I smelled coffee. It was tickling at my nose, making me wake up when I didn’t want to. It was soon joined by the smell of bacon. I rolled over and sniffed at the air. The smell wouldn’t leave me alone so I got up and looked around for my jeans. I spied them shoved under the edge of Shiloh’s huge, purple bed. I fingered the bright purple blankets and shook my head. Shiloh and my mom would have a lot in common. I fished my boots out of the corner and a table spread with colored rocks caught my eye. I shook my head again. These pack shifters were something else.

I crammed my feet into my boots and headed out to the kitchen.

Shiloh was there, already showered and dressed, smiling as he put a plate full of bacon, eggs, and toast on the counter.

“Morning,” he said. “Hope you slept well. Have some breakfast. How do you take your coffee?”

“Uh, black is fine.” I studied the plate and shrugged. I was starving and he was offering. Just like last night. I tried not to let myself feel like I was taking advantage as I dug into the plate.

Shiloh came around the counter with a mug full of steaming coffee and settled onto the stool beside mine. He offered me the coffee mug and smiled when I took a big sip.

“Aren’t you going to have any?” I asked, and shoveled more eggs in my face.

“Coffee? No,” he said. “Caffeine isn’t good for the baby.”

I dropped my fork.

“The what now?”

“Well, I thought you knew. I know you saw it when I touched your hand. I’m pregnant. I’m going to have your baby.” He smiled at me again, the curve of his lips serene and happy.

I pushed my plate away. “No way. You can’t know that.”

“But I do,” he said patiently.

This… kid. I swore. This kid was going to drive me insane. How could he possibly know he was pregnant? It hadn’t even been twelve hours since we fucked! Besides…

“I’m not ready for a kid. Especially with someone I don’t even know.” My words were loud and almost angry.

“It’s okay. Really.” Shiloh was still smiling, one of those enigmatic smiles only seen in old paintings. How could he be so calm?

“Because we’re fated,” he replied.

Wait, had I asked him that out loud?

“That’s it,” I said, and glanced at my watch. “I’m going to work. I don’t know about all this fated stuff you keep yammering on about. I’ll… maybe I’ll see you later.”

“You will,” he said simply. Then he slid out of his seat and leaned up to give me a peck on the cheek before he cleared away my plate and cup.

* * *

I thought about what Shiloh said as I drove to the dig. I’d never been sure before if I believed in fated mates. Even after watching my brother and his omega, I wasn’t sure. But I was now. I knew Shiloh was my omega, that he belonged to me. I just wasn’t sure I was ready for how fast this was moving. He was pregnant? Already? I didn’t even know his last name and he was ready to hitch his wagon to mine for all eternity.

Wait, no, he never said that. He just said we were fated. And he was having my kid. And that thing when he’d touched my hand. Did he mean that he was… I didn’t know… psychic or something? How did he know what I saw? Did we see the same things? Us as a family, a baby, and home? I tried to blink away the images. I leaned forward and flipped the radio stations around, trying to find something that would come out here in the hills. I should have had my mind on this dig and finishing up my PhD, not worrying about some backwoods omega with a tight ass. I turned up the radio and rolled down the window so the staticky music and hiss of air through the truck cab could push the thoughts away.

I got the dig site shortly after. Allison smirked at me as I made my way to the dig tents. “Well, you look like you had a rough night.”

“Yeah, it was… interesting. What do we have going on today?” I tried to distract her. But Allison, being the crow she was, couldn’t leave something shiny alone when she found it.

“It was that purple-eyed omega from the pack, wasn’t it?” She smacked at my shoulder as we walked through the site, kicking up plumes of dust in the early morning air.

“Don’t start with me, Al,” I muttered.

We ducked into the tent and started pulling equipment from the boxes.

“I’m not going to start with you, but… really? A local? You know better than that, Parker.” She dumped a box of small brushes onto a nearby folding table and started to sort them.

“I know,” I sighed, “especially since he’s pregnant.”

