Omega's Stepbrother : An MPREG romance (Men of Meadowfall Book 3)

by Anna Wineheart

  “See ya. Don’t hate Dad too much.”

  Why? Dad, what did you do? His gut churning, Wyatt unmuted the TV. On the screen, Chief Fleming sat with the news anchor, both of them in starched suits, with crime scene photos in the background.

  Wyatt’s dad looked relaxed, his salt-and-pepper hair combed back, his posture confident. Next to him, the blond news anchor smiled, wrinkles at the corners of his eyes. Probably an alpha, and probably the sort of person Wyatt should’ve been bonded to, instead of Raph.

  Raph joined Wyatt on the couch. “What did she want?”

  Wyatt nodded at the screen. “She said Dad wants a favor. From you, me, and her.”

  Hazel had drifted into the living room, too. She sat with Wyatt on the couch, pulling her phone out to film the interview. Wyatt didn’t bother to do the same.

  ”Honored to have you with us today on Highton Breaking, Chief Fleming,” the news anchor said. ”On behalf of Highton, we’d like to thank you and your team for solving the McArthur case.”

  Wyatt’s heart squeezed. The McArthur name had never sat well with him—probably because that was Max’s last name, too.

  Raph slanted a glance at him. Then he held Wyatt’s hand, and Wyatt relaxed.

  ”It’s disgraceful that omega trafficking has plagued our country for more than a decade.”

  On the TV, Stan Fleming nodded, his gaze solemn. ”It would have been impossible without my team—much of the credit goes to the officers who have been working on this case for years.”

  To Wyatt’s side, Hazel said, “I didn’t know you could traffic omegas. Isn’t that only with drugs?”

  “It happens with all kinds of things,” Wyatt said. His dad had been quiet about that case, but he usually was with most cases until they’d been solved. “Shh. Aunt Penny said to listen.”

  ”I’m sure we’re on the same page, but what are your views on omega trafficking?” the news anchor asked. At the bottom of the screen, a line of words scrolled by. Meadowfall Police Chief Stan Fleming answers questions on the McArthur case. An exclusive interview by Cam Brown and Highton Breaking.

  ”Omegas are an important part of our society,” Chief Fleming said, looking into the camera. ”I have two omega children. It would break my heart if they were ever involved in the omega trade.”

  Wyatt’s heart warmed. Stan Fleming had married his second wife, taking Wyatt and Penny into his own family. They were his stepchildren, but he’d always considered them his own flesh and blood. And it was bittersweet, watching the interview with Raph’s fingers stroking his neck.

  In a lighter tone, the news anchor said, ”I hear that your children were in a band once. Is that true?”

  Chief Fleming blinked, as though surprised. Then his chest swelled, and Wyatt groaned. “Dad, no,” he said. “Please don’t boast about us.”

  Raph frowned. “Looks like he might.”

  “We weren’t in a band,” Wyatt said.

  “Shh! I’m recording,” Hazel hissed, glaring at them both.

  On the TV, Chief Fleming beamed. ”My eldest, Raph, plays the violin. My second boy, Wyatt, plays the piano. And my youngest, Penny, she does amazing vocals. They’re incredible together—their music moves me to tears. It’s been such a long time since they’ve played together.”

  The news anchor brightened. ”Do you think they might volunteer to play for the Highton Children’s Charity? The HCC has recently put out a call for musical auditions. They’ll be doing a fundraiser in a few months’ time.”

  Chief Fleming beamed. ”I’m sure they would—watch out for them! They used to be called the Fleming Trio.”

  Wyatt covered his face, groaning. “Dad, no. Really. Tell me he didn’t just say that.”

  “It’s a repeat telecast,” Hazel whispered. “So Grandpa didn’t just say that. He did it hours ago.”

  Wyatt turned, burying his face in Raph’s shoulder. Playing in front of not just his parents, but a crowd? “Save us all, Raph.”

  Raph set a comforting hand on Wyatt’s back, rubbing his spine. “Not sure what I can do.”

  “Convince him not to sign us up. Oh, gods—has he already?” Wyatt curled his fingers into Raph’s sides, shaking his head. Dad had been hinting that Wyatt should show up with Raph at their family dinners. “He’d totally do it, too. And say it’s for charity.”

  Not only had Wyatt been avoiding Raph in front of them—his pregnancy would show as time went on. And he and Raph hadn’t planned to reveal that yet.

