His Reformed Omega: MPREG Romance (The Mountain Shifters Book 7)

by L. C. Davis

  At first, Connor hadn't been at all sure about going off with the other omegas while Duke was roped into watching the game with his brothers and father, but his mate's reassuring smile and Lainey's calming presence won out. He listened for the most part, fascinated by how different each one of the omegas was when she opened up. Lisa wasn't the only professional in the group. Marda was a teacher at the local high school, and Keri was taking a sabbatical from teaching biology at the university. She was a researcher at heart, interested in taking a more scientific than mystical approach to understanding the differences in shifter physiology between alphas, betas and omegas. She had immediately latched on to Connor's remark about how Mel and Toval were expecting a biological child of their own and he was all too happy to answer her endless questions about the unique case. He was relieved to be discussing something he knew about since he had feared the conversation would center around childrearing and other domestic concerns.

  He really had been wrong about his own kind. While they all shared a fierce devotion to their mates and children--an instinct that had missed his own mother entirely--Connor was realizing that other omegas were every bit as divergent from the outmoded expectations of them as he was. The realization filled him with hope that he could fit into life in the Southeast Unit after all, but also with guilt. Each of these women had dreams and aspirations that were entirely her own, even if she had found a way to integrate them with her life in the pack. Who was he to have ever judged them as less, somehow unworthy of the free will he had fought so hard to wrest back from the grasp of the alphas who sought to control him?

  Suddenly, being an atypical omega didn't seem like a badge of honor so much as it was a mark. Something that would keep him from ever truly being a part of the world he had ostracized himself from, no matter how nice or welcoming Duke's family was.

  Connor only realized he had been lost in his own thoughts when Lainey met his eyes from across the table. "Connor, I almost forgot. There's something I wanted to give you. Would you mind coming with me?"

  Connor glanced over at Duke, who was as deeply engrossed in the game as his brothers, then back at Lainey. "Sure," he said, his heart racing as he followed her down the hall. This must be it. Surely she was about to let him have it for drawing her son into a life more complicated and difficult than any she could have wanted from him.

  Lainey opened the hall closet and pulled out a wrapped bundle, laying it on the kitchen counter. She peeled off the crinkly tissue paper and smiled as she shook out a handknitted blanket in soft pastel colors with the image of a howling white wolf in the middle, set against a simple yet charming mountain landscape with golden thread that represented sunlight illuminating the edge of each peak.

  "I'm glad it didn't get too dusty, sitting in there all these years," she said wistfully.

  "It's beautiful," Connor said, noting the expert craftsmanship when she offered it to him to touch.

  "Thank you. I spent a long time on this one," she said with a wistful smile.

  "You make a lot of these?"

  "One for each of my grandchildren," she said proudly, flexing her fingers. "With four boys mated now, I might have to start outsourcing."

  Connor's eyes widened. "This is..."

  "For you. For the baby."

  "But you said it's been in there for years."

  "This one was special," she said softly, motioning for him to sit with her at the table. "Duke tells me you've got some unique gifts of your own, but I've always had the one. I see things, from time to time. Usually in a dream."

  "You're clairvoyant," he murmured.

  "It's usually never anything big," she said with a laugh. "Just glimpses, here and there. When Duke was young, barely seventeen, I had a dream of a wolf the spirits told me was his mate." She flushed a bit. "Now, I don't know if you believe in that sort of thing..."

  "I believe in a lot of things I didn't used to," he admitted.

  Lainey smiled. "Well, when Duke made the choices he did, I was proud of him, but there was part of me that felt hurt. It's not rational, really, but when you raise a child, part of you hopes they'll want some of the same things in life that you did. A pack, a family to call their own, pups to make them as happy as they made you. When Duke decided to take a different path from the rest of us, I couldn't get that dream out of my head, so I made this blanket. It was my way of making peace with those dreams I had for him, I guess. Now I see it was always meant to be, just not the way his father or I planned it."

  "I'm sorry," Connor murmured. "I can't imagine what you must think of me, and I can't argue, whatever it is. I don't know what it's like to raise a child, but in the short time I've had to get used to the idea, I can imagine how disappointed I would be if I'd raised a son like Duke and he ended up with a mate like me."

  Lainey listened quietly, a frown turning her lovely features somber. "Oh, sweetheart," she said, reaching out to put her hand over his. Connor was surprised that the touch didn't elicit the same startled reaction in him that most strangers did, but he could tell she wasn't using her energy to calm him, either. "That's not how it is at all. We don't get to choose our destiny, but we certainly get to choose to follow them or not. What hurt me most wasn't who Duke imprinted on, but the fact that he felt like he had to keep it a secret from us. We all have our pasts. Maybe they're not all quite as infamous as yours," she said with a mischievous turn to her voice that made Connor realize where her sons had gotten their teasing natures from. "But the past stays where it is for a reason, and you can either learn from it or let it define you. I can tell you've done a whole lot of learning."

  "I have," he admitted. "For what it's worth, I love Duke more than I ever thought possible. I haven't been a good person, but your son makes me want to be a better one."

  "And you make him better. That's all any mother could ask for."

  "Thank you, Mrs. Miller."