“Whoa! Hold the fuck up. You banged a pregnant omega? You got a death wish?” Allison glowered at me.

“No! I mean, it’s mine. He says he’s pregnant from last night.”

“Huh uh. No way, rich boy. You better dig yourself out of this one somehow. You can’t go around banging someone else’s pregnant omega.” Allison stabbed her finger at me. “You’re stupider than you look, Marks.”

“No, that’s really not how it is. I’d have smelled it if he was pregnant before we… well, I’d have been able to tell. No, Shiloh is… different.”

“Mm hmm,” she muttered, “that’s what they all say.”

“I saw things when he grabbed my hand. Pictures in my head, of us. As a family.” I spat the words out quickly, aware of how odd they sounded. Allison dropped the brushes in her hand with a clatter.

“Parker.” Allison put a hand on my shoulder and turned me around to face her. “Are you telling me that boy is a seer?”

“I… guess? I didn’t ask.”

“You didn’t…” She sighed at what she considered my stupidity. “Okay, well if he’s pregnant, then you have to step up.”

“I’m not sure I’m ready to be a father. Also, we might be fated.” I flinched a little when I heard the last words.

“Fated.” Allison stared at me, her mouth slightly open. “Well, there it is folks. Listen, you evidently don’t know what a seer means to these packs. And I know you don’t know what it means to have one fated to you. So, if you knocked that pretty boy up, then you’re going to have to finally be an alpha. In more than name.”

“I guess you’re right.” I scrubbed my hands across my face. The smell of Shiloh still clung to my clothes, bringing back memories of last night. I turned away quickly, so Allison didn’t see my dick swelling in my pants. I heard her snigger from behind me and knew it was too late. I sighed and got back to inventorying the tools and thinking about what Allison said.

* * *

“Amazing,” Allison said. “Right there on the reports. That ground-penetrating radar is amazing. I can’t believe there are six more graves right underneath us!” She was flipping through a stack of papers Professor Frostburg excitedly handed her earlier. “This changes this entire dig. We need to re-calibrate the grid and reset the lines.” She waved her hands toward the carefully laid out strings crisscrossing the dig site. “We’re gonna need more grad students, too. Got to have someone else out here to do the dirty work. The professor is going to handle that local Alpha, what was his name, Goode? And I’ll file the grant for more money. This is amazing!” Allison was beaming with excitement. “Let’s go get a beer.”

“You know, I think I’d rather… run.” I looked at her expectantly and grinned when a smile split her almost-plain face.

“You got it,” she crowed. She dropped the papers onto the table and took off outside.

When I stepped out of the tent, Allison was gone. But there was a big, black crow circling the tent and swooping low over my head, brushing my hair with its glossy wings. I batted at her and disappeared behind the tent. I was barely out of my clothes before I shifted and joined Allison on her jaunt into the desert.

My wolf followed the crow and together we covered the desert at the base of the hills. It was spread out, sagebrush and cactus flowers standing proud under the sky painted in streaks of blue, white, and orange. Dust plumed behind my pounding feet and the bird screeched overhead. I let myself lose a little more of my human, let the wolf take me further away from myself. The joy and exhilaration of shifting and running took over and I threw my head back and howled, loud and long, at the blazing sun overhead. Allison cawed at me.

Then she was flapping her black wings into my face. I couldn’t stop myself from snapping at her. She spun on a wing-tip and sank her talons into my hind-quarters. I turned my head, snarling at the bird. She smacked me with a wing and I stopped. She was trying to tell me something. I slowed to a stop and looked around. Then I spotted what she saw from the air. I put my nose up and sniffed.

It was Shiloh.

I padded forward on my big paws—quiet now, except for low snuffles—to see what he was doing out here in the desert alone.

