Chapter Seventeen
They took a car to drive up to the hills, packed with their things and enough food to last them a while.
“If we run low, I’ll do a trip down to get more,” Axel promised.
Joe found he was looking forward to it almost as much as he’d been dreading arriving in the Weir. Having Kai there had taken his mind off of it.
“We used to come up here in the summers when we were kids,” Axel said. “We’d swim in the lakes, play in the forests. A change of scenery.”
The road they were on became a dirt trail that narrowed and stopped at the base of a hill.
“We walk from here,” Axel said, climbing out. Joe followed suit, going to grab some of their things.
“Ah-ah. I’ll take those.” Axel whisked the bags from his arms. “Jensen said no heavy lifting for another week.”
“They’re not heavy,” he tried to protest.
“I say they are. I’ll carry them.”
“I’ll help,” Kai offered.
“At least let me carry my backpack,” Joe said, trying not to grumble.
Axel lifted said backpack experimentally. “Wow, you did pack light. Alright, but this and nothing else, you hear me?”
“I hear you.” He grumbled a little, but it was hard to be mad at his mate for wanting to take care of him.
It was half an hour’s walk to the cottage. From the way Kai was shrugging his shoulders when he didn’t think they were looking, the omega was itching to shift. The drugs they’d been given had worn off completely, and Joe felt relief when he reached for his wolf, able to connect effortlessly.
“Someone’s been here recently,” Axel commented as they stepped in the door.
“The cleaning fairy?” Joe joked on catching sight of the living room. “I thought you said no one had lived up here in years.”
“I might have told Mom we planned to come up here. I’m guessing she wanted to make a good impression.”
Joe turned to Kai who was looking around with interest.
“I guess we’re off the hook, Kai. We don’t have to spend another week scrubbing the floors.”
“Then what will we do?” the omega wondered aloud.
“That’s easy,” Axel replied. “Have fun.”
And they did. Axel showed them the best swimming spots and they learned Kai was a pretty strong swimmer, used to rivers and lakes. He could also change form in water without missing a beat, a trick he tried unsuccessfully to help Joe master.
There was a bookcase full of books and a cupboard full of board games, ones Joe hadn’t seen since he was a kid. It was freeing not to have anything to worry about, no patients, no impending births. The only thing he needed to focus on was his relationship with Axel and with Kai.
He couldn’t deny he’d felt a flash of jealousy when he realized that Axel’s mom’s newly improved attitude was because of Kai. She’d been welcoming to him in a way she’d never been to Joe. But his anger was all for Axel’s pack and their backward attitudes and not for Kai, who was innocent and stuck in the middle through no fault of his own.
“Hey.”
Joe was distracted from his thoughts by Axel’s arrival.
“Hey. Where’s Kai?”
“Sitting in a tree by the river. In human form, though I wouldn’t be surprised if his fox could scale a tree trunk.”
Joe smiled at the image.
“He’s nothing if not resourceful.”
Axel sat down next to him and Joe reached for his hand, intertwining their fingers.
“So, what do you think?” he asked the alpha.
“Think about what?”
“Kai,” he replied, playfully exasperated.
“I see why you like him.”
Axel’s reply was a little bland and had Joe frowning. “But you don’t?”
“Oh no, I do. I like him a lot.”
“Good.” Only one look at Axel’s face told him differently. “It’s not good?”
“I just… I don’t know how we do this. I’ve never seen a three-person relationship in action. What does that even look like?”
“River Den and Hilltop both have polyamorous relationships. They’re just like regular relationships except they go three ways.”
“Okay, but, I mean… would you and he… or would he and I…”
Joe got up onto his knees, facing Axel. The alpha looked conflicted and Joe was starting to realize that it wasn’t because he didn’t want Kai but because he did but he wasn’t sure what the rules were.
“I want Kai with us,” Joe insisted. “The rest is just details.”
“It’s just that I don’t want you to feel… I mean you saw what my mom was like when we arrived. It’s not a slight against you, she just has grandkids on the brain and all she knows about omega is that they can have kids.”
