It felt as though all the years Spike had been strong before, had been because Kai was by his side. Giving Spike a reason to go on, giving Spike joy and life and everything. Spike’s eyes burned. He didn’t want to fucking break down again. What do I do now?
He looked at the shadows on his dashboard, and the people leaving and entering the grocery store, their lives as normal as could be. As though Spike’s heart was still whole and beating.
On the other end of the strip mall, a pub flashed its neon lights. Krazy Drinks was a new establishment that had opened a few months ago. A happy hour sign flashed, and patrons staggered out the door, weaving their way onto the street.
A group of four drunks headed in the opposite direction—along the darkened, closed stores, toward the grocery. All alphas, from their bulky frames and muscles. They seemed to be in control of their bodies; the only thing that gave them away was their loud voices, audible across the parking lot.
They ambled toward the grocery store, yelling lewd pickup lines at whoever happened to pass them—be it a hurrying omega, or a tired beta. Spike winced in disgust. Their behavior wasn’t so different from his own dad’s.
Then the drunks stepped closer to the brightly-lit entrance of the grocery store. Micah hurried out at that moment, leaning on his walking stick. The drunks made their way toward him, lecherous smiles on their faces.
Spike’s stomach plummeted. He leaped out of the car, cursing himself for parking all the way across the parking lot. He’d done it to avoid Micah’s notice, but right now...
The drunks had surrounded Micah, four slabs of muscle, with Micah in the middle clutching his walking stick, his belly utterly vulnerable. Micah looked scared.
One of the alphas grabbed Micah’s arm, hauling him close.
Fury surged through Spike’s veins. He sprinted through the parking lot, his instincts screaming a litany of Mine, mine, mine, and Don’t fucking touch him. Micah was too far away.
The alpha flung Micah aside. Micah stumbled, crashing into the automatic doors.
Did his belly hit the metal? What if he miscarried? What if it endangered his life somehow?
For a fleeting moment, Spike imagined losing Micah. He imagined not having Micah by his side, not having Micah smile as he taught those classes he loved so much. He imagined not having Micah taking a selfie with Kai, he imagined Micah just... gone.
Ice-cold fear gripped his spine. I shouldn’t have let him leave. I should’ve made him stay so I can protect him. Spike snarled, barreling into the drunks, throwing a punch at the one who had hurt his omega.
The alphas bellowed, rounding on him. Four against one. Spike didn’t care.
Their movements were sloppy. He clocked them in the jaw, all four of them, landing punches and kicks, until someone grabbed him by the throat, hauling him backward. Spike lost his balance and stumbled.
Someone punched him in the side of his head, stunning him. Then more punches rained down, punches that hurt.
Briefly, the assault faded. Spike turned to find two alphas advancing on Micah; his stomach turned.
From the corner of his eye, he glimpsed an alpha that looked like Kai, who had stepped out of the store. The alpha joined in, and one of the drunks grabbed the Kai-lookalike, slamming him into the wall.
Spike’s heart clenched. In that moment, when he’d heard that sickening crunch, he’d imagined his brother there against the wall, something of Kai’s breaking. And that sent a second wave of rage through him. Not Kai. Anyone but Kai, and Micah.
Spike punched the closest drunk, seeing red. He shouldn’t have told Kai I hate you. He didn’t hate Kai. He wanted Kai back, he wanted Kai any way he could, and this... none of this was right.
It didn’t matter what Spike was, what Spike could do. He would try harder. He would do better if that meant having his alpha and omega by his side again.
With a roar, Spike turned on the alphas, punching them, taking one of the alphas down. Then he turned, and a heavy fist collided with his skull. Spike snarled, blinded by pain. Where was Micah?
Fear prickled his mind. He whirled around, trying to find his omega. Except a fist landed against his jaw, sending him stumbling backward.
His head hit the wall with a painful crack. Spike blinked; black spots winked through his vision. Alphas loomed over him with leering grins. Then the world went dark.
36
Micah
Micah clutched his phone, swaying. Spike was surrounded by alphas, all of them bigger and burlier than him. He was outnumbered. Spike had had the upper hand on them at first, except someone had gotten the better of him, somehow.
