by Penny Bloom
They all moved around silently, cooing while trying to catch a few Z’s.
“They all have your lips and my eyes,” Dirk pointed out.
“I know. I can’t wait to see which ones are the Alphas.”
Dirk stood by my side proud.
“I love you, Adel.”
“I love you too, Dirk. Thank you!”
He kissed me and the babies started to wake up crying. Boy were they hungry. Looking over at them, my heart melted. I was a father.
Who knew?
A baby to heal all wounds.
BONUS
Mated To the Snarky Omega
Penny Bloom
Copyright © 2017 Penny Bloom
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
This romance is intended for Adults only.
Chapter One
Loren
Winter, the worst season to be pregnant in.
But here I was, in my cat form, with baby kittens growing in my belly. I could count them, it was only three. The snow had begun to come down hard, and I was getting tired from lagging my heavy belly around in the snow and ice.
The recent lack of food wasn’t helping either. By the time I delivered my babies, I wouldn’t have any milk to give them.
The answer seemed obvious.
I needed to give them up. Only, my heart wouldn’t let me. No one truly loved me back, and now I had that chance to get that love.
I sniffed around in a cold snowy alley, seeing if I could find something good on the ground. There was some leftovers of a hamburger and French fries tossed to the side. Lucky for me, it had fallen off of the dumpster for easy reaching. My tongue rubbed over it, testing it to see if it could be edible.
It was good enough.
As I chewed on my dinner, a sharp stab of pain ripped through my belly.
“God, no, please, babies. Not yet,” I cried. I swung my tail faster, but nothing was helping the pain. Wow, I just had to sleep around in my cat form. Wonderful decision, Loren.
There was a dry spot under a few boxes towards the end of the alley and I dragged myself over inside of it.
The contractions were beginning, and my baby kittens were about to be brought into the world.
They didn’t deserve this life; being born outside with no home.
Life for an Omega wasn’t that easy, but at least I should’ve been able to give them a home.
I pushed as I felt the babies preparing to come out. A painful hour later, three kittens were swarming against my fur for warmth. At least I could keep them warm like this.
My body glowed, and that wasn’t a good sign.
Slowly, I morphed into my human body, wearing the clothes I had on last.
“Fuck!” I said, busting the box open. I grabbed for my shivering kittens and held them close to my chest.
My heart raced against time, there weren’t any shelters, and even if there were, they wouldn’t let me take my kittens. They were born through my cat side, and there they would stay, never shifting into a human.
I cradled my babies in my shirt as I looked for a coffee shop or some kind of store I could huddle in.
There was one, and I slipped inside, keeping my kittens hidden.
I sat down in a corner, keeping my presence hidden in silence. My babies, they were shivering, and they were hungry. I noticed there was a lump under my ass and reached around to see what it was.
It was my wallet, and it had an amazing sum of a hundred and twenty dollars in it, enough for a hotel and some milk replacement for my babies. My other pocket had my phone.
Why the hell did I forget about this? Being pregnant in my cat form had me stuck as a cat for some time, now I had more leeway to help my babies.
***
I took me and my kittens to a nearby hotel. It wasn’t cheap, but not luxury either. They rented me a medium sized room with one bed, they didn’t allow pets though, so I snuck my kittens in a bag I got from the coffee shop. They stayed silent and began to cry again once I got into the room.
“Shh, babies, you’re not supposed to be here. Daddy has to keep you warm and safe, so help him out,” I cooed to my babies.
They were so adorable, sharing all the colors of my fur. I bet they would even have my hazel eye color.
Before I left back out to the store to get some replacement milk, I swaddled them in sheets and turned the heat on.
“Daddy will be right back with some milk,” I said, slipping out the door.
The store wasn’t far. Thank God (if one existed).
They had only one bottle for feeding and three cans of milk. When I asked the clerk if they were going to get anymore , they told me that they didn’t know. The only store who kept that in stock was a three mile journey from here.
Later. But at least I knew there was an option for my babies to live.
I returned to the hotel room to see my kittens fast asleep. Preparing their dinner, I poured the milk in the bottle, punched a hole through the nipple, and gently massaged my kittens awake.
They smelled that milk too, making their cries louder.
“Here we go, shh shh.” I lifted one kitten up in my hand to the bottle and watched her small mouth try to devour the nipple. I timed them, giving them all a round of five minutes. Soon, all my kittens were fed and were off to sleep with warm round bellies.
I kissed each one on their backs and felt sleep tug at my eyelids as well.
The alarm clock woke me up at eight o'clock. I didn’t remember setting it, so I chalked it up to the last person who was in this room. Grabbing my phone, I looked for a wi-fi signal and connected to the hotel’s hot spot.
I needed a job.
More money.
And a roof for my babies.
“Let’s see,” I hummed, looking through a few ads. “Huh, Alphas looking for an Omega’s heat. They must be desperate around here. What is it, a lack of Omegas?”
