He hadn’t slept this well in ages, Ruari thought as he woke up. Jax was still asleep next to him, making soft little smacking sounds that shot straight to Ruari’s heart. He’d never known how much you could love another person until his son had been born. Ruari had never considered himself the paternal type, maybe because he’d had such a bad example in his own father, but he couldn’t deny that Jax had changed him. He loved him, wholly and completely, and there was nothing he wouldn’t do to keep his son safe and happy.

Jax had slept peacefully as well, only waking up twice that night. No wonder, it was so quiet on the ranch, so calm and peaceful. The air was fresh, unlike the stale, moldy air in his apartment that had him so worried about Jax’s little lungs. Here, everything was fresh, clean, the whole room where he was staying brand-spanking new. And the sense of peace he experienced wasn’t just the absence of noise, but rather something that hung in the air. Ruari couldn’t explain it, but it felt like coming home. 

Of course, that made zero sense. It had to be his imagination. This couldn’t be his home, not in the long term, anyway. He was beyond grateful to Enar for giving him a chance to stay, but there was no way he could stay any longer than a few weeks. His presence here endangered everyone on the ranch. If his father ever found out he was staying here, Ruari had no idea what the man would do, but it wouldn’t be pretty. 

His father was capable of violence. He’d seen it himself growing up, and he caught enough snippets of conversations to understand the man could be ruthless toward his enemies. Hell, Ruari had even overheard part of a conversation about an attack he had ordered on some group whose ideas he didn’t agree with. Ruari had never mentioned it to anyone. He wasn’t that stupid. When you grew up with a father like his, you learned to be blind, deaf, and mute. It was the only way you could survive. 

And after what he had learned about the ranch, about the pack, these people had to be on his father’s shitlist already. If he ever found out Lidon could shift, that the wolf shifters had returned? He would burn this place to the ground. He would make it his life’s mission to destroy each and every person here. The thought made his blood run cold in his veins. 

No, Ruari couldn’t stay here permanently, but he would enjoy it while it lasted. It would give him the opportunity to figure out his next steps. 

After making sure Jax couldn’t roll out of the bed in any way, Ruari took a quick shower. He laughed at himself as he got out, because it was one other aspect where his life had changed a lot. He used to enjoy long, luxurious showers. Now he was lucky to get three minutes in, if that. When you were on your own with a baby, long showers were not possible, he had discovered.

Even now, he heard Jax stir, soft little cries drifting in from the bedroom. The baby wasn’t angry yet, but that wouldn’t last long if Ruari didn’t come get him. He got dressed quickly, then picked up his son and after changing his diaper, dressed him as well. He'd have to feed him in the main house, where Kean had told him to go for breakfast to meet everyone else.

With Jax in the sling, he made his way over to the main house, amazed at how busy the ranch was even at this time of day. Various men were working on finishing up another building, greeting him with respectful nods as he walked by. Had they all been informed of his presence yet? Most of them were betas, but he did see one big alpha at work, and much to his surprise, there was an omega among the men as well. Apparently, Kean had been right when he told Ruari that the pack didn’t care much for status and looked at talents foremost. 

He caught a glimpse of Kean, on his way to the big stable with the cows. He wanted to raise his hand and greet him, but Kean never looked up. Maybe he would have the chance to talk to him later. His heart did a little jump at the thought.

He hesitated for a few seconds when he heard voices in the kitchen. Kean had shown him where everything was, but he had only met one of the people who lived in the main house: Grayson, an older but handsome alpha. He’d been super nice to Ruari, who had felt comfortable in the man’s presence, despite what he knew from Kean about his prolific sex life.

He took a deep breath and walked into the kitchen, where several people were sitting at the table while an omega was making breakfast. A beta standing near the fridge was the one who spotted Ruari first, and he turned around to greet him with a big smile.

“You must be Ruari,” he said. “Enar told us that you would be staying here for a while. I’m Palani, one of Enar’s mates.”

Ruari nodded. “Yes, thank you. This is my son, Jax.”

Palani walked up close. “Oh, he is adorable. How old is he?”

“He’s almost twelve weeks,” Ruari said, as always filled with pride whenever someone admired to his son. It was another one of those strange emotions he’d never experienced before.

“That’s close in age to our son, Hakon. He’s eight weeks old,” Palani said with the same pride in his voice. Right, the alpha heir, Ruari remembered. How lovely that Palani referred to him as “our son,” even when the baby wasn’t his biologically.

The other men in the room rose, he noticed, and he turned toward them, bracing himself.

