The Lion, the Dragon, and Their Unicorn Omega: An MM Mpreg Shifter Romance (The Unicorn Omegas Book 2)

by Lorelei M. Hart

  “Because I offered to give them samples for the tavern, and they said that was fine.” She went back to cutting the butter into her dough. She swore that without butter it wasn’t really pie.

  “Samples?” I laughed. Samples were little tasty morsels, not entire pie factories’ worth of confections. “You have enough pies here for the entire population of Haven.”

  “You have a lion and a dragon mate, and you think this is enough for the town?”

  “Fair enough.” It was true. My mates could eat. They were weird about letting me cook for them often, stating that it wasn’t my role to be their cook, something Rob apparently had back in his city home. “What’s the end game?”

  “My end game as you put it is to start selling pies so I can get my own place. It is fine staying with Malinda, but she has things to do that don’t include protecting me.”

  Grey had offered to let her live with them, but she’d insisted that with the new baby, having her invade their space wasn’t the way to go. I had a feeling a good chunk of that had more to do with her guilt over not protecting him when his family—shit, it was technically our family, too—allowed him to be held captive.

  Gram had been shunned by our family, something I always knew as a child, but only now was I seeing the why of it. She stood up for us, working doubly hard for me when Grey was gone, to the point of teaching me the skills I needed to survive.

  She swore her magic wasn’t strong like mine, and she didn’t know I would need those particular skills, but I had a feeling most of her gut instincts were her magic pestering her until she listened.

  “I’m sure you are no imposition.” If she was, Malinda would have found her somewhere else to be. I didn’t know Malinda well, but there was no part of her that seemed to be willing to take any garbage from anyone or to be used. “Does she even know why you need protection?”

  I’d tried to bring this topic up with Gram a couple of times since we first reconnected. She thwarted me at every attempt. I had a feeling the reason Malinda stole my mates had nothing to do with anything other than giving Gram and me time alone.

  “Have I told her? No.” She blew an errant hair from her face. “Does she know? Probably.”

  What a non-answer.

  “I need to tell my mates.” I confessed.

  The elephant in the room was how intertwined the unicorns really were with the slave trading of their own people. Sasha knew there was some of that because of Grey. He’d helped my cousin’s mates when Grey first came into town and had a bit more insight than I’d originally thought.

  “And what? Have them no longer want to help the unicorns?” She grabbed the blob of dough she was working on and began to roll it. That wasn’t going to be a light and flakey crust if she kept manhandling it so.

  I understood her concern. I really did. She wanted to save the innocent and was afraid the widespread evil would harm that possibility.

  I had some insight into this she didn’t have. My mates never denied me my desire to save Bart. It had been put on the back burner when Sasha’s contacts informed him the auction had been moved. It still didn’t set well with me that my mate was so intertwined with the pulse of the slave trade, but he didn’t seem to mind. In fact, he seemed blissfully happy. So, who was I to judge?

  “Or have them understand that we need to be careful how we go about things because it isn’t all what it seems,” I countered, hoping it was true.

  “You’re right.” She sighed not sounding a hundred percent sure she meant it.

  “Gram, don’t worry.” I put on my best I’m not worried face even though I very much was about so many things. “We’re going to take care of it.”

  “No. You are an omega. You will stay home and have your babies and cook for your mates. That is your job. You’ve sacrificed enough.”

  Yeah. That wasn’t how things were going to go.

  “I need to do this. Besides, I’m going to have grandbabies, so it’s not like it’s going to end poorly.” I smiled at the vision I saw when I woke up that second morning after the best night’s sleep of my life. Being nestled in between my mates had a way giving me a sense of security I’d never felt before, not even as a child.

  “You need to stop believing everything you see.” Malinda’s voice started me.

  Grams sighed and threw out her dough. Good because it was going to be tough the way she kept working it. I wasn’t sure the pie thing could become anything long term, but it definitely wouldn’t work if she gave them crap crust because I made her uncomfortable and had her beating the dough into submission.

