Omega For The Dragon: 3 Book Bundle (M/M Gay Shifter Mpreg Paranormal Romance)

by TJ Cross

  Helen looked directly in my eyes. "But it would be something absolutely worth celebrating. Around the world, when dragons stay in touch through our network of contacts, we all hope and pray for more of our kind to emerge, whether born through the fossilized eggs abandoned from centuries past, or through the mating and pairing of our people and their partners. The birth of a dragon, let alone a Copperwind, would be a great thing for the world."

  This was the first time I had heard it described that way, and I was instantly amused. Even Everett had described the birth of a new dragon as something dangerous, as the emergence of a new conqueror to compete with all the rest.

  Perhaps among the same lineage there was no fear of a dangerous, world-consuming rivalry... but while I sensed no lethal desire to rule the world from the womb inside me, I knew that my child would be a dragon -- meaning it would want all the things a dragon did.

  Mrs Copperwind glanced down to her glass of water. "Shall we order, before we discuss further?"

  "I'm just stunned you actually believe me."

  She smiled. "You're an honest boy, Finn. That alone sets you apart from... ordinary humans. I appreciate you, even if you may think I'm being unnecessarily difficult here. Gomez, yes, I'll have the eggs benedict. No ham, please."

  I glanced down to the menu and then to the mustachioed waiter. "Muesli and yogurt, I suppose."

  "Are you vegetarian?" Helen asked, raising an eyebrow.

  "No, I just felt like having that instead, why?" I asked, amused by her curiosity.

  Helen laughed. "Well, wouldn't it be truly strange if a dragon were to mate with a vegetarian? We're the absolute epitome of what a carnivore is! You'll never see Everett eat anything other than pounds and pounds of steaks. Seared, burnt... if you ever doubted my son was a dragon, watch him eat."

  I smiled, although my heart hurt from the realization that I would not be able to be with him... the way I wanted to. "Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to ask you a few questions about... being a dragon," I found the boldness to ask.

  "Ask away."

  Our food arrived and my hostess was gracious enough to give me all the answers I wanted. She had been alive since the days of Norman England, although most of the last few centuries had been spent in Europe. The Copperwind corporation was only formed in the late 1800s, but she had navigated it through obstacle and obstacle -- including a near-crash during the Great Depression -- practically by herself.

  "Where was Everett in all this?" I asked, noticing his absence from her business stories.

  "As soon as he was old enough to strike out a living by himself, he went away. This was probably for the better. Even among family, dragons did badly when they were near each other. Competition between us could have resulted in great devastation... he went to Canada first, spending decades of his life in Toronto -- far enough that he was independent from me, yet close enough to render me assistance when I needed it," Helen explained. "We've only started living together in the last forty years or so... when I had sufficiently felt like I had gained the wisdom and power to suppress my inner dragon, to avoid lashing out and attacking him."

  "Inner dragon?"

  Helen nodded. "We are dragons first and foremost, but those of us who spend our lives primarily in the form of humans must constantly live with the turmoil and tension that results from suppressing our dragon nature. We are alphas, every single one of us: the most powerful creatures to exist, always taking control, always demanding our place above the others. Even the weakest among us are still stronger than all the other shifters. And there's only room for one person at the top of the food chain... so we dragons stay in touch when we can, but keep ourselves away from each other to avoid stepping on any toes."

  "Or talons, in your case," I joked. "Will this be the fate of my child, then? An immortal dragon with an unquenchable thirst for devastation?" It was a scary thought. I didn't want that to be my baby -- in fact, all through this experience I had only foreseen love and adoration, not the challenges that would come from being a human parent to an inhuman child.

  A single father, living the life of a single mother.

  "Only time can tell," Helen warned. "Yes, if your child is more dragon than human you will be in for a difficult time... but I sense greatness in you. You will find ways to tame this dragon inside you."

  "It's your son I need to tame," I pointed out. Even as I contemplated life raising my baby alone, I knew what I wanted most was to have Everett with me, to be the father the child needed.

  Mrs Copperwind explained that the gap between our lifespans often meant dragons were uninterested in humans romantically, even when the promise of a strong bond existed.

  "We're so superstitious, it's stupid," Helen smiled wanly. "Destiny, fate, those are the forces we believe in the most. Without them... we are lost. Dragons are born of magic, I don't need to tell you again. Fate magic propels us, provides us with the means to foresee our future, even if long ago we had failed to do so -- when our greed saw us clash with humans, who immediately rallied and united to defeat us."

  "You make that sound like it was yesterday."

  "To me, Finn, it was."