“Let me introduce you to the others,” Palani said, then pointed them out one by one. “This is Grayson, but I think you two met already yesterday. That’s Sven in the kitchen, one of his boys. Lars, his other, is already at work outside. Then we have Sando, who is our main researcher into the Melloni gene, and that’s Lucan, one of Grayson’s sons, who you may have met in the clinic as he’s the office manager there. Grayson’s oldest son is the head of security here, Bray. Have you met him yet?”

Ruari tried to hide his shock at hearing that Sando, an omega, was doing scientific research. What kind of place was this? “Erm, thank you. No, I haven’t met Bray yet, but I remember you from the clinic, Lucan.” He did a little wave with his hand. “I’m Ruari and this is Jax. Nice to meet you all.”

There was a round of friendly greetings, and then Sven, the omega in the kitchen, asked, “What would you like for breakfast?”

“I need to feed Jax first, if that’s okay. Can I please use a microwave to heat water for his formula?” Ruari asked.

“Absolutely. There is purified water in the fridge. Grab whatever you need, and ask me if there’s anything you can’t find. When you’re done, I’d be happy to cook you breakfast,” the other omega answered.

Ruari couldn’t believe how friendly and welcoming they were, and it made him feel even more guilty about his father. If these people knew, would they still have welcomed him? Would they still have been as friendly? He doubted it, and he couldn’t even blame them.

He quickly grabbed the things he needed for Jax’s bottle from the diaper bag he’d brought, then measured water and formula. He’d done it so many times by now, he didn’t even need to think. When the water was done, he added the formula and shook it well, then tested it on the inside of his wrist.

It seemed he had gotten it right as the bottle was the perfect temperature. It was also perfect timing, as Jax whimpered and made noises that would soon become a full-fledged wail if he didn’t get something to eat.

He was just about to sit down at the table when Kean walked in, looking all male and sweaty. “Good morning,” Ruari said self-consciously, aware that there were many people watching.

“Hey,” the beta replied, his face lighting up when he saw Ruari. “I was hoping to catch you here.”

Without hesitation, he stepped closer and looked at Jax, whose volume was increasing. “A little impatient for your breakfast, young man?”

Ruari smiled, his heart doing strange little flips at Kean’s tender tone with his son. “Yeah, I’d better feed him, or he’ll break out the sirens.”

“Can I do it?” Sven asked a bit shy.

Ruari wasn’t sure what to say. He didn’t want to turn him down, not in front of everyone, but he wasn’t comfortable handing his son over to a stranger, even if it was another omega. Sven looked as young as Ruari himself was, so did he even have any experience with babies?

“He’s great with babies,” Kean said, his voice kind. “He takes care of Hakon a lot.”

Ruari hesitated for a few seconds more, then decided it couldn’t hurt, not with him right there. If Sven did anything he didn’t like or trust, he could always step in.

“You don’t have to, if you’re not comfortable with it,” Sven said. “But I thought you might like to have a relaxed breakfast. And Kean is right, I love babies.”

Grayson rose from his chair, then walked over to Sven and pressed a soft but claiming kiss on the omega's lips. “I’m heading to my room to work, honey. I love you so much.”

He kissed him again, a much longer kiss this time, and Ruari watched with amazement as Sven melted against the alpha, apparently not caring there were a bunch of other people in the room.

Kean cleared his throat rather loudly. “Guys, let’s not scare away our new arrival right away, shall we?”

The others left as Grayson pulled away, smacking Sven on his ass. “We’ll have to continue this later. Come find me when you’re done with your morning chores.”

“Yes, Daddy,” Sven said, and Ruari understood their relationship a lot better after that simple word, including Palani’s words when he introduced Grayson and his boys. All right, then. Grayson was their Daddy. All good with him.

Jax had started crying for real now, no longer content with being rocked. Sven washed his hands, and Ruari was surprised to see him practice the same hygiene that Kean had before. Someone had trained these guys well. Enar, he guessed.

Sven sat himself down at the kitchen table, then held out his hands to take Jax. Ruari watched as he cradled him in his arm, relieved when he noticed he got it right, and when Sven got his son to drink right away, Ruari's worries were gone. Sven looked up and smiled at him. “Grab yourself some breakfast. Kean can show you where everything is.”

With quick greetings, the others filed out of the kitchen, leaving the three of them. “What would you like?” Kean asked. “We have all kinds of cereal, oatmeal, I can make you some bacon and eggs or pancakes, whatever you want.”

Ruari’s eyebrows shot up. “You would cook for me?”

He hoped it didn’t come off as an insult, but he was surprised that a beta would cook for him, especially one like Kean who had a full-time job.

“Sure, I can make a mean omelet,” Kean said. “We grew up with parents who believed in raising independent sons, so even though Palani and I are betas and our youngest brother Rhene is an alpha, my mom taught all of us to cook.”