  "Please, call me Lainey," she said, looking up as Duke entered the room.

  "Look at that, my two favorite omegas in one place," he said, his gaze traveling down to the blanket in Connor's lap. "What's that?"

  "Your mom made it for the baby," Connor said, smiling as his mate helped him up from his chair. "Isn't it beautiful?"

  "It is. It looks like you," Duke said, running his hand along the soft fabric.

  Lainey winked at Connor. "I never noticed. Now, it's getting late and I can tell Connor's running out of steam, so why don't you both get some rest? I got your old room ready."

  "Please tell me you changed the sheets."

  "What, now you're a big bad Mountain Ridge Alpha and you're too cool for dinosaurs and space men all of a sudden?" she teased.

  "Dinosaurs and space men?" Connor laughed.

  Duke groaned. "I was twelve and I couldn't choose, okay?"

  "I thought you said you didn't leave for the Army until you were eighteen."

  The alpha grimaced, taking his mate's hand to lead him up the stairs. "Thanks, ma."

  "You're welcome," she called after them. "Love you and goodnight! Both of you."

  Connor's heart clenched in his chest as he followed Duke upstairs. If those words had come from anyone else, he likely wouldn't have believed them. Mel had been stuck with him from square one, Toval and Hassan had to put up with him because of Mel, and Duke had imprinted on him, but Lainey had no obligation to open her home or her heart to him. He resolved then that he would repay her the only way he knew how, and that was by giving her son and the pup they had on the way as much love has he had been shown.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  DUKE

  Settling into life as the Southeast Unit Alpha had been easier than Duke would have thought. Most of the soldiers knew him or, at the very least, had heard of him and seemed eager to have someone with his skill set in charge. Not to say he didn't endure his fair share of hazing. After being locked in the broom closet while working late one night to play catchup on all the last Alpha had let slide, Duke's men were even more surprised to fin
d a two-ton monster in the hallway. Granted, it hadn't been necessary to shift into his wolf form. He could have easily broken down the door as a human, but he thought it was a good excuse to set a precedent.

  Everyone had been nice and behaved since then. Well, everyone but his mate, but that was a lost cause from the very beginning. Pregnancy hormones and formerly evil geniuses didn't mix well, but Duke navigated every swing of his mate's moods filled with gratitude. He had come so close to losing his mate and his child that nothing else mattered. Connor was adjusting well to life in their new unit, even though Duke could tell he missed his brother. They had put off the official move for as long as possible, but they both wanted to be settled before their son came into the world. Mel had already given birth to his and Toval's son, and Duke and Connor had recently returned from visiting Central Unit.

  It was all of twenty minutes away by car, but the way the omegas acted when they got together, you'd think they had been separated by an ocean. At least that drama was soon to come to an end with the gift Duke and his co-conspirators had been working on. He, Hassan and Toval had decided to put an end to their mates' distress by building homes near each other on the outskirts of either unit's territories. That way they could fulfill their obligation to remain within the bounds of their respective units, but Mel and Connor would only be a short walk away from each other.

  They had yet to break the news to the omegas, and Duke planned to save it for a time when he needed to quell Connor's wrath for forgetting to put his socks in the hamper or some similar affront to the omega's obsessive need to keep everything neat and organized. Nesting had only pushed his natural tendencies over the edge.

  Duke smiled at the sound of piano music filtering out through the door as he approached their temporary quarters. Connor had taken great pride in arranging the once empty apartment just the way he liked it, and seeing his omega create a fitting nest for their new family satisfied some primal need within him to provide for them. Part of that had been moving Connor's piano into the living room. If there was one thing the omega loved as well as chess, it was music, and Duke would never grow tired of hearing him play.

  The alpha quieted his breathing and crept into the house carefully so as not to alert Connor to his presence. The song he was playing was so unlike the mournful and often tumultuous ballads Duke had caught him playing in prison. He had spent longer listening than he would ever have admitted. Classical music had never been his thing, but it was when Connor was playing. The way the omega's graceful hands fluttered over the keys, playing each note with as much soul as precision, was nothing short of art and Duke didn't want it to end just yet.

  Connor drew the final notes from the ivory keys and his shoulders sagged in satisfaction. Duke bit back a chuckle when he saw how much further back the pregnant omega had to sit to keep his rounded belly off the keys.

  "You know, if you wanted a private concert, all you had to do was ask," Connor said, tilting his head back to look at his mate.

  Duke crossed the room and leaned down to kiss him. "I know, but I like seeing you play when you think no one's watching."

  "I always know when you're watching," Connor said, absently plucking at the high keys. "Alphas are hard not to smell."

  "You know you like my musky scent," Duke teased, nipping at his omega's neck. Now that the collar was off, he had free reign and his mark was on full display for all the world to see.

  Connor snickered, giving him a playful shove. "It's so heady and masculine, the raw sensuality of it gives a delicate omega like me the vapors."

  "Nothing delicate about you," Duke said, pulling his mate to his feet and into his arms, swaying him gently to the music still lingering in his ears. "Not on the outside, at least."

