by L. V. Lane
“Goddess, she is perfect for us,” Fen says.
“She is,” Jack agrees. “Our perfect little mate. She is well trained for our pleasure. Our pleasure, and hers.”
Epilogue
Hazel
IT TAKES US a whole day to reach the town of Oxenford. Leaving at first light and arriving as the sun is setting. Word was sent to Papa a couple of weeks ago to let him know.
We will spend a little time here so that my father might meet his granddaughter. Afterward, we will travel the greater distance to the lordly residence where my mates’ sister lives. A carriage is being sent to offer comfort to the babe and me. I tried protesting that a cart would be plenty good enough, but neither of my mates will hear a word of it. Secretly, I admit to being much enamored with traveling in comfort. I’m also excited to meet their sister, if a little nervous about her being bound to a fancy lordling. Both Jack and Fen speak with affection for their sister, and I already know that I will love her.
There is also a note of pride in my mates, for they are both besotted with our little girl. I know they cannot wait to introduce little Mia to her aunty and uncle.
When I left Oxenford, my friends and acquaintances watched with wary eyes as the barbarian king stole me away. But today, as we ride down the high street, they gather at doors and pause work that they might wave. Where once they looked upon me with pity, now there is acceptance. Some finish tasks before hastening to join us. Others shout promises to visit with me later or on the morrow that they might meet my babe.
My father, a gruff man, has a tear in his eyes as he steps out of his workshop to greet us. Here, outside the little cottage where I grew up, a place once full of laughter and love, and even sadness as is the natural part of life, my papa gets his first cuddle with my babe.
“She has your eyes,” he says, stroking a rough finger used to holding a hammer gently over Mia’s soft baby cheek. “She has your mother’s eyes,” he adds softly. “Ah, she was an angel, Goddess rest her soul. What did you call the babe?” he asks.
There is something about seeing the tiny wriggling bundle in the rough farrier’s arms, and seeing the gentle care and loving in his eyes that brings a sense of completion. There was a time when he held another babe, his first daughter. I imagine him holding her with similar wonder and love shining in his face. In that past time, the babe was me, and my dear mother was still alive.
“Mia,” I say quietly. I scrub the hot tears from my cheeks. Jack steps into me, offering comfort as he places his arm around my waist and emits the low rumbly purr.
“Aye, your mother’s name,” Pike says, pressing a kiss to her fluffy baby hair. “That is perfect, lass. She is perfect.”
He does not yet know that Mia is destined to become an Omega. I did not know at first what the strange awareness burrowing in my chest was. But as Molly later explained to me, sometimes a change can occur to a Beta mated to an Alpha when she bears an Omega child. I can now feel my mates’ moods, and they mine, like a little thread hooked into my heart.
A gaggle of womenfolk and younger children gather around us and demand their time with the babe, giving my father a moment to compose himself. These same women smile where they once watched me leave with an air of doom, for the eastern clans are well known for their savagery.
I have seen firsthand that savagery. I hope to never see it again. But I have also seen their love, humor, and fearlessness, and their unwavering dedication toward protecting our babe and me. With my two barbarian mates, I have been blessed by the Goddess herself. I only need to look at my sweet little Mia to know I am blessed once again.
The women coo over little Mia. Some remember my mother and comment on both the name and her pretty eyes.
“She will be running around and up to mischief before you know it!” one woman comments with a smile.
I want to keep my little baby girl, but I also want to see the woman she will one day become. I want all the parts in between. There will be times when I scold her. There will be tears, temper tantrums, and naughtiness of all kinds. Likely there will be illness and sorrow as we journey through this life. But there will be joy too, and I will gather all that joy to me, for you never know when the Goddess may call a person to her side.
“She will need a little brother or sister soon,” another lady says with a wink.
I smile. Then my eyes shift to the side where Jack and Fen are talking to my father. They are both watching my reaction to the young woman’s question with dark hunger in their eyes.
Not only in their eyes. The little thread connecting the three of us pulls tight, coiling all the way to my womb.
They have been patient with me while I learned the ways of motherhood with little Mia. But I think I am ready to begin again.
“I cannot wait for your tits and belly to grow when you are ripe with child,” Jack had said as we bonded inside my father’s tiny cottage. “You will make a good little breeder for my brother and me. You will not want for our attention.”
At the time, his words had seemed barbaric, and arousing for reasons my more innocent mind did not understand. Not once have I wanted for their attention or worried that their eyes might stray elsewhere.
Just as they willingly care, provide, and protect me, I joyously offer them my body and my love, and the Goddess willing, more children.
My smile grows sly. As I look away from my mates, a familiar flutter settles low in my belly. I see a future before me that is beyond all my dreams. I see brothers and sisters for little Mia. I see all the joyous years between now and when one of us must leave this earthly life and join our Goddess. So many years, so many smiles and tears. So much love shared and demonstrated by hot rutting in the furs.
My chest feels full of all the love. I am ready to burst from the joy within me.
Today, and this evening, is the sweetest of moments. Food is brought, and an impromptu gathering takes place.
