Welded: MM Mpreg Romance (Industrial Alphas Book 1)

by Lorelei M. Hart

  Mom took my arm and dragged me toward the labor rooms. And then past them to delivery. Okay, not scared at all. “Hurry. The doctor says it could be any minute now.” She waved down a nurse who helped me clean up and ushered me inside. I was kind of amazed Mom was willing to let me go without her. Then the universe righted itself as she appeared next to me. “Miles said I could,” she said before scooting over to the bed and pressing a kiss on his forehead. “How you doing, Son?”

  Okay. I got the jist. Miles also fell into the important persons class. Only I had become extraneous. But I could feel sorry for myself later because the doctor entered and pulled a stool up to the foot of the bed. He peeked under the sheet and lifted his face to show us a big grin. “It’s time people. You just made it. Another fifteen minutes and your daughter would have been born in the car.”

  Mom held Miles’ hand, but the doctor waved me toward him. “If you want to see the star of the show make her big entrance, now’s the time.”

  “Miles?” I asked but he shook his head. “Go, alpha. Mom has me.”

  Yeah, sure. Mom. But excitement took the place of anything else as the doctor ordered my theta to push and he did. And on the third push, I saw her. One more and the doc was easing her shoulders free and there she was.

  Our daughter.

  Lena. Bald as a billiard ball and deep pink all over. “Isn’t she supposed to cry?” I asked the nurse who was wiping her off and doing whatever other things they do the second a baby is born.

  “Not necessarily. Look at her. She doesn’t look like much of a crier, do you, baby...what’s her name?”

  “Lena,” I said, tears spilling from my eyes as she wrapped her in a blanket and placed her in my arms. “This is our little Lena.” I kissed her forehead and her tiny button nose, overwhelmed with love. For her, for my theta. Hell, even for Mom who, as I settled Lena in Miles’ arms was obviously champing at the bit for her turn.

  We stood there for a long moment, all focused on the little face peeking out of the blanket before the nurse shooed Mom and I out so they could do more stuff to both Miles and the baby, reassuring us the whole time that they were perfectly fine but still a bit messy.

  I took my mom’s hand, probably for the first time since I was not much older than Lena, and together we went down to the waiting room to tell the group that had swelled to include everyone who had been at the wedding, since nobody had left town yet. The whoops and cheers brought nurses in to shush us all, but that was okay, too. Yesterday I gained a husband, today a daughter. There was no happier than this.

  After a while, everyone got a turn to go in for a minute and congratulate Miles and see the baby, but eventually the nurses called a halt. “Papa is tired and needs some privacy to learn to nurse the baby. Time for you all to leave. You can come back later. We will be keeping them in until tomorrow.

  “Not at all,” she responded to concern that he wasn’t leaving the same day. “We just don’t rush anyone out of here. He can have a day to recover and we have great food for our new daddies. It’s a party. Now, go!”

  “I’ll stay,” I said, cuddling my daughter close, watching her face and trying to think who she resembled in our families. “Won’t I, sweet girl?”

  “No you won’t,” Miles corrected. “Go home, take a nap, and come back in a few hours. I’ll be asleep anyway.”

  I protested but eventually left with our families, promising to be back in two hours with a strawberry shake, extra whipped cream. I didn’t think I’d be able to sleep but the second my head hit the pillow, the wedding and birth exhaustion crashed over me and I was out like a light.

  I didn’t wake up until the phone rang and my panicked theta’s voice rang in my ears when I answered. “Alpha, she’s gone. They can’t find her anywhere.” He broke down entirely and became impossible to understand, but I knew what happened. I’d let my guard down and that bastard had taken her.

  “I’ve got this, Miles. I promise it will be okay.” I’d never undressed except for kicking off my shoes, so I grabbed steel-toed work boots and slammed my feet into them. This world was not safe with Kent in it.

  The question is, where would he have her? Not his house, but where?

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Alois

  Where would he take her? The thoughts ran circles in my head. And how could he think he’d get away with it? Everyone in town knew him and knew us, one way or another. He had to have gone completely off the rails.

  And...that was it, wasn’t it?

  He had to have lost it.

  The stories my theta told me of their years together did not indicate a man who had the best grip on reality. He’d treated Miles like property, controlled him with an iron fist, and then if he did anything whatsoever to cross him used that fist to bring him back into line. And he’d wanted a child, one Miles knew he wouldn’t be able to give him, which added to the complicated dynamics of that relationship.

  I couldn’t begin to understand it, but instead of thinking what a logical kidnapper might do, like flee the country and have all their money put away in offshore accounts, I knew I had to think differently. Kent believed he had full control over everyone in his world. Even me at one time, although that hadn’t been the truth. What would a narcissistic, controlling, off-the rails tyrant do after he stole a baby?

  I knew.

  I drove as fast as I could through the streets of a town that was now wide awake and going about their business. And, of course, a speed demon is going to pick up a tail. But I didn’t mind. I needed backup. If I was right, and I prayed to all that was holy I was, Lena was in grave danger.