Shiloh was seated on a large rock that was overhanging a small pool. It was an oasis, the pool below the rocks shimmering bright blue in the sun, the small trees surrounding it bright green. The ocher rocks contrasted against the blue and green and made the scene look like a painting. And Shiloh was there, naked on the rock, his eyes closed, face tilted toward the sky. I shifted back to human.

Allison was right behind me.

“What’s he doing?” I whispered.

“Don’t know,” she shrugged, and moved closer.

“Allison, leave it,” I hissed at her, but she continued to move toward Shiloh.

I followed her, skirting the rim that hung over the pool. Allison kicked a rock.

It clattered, loud and echoing, down the edge of the ravine before landing in the water with a splash.

Shiloh had opened his eyes and was staring at us. Then he smiled.

“Parker, hi.” He gestured me over. I climbed the rock, warm beneath my bare feet.

“What are you doing out here, Shiloh?” I looked around. “Are you alone?”

“I am.” He turned his ethereal smile toward me. “I’m meditating on the future of the baby.”

“You can do that?” Allison was standing on the other side.

“Oh, hi, Al. Yes, I can.” He bestowed one of his sweet smiles on Allison. She seemed completely charmed and dropped down onto the sun-warmed rock beside him.

“Right, the future of the baby.” I couldn’t keep the scoffing tone from my voice.

“Parker,” Allison said in a warning voice.

“Okay, okay. Shiloh, how can you meditate on the baby’s future? We don’t know the future. That’s why we study the past. Learning about the past is the only way to know what the future might contain. This seer thing, it’s bunk. Allison told me about the seers in your pack, but come on. We’re far too technologically advanced to believe in something so primitive now.” I gave him what I hoped was an understanding look.

“If you say so,” he said simply. “But would like to know about our pack’s meditations?”

“I… do you mean… rituals?” Allison asked. She gave me a look that told me to shut up.

“Yes, what we do for our rituals. I can explain some to you.” He looked between us with an expectant gaze.

I was suddenly aware we were all naked.

“Yes, tell us.” Allison was cautiously excited, and I could understand why. Here was someone with first-hand and intimate knowledge of a shifter pack’s rituals, who was also willing to share with us. That was highly unusual. Especially since he could get in trouble if his pack Alpha found out.

“Okay.” Shiloh grinned and patted the rock next to him. Allison took a seat and waved for me to do the same. I lowered myself to the rock next to Shiloh and watched him carefully.

“First,” he said, “our pack has meditations for the different stages of life; birth, first shift, mating and claiming, pregnancy, and death. We start each meditation with a ritual cleanse. It’s why I’m here.” He pointed at the pool beneath the rock. “Now, for pregnancy and finding out the future of the child, I face east, because all life comes from the east, like the sunrise.”

Allison was nodding, her eyes bright and eager as she listened to Shiloh explain the inner workings of his pack’s rituals to a couple of outsiders. And I had to admit, I was eager to hear to tales, too. And to be close to him again. I leaned in and listened.

* * *

“So, what did you think about what your seer said?” Allison asked as we walked up the steps to the hotel. I pulled the door open and waved her inside without answering.

“Beer?” I asked instead.

We headed to the small bar tucked into the side of the lobby and ordered a couple of beers. I took a few sips before I finally answered her question.

“He’s… interesting. I have to admit, with the exception of all the woo-woo meditation, crystals, and psychic stuff, he’s very knowledgeable. I can’t believe someone so young has such a handle on his pack’s inner workings and rituals.”

“How old is he, anyhow?” Allison raised an eyebrow in my direction.

“Um…” I flushed. “I never actually asked. At least eighteen, I’d think. I don’t know. He’s such a paradox; he seems very young, yet very mature at the same time.”

“It’s the seer thing.” Allison nodded firmly. “Young body, old soul.”

I wanted to laugh at her, but I suspected she was right. Shiloh wasn’t like anyone I’d known before. Listening to him talk today had made me realize how accepting he was of concepts the rest of us laughed at or mocked. How he seemed child-like and ancient at the same time.

And I didn’t know if I could handle it.