“I don’t like how she’s treated me, but I understand it. And yes, Kai can have babies, but that’s not why I want him with us. You know this mating thing doesn’t work like that.”
“I know,” Axel said, pulling him closer. Joe rested his head on Axel’s shoulder, feeling the alpha’s fingers combing through his hair.
“He likes us back, I’m sure of it.”
Axel snorted. “That’s a relief. I don’t want to pressure him though. He needs to come to this himself.”
“No pressure,” Joe promised. “Though, maybe a prodigious amount of nudging?”
Laughing, Axel pressed a kiss to his neck, drawing a shiver and a moan from Joe.
Axel had his sketchpad out, his attention focused on a small patch of sky framed by the hills and some trees. He heard the crack of branches nearby before a fox padded into view.
“Hey, Kai.”
Even though the omega’s isolation symptoms were steadily improving, Kai seemed to really like being in his fox form. He settled down beside Axel with a soft whine and Axel returned his attention to pencil and paper.
He was jolted back to awareness by a very human Kai leaning over his shoulder to peer at his sketch.
“How do you do that?”
“Do what?”
“Make what’s on the paper look like what’s out there.”
That was a harder question than Axel guessed Kai realized. He spent some time showing Kai how to create depth and use shading. The omega listened with rapt attention.
“Here, you try,” Axel said, handing over the pad and pencil. “Try that tree over there.”
It was a sapling, with a handful of thin branches and a few leaves.
Kai tackled it with enthusiasm but frowned at the end result. “It doesn’t look anything like yours.”
“It’s a good first try. It’s taken me years of practice to get this good.”
The omega brightened at that, leaning against Axel’s side as he considered his sketch. Axel guessed that was a good sign. Despite the closeness of their first meeting, when they’d both been playing a role, Kai had been keeping his distance more recently.
Axel decided to nudge a little, like Joe had suggested, lifting his arm, and settling it over Kai’s shoulders. Kai made a quiet sound of surprise under his breath, tensed for a fraction of a second, then sighed and relaxed into Axel’s embrace.
“How’s the shivering and stuff?”
“Getting better.” Kai seemed to take the question as a sign he could move closer and he did.
“You smell nice,” he said. “Different to Joe.”
“You smell nice, too,” Axel replied.
“Can I scent you?”
It shouldn’t have been an odd question, they were shifters after all. But scenting had fallen out of habit in his pack since it wasn’t that useful. Kai though, he was very in touch with his shifter form.
“Sure, go ahead.”
Kai moved so he was kneeling in front of Axel before he leaned in, pressing his nose against his neck. Axel shivered at Kai’s proximity, the omega’s warm breath tickling his skin.
“What do you smell?” Axel wondered.
“Alpha, paint. And wolf. It’s not as strong as Joe’s, but it’s there. I can almost… touch it.”
Kai did something, and Axel felt a rush of energy and heat as his wolf surfaced. It was just for a moment, a split second, but it left his skin tingling as he gasped out a breath.
“What did you do?” Axel asked softly.
“I… I don’t know. It… your wolf… was there and I just reached for it. Are you okay? I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
Axel caught Kai before the omega could pull away, cupping his cheeks and lifting his head so their eyes met.
“No, you didn’t. That felt amazing. I’ve never sensed my wolf like that before. Thank you.”
“I can’t imagine what that would be like,” Kai murmured. “Not knowing your shifter animal, not being able to shift, to set them free. Those few days with the hyenas were awful. Years would be torture.”
There were tears in Kai’s eyes. Tears for him, Axel realized. For the pain he was imagining Axel had gone through.
He leaned in, pressing a kiss to Kai’s cheek.
“You don’t miss what you’ve never had,” he said softly as he pulled back.
Kai was shaking his head, one lone tear trailing down his cheek.
“I think you do. I’ve missed not having a pack, or an alpha father, or brothers and sisters, or even just friends. I never had them, but I missed them all the same, terribly sometimes. All I wanted when I was a kid was a place to call home. And you had all those things, but you were missing one of the most important.”
