by Lisa Oliver
Good, don’t ask. Ven didn’t want to talk about how he was one of the elders that “put down” vampires who didn’t qualify for gifts due to their usually torrid or sadistic character. He especially didn’t want to mention how Mosh and he had sat for a full twenty-four hours, on the night of his companion’s birthday; Ven with sword in hand and Mosh with a bottle in his. When Mosh finally just disappeared in front of his eyes, Ven dropped his sword and spent the next ten minutes laughing with relief.
Con’s lips were far more tantalizing when they were being used on him instead of asking awkward questions. Ven was wondering if his well-used ass could hold up to another pounding, or if Con could be talked into mutual blowjobs when there was an urgent knocking on the door.
“My Prince, consort, wake up,” Mosh yelled through the closed door. “The bitch is giving birth. There’s blood everywhere and she’s not letting anyone into her room.” In his long life, Ven had never heard Mosh panic before.
“She could be protecting the pups, but there shouldn’t be a lot of blood; not in a normal birth.” Con rolled off the bed and onto his feet, grabbing a pair of sweatpants. He had them on and was at the door, and Ven quickly followed.
“She said she was fine when the shifter doctor went into her.” Mosh held the elevator door open. “She had a meal, made some comment about how she was better off dead now and then refused to speak or see anyone. The doctor said mood swings were common during pregnancy, so the guards let her be.”
“For fuck’s sake, she’s a prisoner,” Ven snapped as he hit the button for the basement. “She doesn’t get a right to say who goes in her room or not. Where’s the doctor now?” The elevator lurched and sped downwards.
“I sent him in there first, when the guard alerted me to the scent of blood. She attacked him, complete with fucking claws.” Mosh tapped his foot on the elevator floor. “He’s going to be all right after a few shifts, but he won’t go in there again.”
“Babe.” Ven clicked his fingers in front of Con’s face. His beloved was staring at the doors as though willing them to open. “Babe. What’s the protocol with wolf shifters and the sins of the parent being visited on innocent children?”
“All children are born innocent. They must be saved. Can’t this thing go any faster?”
“We’re here. Babe.” Ven caught Con as he went to run out of the door. “You take care of the babes, me and Mosh will take care of Megan.”
“I can’t let you in there, I don’t want you hurt.” Con wrenched his arm out of Ven’s grasp.
Silly puppy. “Focus on the pups, babe. Megan was a dead woman walking the moment the council got her confession.”
“It’s the pups I’m worried about,” Con seethed. “If she thinks she’s got nothing to lose, she could birth them and kill them out of spite. She’s already killed eight kids, what’s a couple more?”
Ven prayed that Megan wasn’t that far gone in her depravity, but the scene in Megan’s room, after Con kicked the door in was not good. Mosh was right. There was a lot of blood. Most of it dripping down the front of Megan’s ripped gown. Her efforts at a self-inflicted cesarean were clearly messy and how she was standing was a miracle in itself. She held a bundle in her arms, and Ven couldn’t tell if the pups were alive or not.
“The traitorous alpha and his blood crazed side kick,” Megan sneered. “I’m fucked. Do you know that? I’m fucking fucked, fucked, fucked. The only chance, the only slim chance I had of my life being saved was if one of my babies was an alpha, and what did I get? A fucking beta and an omega. Another beta just like me – a fucking toy for alphas to play with. Do you know how many fucking arrogant shits I had to seduce to even get pregnant? Do you? And the whole fucking effort was wasted.”
Please let those pups be all right, Ven prayed as Con moved towards the deranged woman.
/~/~/~/~/
Con stepped forward, his hands outstretched, showing he had no claws or weapons. “You need urgent medical help, Megan,” he said softly, trying to project a calmness he didn’t feel. “I can understand you wanting to know what your pup’s designation will be, even to the point of cutting them out of your belly before they are due. No matter what they will grow up to be, they still need a good and strong mother. They need you and you’re badly hurt. Hand them over and let me call a doctor for you.”
