And it had felt incredible, too, his bare skin inside Wyatt, Wyatt’s body squeezing around him. His cock twitched. It had been far too intimate.
Stop thinking about that. You probably knocked Wy up.
Raph’s stomach flipped. No, he hadn’t intended for any of this to happen. If Wyatt got pregnant... He wouldn’t be able to abort the child. And Raph would become a father.
I haven’t even paid off my loan yet. Raph groaned, turning to his forgotten pants on the floor. He should look up Wyatt’s contact details. At least be sure he could email his brother.
Except the pants were drenched when Raph grabbed them, heavy and reeking of chlorine. Raph closed his eyes, his heart sinking to his feet.
His phone screen was dark when he pulled it out. Raph didn’t dare tap on its buttons, but it didn’t matter, did it? Electronics didn’t like taking dives. Especially not the smartphones these days. And especially not a new phone he’d just gotten from the company.
Raph sighed. A replacement would have to come from his own pocket. It was both his work and personal phone, too, and he didn’t know offhand how much data he’d lost. Crap. On top of his monthly loan payments, and a baby...
Fuck, I don’t think I’m ready for kids.
Raph sank onto the bed, glancing at the stains on the sheets. Wyatt’s scent lingered faintly on his skin. At least I didn’t bite him. I’m not good enough for an omega, much less Wyatt.
But if that pregnancy happened... Raph would be seeing more of his brother. And somehow, incredulously, his heart skipped a little beat.
6
Wyatt
A week later, Raph’s teak scent still clung to his skin. Wyatt sniffed at his arms as he stepped out of his bedroom, wincing when two voices drifted over from the kitchen.
“Dad’s not up yet, so I thought I’d make breakfast for him,” Hazel said, bright and cheerful.
Before he could melt into a puddle of goop, Penny’s voice followed. “That’s so sweet of you!”
Wyatt cringed. Couldn’t Sam babysit today? Unlike Penny, Sam wouldn’t recognize Raph’s scent—they didn’t even know each other. I should’ve begged them to swap days.
With a groan, Wyatt retreated into his bedroom, sniffing at his hands. They smelled like onion and garlic—one of the chefs had to leave unexpectedly last night, and Wyatt had stepped in to help. The rest of his arms smelled like magnolia, maybe a little sweeter than usual. It smelled... almost familiar. But maybe he was falling sick, or maybe Raph’s scent was different from how he’d remembered it.
Thank the gods Raph didn’t mark me.
If Raph had been possessive, and marked Wyatt with his own scent, the teak trail would have been ten times stronger. Penny would have known immediately whom Wyatt had slept with—she was sharp, smart, and not a good person to argue with.
Wyatt sighed, glad that he and Raph hadn’t completed the mating—not the knotting, and certainly not the marking. He rubbed his eyes, his skin prickling. The fact remained that he’d slept with his stepbrother.
But if raising Hazel had taught him anything, it was that he couldn’t hide for long. Some things were easier to face head-on, so he could stop worrying about them.
Let’s do this. Wyatt took a deep breath, stepped out of his bedroom, and headed for the little kitchen.
Penny and Hazel were both standing in front of the gas stove, Hazel with a carton of eggs in her hands. At nine, she had Wyatt’s wavy blond hair and hazel eyes, and his thin frame. She reminded him of himself, except she was more outspoken in class, and braver than he ever would be.
“Morning, hon, Penny,” Wyatt said, stopping beside his daughter.
Hazel brightened. “Morning, Dad! I was just about to make you breakfast.”
Wyatt melted. Hazel had been watching him cook since she could stand; at seven, she’d wanted to try slicing garlic cloves. At eight, she’d learned to fry an egg on her own.
He was so proud of Hazel, and despite his past with Max, Wyatt was immensely glad he’d decided to keep and raise his daughter. “Why don’t we save it for tomorrow? Aunt Penny’s here—I owe her a breakfast.”
Hazel glanced at Penny, who smiled. “All right.”
“Thank you, hon.” Wyatt took the eggs from Hazel, scooping her into a big hug. Her damp hair smelled like fruity shampoo—she hadn’t presented as alpha, beta or omega yet, so she didn’t have a distinctive scent. Wyatt thought she might present as alpha, though, with the way she scowled sometimes, trying to boss people around. “How are you this morning?”
