was able to give her a childhood so different from what I experienced.
She was even thankful for the long years of believing she was infertile. It had been a struggle at the time, and very painful, but her children had come along at the right time—when she was with men who could help her to raise them, and when she was living in a place and with a family they could feel at home with.
Gracie held out an apple slice to her mother. “You eat it, okay?”
Natalie smiled and took the apple slice. “Thank you, Gracie,” she said. “That’s very nice of you.”
She closed her eyes and felt the warm sun on her skin as she bit into the apple and listened to her children play.
Free Preview of Omegas In Heat Box Set
"Alright, everyone! It's now or never!"
A tinge of fear ran through Echo Wilson. The night she'd been dreading for months had finally arrived. She stood among the crowd gathered at the motorcycle-circled cabins in the middle of the woods. She was at the headquarters of her bear pack, the Hearteater Clan, and all she could think about was how she didn't want to be there.
She realized she was alone in that sentiment. The rest of the Hearteaters—all clad in denim and leather, let out cheers and other cries of excitement.
"Echo!" shouted a man's voice from behind her. It was one that she recognized instantly.
She turned and was greeted with the sight of Stone, the pack's alpha. Tall and muscular, his hair and beard coal-black, he looked like a leader.
"What the hell are you doing just standing around?"
Echo hated having the attention of Stone. He was all cocky swagger with that typical greedy, eager smirk on his face. He looked at her with that same hungry stare that he had for all the women of the pack, like all he could think about was throwing her over his shoulder and taking her back to his lodge to use her however he wanted.
"I don't know," Echo said, not sure what else to say.
Stone scoffed and shook his head.