“He’ll kill me,” Megan screamed, the babies wobbling in her arms as she pointed to Ven. “He would’ve done it before, but the fucking pups were still in my belly.”
I would have killed you too, considering all the shit you’ve pulled so far. But Con had to believe he was better than that. “That’s right, your pregnancy offers you certain immunities. You were pregnant when Donny was killed, the other pack members too. If you go before the council, claim you weren’t in your right mind…”
“Are you suggesting I’m crazy?” Megan’s shrieks got louder, but from the pups there wasn’t a sound. “I killed Donny because he was a worthless piece of shit alpha who slapped me. It wasn’t my fault he could never get his fucking dick to work. Did he expect me to live celibate for the rest of my fucking life? Not fucking likely. I’m young, beautiful and sexy enough to tempt any alpha with a pulse.”
Her scowl twisted into something dark and dangerous. “Except you, and now we know why. Fucking mutants, the pair of you. Deviants, sick, twisted. Your father would be rolling in his grave if he knew what pieces of shit his twins grew up to be.”
“You’re probably right, but that’s ancient history.” Con edged closer, ignoring the pang he felt at the thought of his fun-loving twin. “Give me the babies, Megan. You need help. They need to be looked over. Let me take them, and we’ll get the doctor in to sew you up.”
Megan held them tighter, and Con thought he saw a slight sign of movement. “Megan, please. You’re a mother now. The needs of your pups will always come first. Let me take them so you can heal and look after them.”
“Why would I look after them?” Megan glanced down at the bundle in her arms as if seeing them for the first time and for a second, Con thought he saw an expression of love cross her face, but it was gone too fast for him to be sure. “They were my ticket to easy street, to an alpha mate position in a pack that was worth something. I would be the one molding the next alpha, not you or your limp-dicked brother, but me.”
“Very few babies are born with the alpha gene, Megan, you know that. Even among true alpha pairs.” Con was almost close enough to grab the bundle, but he had no guarantee Megan wouldn’t attack him and hurt the little ones in the process. “It doesn’t mean your babies can’t have a good life.”
“What would you know?” Megan sneered. “I had two alpha parents and they hated that I was a beta. The only time my mother ever said she was proud of me was when I coerced Donny into bonding with me.”
“Donny loved you with everything he was.” Con knew that as well as he knew his own name.
“Alphas don’t know the meaning of the word love.” Megan wavered on her feet and almost fell. “They take, they demand, they expect everyone to fall all over themselves around them, all because of a fucking mistake at birth. Throwing their alpha power around when they don’t get their own way. Alphas are pathetic.”
“I’m an alpha,” Con said gently, “and I love my mate dearly, and if you let me, I’ll love your pups too and give them all the chances and support you clearly didn’t get in your life.”
That made Megan pause. “You’d take them, look after them, even though they aren’t Donny’s?”
“All life is special, Megan, no matter who they are, what life they are born into, or what they grow up to be. Your pups are precious. I give you my word as an alpha, they will always be cared for and will always know love in their lives.”
Megan’s body wavering was more pronounced this time. She fumbled under the blanket she was holding. “I might have been wrong about you. Guess I bonded with the wrong brother,” she said, producing a knife, an action that made Con’s heart rate jump. “I have your w
ord, in front of witnesses. Catch.”
The bundle went up into the air, two tiny human forms falling out of the blanket. Con jumped, snatching first one and then the other out of the air as the blanket fell to the ground. “Oh, my gods.” He held the little one’s close to his bare chest, trying to get his breathing under control. “Megan!”
“It’s too late for her, beloved.” Ven came up against his shoulder and turned Con away. “As you said, she was already a dead woman walking, and once she realized neither of those pups were going to be her ticket out of jail, she played her trump card.”
“What do you mean?” Con wanted to check the babies. All he knew was they were warm, and very, very small, but they still hadn’t made a sound.
“As she said, in front of witnesses, and on camera too, you gave your word to care for the pups. Congratulations, beloved, you’re a daddy, and for the record, I love you too.”
