by EE Silver
“They do when they’re an omega,” Hunter said. “The good news is it’s getting better. Shouldn’t happen to much longer, according to Morgan.”
“I see.” Trey stood. “I suppose that’s why you were so insistent we didn’t need condoms. I can’t believe I was such an idiot. You were just going to let me think it was mine, just like you let me believe you’d actually waited like you said.”
“Trey—”
“No.” Trey drew his shoulders back. “I have to be able to trust my mate implicitly. That you showed up here yesterday and used a lie to get me to let you in…No. You need to leave, Hunter. Find that child’s other parent and let them know instead of trying to pass it off on some poor sap so desperate to be loved he’d believe anything you tell him.”
“It is yours,” Hunter said wretchedly. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. I know it seems unlikely, but—"
“It’s not just unlikely, it’s impossible, and you know it.” Daisy sat on his feet, a much-needed grounding presence that didn’t budge when Trey growled, his wolf surfacing easier than it had in years. He was just as blind as a wolf, but in that moment Trey would have given anything to lose himself in the mindlessness of being an animal. Anything to separate him from the sensation of his heart cracking down the middle. “I should have known better than to trust you. Now get the fuck out of my house.”
Hunter was quiet for a long moment, before he started moving around, the jingle of his belt buckle letting Trey know his omega – no, not his – the omega was getting dressed. Finally, Hunter gave a shaky sigh from far too close for Trey’s resolve.
“I’ll go, but we do need to talk still. There are a lot of things you need to know, things I need to tell you that will make all of this make sense.” He huffed a bitter-sounding laugh. “I’m not sure it will help, but you deserve the whole truth, at the very least.”
“That should have occurred to you a lot sooner than this,” Trey bit off. He gestured in the general direction of the door. “You know the way out.”
He wasn’t sure if he was relieved or disappointed when Hunter left without any more attempts at fixing things with what was sure to be a hell of a lie.
Chapter Nine
Hunter
Hunter teleported back to his rental house the second Trey’s front door closed behind him. He didn’t bother to even check to see if the coast was clear first, uncaring if half the town saw him showing his godly Imperium off. Maybe if they did, Trey might believe him.
Or maybe not. Hunter had fucked up pretty tremendously. Although, to be perfectly honest, it wasn’t like gods made a habit in this day and age going around telling everyone what they were. Hell, even back in the day it was more of a case of everyone just knowing who and what Hunter ad his family were. People had belief in those days, not just bare science that said things like Hunter’s baby couldn’t possibly be Trey’s.
He teleported straight to the kitchen, where Rowen was waiting with a cup of steaming mint tea and a handful of prenatal vitamins. He didn’t look surprised in the slightest.
“I take it you knew that was going to happen?” he asked, wrapping both hands around the mug, trying to absorb comfort through the heat.
“All I know is things didn’t go well with Trey, and your stomach is doing backflips, so you need tea, comfort, and a non-judgmental ear.” Rowen sat at the kitchen table and gave him a small smile.
Hunter collapsed in the seat across from him. “I didn’t know how to tell him I’m a god, so now he thinks I got knocked up with someone else and am trying to pass it off as his.”
Rowen winced. “Ouch.”
“Yeah.” He sipped at the tea, perfectly sweetened with just a touch of honey. “I didn’t even get a chance to tell him about the whole ‘fated’ thing.”
“You were there almost a full day, brother,” Rowen said gently. “I’d be willing to bet you had plenty of chances, but you used them for much sexier purposes, instead.”
Hunter scowled. “You make me sound like an over-sexed idiot.”
“No.” Rowen patted his hand. “Just absolutely useless at strategy when it comes to your own life.”
“Which is ridiculously unfair, by the way,” Hunter whined, and not for the first time.
“Take it up with Dad,” Rowen said with a shrug. “Now, the way I see it, you’ve got a limited number of options. One, you go right back out there with a boombox and hope you can convince your boo-wolf to give you a chance to prove you’re not a loose woman.”