How about that? Ruari could barely keep his mouth from dropping open. “Oatmeal is fine, thank you. If you have it, could I please make it with milk instead of water?” God knew he could use the extra calories, as well as the vitamin D and calcium the milk offered.

“Absolutely. But I’ll make it for you. You sit down and enjoy a bit of downtime,” Kean said.

Ruari caught Sven looking from Kean to him and back, a soft smile playing on his lips as if he was privy to something Ruari didn’t know. Was this not normal behavior for Kean? Ruari pondered that as he sat down at the table, watching as Kean made oatmeal for him.

It was a bit of a coincidence, wasn’t it, that Kean had come into the kitchen when Ruari was there? Had he timed it like that? His words had betrayed a little bit, indicating he was hoping to run into Ruari. He couldn’t deny his attraction to the beta, but did this mean that Kean was feeling the same thing?

God, this would make things complicated. The man had no idea what he was getting into. Well, truth be told, he knew more than anyone else, having overheard Ruari’s entire conversation with Enar. That should make Ruari nervous, he figured, or even embarrassed or ashamed, but it didn’t. For some reason, it was comforting to know he wouldn’t have to explain that part. 

So many people jumped to conclusions when they met a single omega with a baby, and most of them weren’t good. Ruari had endured more demeaning proposals over the last few months than he’d had in his entire life before.

But Kean was different. The man knew of his past, at least the sexual part, and he didn’t seem to care. Not that that cleared the way for them to be anything more than friends, Ruari thought with sadness. There was still the insurmountable issue of his father, and the threat that kept looming over his head. No, they could be friends, but anything more was all but impossible.

Still, as Sven fed Jax, then made him burp and cuddled with him, Ruari and Kean spent a good twenty minutes chatting at the breakfast table. It was the longest conversation Ruari had had with another adult in months, and his soul rejoiced in being seen and feeling heard. 

If only it could last.

They had all gone to bed the previous evening without more talking, and though Grayson knew it had been the right thing to do with Sven being too exhausted, it didn’t sit right with him that they hadn’t talked things out. There was an emotional distance between them, a lack of intimacy that had never been there before. It reminded him of their first weeks, when they had still been struggling to find how they fit together. There had been no sweet words, no morning sex for him, and he hadn’t dared approach them either, too scared of forcing something they weren’t ready for it. But it left him unsatisfied, yearning to gain back what they had lost. If only he could figure out how.

It bothered him deeply, and he knew it would bother Sven even more. The omega was so sensitive to tension, and now that he was pregnant, Grayson really wanted to avoid that.

So after writing for an hour or two, he ventured outside, into the far fields where Lars was working. The beta looked shocked when Grayson showed up.

“Hi,” he said, and a stab of regret pierced Grayson’s heart.

Would he ever hear him say the word “Daddy” again? They had lost trust yesterday, he realized all over again, setting them back months. And it wasn’t just Lars. He found himself craving the intimacy that had been so easy and normal before. How could they get back to that? Maybe honesty was the best way.

“I figured it would be good if we talked,” he said. “I am struggling with what happened, and I’m sure you must be too.”

“Now?” Lars asked.

It wasn’t an unreasonable reaction, Grayson told himself. Technically, Lars was at work, even if that was a little different here on the ranch.

“I wanted to try to talk things through before lunch,” he explained.

Lars’s eyes lit up with understanding. “You don’t want to involve Sven in this.”

“He’s pregnant, Lars. I think he needs to be protected, don’t you agree?”

Lars pointed toward a shack where he stored some of his tools. “Let’s find shade behind the shed.”

They found a spot in the shade with their backs against the shed, and they sat for a few minutes, neither of them speaking.

“Are you still angry with me?” Lars then asked.

That question only reinforced Grayson’s decision to talk things through. “No, but you have every right to still be angry with me.”

Lars’s head shot sideways. “What do you mean?”

Grayson took a deep, fortifying breath. “I failed you yesterday, Lars, when I was angry with you, shouting at you, when I should’ve understood why you acted the way you did.”

“I should’ve known you guys wouldn’t go behind my back,” Lars said, and it was easy to hear the remorse in his voice.

“That’s why I was so angry with you,” Grayson said.

“I don’t understand.”

There was a slight hesitation at the end of that sentence, as if Lars had wanted to tag something on, the term of endearment Grayson missed so much. Even if it had been out of habit, hope flared up in Grayson’s heart that they would be able to get past this.

“Lars, sweetheart, I'm sorry for what happened yesterday. I can’t apologize for you walking in on us, because there was nothing else we could've done. I swear we weren’t talking about Sven's pregnancy for long before you walked in.”

“I believe you.”