  By the time I arrived at the nearly completed building where I’d found my theta in the basement, I had three police cars behind me and thought that was pretty good for a town our size on a Sunday. But being arrested was not what I had in mind, so I leapt out and ran around to the rear of the building. I had seen the blueprints so I knew just where all the entrances were and how things would likely be laid out at this point in construction. The elevator was not yet in operation but the fire escape was. Blessing the design that involved a rock border at the bottom of the walls, I scaled them and leapt to the bottom landing of the fire escape. Looking down, I didn’t know how I’d done it, but it didn’t matter.

  I raced from one level to the next, pausing to listen at each floor, but I was pretty sure where I’d find him.

  And I did.

  The roof was a broad, flat level with various outlets for utilities and some storage. Also, at one end, a garden cafe had been planned. At this point it was just a flat terrace without even a wall around it.

  My throat nearly swelled closed at the sight of Kent standing near the edge, holding my daughter in his arms. The baby was crying, the wails she hadn’t felt necessary at birth were now tearing from her little lungs. And no wonder. The light breeze at ground level was a gale up here. Kent’s windbreaker puffed out and the ends of Lena’s blanket whipped around.

  I heard them coming behind me, the police who wanted to arrest the crazy driver. I stepped off the fire escape and called to them. Told them what was going on and begged them to hang back and give me a chance to save my daughter.

  Luckily, the officers had already gotten the kidnapped baby report. After consulting with someone via the microphones on their shirts, they let me go, but warned I would only have a few minutes before they had to take action.

  There was no way I could sneak up on him and I didn’t want to startle him anyway. So I moved right out into the middle of the open space and called out. “Kent.”

  He turned away from where he’d been studying the edge and faced me. “Oh, hello, Alois. Doesn’t the project look great? I’ll bet you’re sorry you quit.”

  “It’s very nice,” I said, taking a couple of steps toward him. “Maybe you’d like to give me the tour? I’d love to see it.”

  He chuckled. “Maybe some other time.” He shifted Lena to his other arm and I fought the urge to rush him but did mo
ve a little more. “Right now, I’m showing it to my daughter. I think she’s impressed, aren’t you, Sheila?”

  Sheila?

  That was not her name.

  But that didn’t matter.

  “She’s crying, Kent,” I said, taking another step. “You should probably get her out of the wind.”

  “Oh, you’re okay, aren’t you?” He joggled her, and she cried harder. Only whatever power alphas get to take care of their families saved me from making a bad move. I could always kill him later. “She’s happy to be with her real daddy. And we’re going on a trip, aren’t we, Sheila?”

  “Don’t do it, Kent. Don’t jump!” I could hear the police behind me, about to step onto the roof. I waved at them, afraid their presence would make him act. Their radios made their distinctive staticky noise, but Kent didn’t react. The wind, getting stronger by the minute, must have blown the sound away. “You don’t want to die.”

  “Jump? Why would I do that? Sheila and I are just about to start our life together. That stinking omega of mine finally produced a child.”

  I vibrated with rage and anger, but my daughter’s life was at stake and none of his words mattered. Only keeping him talking until I figured out how to get her away from him.

  “Where are you and your daughter”—the word tasted like acid—“going today? Are you driving?”

  “Driving on the roof? What have you been smoking?” He laughed and tipped his head back. “Hear that?”

  I strained my ears, but it didn’t take long to hear the distinctive flub flub flub. A moment later it came into sight past some buildings down the street. A silvery bird that, as it came closer, was revealed to have his logo emblazoned on the side. “Where is it going to land?” I said mostly for the benefit of the police I hoped could hear at least my words over the wind tearing at my hair and shirt.

  “Here,” he called moving closer to the edge and scaring me even more.

  “On the dining patio?” Keep him talking. Every word was another second to find a solution.

  “Dining patio?” He snorted. “This is the helipad. I guess we changed it after you stole my omega. Sheila and I are on our way to a destination far far away.” It became harder to hear as the chopper’s noisy rotors competed with the wind’s howls. If he got on that chopper with Lena—her name is Lena, you evil, deluded bastard—I’d never see her again. I’d been wrong. It wasn’t only sane villains who planned getaways. Sometimes those whose version of reality was skewed did also. Or maybe he didn’t really believe what he said, that Lena was his, but just figured anyone and everything he wanted was his for the taking.

  It was too loud to hear any words now, with the helicopter closing in along with barely sub-hurricane winds.

  He looked up again as the whirlybird came overhead, and, having moved within a few feet of him, I took my one chance and raced toward him, grasping the baby and setting him off-balance. I fell back on my ass, with my shrieking newborn in my arms.

  He wobbled inches from the edge. I hid the baby’s eyes, just in case she could make out enough to be traumatized as Kent’s arms flailed and he screamed and tumbled backward, held aloft for a fraction of a second before falling.

  I didn’t even look to see where he ended up, just turned and walked back toward the fire escape, holding Lena close to my body. I had to get her out of the wind and back to the hospital where the staff could check her over carefully. Nobody should be kidnapped their very first day of life.