I browsed rooms for rent and saw a few ads there too. Not many, and I could count that they were all Alphas. I’d prefer to room with an Omega, but with these tiny precious lives at stake, I’d have to take what I could get.
I called a few of the ads, and I didn’t like the sound of the voices I spoke to.
One sounded too dangerous.
The other sounded like they were more interested in my ass than my money.
A few others didn’t even want to rent to Omegas.
There was only one number left. Talk about a gamble.
“Hello?” the deep raspy voice said.
“Hi, I’m calling about a room for rent. I’m an Omega. Any problem with that?”
He sighed. “Not at all. Wanna come over and look at it?”
It must’ve been the lack of sleep, but hearing his voice made me dizzy. I didn’t know whether to take that as a good sign or a bad sign.
“Is today okay? What are you asking for up front?” I asked, looking at my kittens, wriggling around. They were bound to begin crying for milk, so I reached the phone over to the refrigerator and pulled out the bottle.
“Well, I rent weekly, and it’s a Friday, so just give me a day upfront. That’s if you like it.”
His voice kept me in a haze. I listened in close for every syllable, vowel, consonant. It was like a soothing lullaby.
I couldn’t even decipher if he was an Alpha, Omega, or Beta.
“Excuse me, I hate to ask,” I said, feeling like I was walking on egg shells, “but are you an Alpha?”
“Yeah. But don’t let that scare you. I’m not a freak or anything,” he harrumphed.
“Okay, I’ll be by then in a few minutes.”
“Sure. I’ll be here,” he said.
I hung
up the phone and cuddled my kittens that were starting to cry for more milk. I made my rounds with the milk bottle and stroked their small backs.
“Shh, babies. Daddy has to go and make sure he can keep a roof over your heads.”
Looking around the room, I settled my eyes on the dresser drawers. I could put my kittens in there, wrapped in a blanket so none of the maids would find them.
I had a few hours before checkout, and the address to this Alpha’s home wasn’t far. I counted the money I had left, it was about sixty bucks.
Enough to get there and hopefully pay for that one day, then find a job really fucking quick before I embarrassed myself.
I swaddled my kitties in a soft towel and slipped them in the drawer. They had fallen asleep again after their milk, tucked against each other for added warmth and a sign that they weren’t alone.
This was my chance at a family. Sure they weren’t going to be human, but they were my blood, my babies.
I closed the door and ran off to the bus stop, following the GPS directions on my phone. I had been in my cat form for such a long time, I forgot what being human felt like. The difference in gravity, the harsh reality of Omegas and Alphas, and the pivotal need for money.
People didn’t feed humans the way they’d feed a stray cat. They wouldn’t take in a human the way they’d scoop up a mother and her baby kittens. This world was the same, but a simple shift made things look a hundred percent different.
It was still cold outside, but the snowing stopped and the sunshine was beginning to melt the ice. The scent of winter was fresh in the air, mixed with pine and burning wood. The bus came, and I hopped on, looking to see if the fare amount was posted.
“Oh, there’s no charge for this bus, it’s free,” the Beta bus driver said. “Go have a seat!” she said with a cheery smile.
“Thank you.”
I sat down and looked around the bus. A couple of Omegas, Betas, and even an Alpha. An Alpha on the bus? Interesting.
I didn’t pay attention to the cities I wondered in while I was in my cat form, but this one was very different.
“You’re new around here, aren’t you?” one Omega asked.
I kept an eye on my GPS and had the volume loud so I didn’t miss any turns or stops.
“Yeah, why do you ask?”
“Because, this town has very few of them. Not that it’s bad. It’s just kinda small… not that popular like the big cities, you know?”
“Really? Interesting.”
“Yeah, Omega strippers make awesome money here. So if you’re ever in a pinch, you can damn near offer any Alpha you see a lap dance and end that session a couple hundred bucks richer,” he said winking.
Oh shit. That was just the good news I needed.
“What’s the name of this town again?”
“Salandar. Ran by regular state government with heavy influence from the Goliath pack. This place has grown in the last ten years. Got busses and everything now.”
My GPS said my stop was coming up, and I pulled on the bus stop line to signal my stop. I said goodbye to the friendly Omega and hopped off the bus, careful not to slip and bust my pretty ass.
Because if this town was as lucrative as I thought, I was going to need my ass to stay very pretty.
I followed my directions down a street of row houses. They were like town homes, but entirely connected. The architecture to them was that of an older time where people built things more sturdy, with a dash of more art to it.
I stopped at the biggest house and let myself in through the gate.
As I approached the front door, the strong scent of wolf hit me.
God, an Alpha wolf. Let’s see where this would take me.
Before I could even knock on the door, it flew open and this huge man stepped forward. It was the wolf himself. I didn’t even remember his name from the ad.
Shit, he was huge, it took my breath away.
I stood there like a lost cat, staring.
“Um, I’m—”
“You’re the guy I spoke to on the phone… come in,” he said, moving out of the doorway.
I walked past him and looked inside the house. It was warm, homey. My kittens would love it here… but he didn’t need to know I had any.
