From Alpha to Omega

by Cilla B Anthony

  “Cade, since Brogan is a turned Omega, we did complete medical workup to make sure that the turning didn’t cause any damage. I’m pleased to tell you that he’s in excellent health and by the way, congratulations are in order. Brogan is pregnant.”

  Chapter 9

  “Nooo!” Brogan wailed as though he was in pain.

  “Brogan why does the thought of a baby upset you?” Amanda asked.

  “If there’s a baby then I can’t have my old life back!”

  “You’re an Omega now, Brogan you can’t have your old life back pregnant or not,” Amanda softly reminded him.

  The exchange between Amanda and Brogan went over Cade’s head. He really hadn’t heard anything after Amanda announced that Brogan was pregnant. He was going to be a father and his Omega didn’t want him and he had to figure out how he was going to make this work.

  If Brogan didn’t want to be Cade’s mate, then he certainly wouldn’t want Cade’s child. What the fuck was he going to do?

  “Cade,” Amanda called out to him breaking into his thoughts, “are you with us?’

  “Yeah,” he answered shaking his head as though the action was going to rid him of his thoughts.

  There was a new life involved, Brogan had to come around, so Cade stood and walked over to Brogan and took one of his large hands in between his, “Brogan I know that this is scary, hell I’m frightened too, but if we lean on one another then we can get through this.”

  As soon as he finished talking, Cade finally felt something weak and fluttery through their bond, but it was not anything near the happiness they should be experiencing. What did come through was a wave of emotion so sad that it almost made Cade cry. Before Cade could shed a single tear, the sadness was gone and replaced by a white-hot anger, and then nothing.

  “No, Cade not we-me,” Brogan corrected. “You get to strut around and boast that you’re going to have a child, but it’s me that will actually get fat and pass this bastard through an opening that your dick can hardly fit.”

  Cade was taken aback by the anger in Brogan’s voice, “I also know that you’re still angry and because of that I’ve tried to be patient with you. No, I can’t have a child, but I can support you. I want you to realize that I’m not your father and you won’t be treated like your mother, but you have to give me the chance to prove that to you.”

  “Look at what happened the last time I gave you a chance,” Brogan reminded him before turning away to stare out the window once more.

  “That’s good, Cade,” Amanda praised him. “That’s what he needs but you can’t give up. He’s still fighting to hold on to his Alpha identity, but it’s great that you’re here to help him through this. Once you’re home, I need you make sure that you have skin to skin contact with him? I need you to cuddle with him at least once a day to help him. Mark him with your scent until he embraces his Omega.”

  “Do you think that will work?”

  “Yes, it will, I’ve seen it happen. He’s going to fight just remember that you’re the Alpha, that you’re stronger. Because he’s having such a hard time adjusting, it would be remiss of me not to follow up. But initially I’m going to check on him for the next year, if he doesn’t show vast improvement during that time, then we’ll have to change our tactics.”

  “What… does that mean?” Cade asked hesitantly. “Does that mean taking him away?”

  “Let’s not worry about that right now,” she brushed off his question, and because he really didn’t want to know the answer, he let her.

  Like all Alphas, and he’s sure at one time, Brogan included, Cade dreamed of mating an Omega and having a family, but not once did it occur to him that his mate would reject him.

  After making arrangements for a visit next week, Cade felt a little more at ease with the situation. She was going to make a house visit to track Brogan’s progress and she gave him the name of a good obstetrician to begin Brogan’s prenatal care.

  Cade picked up the plastic bag Amanda had given him earlier with Brogan’s belongings, and his first instinct was to return them to Brogan, but then he remembered why he had them in the first place and clutched the bag tighter in his grip.

  The car was parked in a secure parking lot attached to the center and after paying a hefty fine that would have him eating pb&j’s until his next paycheck to get it released, the pair of them walked down in silence to retrieve it. The silence weighed heavily on Cade. He determined that that was a part of their problem, they talked at one another and not to each other. They needed to communicate and now would be a good time to start.

  “Brogan,” he began once they were sitting inside the car, but instead of answering him, Brogan reached over and turned on the radio and watched the scenery as it whipped by.

  This time when they reached the house, Cade made sure that he kept the keys with him there was no way he was going to wake up again with Brogan gone.

  He watched as Brogan made his way upstairs to his bedroom and fought not to follow him. He would give Brogan the rest of the day, but tomorrow things were going to change, and it was going to be hell on them both.

  Cade could hear Brogan moving around upstairs and judging from the loud noises he was making that was intentional. It probably satisfied two things with Brogan, one the need to pace because he was confined and that part of him that was still Alpha didn’t like that. Tomorrow he would take Brogan out for a run because after being confined that was the only thing that was going to get rid of that feeling of claustrophobia, he was sure Brogan was feeling.