The sun has sunk low, and lamps have been lit. Little Mia is napping against Fen’s shoulder by the time we are ready to take our rest. Papa offers to stay with his old friend Pete, giving the cottage over to us for our use.
“I left the crib out,” my father says gruffly. “Happen it might be better placed returning with you for Mia. And any other little ones that might come along.”
Tears prick my eyes again as I hug my father goodnight. “Thank you,” I say. “I thought one of my sisters had taken it for sure. But I should love to take it with me for Mia.”
“It’s not only the crib,” my father says, giving me an indecipherable look. He gestures toward my mates as they come to stand with me. “Happen it’s time for me to hand over the business to someone younger. An’ your older brother is coming to settle here. Jack and Fen suggested as I come an’ live with you. My eyes aren’t so sharp for some of the more intricate work. But I can still offer some blacksmithing. By your mates’ account, the clan is in need of one.”
“Oh!” I say, looking to Jack and Fen, who both grin. I guess this was what they were talking about.
“Go on, lass,” my father says, looking unusually bashful. “Happen I must be goin’ soft in my old age when I’ve no doubt there’ll be more brats on the way. I’ll not get a moment’s peace!”
He takes his leave, off to join old Pete, and we head inside the cottage.
The quietness inside is strange after the chatting and merriment of seeing old friends. The old crib has been readied and laid out, waiting near to the bedding nook. I smile as I run my fingers over the worn wood. Many generations of my family have slept inside. It will be put to use again for my daughter.
Fen passes the sleeping bundle for me to lay her in. And how wonderful to see her lying where my brothers, sisters, and I have slept. As I look at her sleeping, I see my younger siblings as they were once. Time contracts and stretches, taking me backward and then forward.
The Goddess moves in mysterious ways. As I watch a sweet baby sleeping, I see her work at play.
As I turn from my ba
be, I draw a ragged breath at the need shining in my mates’ faces—Jack, stern, older, and Fen, younger, and sinful in his beauty.
“So, this is where it all started,” Fen says with a smirk as he eyes the bedding nook.
“It is a little cramped,” Jack says, kicking off his boots and reaching for his belt. “But we will make it work. For we have a sweet little Beta mate who needs to be bred.”
The End.
About the Author
I love a happy ever after, although sometimes the journey to get there can be rough on my poor characters.
An unashamed fan of the alpha, the antihero, and the throwback in all his guises and wherever he may lurk.
I’m a new author, learning as I go and appreciate feedback of all kinds.
Drop me a message and let me know what you think.
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Prey: A Fantasy Reverse Harem
I am prey.
This is not pity talking, this is an acknowledgment of a fact.
I am small and weak; I am an Omega. I am a prize that men war over.
For a year I have hidden in the distant corner of the Empire.
But I am running out of food, and I am running out of options.
That I must leave soon is not a decision for today, though, but a decision for tomorrow.
Only tomorrow’s choices never come.
For tonight brings strangers who remind me that I am prey.
Ravished: A Fantasy Romance Short Story
A princess who must choose a suitor.
A suitor who needs an Omega to secure his inheritance.
Throw a magical portal into the mix . . . and full Omegaverse HEAT!
Omega Awakening: A dystopian Cinderella romance
(The Controllers Prequel)
A standalone novel with a HEA
All things must end.
I learned that lesson the day my mother died.
My stepmother was wicked.
My stepsister, cruel.
It was a relief when I revealed as an Omega because it was a chance to escape.
But it wasn’t the end of my troubles.
What happens to Omegas is a secret.
And my troubles had just begun.
“I can save you from one monster, Verity,” Lilly said when she accepted me into the program. “But I cannot save you from them all.”
True to her word, she saved me from my step-mother.
Then Woodrow entered my life.
And I realized he was the other monster Lilly had warned me about.
Bad Boss: A romantic comedy
A standalone novel with a HEA
Today is the first day of my first job.
I’m nervous, excited, and much too early.
Which is when I meet him for the very first time.
He’s a businessman with a ruthless reputation.
A billionaire and a playboy.
His company sponsored my scholarship.
And I’ve dreamed about him in the kind of detail you can’t even tell your best friend about.
That was before I thought we might meet.
There is something very cliche about accidentally throwing your drink over a god in human flesh. The throwing part is where the cliche ends for me.
He doesn’t look endeared by the incident, nor amused. He looks mad as freaking hell.
My brain freezes, mental capability flees, and I look away from his penetrating gaze,
but that brings my focus to his chest, where coffee drips down onto his doubtless expensive shoes.
I want to die. I have never wanted to die before, but if a magic wish were granted me now, I would happily cease to exist.
I’ve just thrown a full and very hot cup of coffee all over my very hot new boss.
Predictive: A science fiction thriller
Predictive is a science fiction, action-thriller set against a backdrop of a colonization war.
I can tell when someone is lying.
And I know when they speak the truth.
I predict about the future, about our civilization,
And I’ve predicted that we are going to lose the war.
I’m not afraid to use predictive skills to break the rules--to break people--if it’s necessary for the greater good.
My relationship with my brother may be strained, but he’s in trouble, And I’m going to get him out...whatever it takes.