  “Yes, Malinda.” I knew she was right, but it still felt like I was being chastised like a small child.

  “Don’t even.” Gram waggled her finger at me, earning a chuckle from Malinda. “You know both she and I are right. You aren’t even unbound, and Malinda thinks it was more than a binding, so just don’t.”

  That was the truth of it. I was still struggling with my powers. I had planned to sneak away with Malinda to discuss what I could be doing differently, but the time hadn’t presented itself yet.

  “It got me this far.” Snapping at Gram and Malinda was pretty much the dumbest thing a person could do.

  The timer on the oven went off.

  “Get that pie out, will you?”

  I grabbed the potholders and retrieved the pecan pie. It was my favorite, and I knew the chances of me grabbing a bite were slim to none if she planned to put Theo in a pie coma to get him to sign a contract with her.

  “So we are done talking about this?” I asked.

  “The pie?”

  “Fine.”

  She wandered to the stovetop where it sat and shook her head. “It doesn’t look done.”

  “What smells so good?” Sasha’s rich voice filled my ears as he came up behind me, kissing the top of my head before checking out the pies in various stages of preparation.

  “Gram is making enough pies for the town.”

  “What Samuel means is I am attempting to set up a baking business in town, and these are my samples.”

  “I’d buy one.” Rob came in and, unlike Sasha, went straight to the pie. I couldn’t blame him. They were that good.

  “I will never take a red cent from you dragon, so don’t even start.”

  “Because I’m family?” He gave her a wink, and her eyes bugged out the tiniest of bits. Good mate, keeping her on her toes.

  “Because I will never repay you for getting my grandson back before I don’t even want to think what.”

  “We should be paying you for sending us to our mate,” Sasha fluffed off, reaching for a crumb off the blueberry crumb pie and getting a slap from Gram across the back of his hand. He’d learn soon enough. “Speaking of places to live…”

  “We weren’t talking about them.” Gram just shook her head.

  “Hmmm, I could have sworn we were,” Rob teased. “Anyway, has Samuel asked you yet?”

  We’d talked the night before about having Gram move in, but I hadn’t broached it yet, the time never feeling right.

  “I have not.” I shrugged. “Gram, would you like to move in here? There’s an in-law apartment above the garage.”

  “Let me see if I can get this business up and running first.” It wasn’t a no, which had been my fear and why I’d chickened out the few times opportunity presented itself.

  “Unacceptable, Gram. You already told me you were feeling underfoot with Malinda, and we have the room with a bonus side of privacy.”

  Malinda bent over and whispered something in my grandmother’s ear.

  “I will think on it,” she finally agreed.

  “What’s that smell?” Grey, holding baby Rhys, appeared in the doorway. The house had turned into Grand Central Station. I loved it.

  “That’s our grandmother’s pies.”

  “So your house is going to always smell like this when she moves in? Score for you guys.” He smiled.

  Gram washed up and held her grabby hands out f
or baby Rhys lickety split. Grey handed the baby to her, and Rhys broke out in a huge smile.

  Baby smiles were the best.

  “I never agreed to move in.”

  “Oh she’s moving in,” I announced as if that deemed it so.

  We spent the afternoon laughing, baking, and even getting to eat a pie that, oops, was cooked a tiny bit too long. I knew life wouldn’t always be this easy and carefree, and savored every moment.

  Things were about to happen. Big things. Not only for me, but for the town. And even though Gram and my mates wanted me as far away from things as possible, I already knew I was going to be in the middle of it, and there would be blood. Lots and lots of blood. I could only hope the blood was that of our enemies and not from one of my mates or those helping us.

  I may have seen myself holding grandbabies, but, in that vision, it was just me and the twins. I’d have felt a lot better about the entire thing if I’d caught even a glimmer of the men who were already my entire world.

  Having visions sucked.