  "You don't mind that I'm not a fragile little doe-eyed thing like your brothers' mates?" Connor asked with a glimmer in his eyes. As much as he was teasing, Duke could tell there was a hint of insecurity behind the question.

  "If you were fragile, you couldn't have withstood my stubbornness all these years, among other things," Duke reminded him, taking Connor's hand in his as the alpha led him across the hardwood floor. He had only learned to waltz in order to attend the choosing of Connor's mate, but it was a skill that had served him well and he was glad for any excuse to have the omega in his arms. "Besides that, doe-eyed was never really my type."

  "Is that so?" Connor mused, resting his hands on Duke's shoulders. "And what is your type, exactly?"

  "Hm." The alpha paused, pretending to consider it. "I like an omega with long, dark hair I can dig my hands into. Wicked blue eyes that always have a little glint in them, like he's always planning something and it might be bad, or it might be the best damn thing that's ever happened to you."

  "Go on," Connor purred.

  "One who keeps me guessing," Duke said, slipping his hand further down Connor's back as his tone shifted from teasing to seriousness. "One who I can admit is smarter and doesn't really need me, but who lets me take care of him anyway. An omega who shows the world a mask of stone but lets me see what's underneath. One who can be hard and soft and cold and warm in the same breath, but strong enough to allow himself to be vulnerable with the people he loves, no matter how much it hurts."

  "Oh," the omega breathed. "That is a very specific type."

  "That's because there's only one omega, one person in this world for me," Duke said, stopping to pull Connor even closer, claiming his lips.

  Connor returned the kiss and Duke felt his mate's knees give. He held him up easily. Even though Connor was taller than most omegas and close to eight months along in his pregnancy, he was still a lightweight in Duke's arms. "I love you so much," Connor whispered against his lips. "But we can't stay here."

  Duke's heart missed a beat. He knew Connor was less than thrilled with their current living arrangements, but until that night, he seemed to be making the best of it. Duke thought he had time to unveil the big news about their house, but maybe it was time. "I know you miss being close to Mel and the others, baby," he said, stroking his mate's cheek. "I was going to save this as a surprise for later, but we're moving. I'm building a house for us close to the border, one with plenty of room for us and Nathan, and whatever else the future has in store for our family."

  "No," Connor breathed, pressing a hand to his stomach. "I mean we literally can't stay here, I just had another contraction. I'm going into labor."

  Duke blinked. "Another contraction? How many have you had?"

  "Quite a few since this afternoon. They're six minutes apart now," Connor said, glancing at his watch as he let out a controlled breath. He seemed as calm and casual as if he was discussing the weather. "I was hoping you'd get home before they reached five minutes, but we should probably go. I just assumed Mel was being dramatic, but they're...unpleasant."

  "Why the hell didn't you call me at work?"

  "There wasn't any need. I'm not the first omega to go into labor and I won't be the last. There are patterns to these things."

  "Alright, come on," he said, leading Connor over to the door. "I'll get you to the car and come back to grab your things."

  "No need, I already put the bag in the car this morning. I had a feeling."

  Duke stared at his mate in disbelief. "I'm glad you're keeping a level head, 'cause I'm freaking out."

  "I had a feeling about that, too," Connor said with a sly little smile, running his hand over his stomach. "You're really building me a house?"

  "So that didn't go unnoticed."

  "I notice everything," Connor purred, leaning up to kiss him. He winced a little and Duke took his hand, leading him out to the car. He didn't feel remotely prepared to welcome their first child into the world, but if claiming Connor had taught him anything, it was that there were some things in life no amount of strategy could prepare you for. Those things also happened to be the very best parts of life.

  Chapter Thirty

  CONNOR

  "Say it. Say 'rook.' Roooook."

&
nbsp; Connor stared intently into Nathan's wide blue eyes as he sat on the floor of his newly constructed home with Mel and his youngest son, Tanner. The infant gurgled happily in response to his father's voice, but the sound lacked the cogence the omega was hoping for. Lucida and Jaspar were chasing Angel's twins around the house, and Connor had a bad feeling he knew where they had gotten the inspiration for the animated game of "catch the criminal" they were playing.

  "God, Connor, he's barely five months old," Mel said, rolling his eyes. "Give the kid a chance to learn 'dada' and 'milk' first."

  "It's a single syllable. Phonetically, it should be one of the easiest in the English language for an infant to grasp," Connor said matter-of-factly. "Besides, people underestimate how intelligent babies are. Did you know that at six months, they actually understand words and sentences?"

  "Then I'd say Nathan has another month to go at least before you start teaching him chess," Mel said dryly.

  "He is my child. Who knows what he's capable of?"

  Mel groaned. "You are so going to be a nightmare in the parent groups."

  "Parent groups?" Connor grimaced. "I don't want him exposed to just any influence."

  "Yeah, those mommy-and-me kids are a real rough crowd."

  Connor shot him a look before turning back to Nathan. "'Dada?'" he asked hopefully. Nathan's only response was more gurgling. Connor's shoulders fell with a heavy sigh. "Okay, how about this?" He stuck his tongue out and blew raspberries at the air. Nathan giggled wildly and followed suit. "Good enough! See?" Connor said pointedly.