“But I need to apologize for the way I reacted when I overheard what you said to Enar.”

“You were so angry with me,” Lars said, his voice sounding small.

“I was,” Grayson confirmed. “Though I’m sure you were pleasantly surprised by how Enar stood up to me.”

Much to his relief, Lars let out a smile. “That was badass,” he said.

“I was wrong to get so angry with you over a gut reaction. And the fact that you came back to us, willing to talk things out, only proves it. I didn’t give you the time to get past your initial reaction, and for that, I’m truly sorry.”

They sat in silence for a bit before Lars reacted. “I hurt you by thinking you were capable of doing this,” he said.

“Yes, but I should’ve recognized where you were coming from. I didn’t consider the depth of your insecurities last night, and I blame myself for that.”

He didn’t want to say more, because this was not something they had ever talked about openly. It was always present beneath the surface, these insecurities, and all three of them had them. Sven, who was always worried either of them would be displeased with him. Lars, who even after spending months together, still wasn’t convinced he was worthy to be loved, always waiting for the other shoe to drop. And Grayson, who, if he was honest with himself, still felt like an outsider sometimes when he was reminded of how much Sven and Lars were in tune with each other.

“In my head, I know that you would never do that,” Lars said, his voice a hoarse whisper.

“But in moments like yesterday, when your emotions take over, it’s hard to remind yourself of that.” Grayson understood.

“I wish I could feel differently. I was so angry—”

“Don’t be,” Grayson interrupted him. “Don’t blame yourself for this. Give it time, sweetheart. I promise you, it will diminish over time.” 

Again, it took a long time before Lars reacted. “Are you sure you have the patience to wait for that? What if something like this happens again and I freak out again?”

“Then I can only hope I'll have had time to learn from my mistakes as well and react with more understanding. The kind of understanding I should’ve given you yesterday instead of getting angry. This was on me, not on you. There’s room for you to grow.”

“Does that mean we’re okay now?” Lars asked, and there was a meaning behind that question Grayson couldn’t decipher.

“Yes, sweetheart, we are more than okay as far as I’m concerned, unless there’s something else you think we should talk about.”

A choked sob flew from his boy’s lips. “Then why are you not calling me your boy? What do I need to do to make it really okay, to make you love me again?”

Grayson had never acted so fast as when he yanked Lars to drag him onto his lap, the air leaving the boy’s lungs with a whoosh.

“You’ll always be my boy, baby, even when I’m angry and upset with you. Nothing you could ever do could make me stop loving you. Do you hear me?”

Lars clung to him, sobbing, and it was so unusual for him to break down like that that Grayson felt every tear in his heart.

“You didn’t even spank me this morning, Daddy, and I needed you. I needed to feel that you still loved me.”

And Grayson understood that by keeping his distance, he had fueled the boy’s insecurities rather than helping him. He could explain it to Lars, and he was sure he could make him understand, but the bottom line was that Lars needed more than words right now. He needed his Daddy. Without a second’s hesitation, he flipped him over and pushed him down on his lap, dragging his pants and underwear down with a rough move.

His hand came down hard, the slap mingling with Lars’s cry, “Daddy!”

He spanked him hard and long, until the beta was a blubbering mess on his lap, his ass all red and angry, his mouth making sounds Grayson had never heard from him before. When he was done, he carried him inside, not caring that everyone saw, and caring even less that Lars’s pants remained outside, his red ass on full display. They could look away if they didn’t want to see it. Right now, his boys needed him.

He deposited Lars in a hot bath, then interrupted an omega-meeting in Vieno’s bedroom, where Vieno and Sven were hanging out with the new kid. He kindly requested Sven’s presence, and his sweet pup didn’t hesitate a second before joining him. Grayson fucked him hard and fast over the bathroom sink, while Lars watched from the tub with hungry eyes, then sent him back with a butt plug and a cock ring, so he could do it all over again later that day. 

They needed each other, he understood now, so he had to set the tone and show they were okay. For Sven, that meant being used, as the boy had developed a deep affinity for being used as a little cum hole. As if to prove it, Sven beamed as Grayson sent him off, despite being denied an orgasm, his lips still swollen from Grayson’s demanding kisses and his ass smarting from their rough fuck and the rather sizable butt plug inside him. 

But Lars? Lars needed something else. Lars needed his time, his care, his love. And so he tenderly dried him off, then rimmed his boy until he saw stars, gave him the blow job of his life, and fucked him for a long time, all the while forbidding him to come. By the time he finally gave permission, Lars was beyond talking, a pleading, shaking mess who exploded in an orgasm that left him trembling for a long time, after which the boy fell asleep in Grayson’s arms.

It was, Grayson felt, worthy make-up sex and a well-spent morning.