“Great!” Hazel said, beaming, “I finished that coloring book Uncle Sam gave me.”
“That’s wonderful! I’ll look at it after breakfast, okay?” Wyatt said, ruffling her hair. “Want another book?”
“Nah. They’re kind of expensive. Uncle Sam said I could draw my own gardens and color them. I want to try that!”
“That’s a win-win,” Wyatt said, kissing her cheek. “You save money, and you get more to color!” He glanced over Hazel’s shoulder, at Penny. “What about you, sis? How’s your morning?”
“Same old,” Penny said. She was omega, with red curls, bright eyes, and round glasses perched on her nose. “Dealing with things at the lab. I think I’m finally getting on June’s good side.”
“Yeah?” He unhooked a couple of pans from the wall, sliced a pad of butter into one, and lit the stove.
“Yeah. Remember I said things were hectic after Dr. Kinney left? They put some random prof. in charge until they finally let June take over. Arguments, ahoy! The new prof. wanted to steer the lab in another direction. June finally got her associate professor status, so she put a stop to that.”
Wyatt winced. Politics was never fun.
“How about you?” Penny asked. “Raph said he was stopping by at the drive-in this weekend. I was surprised.”
Wyatt’s stomach dropped. “O-oh. Did he? He didn’t say anything to me.”
“I didn’t know you were on speaking terms with him.” Penny pinned him with a pointed look; Wyatt had always skirted the topic of Raph with her.
“Who’s Raph?” Hazel asked.
Wyatt froze. Penny’s eyebrows crawled up her forehead, almost to her hairline. “Really, Wyatt?”
No, not really. What was he supposed to say? Hazel, this is the stepbrother I’ve not spoken to in nine years, until last week. Then I had sex with him, and now we’ve agreed to get in touch. At least he was no longer in heat.
Penny folded her arms, tapping her foot. Hazel watched him expectantly.
“Raph is short for Raphael,” he said eventually. “He’s your step-uncle, hon. Your grandpa had Raph during his first marriage. Then Grandpa’s wife died, and he married Grandma. Grandma had me and Penny during her first marriage.”
“That’s surprisingly neutral,” Penny said, her eyebrows still raised. “Didn’t you have some feud with him? You never told me what went wrong.”
“Didn’t Raph tell you?”
She shook her head. Hazel looked between them, confused. And the silence in the kitchen dragged.
Wyatt sighed, cracking eggs into a bowl. Penny was a couple years younger than him—while Wyatt and Raph had exchanged surreptitious glances over their dinners, Penny had been buried in piles of science textbooks. She’d never noticed the tension between them at all.
“We fell out,” Wyatt said.
“For nine years? What could possibly be so bad?” Penny frowned. “I mean, he’s always been close to you. And you were both great friends, weren’t you? You couldn’t have been fighting over a bondmate.”
Wyatt choked, and tried coughing to mask it. Yeah, if you count trying to avoid becoming each other’s bondmate. “No, we weren’t fighting over anything.”
“So all the awkward family dinners these past nine years were for nothing?” Penny stared, affronted. “Mom and Dad have been asking why you don’t show up when Raph’s around.”
Hazel had that look in her eyes, that said Why have you never told me t
his? Wyatt whipped the eggs into a frothy mixture, then added half-and-half to the bowl. “You know I’ve always been busy at the drive-in during the holidays,” he said. “Hazel and I visit during the quieter days. Raph’s never around then.”
Hazel seemed to be satisfied with that answer. Wyatt breathed a sigh of relief.
“Just show up with him once, Wy. Are you going to wait a full ten years before you do?”
“Maybe twenty years,” Wyatt said.
Penny frowned.
Wyatt tipped the pan to slide the pad of butter around, then poured the egg in. “Come on, cut me some slack. Did you try the noodles at the party?”
“I did, actually.” Penny blinked, distracted. “They were good. Mom and Dad liked them, too.”
“That’s great! Hazel helped with the recipe, actually.”
Hazel dragged a high stool over to the stove, settling on it so she could watch Wyatt cook. “I still think it’ll be better with sweet chili sauce,” she said.
Wyatt grinned. “I might have to add that on as a special menu item. Then we’ll tell everyone about it, and you’ll be famous through Meadowfall, Hazel!”
