by L. C. Davis
“You have?” Dustin asked flatly. “Seriously?”
“Losing Alec and almost losing you gave us a lot to think about,” Noreen said quietly. “Neither of us have handled things in the best of ways, but it has made us talk more than we have in years, and we’ve decided to see someone who can help us work through our issues rather than throwing away forty years of commitment.”
“A counselor?” Caleb asked, trying to understand.
“No!” Noreen muttered, turning red. “A licensed marital mediator. It’s different.”
“Okay,” Caleb said slowly. “Well…that’s great. We’re happy for you.” He hesitated, looking up at his mate. “Aren’t we, Dustin?”
“Yes,” the Alpha said through gritted teeth. “So happy.”
“Of course, if all goes well with the…mediator,” Blake said carefully, “Your mother will be moving back in with me.”
“If you’re alright with that, dear,” Noreen said gently.
Dustin frowned. “Why wouldn’t I be —?”
“Not you,” she snapped. “Caleb. After all, he’s going to need a lot of help with the baby.”
“I appreciate your consideration,” Caleb said, struggling not to laugh. “But I think we’ll find a way to manage on our own.”
“Wonderful,” Noreen said, giving Caleb a tight hug. She leaned to kiss her son on the cheek. “Goodnight, dear. Your father and I are going out, so don’t wait up.”
Dustin waited until they were out of sight to pretend like he was gagging. Caleb gave him a playful, scolding nudge, but he couldn’t help but giggle. “Well, that was unexpected.”
“I need to bleach my eyes.”
“Oh, stop it. This is a good thing. I think. Isn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Dustin conceded. “I mean, Alec and I tried to get them to go see a ‘mediator’ for years, but they refused. I guess it’s better late than never.”
“They are destined mates,” Caleb reminded him, wrapping his arms around Dustin’s neck. “That’s not really something you can fight.”
“No,” Dustin chuffed. “I guess it isn’t.”
Chapter 23
DUSTIN
The door to Dustin’s office flew open and his beta, Charlie, was standing at the door. “Dustin, your mate,” he began. The two seconds it took him to catch his breath were the most terrifying of Dustin’s life. “He’s in labor.”
“What?” Dustin cried, flying up from his desk. He grabbed his keys before remembering that the hospital was well within running distance and that would be faster than driving, anyway. “It wasn’t supposed to be for another week.”
“Yeah, that’s not really a big difference in Baby Standard Time,” Charlie huffed, running along beside him.
Dustin made it to the waiting room, stopping only long enough to allow the nurse to point him in the right direction. He stopped in the door and relief washed over him when he saw that his mate was breathless but fine with Noreen and Ariel at either side.
“Caleb?” Dustin moved to take his omega’s hand. Caleb’s skin was flushed with exertion and Dustin wasn’t quite prepared for the uncharacteristic anger in the omega’s eyes when they finally met his. “Are you alright?”
“I’m fine,” Caleb said through gritted teeth. His gaze softened, but Dustin could tell he was still working on strained patience. “Kind of busy right now.”
“When did this start? Why didn’t anyone call me?” he demanded, looking accusatorially at his mother.
“I’m just following orders,” she said, rubbing Caleb’s back. “Breathe, honey. You’re doing great.”
“What can I do?” Dustin asked, nearly tripping over the midwife on her way past.
“You can leave,” Caleb growled.
Dustin stared at his mate in shock. “Baby…”
“I’m sorry,” Caleb said, wincing through another contraction. “I’m not myself right now, but I really, really don’t want you to see me like this.”
“But I—”
“You heard him,” Ariel said, shooing Dustin out of the room. He looked back at the door only to find Noreen ignoring him completely as she wiped the sweat from Caleb’s brow and coached him through his breathing.
“We’ll call you if we need anything,” Ariel said before promptly slamming the door in his face.
Dustin stood and stared at the wood for a moment before turning back to find Charlie giving him a sympathetic look as Zander came through the door.
“What just happened?”
“Your mate’s in labor,” Charlie snorted. “For the next few hours, you’re his worst enemy. But he’ll get over it as soon as he sees the kid.”
Dustin sighed as Zander came to join them.
“What’s going on? Is Caleb okay?” the other Alpha asked warily.
“He’s fine, but I’ve been kicked out. He wants my mother.”
Zander cocked an eyebrow. “For real?”
“I haven’t had a damn clue what’s going on from the moment I went into that room.”
