Chapter Twenty-Six
His first week home, Griffin made discrete inquiries into Virgil and Antoine, wanting prior warning if they were planning to move against him or his pack like they’d promised. But word on the street had the pair home, licking their wounds. He suspected Nathan Beaumont had connected the dots and knew who had brought him to the party. He’d also doubtless have discovered the missing notebook by now. One of Griffin’s first moves was to ensure it was made clear to the Nathan that Virgil and Antoine didn’t have it. Instead of Beaumont afraid to act against them for fear of what they’d reveal, he was now on the warpath, and they were keeping a low profile. It wouldn’t last; things would be papered over, explained away, the blame placed elsewhere. Griffin would have to do a lot of work behind the scenes to make sure Briar Wood didn’t end up at the top of anyone’s hit list.
He was happily distracted by Kieran’s long-awaited presentation. The betting pool had reached fever pitch, with the pack almost evenly divided between those predicting an alpha and those certain he was an omega.
Griffin and Beau were going for a walk through the woods when they heard the commotion, running back to the house. They found a small crowd gathered near the back door. The crowd parted to reveal Noah on his knees. Ronan was opposite him, in wolf form. And between them was little Kieran, on his hands and knees as if to crawl, and making soft growling sounds. He was still human but, from the way his legs and arms were shaking, not for long.
“Let’s give them a little space and privacy,” Griffin said, clapping his hands softly. Grumbling, most of the crowd filtered away, back into the house or toward the woods.
Quinn, sitting on the ground nearby, stayed put, giving Griffin a nod of thanks.
“Beau and I will head inside,” he added, reaching back for the alpha’s hand.
“Stay, please,” Noah called. “We don’t mind. You’re family.”
“If you’re sure,” he said, moving to sit near Quinn. Beau knelt beside him.
“How long has Kieran been this close?” he asked Quinn.
“He’s been having constant spasms since this morning. And his eyes changed during breakfast.”
“Most of which ended up on the floor,” Noah added, his smile tired. “I think we’re all ready for this to happen.”
Ronan woofed in agreement. The sound seemed to spur Kieran on, the toddler letting out another tiny growl that had all the adults smiling. Even Ronan’s wolf seemed to smile.
And then Kieran collapsed in a heap against the ground as if something had sucked all the life out of him. Noah jerked forward as if to catch him, and there was a collective holding of breath as he went through the change right in front of them.
Two green eyes peered around at them a minute later, before Kieran shook himself off and climbed a little unsteadily onto four legs. Quinn let out a whoop of excitement, matched by Ronan’s howl. It was followed a second later by the softer cry of a wolf cub. Griffin couldn’t help but laugh. Ronan and Noah had beaten the odds, again. A wolf cub, and an alpha at that.
He watched, Beau’s hand in his, as Noah shifted and both his fox and Ronan’s wolf nuzzled their little wolf cub, welcoming him to the pack. They stayed back, watching as Ronan and Noah coaxed Kieran to walk, the cub a little shaky on his paws as he took in the new world his shifter senses presented. Like most shifters, Griffin didn’t remember his first change well, just a rush of sensation, an explosion of sounds and smells that hadn’t been there before.
Within minutes, Kieran was playing with Ronan and Noah, chasing Noah’s tail, nipping at Ronan’s fur and squealing when they gave chase in turn. He tired quickly, collapsing against Ronan as the alpha lay on the ground. He was sleeping seconds later, curled into his father’s warmth. Noah lay down on his other side, Kieran sandwiched safely between them while he and Ronan nuzzled noses, their eyes closing.
“At least they’re finally getting some sleep,” Quinn whispered with a grin.
The three spectators climbed carefully to their feet, skirting around the napping trio on their way back to the house. Ronan lifted his head as they passed.
“Congratulations,” Griffin whispered, crouching down and meeting Ronan’s eyes. “I’m so happy for you both.”
As he stood, he could just see Kieran where he was hidden between them. Safe and sound.
He turned to find Beau and Quinn watching him. The latter had a knowing look on his face.
“Once an omega, always an omega, huh?”
Griffin gave him a sharp look, and Quinn held up his hands, wincing.
“Sorry, sorry. I didn’t mean any offense, Griffin.” He hurried away before Griffin could decide on a response. Just as well because nothing kind was coming to mind.
“What did he mean?” Beau asked softly as they stepped inside.
“He was just being stupid.” Beau wasn’t buying it so Griffin sighed and continued. “Omegas are maternal by nature. Children are instinctive to us, wanting them, raising them. I think sometimes people forget what I am, then they see me around kids and it hits them that I’m not what I seem.”
“Alphas can want kids too.”
The pronouncement took Griffin by surprise. He turned to see Beau looking almost embarrassed by his words.
“Do… did you want kids?” As far as he understood it, it wasn’t physically impossible for fighters to have kids. But they needed drugs to trigger a rut which they wouldn’t enter naturally and to simulate a bond which they couldn’t form.
“It was never really on the cards.”
Griffin was very aware that Beau’s reply wasn’t an answer.
“You understand that I can’t…”
It was implied in the fact that he couldn’t mate. No mate, no bond, no kids.
“I understand. Kids are for other people, not for us.”
A choice taken from them by others. Sometimes he wanted to rail against the unfairness of it all. Other times, he felt it was a good thing. He couldn’t imagine he’d be the kind of parent a child needed, not with the way he’d been raised. There was a lot he could teach a kid but plenty of it was stuff he didn’t think a child should ever know.
“Come on.” He linked his arm with Beau’s. “Let’s go break the good news and see who won the pool.”
Hours later, as they ate dinner, they revisited the conversation in a way Griffin hadn’t expected.
“We could adopt, couldn’t we?” Beau said.
Griffin considered his words carefully before voicing his reply.
“That would be a complicated situation. Bonding between shifter parents and children relies strongly on scent and the familiarities between our child’s scent, our own scent, and our mate’s scent.”
With a stranger’s child, there was none of that. It was most important for the alpha, given their higher territoriality. An omega might get by on a healthy dose of maternal instinct. Species matching sometimes helped overcome that but it could only work with one parent. In Beau’s case, well, they were unlikely to find an unwanted baby bear shifter to adopt.
He explained all that too, watching Beau’s thoughtful expression. The alpha had never expected to have a mate so it made sense he’d never faced the question of wanting a child alongside the practicalities of actually having one. He’d need time to work through it, just like Griffin had when he’d realized the truth of what had been done to him.
Reaching a hand across the table, he gripped Beau’s arm lightly.
“We have each other. Lots of people just have each other. It could be enough.”
Beau’s hand covered his. “It is enough. But, if I could give you a child, I would.”
“I’ve known for a long time that wouldn’t happen. I’m okay with it, I promise.”
The alpha’s smile melted something inside of him, and he couldn’t help but smile back at Beau’s next words.
“Then I’m okay with it too.”