One of the alphas grabbed Spike’s hair. Another grabbed his throat and tried to choke him. The other three began to rain blows on his face, his stomach, and Micah’s gut twisted for his alpha.
“Stop!” Micah cried, looking around for help. He needed to step in, distract them somehow. Except his body ached, his shoulder hurt where he’d crashed into the automatic doors, their dark hinges almost crushing his fingers. And his baby—he needed to protect his baby. “Someone please help!”
Spike took a punch to his jaw. Micah looked around, but the shopping carts were too far away. He had his walking stick. Then he flipped it around to grasp the rubber-tipped end, and slammed its handle hard against two of the alphas’ heads.
The alphas snarled and rounded on Micah; Spike glanced over, fear flickering in his eyes when he found his attackers heading for Micah.
One alpha broke Spike’s line of sight. Micah swung the walking stick at him again, but the alpha caught it, tearing it out of Micah’s grip. Menace glittered in his eyes.
Vulnerable, Micah stumbled backward, his heart in his throat. He needed to get Spike out of here. But how?
Behind, an alpha made use of Spike’s distraction to punch him in the eye. Spike recoiled. Micah’s chest hurt for him.
Someone rushed out of the grocery store then—another alpha, dark-haired like Kai. It wasn’t Kai. But it could have been, and Micah watched helplessly as the Kai-lookalike hauled away one of the alphas coming to crowd around Micah, slamming his fist into the alpha’s jaw.
The other alphas growled, heading over to gang up on the Kai-lookalike. Micah tore his walking stick away from them, only for an alpha to turn back toward him.
Someone slammed the Kai-lookalike against the wall. Something crunched wetly. The alpha slumped to the ground.
Not Kai, too. Micah shook, fear closing around his throat. They were drunk. They should’ve been easier to handle than this.
Spike roared, punching two of the alphas. They turned back to him, grabbing his throat. Slammed him against the building. Then an alpha punched him, smashing his head against the wall. Spike’s eyes glazed over.
Terror sluiced through Micah’s veins. Spike!
He staggered forward, clobbering the alphas on the head with his walking stick, as hard as he could. They rounded on him with ferocious snarls. And Micah didn’t care what happened to himself, as long as they left Spike and the Kai-lookalike alone. Don’t hurt them. They aren’t yours to touch.
Store employees came running out through the doors, separating the alphas from Micah, pummeling them to the ground. The moment the alphas were restrained, Micah limped over to where Spike lay, his nose bloodied, his eyes shut. A trail of blood led to the Kai-lookalike. How had a grocery store visit ended up like this?
Micah shook, the endless horrific possibilities sprawling out around him. What if the fight had been worse? What if there had been guns involved? What if Kai had been here, and he’d gotten hurt, too?
His heart wringing, Micah crouched between them, gingerly stroking Spike’s hair. Spike didn’t move.
“Wake up, Spike,” Micah said shakily.
But Spike didn’t wake. His silence gnawed at Micah, foreboding. What if Spike never woke?
Panic slid like ice through Micah’s veins. He couldn’t bear to think of a life without Spike. Or Kai. But the images filled his mind—no mor
e banter, no more playful grins as they elbowed each other. No more of Spike’s laughter and jokes, no more of Kai’s quiet attention, Kai ever so discreetly polishing his basketball medals.
Micah thought back to his home, to his empty bed, and didn’t know how he could return to his dreary life before, with his bed empty and York leaving home sooner or later. There was the baby, too, but without Micah’s alphas... The baby wouldn’t know how wonderful and strong her alpha fathers were.
That wasn’t a world Micah wanted to live in. It would kill his heart to.
As Micah sank bonelessly next to Spike, caressing his bloody face, he realized he couldn’t go on without knowing if Spike would be okay. If Kai would forgive Micah for cutting him off.
So what if Micah was horribly scarred? So what if he couldn’t walk straight? If they would have him, if Micah could believe that he wasn’t the pathetic omega Bernard had made him out to be...