  Chapter Ten

  Sasha

  “I have a dead serious question for you.” I spoke to Rob next to me at the bar. My nerves were shot from everything going on with Samuel, plus, maybe if I took enough shots of whiskey, my dick would raise its white flag and give up trying to get into our omega for one fucking second of the day.

  Fat chance.

  “What?” Rob slung back another vodka rocks; that made four for him. I glanced down at his jeans—nope wasn’t working for him either.

  “Do we trust Bart?”

  He ordered two more drinks for each of us and shrugged. “Yes. No. Who the fuck knows. But we have to do something, and he’s our only chance at information. He let Samuel basically walk out and leave. There has to be some good in him. Somewhere along the line he realized the crime of it all. And at this point, I’m so enraged at what they’re doing to unicorns, I could just go in there and light them all up. Worst case scenario, he tells them we’re coming to beat their asses down, they move the auction or, better yet, cancel it. Gives us more time to make our move.”

  “What is our move?” I kicked his legs under the table.

  “Get the info from Bart. Find the auction. End the auction. Rescue what unicorns we can. Come home and screw like rabbits. The end.”

  My cock pulsed in my jeans like the damned thing was volunteering to be tribute to the screwing like rabbits part.

  Down, boy.

  “Let’s go, then.” I gulped another shot and slammed the glass on the bar. “The faster we get this shit done, the faster we can get back to Samuel. I’m itching already just thinking about being away from him.”

  Jules cleared his throat. “We’ll all watch out for him. No one will touch him. Gotta stick together.”

  “Thanks, man. We’re counting on it. How much do we owe?”

  Jules waved us off. Theo and Ryder would probably be helping us in the effort if it wasn’t for their new babe and a still recovering Grey.

  They were damned lucky to have their family.

  Fuck, I wanted a family with my mates so badly I could almost smell the baby blankets.

  Rob and I left the Tavern and got on the road, me driving while he consulted with his assistant, moving things around to be able to spend time with us.

  “Maybe we can go to the city when this is all over. Take Samuel. Like a mini-vacation.”

  “I’d like that, actually. The two of you in my apartment would make it seem more like a home.”

  “It is your home.”

  He shrugged one shoulder. “Not really. It’s a place I go and sleep but, having us together there, would make it seem like a real home. Like it was more than just a shelter.”

  Bart had told us to look for the light in the middle of a row of trees after passing the lake that kids went to in order to park their cars and make out. It was a weird request, but red dragons were strange animals. And since he was our only source of info, we did as he asked.

  “There’s the row of trees,” Rob said, nodding to the left.

  “But where’s the light?” I slowed and turned the radio down.

  “I don’t see a light.” Rob’s voice changed to his stealth tone. I brought the truck to a crawl. We squinted out the windows, thinking we’d been setup.

  “Put the windows down.”

  I did as he asked, and we both sniffed the air. If more than one nasty red dragon trolled the area, we would know it in a heartbeat.

  “I only smell one, but I don’t see a light.”

  We stayed silent and still until something caught my eye. “Look. There. Damn it all, is that a candle? What is he, Harry fucking Potter?”

  Rob’s hand covered mine. “Leave the truck here. Let’s hoof it—in case we need to get out quickly.”

  “Will do.”

  I cut off the engine and got out. Rob was on my flank as we stalked toward the candle.

  “What the…?” When we got to the candle, there was nothing left of Bart but the scent of red dragon that clung in the air like decaying blood. Under the lit candle was a note, looked like a kindergarten kid had written it.

  It simply had an address, a day, and a time.

  And P.S., leave the money under this candle and blow it out as you’re leaving.

  “He’s a strange dragon. This is just information, not Jumanji.”

  Rob cut his eyes over to me. “What is it with you and book references today?”

  “Nothing.” I shrugged. I knew he could taste the lie.

  “Tell the truth.” He snatched the paper Bart had left and slipped the money under the candle but left it lit.