“Oh.” Oooooh, wow. “Erm, did you even want children?” Con was still stunned by how fast everything went down.
Ven’s chuckle was like cool water running slowly over sunburned skin. “We would’ve probably had a surrogacy chat in five or ten years or so, but I am not displeased, nor am I upset about becoming a father. We’ll manage.” He ran a hand over the nearest baby’s head, still matted with goo. “Let’s get these little ones checked out, cleaned and fed. In the meantime, Mosh can deal with setting up a nursery, and Luke and his guards can take care of the mother.”
Con nodded, and allowed himself to be propelled along, but just before they left the room, he said, “She needs a proper burial, a grave and a headstone and everything. She doesn’t deserve it, but what happened in the past is exactly that, it’s in the past. These children need a place they can go and mourn the mother they will never know.”
“I’ll make sure Luke takes care of it,” Ven said softly. “See, you’re thinking like a father already.”
A father. Damn. Con certainly hadn’t expected it, but when one of the babies curled their sweet tiny hand against his heart, that heart unfurled, as a heart is able to do, and encompassed two more little people. We’re really parents, because, yep, Ven hadn’t stopped touching the other one even as they moved along to the elevator.
Chapter Seventeen
Five days later, Ven crept out of his shared suite, leaving Con’s wolf and two sleeping babies on a giant cushion nest that had been made for that purpose. His hands stunk of baby formula, he was in desperate need for a shower and twelve hours solid sleep, but even so, Ven’s heart lurched as he tip-toed down the hallway to his office. It was difficult to be away from his beloved and the babies for even a small length of time.
To say the twins were difficult, would be like suggesting a force ten hurricane was a slight breeze. For the first twenty-four hours of life, neither child made a sound. Ven and Con bathed them, fed them and had them checked out by the now recovered shifter doctor. He said the babies were approximately a week premature, but their heart and lungs were working perfectly fine, and they were probably quiet due to the trauma from their unscheduled birth, and the events that immediately followed.
“Hug them. Love them. Let them know they are safe. Wolf babies thrive on touch,” the doctor had said, and Ven and Con did. All. The. Time. The night/day after Megan’s death, all four of them collapsed into Ven’s bed, neither he nor Con keen to let them out of their sight. They lay there, marveling over the sleeping children, how perfect they were, choosing names, and quietly celebrating them as the one positive that had come out of Con’s fucked up situation. In the days that followed, Ven wished he’d gotten some sleep that night instead.
The next day, after the nursery was complete, Con went to put Donny down in his new crib and the screaming started, startling the crap out of both of them. Demetra added her voice about half an hour later, and now the only time when the twins were quiet was if they had a bottle in their mouths, or they were being held.
It was exhausting. Finding out the twins responded well to Con’s wolf form was a bonus, after Ven worried about the babies sleeping in their bed after that first night. But, because he didn’t want to leave his new family, more often than not Ven curled up on the cushion nest with the babies and his furry beloved, cat napping when he could. He hadn’t taken any of Con’s blood since their lovemaking session just before the twin’s birth, and he was feeling the effects of that too, but Ven didn’t want to weaken his tired beloved any more than he was. Both men were running on fumes, and Ven wasn’t sure how much longer it would be before one of them collapsed.
And now Mosh wanted to see him, in private, claiming the matter was urgent, which was the only reason Ven was sneaking out of his suite, leaving his babies and beloved asleep.
“This had better be important,” he snapped as he walked into his office. Mosh was already waiting for him, impeccably dressed, his face impassive as always.
“Forgive the impertinence, my Lord, but you look like shit.”
“I feel like shit,” Ven flopped into his chair. “What’s this urgent matter I have to deal with?”
“Another alpha wolf’s come into town,” Mosh said bluntly. “He’s asking for an audience, not with you, but with the consort. From the scent of him, it’s possible he’s here about the pups.”
“You think he’s the pups’ father?” That woke Ven up, and his protective instincts went into overdrive. “Who the hell is he, and how did he hear about the pups being here?”