  But the second part was to annoy Cade, making him want to check on him knowing that he was not going to let the Alpha in the door.

  If their bond was in place Cade would be able to feel Brogan’s frustration as though it was his own, but because of Brogan’s refusal, he could barely detect anything.

  A part of him wanted to head upstairs and demand they began the bonding process right now, it would be expected after the stunt Brogan just pulled, but that would be something that Brogan’s father would do, and Cade did not want to be lumped in the same category as that asshole.

  He was tired.

  Tomorrow he had to go into work, most likely hauling a kicking and screaming Brogan with him to a place where he was now the outsider. Cade wasn’t stupid enough to think that just because Brogan’s partners were willing to buy him out that they were going to wash their hands of him, not after a lifetime of friendship.

  That’s what Cade needed right now, friends to help him through this shit storm of a mating, so he called Simon. He decided that while he was calling for help, he might as well get his clothes as well because even if he took the keys there was no way he was going to leave Brogan alone.

  When Simon arrived a couple of hours later, he was armed with a suitcase filled with his clothes, their friends, Danielle, Elias and Jamal. While Simon carried Cade’s clothes, the others were armed with huge bags of food from their favorite Chinese restaurant.

  After placing the suitcases in the corner, Simon turned to him and said, “Hey, man, we know what everyone here likes, but we weren’t sure what your boy prefers, so we got a little of everything.”

  Cade snorted and shrugged his shoulders and said, “I don’t know either.”

  “Well this is a good time to learn,” Danielle squeed as she placed her bags on the coffee table before continuing “you can’t spend all of your time in bed and besides, we’re anxious to meet him since you’ve had him holed up here for the past few days.”

  Cade wanted to stop her and let her know that Brogan wouldn’t want to spend time with anyone who had any association with Cade, but he’d deal with that when she couldn’t get him to come to the door.

  “Hey man this is a sweet setup you have here,” Jamal whistled as he looked around the room, “either way this turned out for you, you’d have been set.”

  Cade frowned at Jamal’s words. This was not the first time someone mentioned Brogan’s money to him. The fact that Cade’s family
were not exactly poor or the fact that he had no idea of what Brogan’s income was the night they met.

  Just because he was driving a fancy car did not mean that he was wealthy, because the car could have been a friend or even a rental. The only thing Cade had concentrated on that night was the scent that drove him crazy.

  He hadn’t targeted the older man, and if Jamal remembered, they weren’t supposed to be at Henry’s that night.

  The bar they were originally going too had been their favorite, but they couldn’t go because Simon had been banned after he slept with two of the waitresses who just happened to be the owner’s daughters.

  “I didn’t mate with him for his money,” Cade corrected his friend.

  “Hey man I know that, I mean it’s not as though your family’s poor,” Jamal apologized, “it’s just me being jealous.”

  “Let me take some food to Brogan, before you assholes eat everything,” Cade began going through the bags to diffuse the situation.

  “You’re embarrassed of him?” Elias laughed.

  “No!” Cade denied, he was extremely proud to call Brogan’s his. He was embarrassed that Brogan didn’t feel the same.

  “Then let’s get him!” Danielle clapped her hands and before Cade realized her intention, she was at the top of the stairs.

  When he heard the loud knocking at Brogan’s door, he realized that it was too late to stop her, and his face burned with embarrassment as he realized that his friends would witness the humiliation of him being rejected by his mate.

  As the others ate, Cade couldn’t concentrate on anything but the fact that Brogan was going to explode at Danielle’s intrusion - but it never came.

  When Danielle next appeared at the foot of the stairs, it was with a grinning Brogan.

  He was not sure what magic Danielle performed, but Cade didn’t care. He soaked in the beautiful smile and the deep dimples. When Brogan sensed that Cade was watching him, he scowled at him before turning back to the others with the smile back in place.

  “Ooh, General Tsao’s chicken,” Brogan clapped his hands and gushed, “I hope there is enough for me because I’m starving!”

  With that request Brogan set about charming Cade’s friends.

  With a smile he wheedled stories about Cade from the group, and now he understood why Brogan’s friends were so angry with him. The memory of this vibrant beautiful man was whom his friends clung onto instead of the man he’d become.

  This Brogan was beautiful and loving and Cade prayed that he would still be along when everyone else left, but he wouldn’t count on that happening so Cade played Brogan’s game.

  He used the situation to do the same, whenever Brogan got a story from his friends, Cade asked for one in return. He could tell that Brogan didn’t want to, but he did to keep up appearances with the group. Soon Cade didn’t have to ask because his friends took over and he just cataloged the answers.

  As Brogan talked, he let his dislike of Omegas slip into his stories, and once he realized that the group were offended especially since Elias was an Omega, he played them off as a joke. The group must have bought the act because they soon let up, but Cade knew better.

  Brogan, hated Omegas, therefore he hated himself and there was nothing Cade could do to change that.

