Danny and I were going to show up to the club as a couple. I hadn't brought anyone here as my partner for a very long time; I couldn't even remember. It didn't matter, though. Danny was mine now, and I was his.

I held his hand tightly as we walked through the trippy painted corridor and came out into the bar, seeing Goldie, who smiled at us. Caden and Oliver were seated at the bar, and I pulled Danny along with me to go talk to them.

"Danny!" Oliver yelled. His eyes were wide, and he had an incredulous grin on his face. "I can't believe you're here of all places."

"It's surreal to see you here too," Danny said.

"How do you know Oliver?" I asked.

"He's my closest friend from school,” said Danny. "It was he who originally told me that I should come here."

"Then I have you to thank that we're together," I said.

"What can I get you?" asked Goldie, sliding up behind Oliver.

"The usual for me," I said.

"And a ginger ale for me," said Danny.

There was a brief silence, and Oliver seem to be unable to hide his smile.

Caden blinked. "What is it?" he asked, clearly the only one not getting it. "Goldie? You understand?"

"Obviously," she said. "Archer and Danny are expecting a new member of their family."

Oliver giggled, and Danny was grinning widely. I put my arm around him.

Caden beamed. "I can't believe that, man. That's amazing. Soon enough you'll have your own kiddo to run around with ours."

I nodded. "It'll be like we’re a big extended family."

"Just like how I always imagined," said Caden. "Well, no, I couldn't have foreseen how this would turn out. But I'd been hoping for it."

"And they say that omegas are the emotional ones," Danny said. Oliver laughed. "Sometimes I think they're all made of marshmallow inside."

Caden scoffed. "I'm allowed to get excited about cute kids too."

Oliver leaned to rest his head on Caden’s shoulder. "I know, I'm just teasing. Archer, I can't wait to see how you'd be as a dad."

"Me neither," said Danny, his eyes sparkling with what might've been unshed tears.

I had to admit that I felt touched myself. Somehow, being here with all my friends made me realize that I was luckier than I'd ever before imagined. I had a family that loved me, and wasn't that the only thing that mattered?

The moan of pleasure from the playroom made me remember there were other things that mattered in life too.

"Danny, I'm sure you have questions for me," said Oliver, and I was glad to see the older omega was taking mine under his wing. It seemed like Oliver would be a good role model for him, playing a sort of big brother role.

The two omegas walked from the bar to the sitting area, where they would be more comfortable.

I took a seat next to Caden, and Goldie slid a glass of whiskey in front of me.

"Life is just crazy, isn't it?" said Caden, taking a sip of his own drink.

"I almost feel like it changes so fast I can't keep up," I said. "I mean… I'm going to be a dad. Of course I'm excited and I know we make a great team, but I'm scared too, you know?"

"It'd be worse if you weren't scared," said Caden. "The fact that you're scared means that you're going to take it seriously and do a great job."

I supposed that he was right. "I know," I said. "Do you ever stop worrying?"

"I'll let you know when I do," said Caden with a chuckle.

We sat in companionable silence for a few minutes, listening to the thump of electronic music coming from the playroom, punctuated by further sounds of pleasure. It was strange to think that this place was one of the most important in my life.

Caden turned to look at me with questioning eyes. "Have you ever heard of this legend of the fated mates?" he asked seriously.

"No, I haven’t. What’s that?" I said.

"It's mostly a shifter thing, I think,” Caden said. "But it's basically this legend that says you'll simply know when you meet the person who's right for you."

"I mean, that's what they all say," I said with a sigh. "How am I supposed to know that I'm not making up my feelings?"

Caden narrowed his eyes at me. "Do you honestly think that you're making up your feelings?"

"No, of course not," I said. “But if I let myself think about it too much…"

“You can make yourself doubt anything if you want to,” Caden said. “But if you know, you know, and you can’t doubt your gut instinct.”

“That all sounds vague,” I said.

Caden sighed. “Goldie? Would you tell him what you told me?”

The bartender grinned, topping off a beer and sliding it to another customer. “The fated mates legend? Sure. Where I come from, we believe that you’ll feel a spark when you meet your fated mate.”

“I didn’t feel a spark,” I said, frowning.

She waved her hand. “It’s like, a metaphorical spark. Like, you can just tell there’s something more to this person. It’s unique, unlike anything you’d feel with anyone else.”

“I guess I did feel that way,” I said wonderingly, remembering the first time I met Danny. I’d hooked up with omega subs like him in the past, but our first encounter had felt different.

“It means you’re fated to be together,” Goldie said sagely. “You were destined for each other, from the moment you arrived on Earth.”

I thought this sounded a little hokey, to be honest, but I wasn’t going to say that out loud. And it was nice, honestly, to think that we were meant to be together.

“I see,” I said, trying to sound convinced.

“Of course,” continued Goldie, “no one really believes in that stuff anymore. It’s just a thing people say.” She grinned. “I can tell you two belong together because of how you look at each other, and how comfortable he makes you.”