“The alpha is Bartholomew Jones, and the reason he knew to come here is because the consort signed off on his other pack members being assimilated into another pack, instead of remaining captive here, remember? Apparently, Jones took them in and demanded from them the story about what happened to Megan and the two other betas. Now he’s here and getting pushy about an audience with the alpha Conroy Donel.”
Ven shared a long look with his oldest friend. “He didn’t ask to speak to my consort, he asked for the alpha?”
Mosh nodded. “He knows Megan gave birth to two pups, and that the consort swore to protect and look after them, but it would appear he doesn’t know the consort is mated to you. At a guess, I’d say he’s either here to challenge the consort so he can take the pups and take over the Donel territory in the process, or he’s just curious about the pups and wants to check they are his before he makes any decisions about them.”
Ven leaned back in his chair, folding his arms across his chest. “He’s not having our babies. That’s not negotiable. I’ll take him out myself if I have to, but those babies are staying under our roof and that’s all there is to that. I don’t care whose genetics they are carrying.”
“I figured you’d say that,” Mosh stayed calm. “Jones’ claim is weak at best. He might have had an affair with the mother, but he could have stepped forward after Donny’s death and claimed her and the remaining pack members then on the basis of her pregnancy, and he didn’t. Shifter law is on the consort’s side, and the council have already approved permanent guardianship to you and the consort due to the video evidence we supplied after Megan’s death. Her wishes were very clear.”
“It’s not like Megan had a lot of options at the time.” Ven thought for a moment. “If Jones claims the pups as his, does he have a claim on the Donel territory, house and pack grounds?”
“No.” Mosh shook his head firmly. “The only way Jones can claim the consort’s territory and effects is if he challenges and wins against the consort… and his mate,” he added after a long pause.
“What?”
Mosh spread his hands. “I might have done a spot of research on shifter law while Jones is cooling his heels three floors below us, staying here as our esteemed guest.”
“With guards on the door, and cameras watching his every move,” Ven nodded approvingly. “Go on.”
“That is our standard operating procedure with any high-profile guest. Anyhow, shifters have a lot of laws relating to challenge fights. They must be one-on-one, the losing alpha must leave his t
erritory, assets, homes, possessions, basically everything except what he is wearing, if he’s not killed during the challenge. However, the shifter council member I talked to made a big point of saying that most alphas submit if they are losing in a fight these days, and if that happens, always in front of witnesses, the winning alpha has to let him go.”
“Get to the part about the mates,” Ven growled. If he had his way, Con wouldn’t be fighting anyone.
“That’s where it gets really interesting.” Mosh allowed himself an uncharacteristic grin. “As a rule, and back as far as anyone could remember, if an alpha lost a challenge, then his mate – always female at that point – had the right to choose to either stay with the winning alpha, stripped of her position and any rights she might have had as alpha mate, or leave with her partner. Wolf shifters in particular didn’t start recognizing the rights of female alphas to run a pack, or for alphas to have same sex matings until the 1990s.”
“But now they do?”
“Now, they do, and that meant they had to make changes to the challenge laws. Now, if an alpha is true mated to either an alpha female, or a partner of the same sex, a challenger has to fight both individuals, still one-on-one, but he must beat them both to claim the territory.”
“Even if one part of the couple was a different species – say, an ancient vampire for example?”
“Oh, the shifter council have gotten very progressive over the years. My contact on the council went to great lengths to explain a situation where a wolf was true mated to a demoness, and a dozen complaints went up before the council against the alpha, because the alphas in neighboring territories claimed they didn’t have a chance to fight fairly for what was a prime territory.”
“There’s more, isn’t there?” Ven knew his old friend very well and it was just like Mosh to save the best bit until last.
“Hmm, well, I might have told Jones that he couldn’t see Alpha Conroy Donel for a few days because the alpha was busy working on a sensitive project with you. That was two days ago. And I might have used that time to get written confirmation from the shifter council, that you as alpha mate of the Donel territory, had every right to deal with any opposing or problematic alphas on his behalf, should he be busy, indisposed, or tired after spending all night up with twins.”