  Elias was a late bloomer and once he presented, he has led Simon on a hell of a chase before allowing Simon a date let alone kiss him. He was very protective of his Elias even though he hadn’t let him claim him yet. If they’re talking babies, then a claim couldn’t be far behind.

  Even though he hadn’t claimed Elias, Simon thought of him as his mate and often introduced him as such. Cade was worried that one of Brogan’s jokes would go too far and offend Elias and putting an end to their friendship. It would end because Cade would defend his mate.

  That didn’t happen though, because as Brogan continued to charm his friends, Cade came to the realization that if he could fool his friends so easily, then he was going to have to be extremely careful because Brogan Ford was one hell of a good actor.

  Suddenly it was too much, and Cade couldn’t take it anymore, so in the middle of Brogan telling a story about Tate and an under-aged Omega, not wanting to ruin everyone’s good time, he slipped away to get a reign on his emotions.

  The warm air on the back deck felt nice, and he loved the fragrance from the flowers wafting from his neighbor’s garden, but a cigarette would be better. And a beer. No make that tequila.

  Brogan was getting under his skin with his actions, and if he kept this up, Cade would be a chain-smoking alcoholic.

  “Here you go,” Simon held out a cigarette and lighter to him.

  The smoke felt good as his burned his lungs and for that one moment everything was good.

  Then Simon spoke, “What’s bothering you Cade? You only smoke when you’re stressed, and from where I stand you have no reason to be stressed, however, this is the second time in as many days I’ve seen you indulge in one of your stress habits. Now if you were drinking hard liquor and smoking then I’d really be worried, but since you’re only smoking, this must be something we can fix.”

  “Brogan,” Cade answered simply.

  Neither man spoke after Cade’s response, they both took a pull of their cigarette and let the smoke settle between them.

  It was Simon who broke the silence, “everything seems to be okay, I mean Brogan has adjusted well. Hell, he even put Elias at ease, and you know how he is with strangers.”

  “Brogan’s pregnant,” Cade responded as though that explained everything.

  Soon he had an arm full of Simon offering congratulations, “Man that’s wonderful! Elias and I have been circling around the idea of a child. At first, we were bummed that it didn’t happen during his first heat that we were officially together, but we weren’t ready, but now we are. We’ve got some money saved, but I’m looking for a better job; one that that will allow him to stop working.”

  “You finally gonna claim him?” Cade teased, happy for his friends.

  “He’s finally going to let me, Simon smiled with an uncharacteristic shyness. “This will be great; we’ll be dads at the same time.”

  At the moment, Cade hated Brogan. He hated him for taking away the joy of this moment away from him. He knew that he was going to share what was happening with his mate and ruin this moment. After giving Simon what he hoped was a congratulatory smile, the blonde cocked his head and stared at Cade and he knew that he’d failed.

  “What are you not telling me Cade?” Simon asked.

  Taking another puff from the cigarette, Cade shared the last few days with his best friend, after getting a promise not to share with the others.

  “Fuck, Cade!” Simon exclaimed, “No wonder you’re smoking. If I’d have known what you’ve been going through, I wouldn’t have insisted that everyone come.”

  “I call bullshit. You think that it’s your job to cheer me up so of course you brought everyone.”

  “Okay, I would have brought something stronger to smoke,” Simon grinned before adding “he seemed okay tonight.”

  “It was just and act,” Cade shrugged. “This was the first time since the night we met that I’ve ever seen him smile, and when you guys leave, he’ll retreat to his room to avoid me.”

  “His room?” Simon asked and shook his head, “why aren’t you sharing a room with your mate? Man, it would fucking drive me crazy to be that close to Elias and not be able to hold him, to have him. Being with him makes it easier that he wouldn’t let me claim him, but at least I get to have him. You’re the Alpha, you need to figure this shit out.”

  It was easy for Simon to tell Cade to take care of the situation when he didn’t have to deal with it, especially when he had a willing Omega at home. All through college, they’d mercilessly teased Simon because he hadn’t claimed Elias, but he honored his Omegas request.

  This was different, Brogan was now Omega and he was fighting it with the intention of never giving in. At least Simon had t
he knowledge that he was wanted.

  Not wanting to spend the rest of the night being depressed about his situation, he changed the subject and discussed sports, family and anything that didn’t involve Brogan until Elias came looking for them.

  The couple began to walk back into the house while Cade took the last pull of his cigarette when Simon turned and asked, “Hey Cade, do you mind if I try for that position at Lindsay’s?”

  “Yeah man,” Cade gave his approval hoping that Lindsay would give the man a chance, “you have your future to think about.”

  When they reached the den, it didn’t surprise Cade to see that Elias begin to clean up the mess that the others made, what did surprise him was seeing Brogan help. Maybe this was a sign that things were changing.