  “I was just thinking about the books I read as a kid and maybe one day, when we have a kid, I can read them to him—or her—or whatever.”

  Rob blew out the candle and grabbed my hand in the dark, dragging me to the truck in a frenzy. I thought maybe he’d scented someone or heard something I didn’t.

  “What’s wrong?” I tried to catch my breath after the sprint.

  “Nothing. I just wanted to get you back to the truck.” He slammed his door and then, with hands fisting my shirt, pulled me onto his lap. He dragged my mouth down to his and, before I knew it, we were both panting, and not from the run.

  “Fuck, I need you.” I bucked my hips, driving my point home.

  “I need you back. And Samuel. And all three of us. And all of it. It’s killing me.”

  After a few more pecks and playful touches, I moved back to the driver’s seat, halfway calmed down.

  We made a plan on the way back to town. We would have to get the unicorns out, as many as we could, all of them if possible. If we left one, there was no telling what the red dragons would do to them as punishment.

  I didn’t even want to think about it.

  “Let’s stop and get him some pizza.” Rob pointed at the new pizza place.

  “I wonder if he’s ever had pizza.” I pulled into the parking lot.

  “Let’s get one of each kind.”

  Pizzas in hand, I went home while Rob got Samuel from Malinda’s where he’d stayed to be protected. She was our strongest line of defense.

  Minutes later, they came into the house, holding hands.

  “Hey, you two. Come sit down. Let’s eat.”

  “I love pizza!” Samuel sat down and opened a box. He closed his eyes, taking the time to inhale the scent of meat and sauce and cheese.

  “We didn’t know if you had eaten pizza, so we got one of each.”

  “I’ve only eaten the cheese one. They got it as a mistake, so they threw me a piece. What kind is this?”

  I answered after looking at the toppings.

  Rob laughed and then, what started as a quiet chuckle, ended up with him doubled over, red-faced, barely able to breathe.

  “What the hell is so funny?” I asked after cramming a slice into my mouth.

  “You said…” He couldn’t even tell me what was funny.

  I waited not so patiently for him
to get ahold of himself.

  “Okay. Now what’s funny.”

  “You said meat trio. That’s us. We are a meat trio.”

  I sighed. That was my mature mate. Calling us a meat trio.

  Chapter Eleven

  Rob

  Some days, I felt less like Rob and more like the name my father bestowed upon me after a distant ancestor. Raffaelino. By the time I was ten, I refused to answer to it. I suppose it was a moniker befitting a golden dragon, heir to a lineage that went back so far, the records were on papyrus. But most of the time, I preferred not to think about that either.

  Like now, when I’d decided to leave behind the life I’d accepted for the most part—mercenary duties aside—since graduating from college. I know my mates were concerned with my giving up my fancy digs to move to the country. I wasn’t sure if they were more afraid I’d miss the penthouse or the parties, but I was over all that.

  Pretty sure, anyway.

  It had been a part of my life for so long, always in one way or another, but I’d never actually chosen it. Thinking back, I only really felt alive when I was on a mission. Sure, I was very happy to support the worthy causes, but if I never at another piece of dry chicken while listening to golf talk it would be too soon. I realized I’d been drifting or maybe just gliding along in the grooves laid out by my father and those who came before him. Had they enjoyed it?

  And, even more important, I was going to review the causes I endorsed. I’d simply continued giving, with little thought as to whether they were important to me or even well run, relevant to modern times. I wouldn’t be surprised to find a donation to “Save the T-rex” in my tax return.

  I didn’t want to leave anyone worthy out in the cold, but I had a foundation in mind, one for which I would do more than write checks and eat bad meals. One that would require a lot more of my time, and, if they were willing, that of my mates.

  But first, before taking on a cause much larger, we had some local unicorns to save. Because, once they were auctioned off, they could end up anywhere in the world, well out of our reach.

  “Whatever you do,” Sasha said, “don’t tell Samuel what we’re on our way to do.”