“There is so much wrong with what you just said, I don’t even know where to begin.”
“Agreed. It’s a terrible plan. Trey’s feeling hurt and betrayed, and if you corner him right now, he’s more likely to bite. Which brings us to number two: pick up stakes and go home. Have the baby and do your best to forget the mortal you were supposed to spent the rest of eternity with.”
The sound of protest that came out of Hunter sounded more like a sob than anything else.
“No, you’re right.” Rowen gave a decisive shake of his head. “That’s also a terrible idea, if only because I don’t think I can take a millennium of you nursing a broken heart. Which brings us to door number three.”
“I hope it’s better than the other two,” Hunter said, making a weak attempt at a joke, despite the despair rolling through him. “Not that you could do much worse, unless it involves tattoos.”
“No body modification, I promise,” Rowen said with a laugh. “No, this option involves you giving him a day or three to calm down while you work on your actual reason for being in Vale Valley. This is a small town, I’m sure you’ll run into him again sooner or later, and maybe the holiday season will inspire him to give listening to you a shot after all. And even if it doesn’t work out, maybe you’ll find yourself in the right place to start living your life again, anyway. Worst case scenario, you’ll both get the closure you’ve been missing all this time. Best case, you get your man and I get to move into a bigger bedroom.”
Hunter snorted. “Yeah, okay. You’ve made a good case. I guess I know what I’ll do.”
“Yeah, I figured,” Rowen said with a nod. His smile turned mischievous. “Besides, Dad’ll love having you back home. Especially if it means he get a new grandbaby to play with.”
“Asshole.” But Rowen’s smile told Hunter that his little brother knew what he really meant.
It was a couple days before Hunter felt up to leaving the house and following through on his plan to resume his search for the new Valkyrie. Not only because he spent a full day watching Christmas movies on the Family Gift Channel, but also because it seemed like Morgan had been right, and only three days after he first saw Trey again, Hunter woke with a noticeable baby bump and no clothes that fit comfortably. He’d had to wait for Rowen to stop laughing at him and then go out and get him a small selection of paternity clothes, only to get dressed and go back out himself for a bunch of pants in bigger sizes. Just in case.
Once he was able to leave the house, the first place Hunter went was to the town’s only daycare, set in a house right on the edge of the lake – which made sense, when one took into account one of the owners was a merman with Imperium over water and storms. But it was that merman Hunter was looking for, instead of enrollment information. Not that he turned down the offered brochure from King’s big, sweet alpha. If King or Quintus wasn’t the one carrying the new Valkyrie, there was a damn good possibility Hunter would have the baby before he found who was. He might find himself needing daycare. Especially if Trey never came around.
“You okay?” Jonah asked as he poured Hunter and King matching cups of tea that King swore by. They were seated at the uncomfortably low snack table, chatting while Jonah and King’s charges napped peacefully on the other side of the open main room. “You’re looking a little peaky. Not to mention a lot more pregnant than you were a few days ago.”
“Turns out that I might be a god of the present, but even I can’t hold onto a moment indefinitely,” Hun
ter said instead of answering the actual question.
King flinched. “Oh. Yeah. I can see how that might backfire in new and uncomfortable ways.” He rubbed his belly. “The past six months were fast enough for me as it was.”
“When are you due?” Hunter asked, thinking about the specifics of the Valkyrie coming before the end of the year.
“Beginning of January,” King said. Then his eyes narrowed suspiciously. “Why do you look disappointed?”
“I was hoping it was later,” Hunter said, shoulders sagging. “Would have made my job easier.”
“Why?” King curled protective arms around his belly.
“There’s been a prophecy—”
“Oh shit,” Jonah muttered.
“—and the next Valkyrie will be born here in Vale Valley by the end of the year. I’m trying to figure out of it’s you or Quintus.”
King struggled to his feet. “You can get right the fuck on out of here with your prophecy!” he shouted, setting off a cascade of wailing babies, all unhappy at being yanked out of their naps by an angry demigod. “Fuck.”