  “What’s wrong with going to perform?” Hazel asked. Wyatt assumed she’d finished with the recording. “I’ve seen you play the piano, Dad, but I didn’t know you guys played together! I wanna watch Uncle Raph play the violin. I love violins.”

  “I love your kid,” Raph said, laughing. “She’s great.”

  Wyatt’s heart fluttered. Not only had Raph accepted him so readily into his life, but he’d accepted Wyatt’s daughter, too. And Wyatt had never heard Raph say he loved anyone, not this easily.

  “You love her, huh?” he murmured into Raph’s shoulder. “You’ve only known her a day.”

  “Yeah. I love you, too.”

  And all of Wyatt’s thoughts fled his mind, leaving those little words echoing in his head. He couldn’t possibly deserve Raph’s love.

  “You shouldn’t.” His pulse thudded. He’d gotten into so much trouble with Max, just by wanting affection. Max had shoved him away, had said You’re just some shitty omega. Beg me if you want me to touch you.

  And Wyatt had begged, ashamed by how much he’d wanted his stepbrother. Max never found out about Raph. For that, Wyatt was grateful.

  “I don’t care if I should or shouldn’t,” Raph said. He slipped his fingers through Wyatt’s hair, pressing a kiss to his neck. “You’re my omega. You deserve my love.”

  My omega. Wyatt’s cheeks prickled. That was intimate, too. And maybe he could get used to it.

  “Oh,” Hazel said.

  Wyatt groaned. She heard that?

  Face burning, he lifted his head, almost afraid to look at his daughter. “What is it, Hazel?”

  “You’re a lot better than those alphas Dad goes on dates with,” Hazel said to Raph, her face deadpan. “You’re really sappy, but that’s fine. Those guys are full of themselves.”

  Wyatt wanted to burrow into a hole. Next to him, Raph snorted. But his hand tightened in Wyatt’s hair, almost possessive. “Other alphas?”

  “Yeah. Aunt Penny says she doesn’t trust Dad to go on dates. So we tag along and sit at another table.”

  “The fuck,” Raph said. “Penny chaperones your dates? Seriously?”

  “Not all the time.” Wyatt grimaced. He didn’t know which was more embarrassing—Penny spying, or Raph finding out about this. “On the bright side, I lose interest in them by the end of the date. Penny and Hazel come up and rescue me, and we go home.”

  Raph chuckled, his fingers trailing along Wyatt’s scalp, a slow massage. “You gonna go on any more dates after this?”

  Wyatt couldn’t help smiling then, leaning into Raph’s warm chest. “You think?”

  “I don’t know,” Raph murmured in his ear, his breath warm. “Tell me.”

  “I’m not.” Wyatt slipped his arms around Raph’s waist, pulling himself close. “I have you.”

  “Good,” Raph whispered, kissing his neck. Then he tipped Wyatt’s head up, and kissed the other side of his throat, where the scent gland was. Hazel watched. Raph eyed her for a moment, before asking, “Your dad told you about bondmates?”

  Wyatt held his breath.

  She nodded. “Mates for life. Kind of like getting married, but more important.”

  “Your dad’s my bondmate,” Raph said, tracing his fingers just along the raw bite mark. Wyatt shivered. “That okay with you?”

  “Is it true?” Hazel asked Wyatt.

  Maybe they shouldn’t be telling Hazel this. Maybe Wyatt should break the bond. But Raph brushed his thumb along Wyatt’s skin, soothing, and Wyatt r
ealized that he wanted to be Raph’s mate. So he nodded, slipping his fingers around Raph’s hand. “Yes. We’re bondmates.”

  Raph drew a quick, sharp breath, his mouth curling into a little smile. He wanted this too, then. They weren’t lovers, not really. But what they had... it was precious. Not something Wyatt wanted to let go of anytime soon.

  Hazel scrutinized Wyatt for a moment, then Raph. Then she settled back onto the couch, nodding. “Dad likes you,” she told Raph. “I like you, too.”

  Well, she wasn’t wrong about that. Wyatt relaxed. Maybe things would be okay, between the three of them.

  Raph smiled, reaching over to ruffle her hair. Wyatt beckoned to her. “C’mon, give us a hug.”

  She clambered over the couch, flopping between them in a whiff of shampoo. And as Wyatt hugged Hazel, so did Raph, his strong arms wrapping around them both.

  In that moment, they all felt like family, and Wyatt hoped it would always be this way.