Axel had a sudden vivid memory of himself as a kid, encountering a wild wolf in the forest. And feeling a longing to be able to communicate. No, not just communicate. He’d wanted to be that wolf, to see the world through the wolf’s eyes, to scent the world the way he could. He’d wished he could run on four legs, feeling the wind rushing through his fur, the leaves beneath his paws.
“Axel?”
Kai’s soft voice brought him back, blinking his eyes open.
“You’re right. I’ve missed it, longed for it. All my people have. But we don’t talk about it, pretend it’s not a problem.”
“How come it’s like that? How come no one can fix it?”
Axel didn’t tell Kai the truth, that they had a fairly good idea why it was that way and that the solution might lie in Kai’s hands.
“It’s just the way things are now. But it’s getting better, other wolf packs can change now, so we hope one day ours can too.”
That seemed to satisfy the omega and he returned to sitting by Axel’s side.
“Do you feel your wolf when you’re with Joe?”
“No.”
“Is it an omega thing?”
Axel had to laugh. Clearly, even Kai’s short time in the dens had taught him something.
“Yeah, that’s exactly what it is. Omega have some unusual talents.”
“But I don’t have a real talent. Not like you and your art. Or Joe’s midwifery.”
Axel caught Kai’s chin between his thumb and forefinger. “You have a real talent for survival.”
There was a moment when it looked like they would kiss but both of them hesitated. He knew why. Joe wasn’t there, and he was an integral part of this, whatever it was.
“I should let you finish you sketch before the light changes,” Kai said clambering reluctantly to his feet.
“Where are you off to?” Axel asked.
“I’m going to see Joe.”
They’d been staying up in the Hills for over a week and had settled into a routine of sorts. Joe looked up from his book to find Kai hovering nearby. Axel had been teaching Kai to sketch. He’d tried to teach Joe before, but Joe had concluded that he really didn’t have an eye for it.
“Hi. How’s the drawing coming along?”
“I’m not sure I’ll ever get past stick figures.” Kai sat down next to him. “Is your book any good?”
“It’s not bad.” Sensing Kai wanted to talk, Joe set the book down. Only to be surprised.
“Will you come swimming with me? Axel’s painting. I think he’ll be a while.”
It was hot out, the cloudless sky doing nothing to shelter them from the sun.
“Sure, let’s go.”
They headed down to the bigger lake, the one with the waterfall. It was everyone’s favorite.
Stripping off, they waded in, swimming out toward the center.
Kai splashed water at Joe and, laughing, he splashed him right back.
Joe grabbed for Kai, fully intending on dunking him when instinct seized him. He pulled Kai closer, his eyes on the omega’s, Kai’s scent surrounding him, and he kissed him, full on the lips.
Kai froze, making a soft sound of surprise. He pulled back, a question on his lips.
“Are… are you sure?”
Joe nodded, reaching for him again. Kai went willingly into his embrace and when Joe kissed him again, Kai kissed him right back. Joe felt the rush of blood through his head, felt the heady sense of attraction he’d only felt once before, with Axel.
The broke apart again, circling each other in the water. Kai couldn’t take his eyes from Joe’s, excited and happy.
“This… Is this… What is this? What are we doing?”
“What feels good,” Joe said. “What feels right.”
“And Axel?”
The missing piece in their equation.
A voice from the bank drew their attention. “Don’t worry about me. I’m enjoying the view.”
They turned as one, finding the alpha standing there. There was a smudge of paint across his cheek.
“Is there room for one more?”
Joe looked to Kai, knowing it was the omega’s say that mattered.
“Is this okay?” The omega checked with him, bubbling with anticipation but still hesitant.
“It’s perfect,” Joe said. “If it’s what you want.”
“I want it. Both of you. You feel like you belong to me and maybe, I belong to you too.”
With a splash, Axel jumped into the water, swimming to them with powerful strokes.
And then they were in a circle, treading water. Joe reached for Kai’s hand, then Axel’s.
“We belong together, the three of us. I feel it, I know it.”
Kai smiled. “I know it, too. You feel like home to me.”
Axel was last to speak, moving closer and drawing both him and Kai into the circle of his arms. “You feel like mine and I’m never letting you go.”