“So,” I turned around to meet his eyes, “where is the—”
He grabbed me by the waist and tugged me against his broad chest. He breathed down hard upon me, staring me in the eyes with a faint glow.
“You’re mine now,” he growled.
Oh shit. He was trying to rut. But how come I was letting him hold me like this?
“Hey! I’m no ones! Never have been, never will be. I think I’ll just keep looking,” I said, trying to break his grip. I got to the door and opened it so I could hop back outside.
“Wait! Please don’t go! You’re my mate! You’re my fated mate!” he called out.
I made sure not to slip and bust my ass on the snow.
“I think you’re mistaken, I’m not your—” the words got stuck in my throat.
What was this I was feeling?
Confusion. Yep, because there was no such thing as fated mates. Not for me. I was an orphaned cat with no family, nothing behind my name. No one with a brain would take me as a mate.
“Please, don’t go,” he begged, catching up to me and pulling me back to him.
His body was so warm. “You can stay for free if you want. Just—fuck this,” he growled, throwing me over his shoulder. “You’re staying. I’m not going to let you leave.”
“Hey! Put me down, you nasty wolf, I’m not gonna let you screw me!” I hollered.
Now we were drawing small attention from some people digging out their part of the sidewalk.
He stomped through the snow, back up to his porch and sat me down.
“Did you say free? Free as in, I don’t have to have sex or even touch you type of free?” I folded my arms and looked him up and down. Okay, no protruding crotch, so we were good so far.
“Yes, you don’t have to do anything, I just want you around. You’ll see that you’re mine. But I won’t let you go anywhere else.”
“Hey, I have a life too. I’ll take your offer, but I’m going to be free to come and go whenever I please,” I said, pointing my index finger at him.
He thought about it.
“Hey, no thinking, say yes!” I demanded.
“Fine, yes.”
I held out my hand.
“What?” he said, scratching his head. All brawns and no brains. He had dark hair that trailed down into a close shaved beard that could be mistaken for stubble. Handsome, but also an Alpha. I needed to remember that.
“Key, wolf.”
He dug in his pocket and gave me a spare key. “Where are you going? Do you need a ride?”
“No, I’m fine. I’ll be back later.”
“Before you leave,” I rolled my eyes, “I have a name. It’s Gildar. Yours?”
“Uh… it’s Loren, spelled with an ‘O’.”
“I smell feline. Are you a cat shifter of some sort?”
“The domestic kind. I can still take a wolf though.”
He chuckled. “Bet you can…”
I cracked a smile but wiped it off my face and went down the stairs. There were only about five of them.
I walked out of the gate and headed to the bus stop.
Shit, the Alphas here were serious about getting themselves an Omega.
As I was waiting for the bus, two large hands come from behind, latch onto my waist and the next thing I knew, I was being strapped in a luxury Mercedes.
“Gildar?! I said I didn’t need a ride!”
Chapter Two
Gildar
He was a stubborn ass sexy cat, but when I saw him I knew he was the one. I resigned to the fact that I would never find a mate. Which was fucking with my head since I really wanted one. I remembered how happy my parents were. They were fated mates… but then…
I didn’t dare to think about it.
I had my suspicions, but since I wasn’t the head of the pack, my suspicions would end up having me killed. And I wasn’t going to put them through that.
I strapped Loren into my Mercedes and made sure it was heated up nicely so he wouldn’t put up much of a cat fight.
"You know I could've got there myself," Loren said, staying put in his seat.
I knew he'd like the warmth, all felines had a thing for warm places.
"I know, but you're my--"
Loren threw his hands up. "You're going to have to stop saying that. I am not your mate. I'm your roommate, and that's it. Nothing else. Even if I fucked you because you're good looking, it wouldn't mean a thing."
I shifted the car into drive and slowly rolled up to a red light.
"So, you're admitting that I'm good looking," I said, sparking a smile.
"Shut up, keep driving. I'm staying at the Lorene Lodge. Hurry, it's almost check out," he demanded, a hint of panic on his face.
Was he afraid of losing something special to him? A trinket of some sort?
I drove him to the lodge and parked in front.
"I'll be back in five minutes," he said, slipping out the car and disappearing into the hotel.
The way he moved, it was so feline like, perfect. This was going to be tough though. Loren wasn't into this fated mate stuff, but it was up to me as his Alpha to make him see it and accept it.
Alphas these days gave the whole fated mate thing a bad name. It wasn't just about sex, it was about bonding, protecting, and healing.
I leaned back in my seat and clocked the time—what the fuck? It has been fifteen minutes, and he wasn't back yet.
I jumped out the car and sniffed around for his aromatic scent.
"Hey," I said to the front desk clerk, "have you seen a guy with short auburn hair and hazel eyes?"
"No, and I'm not allowed to tell people about the residents here, I'm sorry."
I sucked my teeth and ran down the hall. I caught his scent and followed it.
It lead me to a room, but it was empty, and the maid was busy cleaning it. His scent was heavy in the room and it wasn't alone.