  11

  Raph

  Three Fridays later, Raph drove into Meadowfall again. He’d been chatting with Wyatt through text, visiting him and Hazel on the weekends.

  It was early June, and the days were growing longer. The sky was still a bright blue when he pulled into his parents’ curving driveway. By the time he stepped out of the car, his grandmother was at the front door, her wrinkled face brightening when she saw him.

  His stomach turned. He hadn’t wanted to see her.

  At eighty-four, Elizabeth Fleming was the matriarch of the Fleming family. She swept down the grand staircase in her shimmering gown and seventy rings, her white hair coiffed atop her head. Raph shut his car door, locked it, and tried to smile. It probably showed as a grimace.

  “Raphael,” Grandma said, smiling down her pointed nose at him. She was short. But he always felt like he was ten years old again, in front of her. “How have you been?”

  Not like he hadn’t just seen her at the office in Highton.

  “Fine, thanks. What about you?” Raph strode up the driveway and stairs, to cut short the time he had to walk with her. The sooner he got to his parents, the better.

  “Very well, thank you. Your supervisor has informed me of your excellent work,” Grandma said, her eyes gleaming, her painted lips wrinkled. Her rings glittered like a mummy’s cursed treasure. She held out her hand as he approached; Raph was forced to accept it, accompany her up the stairs so she didn’t fall. Her bony fingers dug into his palm.

  All he could think about was the way she’d looked years ago, back when he’d kissed Wyatt in the piano room. She’d shrieked, and sworn at Wyatt, cursing him to hell and back. Raph had tried to step between them. It didn’t undo the years of hurt she’d laid into Wyatt, the whispers that Wyatt wasn’t good enough, that he was an embarrassment to the Fleming family.

  Wyatt had fled. And Grandma had smiled like she’d intended it all along.

  Raph swallowed the bile in his throat, walking her through the wide front doors. He’d thrown fits at her when he was younger. But his parents had pleaded for him to stop, and he’d backed down in his fury.

  Grandma owned the mansion. When Raph’s biological mom had died of cancer, Dad and Raph had moved in with Grandma, riddled with debt. They hadn’t much say, back then. Raph had grown up learning to yield to Grandma’s word—one wrong move, and he and Dad would be homeless.

  It had been stifling. When Dad married a second wife, Raph had perked up. He suddenly had two new siblings—Wyatt and Penny—people he could spend time with, aside from Grandma. Grandma had taken an immediate liking to Penny. Not so much with Wyatt. So Raph had liked Wyatt right away, in quiet rebellion against his Grandma.

  “...told the gardener I wanted two rows of lavender by the driveway,” Grandma said. “The neighbors have mentioned how stunning it looks.”

  Raph nodded. Had Mom and Dad saved enough to afford their own home? He didn’t know. And so he couldn’t risk getting them thrown out, by telling Grandma about him and Wyatt.

  Would be nice to be out of debt, for once.

  “You smell different,” Grandma said as they crossed the great hall, with its thick brocade rugs and ancient chaises. She narrowed her eyes, sniffing. Raph’s heart thudded. “That scent is... atrocious.”

  And Raph knew she’d detected the traces of Wyatt’s scent, the magnolia that had stayed when he’d kissed Wyatt’s scent gland last week.

  He shrugged, keeping his expression nonchalant. “I met someone new.”

  “Oh?” Grandma fixed her gaze on him, piercing and judgmental. And Raph smiled like he did with the stubborn people he managed at work, hoping they’d remove themselves from his personal space. Grandma gripped his hand. “I hope it isn’t anyone unsavory, Raphael.”

  “It’s someone very savory,” he said. And Wyatt was, too, with that impish smile of his when he’d kissed Raph goodbye at his apartment.

  Grandma huffed, satisfied for now.

  They stepped into the dining room, where Raph’s parents sat on one side of the sprawling dining table. Mom and Dad smiled. Raph breathed in deep. He was with his parents now. He didn’t have to answer to only Grandma.

  On the opposite side of the table, Penny waved, grinning. She raised her eyebrows, shook her phone. The charity event. Raph winced; he hadn’t given her a reply yet.

  “Raph,” Tanya Fleming said, standing. She had Wyatt’s blond hair, too—Raph had always noticed that. Tanya might not have been his biological mom, but after twenty-four years, Raph saw her as his own mother—different from his first mom, but no less important.