  I paused, the thought I needed to compose eloquently already forming on my tongue. "Helen... surely you and Everett can understand that perhaps it was destiny that helped create this baby inside me. That Everett might not know it, but he was meant to be the father to this child."

  "Perhaps," Helen conceded. "But destiny doesn't work like that. You can't just ascribe everything to luck and fate. To me, your pregnancy is still just an unexplained coincidence."

  "And to Everett, it's easier for him to project his fears onto it, right?" I said. "He'd rather think that I'm pregnant from being with some other shifter... even though that wasn't the case at all."

  "He has no evidence to discount that possibility," Helen agreed sadly.

  I looked down on my plate and saw that I was finished. Scraping my spoon against the inside of the bowl, collecting as much left of the residue of the yogurt, I returned my gaze to Helen and wondered if her interest in me extended to a desire to assist me with the baby.

  "Finn, trust is not something that comes easily to dragons... especially when it involves humans. We know all too well how easily your kind breaks your promises. Remember, we have ancient memories that span centuries -- seeing your kind behave as you do, like fireflies in brief lives, often influences our thinking. Rightly or wrongly we see you as a weaker people."

  "Different, not weaker," I defended. "Your inability to trust something you already know is the truth because it doesn't align with your understanding is... arrogant, even. I'm sorry, Helen. I'm disappointed to hear you tell me that you believe me yet you don't actually believe me."

  She nodded. "I understand."

  I glanced towards the door. "I won't need a car to send me back. I'm perfectly fine on my own."

  "That I also believe," Helen said. "Would you prefer if I keep our meetings a secret from Everett? It's our nature to share everything together, as mother and child, but I understand humans view things differently. In any case, it involves you, and I would like to consider your views."

  I shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me. Probably a good thing that he knows, too. At least he'll know his kid will want for nothing."

  At that moment I craved Everett's touch so much. I wanted him, and I even thought about how I wanted him to the point of seeing him in his true, draconic form. I wanted to stroke the scales that made his skin, the long tail that would curve around me.

  I wanted to know what a dragon truly was like, so when I gave birth to the dragon inside my male belly... I would be ready.

  Helen smiled at me as she rose, letting me leave. "It's still early days, Finn. The glow you enjoy from your pregnancy befits you, and the beauty of this child will no doubt be great. Perhaps we can dine again."

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  Jodie was watching me as I showed her the outfits I was considering for tonight. "No, not that," sh
e said, sitting in bed, scrutinizing my choices carefully.

  I glanced down to the item she rejected. My black broadcloth shirt -- my usual go-to when it came to a night of clubbing. I'd usually wear it with three or four buttons off, hoping to attract interest in me through sheer gay sex appeal: but it seemed Jodie had a better idea.

  "Try this," she said, pointing to a denim jacket I had. Japanese denim: the good stuff.

  Even if I did love that jacket I still rolled my eyes. "We're going to a house party, Jodie. Not a '90s nostalgia party."

  "Did I say you should put on overalls and quote from Saved By The Bell? No? Right. You're ridiculous, Finn," she said, shaking her head. She nudged another shirt with her heel, pushing it towards me. "How about that one?"

  It was my Ralph Lauren Purple Label shirt, probably my most expensive shirt -- one I rarely wore, because I didn't like the idea of washing it except in the strictest, finest conditions. I was a bit neurotic on things like that. But Jodie's suggestion did have a point. It was just large enough that I could wear it in my current pregnant state without looking like I was hoarding a giant belly...

  "You know, I normally put this on over a plain t-shirt, but I think this is it, you've got it, Jodie!" I said with a smile, pulling my t-shirt off and standing, topless, in front of my best friend just as I started for the shirt I was going to wear tonight.

  But even then I could see the obvious surprise in Jodie's eyes. "Wow, Finn... you're really pregnant..."

  I could sense she was trying to be diplomatic here. I had told her that I was pregnant the day before, the one landmark in my own pregnancy that I was dreading, and she had taken it pretty badly.

  "What do you mean you told Rufus first?" she said over lunch when I told her. It wasn't a particularly fancy lunch, no Howell Lodge here. We caught the Burrito Barn near her gym, and I sort of blurted out that I needed to tell her something. "Why wouldn't you tell me, your best friend, first?"

  "Because you wouldn't understand. Just like I didn't understand. If I had told you first, who knows where I'd be right now. I don't doubt you would have given me the best advice, but Rufus is part-shifter himself, he would know more that could be helpful to me."

  I could tell Jodie was hurt. She didn't even touch her burrito. "Look, if it makes a difference... I guess Rufus was helpful but he wasn't the person I wanted helping me. And in the end, I'm kinda walking this road alone."

  "Nuh uh, not true. I'm always going to be on your side, Finn."