Maybe Bernard had been wrong. And maybe Micah had been wrong, too. Maybe it was okay for Micah to be older than Kai and Spike. Maybe ‘beauty’ meant something else to them, and Micah only had to see it from their eyes. They had taken a chance on him—they’d spent so much time with him, showing him what it meant to be loved.
I love them both. I can’t deny it anymore. I need them with me.
Gods, Micah had thrown Kai aside without even speaking to him in person. He hadn’t even checked on Kai to make sure he was okay. He’d just left Spike to tell his brother the news, and that made Micah the worst lump of all.
Micah blinked back the tears in his eyes, trembling as he hugged his belly. I want you to meet your fathers. I can’t push them away anymore.
If Spike ever woke up, if Kai ever returned... Would they forgive Micah for what he’d done? Micah would beg. He’d do anything to have them back.
Micah sobbed, pressing his face against Spike’s chest. Kai had to know. If it was the last thing Micah did... he had to apologize to his alphas.
37
Kai
Kai had been drinking. Just a little. Mostly, he’d gone with his team to a bar because he needed their company, and he wanted their chatter to drown out the depressing thoughts in his head.
It had been two weeks. He’d thought telling Spike that he wasn’t going home would’ve made everything better, but all it had done was deepen the emptiness around his heart.
Sure, Kai had his teammates. But his team also had their own families—he saw the photos in their lockers, he saw the bonding marks on their necks. Every night, when each of these guys went home... they returned to smiles and warmth, and somewhere they belonged.
The team was where Kai belonged, except it also wasn’t.
He traced the outline of his phone in his pocket, half-hoping he’d get a text. From Spike, or Micah. Just to tell him they were doing fine. Next to him, Charlie toasted the rest of the team. Kai managed a half-smile. Couldn’t summon the spirits to cheer along with them.
“What’s with the long face, Kai?” Amber elbowed him. “It’s a long weekend! Time to kick back and relax!”
Yeah, Kai wasn’t sure what he was going to do for the next few days—his team called Monday to Wednesday off ‘a long weekend’. Kai would probably wind up lying in bed, scrolling through the pictures Spike had sent of himself and Micah. Again. Gods.
A nagging feeling hit him. Unease. He wasn’t sure why or how it did, only that something dark whispered in his veins. It said, You need to return to Spike and Micah.
Kai had never felt it before. He didn’t know why it was happening now, of all times. Maybe he really was going insane.
Then his phone vibrated in his back pocket, its ringtone barely audible in the bar. For the lack of something to do, he pulled it out. Micah.
Did this have something to do with his bad feeling? Or was Micah just calling because he wanted to... make up? His heart thudding, Kai excused himself. He wove his way out through the bar.
Outside, the quiet air smelled like road dust, and the grassy scents of summer. Kai hit the answer button. “Micah?”
“Kai.” Micah’s voice ran ragged across the line. “Spike’s not waking up.”
His entire body went cold. “What? What happened?”
“H-he got into a fight.” Micah sobbed, the sound twisting through Kai’s chest. He’d only seen Micah sob once, and this, Spike... Kai couldn’t breathe. “The ambulance is—is coming. But Spike... He’s bleeding, Kai. They slammed his head against the wall.”
“Who?” Rage roared up through Kai’s chest. “Are you hurt?”
“I—” Micah paused, and Kai closed his eyes, dread closing his throat. “I don’t know. I protected the baby.”
A sudden image of Spike, broken and bleeding, crashed through Kai’s mind. And Micah, small and shivering, clutching his belly. That shook Kai to the core. Scared him shitless. “Gods. Fuck. What happened?”
Micah sobbed, and Kai couldn’t fight the jagged horror cutting through him, the anxiety and the anger and the fear.
“Micah,” Kai said again. “Talk to me. C’mon.”
“Spike’s still alive,” Micah said brokenly. “I was going to get some groceries. Spike—Some alphas were going to attack me. I don’t know how he got here, but he—Spike fought with them. There were so many of them, Kai. They hurt him.”
Micah broke off in a low whine, and Kai closed his eyes, fury coursing hot through his veins. “Who’s ‘they’?”
“Some drunks. The police are here. The—the staff subdued them. We’re safe. But Spike, he...”