“Kind of like Grandpa?” she asked, glancing at the TV in the living room, where they’d watched Chief Fleming shaking the president’s hand.
“Kind of like Grandpa,” Wyatt said. They’d both recorded the award ceremony on their phones—Penny, so she could show it to her friends, and Wyatt, so he could have a keepsake of his dad during his most famous moments. Had Raph watched that bit of news, too?
Penny smiled. “One day, you’ll be famous, too, Wyatt. Wy’s Drive-In is doing great.”
Wyatt shrugged. He didn’t need the fame—he already had his daughter. “I’ll give my chances to you. You’ll become a great scientist, Pen.”
Penny laughed, crossing the kitchen to hug him. Her arms were almost around him when she paused, nostrils flaring. “You smell different.”
Wyatt stilled, his heart kicking into a patter. Please don’t say it’s Raph’s scent. “I do?”
“Yeah. You smell... sweet.” Penny looked him over, then back up, meeting his eyes. “I recognize that scent. It’s...”
Penny glanced at Hazel. Then she slipped her hand around Wyatt’s arm, dragging him out of the kitchen.
“Dad!” Hazel yelped. “You’re going to burn the eggs!”
Wyatt paused, glancing back at the stove. Penny beamed at Hazel. “I’m giving you a chance to make breakfast for Dad,” she said, winking. “Think you can do that?”
“Sure I can,” Hazel said, hopping off the stool with a grin. “It’ll be the best scrambled eggs you’ve ever had!”
“I’m sure it will. Watch the fire, hon,” Wyatt said. Even if Hazel had made herself eggs several times by now, he couldn’t help but worry. “Don’t burn yourself!”
“Worry about yourself, Dad.”
He was about to answer when Penny dragged him down the hallway, all the way to his bedroom. For an omega, she was plenty strong when she put her mind to it.
“Should I say congrats?” Penny whispered, glancing at the kitchen doorway. “Because you smell pregnant. I know Dr. Kinney smelled just like that, too, but stronger.”
Wyatt stopped breathing. “What?”
“Crap, was it supposed to be a surprise?” Penny tugged him further into the bedroom, stopping by the window so there was no chance of Hazel overhearing.
“What surprise? I’m not—I can’t be...”
Raph had pressed close to him last week, his eyes dark, his cock hot on Wyatt’s skin. I might’ve come inside you, Raph had muttered.
Wyatt’s heart stumbled. It couldn’t happen. It just... couldn’t.
Penny’s forehead wrinkled. “It’s not another Max, is it?”
Then she leaned in and sniffed, and Wyatt stepped away from her, his skin too tight. “No, it’s not another Max.”
“I’ve smelled that other scent before,” she said, looking down, trying to remember. “Like, I’ve smelled it just recently. It’s a scent I should know.”
Please don’t say it’s Raph. Wyatt wiped his sweaty palms on his pants. “Lots of people have the same scent.”
“But this scent isn’t common in Meadowfall, is what I’m saying.”
“There were plenty of people at the party,” Wyatt said. Penny’s eyes darted to his, and Wyatt realized he shouldn’t have said that. “I mean, there were probably people from out of town, too. You might’ve caught that scent there.”
How Penny managed to forget Raph’s scent, Wyatt didn’t know.
But gods, he couldn’t be pregnant. And it couldn’t be Raph’s baby. Wyatt held onto the windowsill, his skin itching where the sun’s rays lingered too long on his forearm. But it all made sense—the sweet honey scent, his sudden sensitivity to light. It had happened before, back when he’d been pregnant with Hazel.
“The alpha didn’t mark you?” Penny whispered, her eyes filling with concern.
Wyatt’s cheeks burned. “I hadn’t planned on seeing him again.”
“Damn it, Wyatt. You know better than that!”
“You think I don’t?” He ran his hand over his face, closing his eyes. Now that his heat had passed, the thought of it seemed ludicrous. Stripping in front of Raph, begging Raph to fuck him bareback? What the hell have I done?
“At least tell me it was a good alpha,” Penny said.
“He is. I’ll—I’ll speak with him.”
“You’re keeping the baby?”
Wyatt bit his lip, sea-blue eyes flashing through his mind. If he really was pregnant... He couldn’t possibly abandon the child. Especially when Hazel was in the kitchen, making them scrambled eggs like she couldn’t be prouder of anything else. Once upon a time, he’d considered aborting her. He’d failed, and he was thankful for it. He owed this new child a chance, too.