  If he hadn’t fallen and died, I’d have killed Kent on the spot.

  And I wouldn’t have cared if I went to jail for it.

  It would have been worth every day behind bars.

  Epilogue

  Miles

  Alois and I didn’t let Lena go for three weeks solid. I don’t mean we hugged her extra long or put her in a cradle by our bed. I meant we either held her or let our parents hold her twenty-four hours a day for nearly a month since Kent had his hands on her and my alpha had gone to save her.

  He saved us both in the end.

  And I knew he would always save us one way or the other.

  Finally, with our parents gone and Alois needing to go back to work the next day, I relented and put her in her cradle, right next to our bed. It was a start, after all, and I knew that the next day he wouldn’t be there to take over for me when my arms went weak.

  My head knew Kent was dead, but I was back to that scared theta that jumped at every sound and nuzzled my babe closer to my chest.

  “She’s absolutely stunning, just like her papa,” Alois said, sidling up to me in the bed and leaning over to see Lena fast asleep, mouth open and arms and legs sprawled out.

  We needed to wait a few more weeks for me to heal, but I wanted my mate already, exhaustion and leaking boobs aside.

  “I agree. She looks just like you.”

  He chuckled and shook both of us. “No, I meant you, theta. Seriously, look how she stretches out while she sleeps. That’s all you—arms and legs throughout the night.”

  “I do not do that,” I pretended to be offended at his accusal.

  “You do, too. I woke up one night, and you had your elbow in my mouth. You know it’s true. But it’s fine with me. I think it is a sign that you are free and comfortable and safe. I take it as a compliment.”

  I nodded and looked at my mate. “Well, you are our knight in shining armor. Maybe not shining. Muscle armor.”

  “I’ll always keep my family safe.” He put his nose at the skin of my neck and inhaled. “You smell so amazing. Let’s get some sleep. We both have a big day tomorrow.”

  I nodded and yawned. “I packed you a special lunch.”

  He lay down and dragged my body against him. “I knew you would. But I don’t want you to get up early. You need your rest. I can make my own coffee and stuff.” My alpha began to say something else but paused.

  “What?” I asked, turning in his embrace to face him.

  “I’m gonna miss you both like crazy. These last few weeks, minus the jerk incident, have been the best of my life.”

  I hooked my finger under his chin. “We are going to miss you just as much, my love. We’ll have to make the most of our family time. And we have that trip planned in a month.”

  Alois had arranged for us to have a trip to the mountains for a long weekend. I would be all healed up and hopefully our little one would be sleeping through the night and was staying with my parents just an hour away from our cabin. When we got back, I’d be starting another semester of school, this one not entirely online. My amazing mother-in-law would babysit 24/7 if we let her, but she’d have to settle for a few hours a week while I sat in classrooms and absorbed knowledge. By the time Miss Lena was in kindergarten, I hoped to be a teacher with a job.

  “Miles, I know that day, at the project, I asked you to come home with me and you’re always saying I saved you, but it’s you who saved me. I didn’t realize how stale and lonely my life had become. You and Lena are my world, theta. Let’s get some sleep. I love you.”

  I wiggled to get as close to him as I could and let his steady breaths lull me to sleep. Lena would be awake soon, but I had this moment with him. I needed to find a way for him to have some time to get back to his projects, his sculpture, but every time I suggested it, he said he had his whole life to weld but Lena would only be little once.

  I used to regret the time I spent with Kent, but lately, I knew it was for the best.

  Without that dark cloud, I would’ve never seen the light that was Alois.

  Don’t Miss Roughnecks – Industrial Alphas Book 2 Coming Soon!

  About the Authors

  Lorelei M. Hart is the cowriting team of USA Today Bestselling Authors Kate Richards and Ever Coming as well as Ophelia Heart, another bestselling author. Friends for years, the trio decided to come together and write one of their favorite guilty pleasures: Mpreg. There is something that just does it for them about smexy men who love each other enough to start a family together in a world
where they can do it the old-fashioned way.

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  Also By Lorelei M. Hart

  Book 1 in the Theta-Mine Series

  Available Here

  You’ve never seen an omega like this.

  Max travels the world as a professional YouTuber, trying out candy shops and reviewing them online. He sometimes dates, sure, but as a theta, a different and unique kind of omega, he has to be careful about whom he connects with.

  When he meets alphas Harry and Kian, his theta instincts know right away that they are the ones, but he has to wonder—do they know what that means for their future?

  Harry and Kian love each other unconditionally, and while they are living an amazing life together as a couple, sometimes it feels as if something—or maybe someone—is missing. When Max comes into The Bistro at midnight looking for a bite to eat, the connection is instantaneous—he is their third.

  Table of Contents

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  Miles Trenton

  Chapter Two

  Alois Diaz

  Chapter Three

  Miles

  Chapter Four

  Alois

  (Untitled)

  Chapter Five

  Miles

  Chapter Six

  Alois

  Chapter Seven

  Miles

  Chapter Eight

  Alois