Still, I thought of Brandt breathing fire at anyone who dared approach his young with needles and microscopes.Thatchecked out. “Brandt might actually shift and eat our brother if he attempts to get too close to any of the babies without his explicit consent. He hated being one of Eric’s test subjects himself — I don’t see him allowing Eric to do much with Patrick, especially not while he’s so tiny and new.”
My mates considered this and nodded their agreement, both having seen how protective Brandt could be when it came to his kids and his own alpha.
“Well,” Sergio eventually mused, “I don’t think it will hurt to keep our news private until I have returned from settling myaffairs overseas. I don’t really like the idea of you being poked and prodded for science in my absence, either.”
I beamed at him. “You’re a good alpha, Serge.”
He groaned and shot me a hungry look. I understood that he wasn’t thinking about the food we were still slowly eating. “Behave, beautiful,” he demanded, the corner of his lips twitching. “I amdefinitelytoo old to take you both to bed again so soon.”
“Well, eat up, old man,” Dex taunted him, waggling his eyebrows. “You’ll need your energy for later.”
I laughed at the bewildered expression on Serge’s face and stuffed another bite of my late lunch into my mouth.
It had only been a couple of days, but I loved this dynamic we were forming together, and I was glad that we could keep it between us —something special and justours— for a while longer.
Chapter Sixteen
It was harder than I thought it would be to bid goodbye to Sergio the next day. Even though we all agreed that the sooner he left, the sooner he could come home and settle down for good, I didn’t want him to leave at all. Neither did Sage, if his sullen mood was any indication.
Our alpha spent the early hours of the morning worshipping our bodies, fucking into each of us in turn until we were almost literally puddles of satisfied omega goo, then kissed us both so tenderly, I felt tears pricking my eyes.
“I’ll call every day,” Serge murmured as he snuggled between us, nuzzling his silver beard into the top of my head, then Sage’s. “Multiple times. And I will miss you both terribly. But this has to be done.”
“Is The Magic telling you that?” I snarked with an edge of bitterness, but he only chuckled, making his chest bounce under my hand.
“Yes,” he answered simply. Then, when I pursed my lips and Sage let out a disgruntled huff, Serge chuckled again and added, “It is urging me to close my affairs elsewhere and settle here. This is where it wants me, too.”
“I freaking hope so,” Sage muttered, sounding just as put-out as I felt. “We only just found you. And I know we’re not bonded, but my dragon…” He trailed off, but I understood what he wasn’t saying.
Inside me, my omega was whining piteously. Even though he understood that this was necessary, I had already forced him to part from one of our mates once before. I was secretly terrified that he would go into hiding again until Serge returned.
“My unicorn feels it, too,” Serge admitted quietly. “But it will only be a few weeks. A month at most. Then I will return. And then…”
“Then our lives together really begin,” I finished for him, a thrill of anticipation fluttering in my belly like butterflies.
In the weeks we’d spent traveling with him to originally bring him to Shifters Sanctuary, we had become acquaintances. Then once he was here, I dared to think we were becoming friends. But we hadn’t been overly close…at least, not until he came back again. But then my dragon came out of hibernation, and my heat hit, and the changes of the past few days were wonderful but a lot to process. Even I understood that it would take time for the three of us to truly get to know each other as romantic partners.
Nevertheless, I loved that we were all in agreement that we would live together and do as fate intended. There would likely be teething issues as we learned to share the space and our routines, especially when we were all such different people, but my dragon was content for the first time in…well, in forever. I was certain that Sage and Sergio felt the same way.
But did Sergio feel the same urgent need to bond that Sage did? That my dragon and, by extension, I did? Or was that just our omega biological urges at play? I certainly didn’t want to getpregnant like Sage did, but my dragon seemed to be more than happy with the idea of being knotted and bred by our alpha.
Thank the gods for Eric and Brandt’s omega-specific birth control.
Still, I would be beyond happy to see Sage get his wish; for him to conceive and carry our children. I didn’t have to contribute to their genetics in order for them to be mine, though some part of me still wished that I could have been everything Sage needed me to be. Not that Sergio was only good for his alpha abilities, mind you.
Sergio seemed to balance Sage and I out. While Sage and I loved each other deeply and likely always had, we were too different to truly work as a couple on our own. I would argue that the past century had all but proven that unequivocally. We were compatible but also incompatible. But with Serge tempering our volatility and slotting between us like a missing puzzle piece, it just worked.
And he seemed to genuinely treasure us. Not just because he was an alpha and compared to him, we were young, hot omegas, but because he honestly seemed interested in who we were as people. He was amused by my snark and sarcasm, and he was delighted by Sage’s kindness and effortless charm. He encouraged our interests when we spoke about them —even back when we were first traveling together— and he added his own suggestions when he thought he could help.
Case in point: while I had zoned out thinking about how lucky we were to have a bright future together, he was giving Sage advice about the unauthorized scent blockers we’d discovered were being used during the Unlocking party.
It was hard to believe that had only been a handful of days earlier. So much had happened since then.
“…perhaps reach out to local law enforcement?” Sergio offered, carding his fingers through Sage’s long hair, the orange-red strands so striking against Serge’s silvery beard and chest hair. “Beckett said that there was a surprising contingent of shifters working for the local Sheriff, didn’t he? They should probably be aware that someone is supplying local shifters with homemade chemical concoctions.” There was a hint of disgust in the way he said it.
“Not a fan of science, magic man?” I prodded with a smirk into his skin.
Sage reached over our alpha’s chest and lightly slapped at my arm while Serge exhaled through his nose, reminding me of his equine form.