Jonah stood and kissed his mate on the cheek. “I’ll get them,” he said before walking away. “You do your thing, baby.”
“Look, I know it’s always disconcerting to hear your child might play such a big role,” Hunter said. “But it’s a true honor, and—”
“And nothing,” King swiped his hand like he was brushing away Hunter’s words. “Prophecy is bullshit designed to force people into living a life designed by someone else. I won’t have any child of mine growing up under the shadow of one. Not like I did.”
“Aren’t you mated to your fated mate?” Hunter asked, knowing he’d probably be better served by shutting up. But really, what the fuck was King’s problem? “You always knew you’d find him, and that you’d love him, and here you are pregnant and happy and you’re screaming at me because I’m telling you your baby might sit beside Odin himself one day?”
Winds howled outside the daycare, the sky darkening with huge, heavy clouds. Hunter remembered, a little too late, that King was still young and hadn’t fully developed control over him growing Imperium. If anyone asked him later, he’d blame it on the pregnancy hormones, but really Hunter was so jealous, so angry that Kind had had his happiness foretold and then practically handed to him on a platter, and he couldn’t summon up an ounce of gratitude. He stood, and struggled to remember to keep his voice down.
“Prophecy seems to be treating you damn well,” he spat. “So how about you calm the hell down and stop acting like it’s some kind of burden to lead a charmed life?”
Hail smacked against the windows, and Hunter looked out back door to see a fierce snowstorm completely whiting out the view. A normal man might have been intimidated, but Hunter had seen stronger gods throw bigger tantrums in his day. Jonah, however, seemed to be less than impressed.
“King,” Jonah said, carefully approaching his mate. He held the same baby Hunter had seen at the hospital the other day. Anya. “I know you’re angry, and I understand why. But remember what Morgan said. Too much stress and your next false labor might be a real one.”
“But did you hear the nerve of this guy?” King asked, blue eyes flashing as thunder rumbled in the blizzard outside.
“Yes, and I agree that he’s being an asshole,” Jonah said. “But you’re not exactly showing your best manners, either. I think we should just set the whole matter aside for the time being and let Hunter find his Valkyrie elsewhere.”
“It doesn’t work that way,” King said, clearly still angry, but calming down if the abating storm was anything to go by. “If our baby’s meant to be the new Valkyrie…”
“We’ll teach them what it means to be one and let them choose if they want to embrace that fate, or if they’re happier inheriting your mean right hook along with your gorgeous eyes.”
Hunter cocked his head to the side. “That’s not how it works,” he said, but left off the rest of his usual lecture about destiny. It made no sense, nut one of their kind should understand that fate wasn’t like an extra helping of mashed potatoes. You didn’t get to say ‘thanks, but no thanks’ just because you weren’t in the mood.
But it seemed like King hadn’t got that memo. Instead, he was leaning into Jonah’s bulk, the tension in his short, wiry frame easing when the baby reached for him, asking to be held. The snowstorm outside had calmed to a picturesque flurry, King’s temper under control before the town could be buried under several feet of snow, and it was obvious Jonah and the baby were the ideal calming influence for the notoriously prickly demigod. The easy, perfect comfort in their little family made Hunter ache for his own version, and he sighed.
“Look,” he finally said, “I get that you’d rather a life where you make your own fate, and your child does he same. Hell, if it weren’t for my sisters yanking me and my brothers back on the straight and narrow every time we tried to venture out on our own… But if there’s anything they’ve taught me about fate over the years, it’s that we’re all their bitch. Whether we like it or not.”
Jonah cocked an eyebrow. “Sounds like you’ve been yanked around a time or two by prophecy yourself.”
“More like yanked around by the wellsprings of the prophecies,” Hunter said. “They have a lot of names in many languages, but most mortals know my sisters as the Fates. When I tell you that they’re know-it-alls, I mean it.”
“Ouch.” King winced. “Rough deal. And I guess that’s why you’re so big on this prophecy bullshit?”