He pressed his hand to his belly, looking at his pale fingers, his thin forearm. Raph was his stepbrother; a child between them would likely be born healthy. But hell, he didn’t even know if Raph had a family back in Highton.
“I’ll raise it myself,” Wyatt said. “I think that’ll be fine.”
It was a far better option than telling his family I’m having a baby with my brother. Grandma would implode. His parents would look at him, horror on their faces. And Raph... Well, he wasn’t the one who had decided condoms weren’t necessary. But he deserved to know about the pregnancy, at least.
“When did Raph say he’s stopping by?” Wyatt asked.
The tentative smile on Penny’s face fell. “What does Raph have to do with this?”
Damn it! I shouldn’t have said that. Wyatt forced a smile, his heart thudding. “Nothing. If I’m meeting the baby’s dad this weekend, I figured I could... arrange the meeting at a good time.”
Penny frowned. “You’re going to avoid Raph again?”
“Yes.” Better she thought that, than find out the truth.
“Heavens, Wy. At least speak to him once!”
“I’ll try. Soon,” Wyatt said. “Before you know it, I’ll have exchanged a few words with him.”
Penny wrinkled her nose. “Now that I’m thinking about it, that scent does smell like Raph’s.”
Wyatt held his breath. “You might be too eager to connect everything to him. C’mon, let’s see how Hazel’s doing with breakfast. I don’t want to leave that kid alone at the stove.”
“All right.” Penny allowed him to steer her back into the kitchen, perking up when she spotted the scrambled eggs in the pan. “I’ll let it go just this once, Wyatt Fleming. But don’t think I’ll forget!”
“Of course not.” Wyatt stepped past her to the stove, where Hazel had gotten her scrambled eggs slightly overdone, sticking to the pan. Nothing a little scrubbing wouldn’t solve. “Doing great, hon!”
Hazel grinned up at him, pleased.
She was so very trusting. At her smile, Wyatt knew he couldn’t abandon the baby in his belly, any more than he could give Hazel away.
<
br /> He would keep Raph’s child. If Raph decided he didn’t want to be a dad, then that would be fine. Wyatt would raise their baby himself.
7
Raph
Raph had planned on stopping by at the drive-in just before the dinner rush began. Then he’d changed his mind, heading for Meadowfall two hours earlier.
It had been a hell of a week. On top of replacing his phone, Raph had redone his monthly budget. The new phone had cost hundreds. He’d canceled his TV subscription to make up for it, and was looking into bringing sandwiches to work for lunch. But that wasn’t all.
Through his waking hours, the uncertainty of not knowing had bothered him—had he gotten his stepbrother pregnant? Did Wyatt resent Raph for taking advantage of his heat? Should Raph contact him again?
Whatever he did, Raph hoped it wouldn’t fail Wyatt as badly as he’d done nine years ago.
When the cheerful yellow signboard of Wy’s Drive-In peeked over the birch trees, Raph breathed a sigh, pulling into the drive-in’s parking lot. He wanted to catch Wyatt by surprise, see what Wyatt looked like off-guard.
Can’t believe I didn’t realize his tat was his restaurant logo. Raph’s cheeks burned.
The signboard looked exactly like the one on Wyatt’s back—down to its rolling parchment and cursive letters. Except the thought of Wyatt’s back led to thoughts of his ass, its pale, soft curves, the way his cheeks had pressed against Raph’s palm. His pulse quickened.
Despite the possibility of Wyatt getting pregnant, Raph had jerked off thinking about him, more than a few times this week.
Grandma would say, Shame on you, putting your hands on your brother like that! Think of how disappointed your father will be, boy. He’ll disown the both of you!
In fact, she had said that, nine years ago. Only Raph had been around to hear it; Wyatt had fled from the piano room, and Raph had tried to tell her it was his own fault.
The tingling at his groin faded. Raph cut the engine, tipped his head back, and exhaled.
He shouldn’t be this torn up over Wyatt Fleming. Wyatt was family. When Dad had married Raph’s new mom, Wyatt had been three, and Penny, barely one. Take care of them both, Dad had said. Their father left, so we’re their family now. Treat Penny and Wyatt like your own siblings, okay?
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