“Me?”

“Yeah. I’ve been here a while and seen you with other subs, but… Even I could tell the connection between you two was something special.”

I felt a little silly, assuming she actually believed in mystical things like fate. “That’s nice to hear,” I said. “It really felt special.”

I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned around to see that Danny had come back after having chatted with Oliver, who had taken a seat next to his mate.

“Goldie here was just telling us about the legend of the fated mates,” I told Danny. “You ever heard that?”

He nodded. “The shifters in my old hometown used to talk about it.”

“Does that mean you’re a shifter, Goldie?” asked Caden. “We don’t know that much about you…”

“I’m not that interesting,” she said, smiling sweetly. “Now, my sister Rayne, on the other hand… She’s a spitfire. Does a lot of art and activism. I bet she’d like this place.”

“She’s an artist?” asked Caden. “Maybe we can hire her to do more decor here.”

“Oh my gosh,” said Danny suddenly, putting a hand on his stomach. He sat down quickly and stared into space while running his hands slowly over his belly.

“What happened?” I asked, my heartrate spiking.

“I thought I felt… the baby kick…”

We all fell silent, and Danny looked like he was concentrating on feeling something in his stomach.

He had become remarkably round by now. We’d been to several doctor’s appointments at this point, and he wasn’t even due for a couple months, but it was hard to imagine that he’d get much bigger.

Of course, I wasn’t going to tell him that. He’d begun to feel a little insecure about his changing body, as much as he loved knowing he was growing our child. I tried to assure him that I still found him incredibly attractive even as his belly became bigger.

There was something super hot about the thought that I’d planted that seed.

Danny took my hand and placed it on his stomach. “Feel,” he said… “The little guy should make another move soon, he’s feeling energetic.”

I thought I felt something, but I wasn’t sure, so I instinctively pressed my hand a little more firmly to Danny’s stomach. And that was when I felt it.

A distinct push against my hand, like the baby was trying to reach me, to tell me he was here and he was excited to meet me.

To my surprise, I felt tears well up in my eyes.

“I c-can’t believe it,” I said, trying my hardest to blink the tears away and prevent my voice from cracking. It wasn’t very becoming of an alpha.

I continued touching Danny’s stomach, and he placed his hand over mine. The baby really seemed to have something to say, or maybe he was just adjusting his position, because now that my hand was there, I was feeling lots of movement.

“It really does feel a bit like fluttering,” I said, transfixed. I couldn’t believe that our child was present, right here. When people talked about pregnancy, they kind of made it seem like the baby was somewhere else, waiting to arrive.

But no, our baby had been here with us the whole time, patiently waiting and growing alongside us.

It was a beautiful thought, that we were already a family all sitting together.

I finally moved my hand when I didn’t feel any more movement.

“He must have settled,” said Danny.

“That had to have been one of the most profound moments of my life,” I said in amazement.

“I totally get it,” said Caden. “I can’t believe it’s even possible for our mates to pull off something like this.”

“You’d better believe it,” said Oliver, rubbing his own stomach. “We work damn hard to put more people out into the world.”

I glanced at Goldie, who was wiping down the counter with a rag, and remembered something. “Goldie? Didn’t you say you had a child?”

“Did I?” she asked, blinking up at me. “I may have mentioned I was helping care for one.”

“Ah,” I said. “Maybe we can organize childcare and playdates. Looks like there’s going to be a lot of kids around here. Well, not here, as in the club, but you know…”

Danny laughed.

“Maybe,” said Goldie. “My uh, niece, um, her name is Annika, is a little bit of an oddball, though. Not like other kids. But she likes art, so maybe she and Amy would get along.”

I smiled, feeling the warmth of family surge through me. Caden was my best friend, so I already felt like we were a family, but now? We were going to be dads together, with our amazing mates, who had been brought into the fold. And to think our kids would play with each other, maybe even regard each other as unofficial cousins…

I nearly teared up again, and somehow managed to avoid bawling in the club.

Alphas felt like crying too, sometimes, but we didn’t show it. And sometimes it was hard to summon the tears even if we felt like crying.

I knew, though, that when I finally met our baby boy, when he decided it was time to come out and say hello, that I would be crying abundant tears of joy. If I was this overcome with emotion already…

I could only imagine what loving my child would feel like.

I turned and kissed Danny on the cheek spontaneously, and he blushed, giving me a schoolboy-ish bashful smile. His skin and hair looked amazing, like he almost glowed with radiance.

It made me want to take him right here and now—and it actually wouldn’t have been the most inappropriate place to do so—but his stomach was starting to become big enough that we had to work around it.

“I love you,” I said to Danny quietly, as the rest of the group dissolved into their own conversation.

“And I love you,” he replied, kissing me sweetly on the lips.

I could feel my cock stir at his touch, feeling his tongue slide against mine.

Well, maybe we could have some fun.

Danny pulled away from the kiss and winked.