Hunter hesitated, but decided it couldn’t hurt to explain it to them. “That, and the Valkyrie are mine to train and command. I teach them how to find the moment of a worthy warrior’s death, how to free their soul of its suffering once their personal battle is done, and how to escort them to the Great Hall, where they will be honored for all time for their bravery.”
King hummed thoughtfully. “True. I’ve always known that, but I guess I never put much thought into it. Doesn’t mean I like you saddling my baby with a job before they’re even born, though.”
“It’s not a mere job,” Hunter corrected, but without much heat. “And remember, there’s always Scott and his mate’s impending litter for me to check out. Considering that lineage, I’d say it’s a lot more likely that’s where I’m going to find her.”
“Litter, huh?” King’s mouth twitched with a grin. “I guess that’s pretty accurate.”
“He always was an over-achieving little shit,” Hunter said with a smile of his own.
King laughed, chasing away the lingering tension in the kitchen. His mate just shook his head in bemusement, but didn’t drop the steadying arm he still had around King. Hunter felt that jealousy surge again, but now that he knew what it was, he was able to ignore it.
“Either way,” he said, before they could go back to whether or not King was even able to ignore a prophecy that might pertain to him, “I need to be going. I haven’t been able to pinpoint the Valkyrie, but I think she’s getting closer. I’ll let you two know if I find anything out. I get the feeling you aren’t the type to want to build the suspense.”
Jonah snorted. “I’ll see you out,” was all he said, though.
Chapter Ten
Trey
December 7
“Are we going to talk about you and Hunter?”
Trey crossed his arms and leaned back in his chair. He’d never seen Scott’s office, but he imagined it was lush to the point of being only a hair shy of over-decorated, with the large desk and overstuffed chairs and the small sofa Trey already knew about. “Not much to talk about,” he said. “Did you get a new plant in here? Something smells different.
“One of my patients gave me an orchid as an early Christmas gift,” Scott said. “And don’t try and bullshit me about Hunter. What happened?”
“We didn’t work out,” Trey said. “Fundamental differences.”
“Is that so?” Scott’s voice was mild, with just the right amount of concern t
hat Trey was almost tempted to unload the whole story. It would have been the right time for it, while Scott was in the role of concerned therapist, but it was too much, too raw.
And besides all that, Trey was distinctly uncomfortable about telling Scott that his long-time friend was a deceptive sack of shit.
“Yeah,” was all he said. “That’s so.”
Scott was silent for a long moment, and Trey forced himself to stay as relaxed as possible. Think calm thoughts that had nothing to do with the ache of betrayal in his chest where his omega should be.
“How are the dreams?” Scott finally asked.
“Can we go back to my disaster zone love life?”
“Maybe later. What’s going on with your dreams?”
Trey sighed. “They changed.”
“Changed? How so?” Scott moved, his clothing rustling, and Trey imagined him leaning forward to better hear everything.
His dreams had been pretty constant over the years. The same achingly detailed replay of those last moments of the op, the same horror show of recriminations. Trey understood why Scott would be interested in any difference. “Yeah,” he said. “I didn’t think they could get worse, but they did.”
“Will you tell me about it?”
Trey turned his head side to side, cracking his neck a few times to buy time. “It starts out the same,” he finally said. “But after the explosion, I’m blind. I can hear the fire, can hear Curly and Rats screaming for help, but I can’t find them to get to them.” He swallowed, trying to wet his dry mouth, and rubbed his sweaty palms on his thighs. “Then I hear the baby.”
“There were no children in the compound,” Scot pointed out.
“I know. But tell that to my sub-conscious.” Trey rubbed his jaw, annoyed to find he’d missed a spot that morning. The distraction only lasted so long before memories of his dream overwhelmed him, though.
The baby’s screams were gut-wrenching, pain and terror in every ear-splitting wail. Even the roar and crackle of the fire couldn’t compete with the sound. And then he heard the begging.