  All through that lunch I briefly caught her up with the developments in my life, explaining to her how shifters actually had this whole male pregnancy thing in their folklore to begin with, explaining how the Copperwinds were being so difficult.

  "You know what you need?" she said as we hugged, when we were about to leave. "You need to go out and forget that Everett guy. At the risk of sounding like the world's largest cliche-generator... there are plenty of fish in the sea."

  "Plenty of dragons in the sky," I winked.

  Friday night came and I dropped by in the early afternoon when Jodie invited me, bringing along a few outfit ideas. It was an old tradition of ours, dating back to when we had been friends in middle school -- when people first started picking on me, calling me feminine and weird... in the days before I came out seriously as being gay.

  Jodie had always been there for me, and even if she could be a pretty flaky friend sometimes I never doubted that she cared. "Gonna get you with a super hunk," Jodie promised, nodding quickly as soon as I arrived.

  So in her room now, with my belly out as she stared, I felt something new: self-consciousness.

  At home, I had slowly come to accept my bump, not thinking it was good or bad, just that it was what it was: the magical womb inside me protecting my miracle baby. I didn't think I was fat or looked weird or was a giant freak, being a man who was pregnant...

  But when Jodie looked at me like that, I felt the humiliation course through me. I was more emotional than usual, too, because I would never have thought I would react to her behavior so poorly. But at least I didn't say anything.

  She was savvy enough to catch the fallen look on my face. "Ugh, I'm such an idiot. I don't mean that you look bad at all, Finn! I think you look amazing. You're glowing. Seriously! But... it's crazy, it's something I would never have imagined to see from my male best friend..."

  "I understand," I quickly interrupted, knowing nothing either one of us could say would be the right thing here. Despite my various meetings with shifter shamans and Mrs Copperwind, the reality was I was a human, and to other humans, what I was going through was truly, truly bizarre.

  And now that I had a bump in my belly, I could physically feel how bizarre my life had turned out.

  "Anyway!" I said, cheering up so we could get over any lingering awkwardness. "This party's going to be good, right?"

  Jodie nodded enthusiastically. "Oh yeah, babe. Everybody knows it's going to rock. Rufus says people are still talking about the guy's last party, and that was like, before Halloween last year!"

  "Who's the guy?"

  Jodie reached for her phone, checking through her Facebook contacts. "It's this guy," she said, pointing the screen to me.

  I glanced over and saw his profile. Adam, one of Rufus' friends, with a profile photo of him at a club, holding a giant bottle of champagne. I would've rolled my eyes -- bro types were not my type -- but he definitely was attractive in his own way, with a cockiness in his look coupled with the rough, unkempt way he kept his hair...

  Very sexy.

  Blinking to keep away the thoughts of that one man who was dominating my mind, I nodded and said, "I'm excited about the party."

  "And about Adam, right?" Jodie grinned.

  "Maybe. If he's not a total jerk. Profile kinda screams at least a tiny bit of a jerk," I noted, taking her phone from her hands to scroll through his profile.

  "Finn! Are you cyber-stalking? You're such a creep."

  I laughed. "I'm a pregnant man, Jodie. I think after all the shit I've gone through recently I'm practically entitled to be as much of a creep as I want! It's crazy, I know, but tonight's my night so I just need you to be my enthusiastic cheerleader."

  She nodded, scooting over to me and giving me a hug. "Babe, you will always find that I will be your number one cheerleader, whenever you want."

  Rufus knocked on the door, dressed the most casually among us. Just a Metallica shirt and a relatively clean pair of jeans. Nothing like the peacocking his girlfriend and I were doing. "You guys ready?"

  "Sure," I said, hopping off and waiting for Jodie to follow. She pulled herself off the bed and we all walked out together to Rufus' car, a beat-up Honda that he had owned long before we even knew each other.

  "Finn likes Adam," Jodie playfully said to her boyfriend. "Think you can make it happen?"

  "So that's why you started making a big deal out of this party," Rufus said drily, nodding as he understood what his girlfriend was up to. "Of all the parties my friends host, the one you're most interested in is the one hosted by the gay guy."

  "Adam's gay?" I said, raising my eyebrows. Now I was definitely curious.

  In this sense he was already a much, well, easier target than someone like Everett. The dragon's lack of identification with being gay meant I probably would struggle to catch his attention when he could have any woman as well as any man.

  "That he is, my friend," Rufus acknowledged. He glanced over to Jodie, and I could sense that he was going to say something. Eventually he closed his mouth. It was almost as if I could guess what he was going to say.

  But Jodie, uh, Finn's pregnant. How do you think Adam's going to feel about that?