“Welcome to the club,” Charlie scoffed, pulling out a flask. He took out some paper cups from the water fountain down the hall and poured one out for each of them. “To fatherhood.”
Dustin grunted, raising his cup in toast before he swallowed it in one sip. It was five hours before he was allowed back in the room with his mate, but the moment he saw the baby in Caleb’s arms, all was forgotten.
It seemed that Charlie was right. Caleb was himself once again, smiling proudly with tears in his eyes as he held their daughter for Dustin to see. “Hey, daddy,” he said, his voice hoarse. “Meet our little Stephanie.”
“She’s… God, Caleb, she’s…” The word caught in Dustin’s throat. Or maybe there just wasn’t one adequate enough to describe what he felt when he looked at the two of them. Absolute perfection came close, but it still wasn’t good enough. He sat next to Caleb, pulling his arms around the omega’s shoulders. He leaned in to kiss his mate’s forehead, his heart flooded with more joy than it felt like it was meant to handle.
“I know,” Caleb whispered, smiling down at the cooing newborn.
Noreen and Ariel watched tiredly from a distance. To Dustin’s surprise, they left him alone with his new family without putting up a fight.
“I’m sorry about earlier,” Caleb said sheepishly. “Like I said, I wasn’t really myself.”
“Don’t apologize,” Dustin murmured. “You’ve given me the greatest gift I could ever receive, Caleb. You, her, everything.”
“She is pretty great, isn’t he?” Caleb asked, gazing adoringly at their daughter.
“She’s amazing. She gets that from you.”
Caleb’s eyes filled with love as he leaned up to kiss Dustin. “She gets it from both of us. I guess it just runs in the family.”
Dustin laughed softly. As he held Caleb and took in every tiny feature on their daughter’s face, he felt the same sense of shock he’d felt that day that seemed like forever ago, when he’d heard the news that would forever change his life, both for the worse and in ways that were better than he’d wanted to believe were possible at the time. This time, the shock wasn’t the result of pain he wasn’t ready to process but joy like none he’d ever known before. How was it possible to feel so much of it at once?
A soft tapping at the window drew the Alpha’s attention away and the flash of red that caught his eye made him freeze in disbelief. Two cardinals were sitting on the window’s ledge, one full grown and the other barely old enough to fly. For a moment, Dustin’s throat was too tight to speak. “Do you see that?” he finally whispered.
Caleb turned and the look on the omega’s face chased away Dustin’s fear that he was just seeing things. “Alec,” he breathed, fresh tears streaming down his face. “He loved those birds. He used to say they were always—”
“Spirits watching over their loved ones,” Dustin finished for him. The birds chirped and took off into the summer sky. Dustin turned back to his mate, and for a few moments, n
either of them said a word. There was nothing they could say that they didn’t both already know.
It was a sign, from Alec. It had to be. Dustin had never expected one, and the life he’d built with Caleb was too good, too right to allow it to succumb to the doubts and guilt that had once plagued him, but the sight of those birds, as trivial as it might have seemed to anyone else, had soothed his soul nonetheless. More importantly, he could feel the relief coming through the link he shared with his mate.
He reached out and caressed Caleb’s cheek. “We’ll never forget them, Caleb.”
“No,” he agreed, looking down at the sleeping infant in his arms. “No, we never could, could we?”
Dustin smiled, shaking his head. There was no longer any doubt in his mind. Opening his heart to love and making the decision to move forward with Caleb wasn’t a betrayal. It was the only good thing that had come out of the most painful experience in his life, and while he wouldn’t call it a silver lining, because nothing could ever erase the pain of what had been, it was something more. Something better.
It was their happily ever after, and in that future and all the promise it held, Alec and Baylor would live on with them.
Epilogue
CALEB
“That kid’s growing like a weed,” said Zander, watching as Stephanie crawled across the lawn like she was on a mission. She was headed straight for the fence just beyond the front yard of the farmhouse, where Dustin was brushing out Bismuth’s gleaming mane.
“Steph!” Caleb called from his lawn chair. The infant stopped her beeline for the corral, but she held out her hands and babbled indignantly.
Dustin laughed, jumping over the fence. He scooped their daughter up into his arms and walked over to let her get a closer look at the horse.
“Can you say horsey?” he cooed in a voice Caleb hadn’t thought him capable of. Since becoming parents, he’d seen a whole new side of his mate and it was nothing short of adorable.
Stephanie screeched instead before dissolving into laughter.