In that moment, Kai wished he were back home. He wished he were back in Meadowfall, so he could wake Spike up, so he could hold Micah in his arms and tell him he’d be safe.
“I’m coming back,” Kai growled, Micah’s desperation like a homing beacon. “I’ll be there soon. Give me some time.”
“But—” Micah sucked in a shaky breath “—But you need to be there, Kai. Your job—”
“Not as important as you.”
Micah broke down, his sobs ragged. Kai hated himself for being so far away. He wasn’t home. Home was where Micah and Spike were, home was where he should’ve been.
“Send—Send me a picture,” Kai said through his too-tight throat. “You and Spike. Please.”
“Now?” Micah sniffled.
“Yeah. I’ll call you back.”
“O-okay.” Micah took a while to end the call. Kai pictured him shaky and fumbling. He imagined Micah’s terror. And something animal clawed inside his chest. He needed his alpha and omega back in his arms, like he needed air to breathe. It wasn’t a question anymore.
He bulldozed his way through the bar. Stopped by the table where his team was. Kai leaned close to shout into Charlie’s ear, “Family emergency. I gotta go home. California.”
Charlie frowned. “We need you here.”
“My brother’s hurt. And my omega.” As much as it pained him to say those words, it felt right to call them his. “I’ll be back soon.”
He met Charlie’s stare—Charlie, who ran his team with a tight rein. Charlie, who allowed absolutely no one to slack off. At length, Charlie nodded, shrewd eyes pinned on Kai. “You’d better be back before the game starts Thursday.”
Kai clapped him on the shoulder, and then he was out of the bar, calling a cab.
His phone buzzed. Micah had sent three pictures. The first was so shaky, that there seemed to be only gray cement, and someone’s blurry shape. The second was Spike lying on the ground, blood smeared across his face, his eye swelling up.
If Kai didn’t know better, he might’ve thought Spike was dead. And that thought—it froze his mind, it sent a jolt of horror through Kai’s body, and suddenly Kai couldn’t breathe.
He shouldn’t have left Spike. Spike was his. Spike didn’t know how much Kai fucking cared about him, and Kai should’ve told him. Should’ve given Spike that mark he always wanted.
Because if he ever lost Spike like that, if Spike never woke up... Gods. Kai would forever regre
t not bonding with him.
His hands shook. Kai stared at his phone, his eyes burning. I’m sorry, he thought. I shouldn’t have left you. Should’ve stayed.
Kai could lose his basketball career, and the world would keep on turning. But if he lost Spike, if he never told Spike that Spike was the most important alpha he ever had...
If Kai didn’t have his brother by his side, he would turn into an animal. Spike was the one who kept Kai sane, he was the one who calmed Kai down, he was the one Kai turned to, to exchange in-jokes. Spike was everything, woven into the fibers of Kai’s heart.
Kai swallowed, his throat raw like he’d eaten shards of glass.
The phone buzzed with another picture. Micah’s face—pale and greenish under the fluorescent lights. His eyes were haunted, his mouth pulled in a taut line. Wetness gleamed on his cheek. But Micah’s gaze—he looked regretful, frightened. And Kai’s stomach jolted.
How had he let things get to this point?
If he ever lost Micah, Kai would’ve lost the fierce, strong omega who had stood up for him and Spike. He would’ve lost the person he’d wanted so much to protect. He would’ve lost the reason why he was an alpha, the reason why he was needed in this world.
I should’ve been there. I’ve been a shit alpha who hasn’t been around for them.
Kai’s teeth ached with need. His eyes burned.
So maybe he was crying, but he didn’t care anymore.
If staying by Micah’s side meant that Kai did his part in child-raising, if it meant that he gave up his career, if it meant that he barreled his way up to Micah and Spike, instead of sitting outside the circle of their warmth... maybe that wouldn’t be so bad. Because anything was better than not having his alpha and omega in his life.
The cab pulled up next to him. Kai scrubbed his face dry, got in, and gave the driver directions. Then he dialed Micah, his heart pounding so hard it almost burst through his ribs.
His hands trembling, Kai held the phone to his ear.
His Two Alphas Page 32