  Tanya glanced warily at Grandma, then kissed Raph on the cheek. “Doing okay?”

  “Fine,” he said, shrugging. Maybe in the future, he’d talk to her about Wyatt. Not right now, though. Not in front of Grandma.

  With his other hand still in Grandma’s grip, Raph hugged his mom, breathing in her familiar chrysanthemum scent. It was nothing like Grandma’s sharp lemon scent, and Raph held on to his mom for a little longer, wishing he could ask what she thought about his brother. About their baby.

  When they pulled away, Mom raised her eyebrows. “Have you seen W—”

  “Briefly,” Raph said, his heart kicking. She’d have followed it up with You smell like him, and he didn’t need anyone else’s attention on that. “I’ve been busy with work. Have you heard about the ATM scandals in Highton? I’ve been working with my managers to reassure our clients. It doesn’t directly affect Alpha Associates, of course, but I just wanted you to know.”

  Mom’s face lit up. And Grandma began to frown.

  So Raph said, “My marketing team proposed a couple of promising campaigns, Grandma—it’ll help expand Alpha Associates into the Midwest. We could potentially see a twenty-percent growth in the region. I’ll pass along the details on Monday.”

  Grandma cracked a smile, and Raph relaxed.

  No one knew about Wyatt. After all these years, everyone no longer expected Wyatt to show up along with Raph. He wondered how long this assumption would last, whether Wyatt would want Raph around, when he introduced the new baby to their parents.

  As he sat down to dinner, Wyatt’s absence felt like a void he couldn’t ignore.

  Raph looked around the elaborate dining room—the floor-length curtains by the tall glass windows, the intricate table settings prepared for five, the chandelier hanging above them all, like a sword waiting to fall. The finery wasn’t important. And the people who were present—Mom, Dad, Penny, Grandma—they had grown used to Wyatt not being here.

  Despite spending the last three weekends with Wyatt, Raph missed him. He always had, through the years. But that had been a slow, lingering burn. Now that he knew Wyatt’s laugh again, and now that Wyatt had pressed himself to Raph’s chest, all vulnerable and soft, Raph missed him like a phantom limb. Was this what having a bondmate felt like?

  And maybe that bonding had been for real. Maybe he’d somehow fallen in love with Wyatt, and he hadn’t realized it until now.

  �
�Hey, Dad,” Raph said. Part of him wanted to add, What does it feel like to be a dad? Because I’m going to be one. “I watched your interview on TV—you mentioned us.”

  Stan Fleming brightened, a smile spreading across his weathered face. As the police chief, he frequently stopped on the streets to chat with the townsfolk, but he also led his teams with a steady hand. He’d been on TV maybe five times, now. To Raph, he was still Dad. “You watched the interview, son?”

  “Yeah, Penny called and told me about it. You weren’t serious about the auditions, were you?”

  Dad laughed sheepishly. “You know, I did sign you all up for an audition. I missed seeing you kids play.”

  Raph froze. And glanced at Penny. She was staring at Dad, her mouth open. “An actual audition? You could’ve told us earlier, Dad!”

  “I wanted it to be a surprise!” Chief Fleming said, chuckling. “I just figured... With all those children in the orphanages, you wouldn’t mind playing for them, would you?”

  “Wyatt isn’t even here,” Penny said, frowning. “He’s busy, you know.”

  Dad’s smile faded. He glanced around the table at the empty seats, wistful. And maybe Raph wasn’t the only one who missed his stepbrother. “I wish he were free in the evenings. Or even if he dropped off Hazel—that would be nice.”

  “We’re doing very well here.” Grandma wrinkled her nose, disdain flashing through her eyes. “He can visit when he decides to.”

  “I wish he hadn’t left when he was eighteen.” Mom sipped from her water glass, her shoulders sagging. “We’ve missed so many years with him. Hazel is such a dear—Wyatt said he had her by accident, didn’t he? You’d want to be careful, Penny, in case you’re just as fertile as he is.”

  Penny blushed. And a ferocious heat surged through Raph’s chest. Wyatt had told his parents that Hazel was an accident? Because she wasn’t.

  In the months after Wyatt left, Raph had searched for him through all of Meadowfall. Wyatt had been hiding away in the kitchens of small restaurants, washing dishes, and later prepping food as a line cook. Raph had tried to contact him. When he’d found out the news about Max, Raph had been too ashamed to face Wyatt as an alpha.