“Well, close enough,” Dustin sighed, walking back over to join Caleb and Zander. He grabbed a glass of cold lemonade and settled in the empty chair with Stephanie on his lap. “So tell me, Z. When are you gonna get tired of sleeping in hotels and settle down to have one or two of these of your own?”
Caleb knew Dustin was only teasing their friend, but he couldn’t help but wince internally. If Dustin had known the truth, that Zander had imprinted on the mate who’d all but jilted him at the altar, he wouldn’t have joked about it.
Zander laughed it off, cool as always. “When they find a way to make a version that doesn’t need to be changed, fed or burped at two in the morning. Until then, I’m more than happy with being an uncle.”
Dustin snorted. “You’ll feel differently when you meet the right omega. Isn’t that right, Stephy?” he cooed.
Their daughter giggled again. She was in the phase where she found just about everything—especially Dustin—hilarious.
“You’re going back out on the road soon, aren’t you?” Caleb asked, hoping to give Zander a break by changing the subject.
“I’m leaving tonight, as a matter of fact. Probably won’t be back around here for a few months, so I figured I’d get in as much time with the ankle biter as I can before I go,” he said, taking the baby from Dustin’s arms.
Stephanie cooed adoringly at her uncle before chomping his sleeve, which was just about the highest form of regard for a baby shifter.
“In that case, maybe you can babysit for a minute while I take my mate out on the trails,” Dustin said, grinning.
Caleb looked warily over at Bismuth. “No offense, but nearly getting trampled by that thing once was enough.”
“Not Bismuth,” Dustin laughed, taking Caleb’s hand to lead him over to the stables. “I’ve got a surprise. You’ll see.”
The way Zander was grinning as he watched them leave made it clear that the two Alphas were in on something he wasn’t. He tilted his head curiously as Dustin opened one of the stalls and led out a small mare with a brilliant cream coat that looked almost opalescent in the sunlight.
“She’s beautiful,” he gasped. “When did you get her?”
“A few weeks ago, but she came in last night,” Dustin replied. Caleb saw that the horse was already saddled up to ride and when Dustin offered him the reins, he put it together.
“You got her for me?”
“Sure did,” the Alpha said, smiling even wider. “You said you used to enjoy riding with Alec, and I could use a partner on the trails now that Zander’s running off so much.”
“Dustin,” Caleb cried, throwing his arms around his mate’s shoulders. “I can’t believe you got me a horse.”
“Go on, introduce yourself.”
Caleb laughed, turning to the mare. “Why, how do you do, miss?”
The horse whinnied pleasantly and pushed her head into Caleb’s hand.
“I figured she’d be more your speed than Bismuth.”
“You can say that again.”
“Come on, I’ll help you up.”
“We’re going to go riding now?”
“Why not?” Dustin offered his hand and Caleb took it, letting the Alpha help him up onto the saddle. She was far more manageable even than the other trail horses he’d ridden, and as Dustin let the stallion he usually took out on the trails out of his stall, she waited patiently.
“What are you gonna name her?” Dustin asked, taking off at a gentle trot as he led Caleb onto the trail.
“I don’t know,” he admitted, falling into step beside his mate. “She’s very sweet.”
“So Noreen’s definitely out.”
Caleb gave him a look, but he was laughing on the inside. “Well, she kind of looks like cream, so maybe Peach would be a good name.”
“Peach?” Dustin laughed. “Very original.”
“Like Bismuth makes any sense,” Caleb scoffed, urging Peach to go a bit faster to catch up with Dustin.
As they rode, Caleb found himself taking in the beauty of the plains as he so often did. There wasn’t a day he woke up and looked at the natural beauty outside his window that he wasn’t blown away by it all. Not only the peaceful land and the loving pack he had to call his own, but the security and joy he’d found in Dustin’s arms after he’d been convinced that he would never smile again.
Before Caleb realized it, they were both running at a steady gallup. Peach stayed right beside Dustin’s horse like she knew exactly where they were going, and Caleb could understand why. It hadn’t taken him long at all to fall in love with the Meadowlands Pack, or its Alpha. He would always cherish the memory of the life he and Alec had shared in New York, and he understood better than he ever had why Alec had once felt the need to leave. Nonetheless, with his mate at his side and the entire future ahead of them, Caleb had never been prouder to call any place his home.
The End.
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About the Author
L.C. Davis is a queer author of M/M romance and other fiction with a passion for representation.
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