Just like that, things were looking up. With each day we spent together, Chance began to coin in. He stayed close to home at first, but soon he was venturing out of the house with Soren to go shopping or run errands—even if Soren had to bribe him with the promise of iced coffee. Leave it to my brother to exploit the Omega’s sugary weaknesses. The thought made me laugh. Soon the two would be thick as thieves and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Chance was smiling more, too, his worries fading little by little. I knew they’d never go away completely. There would always be that unspoken “what if” that lurked at the back of his mind, but all I could do was keep my promise. I would keep him safe if it was the last thing I did.

“Whatcha doing, Daddy?” Dresden clambered up onto the kitchen chair beside me, his little legs swinging off the edge. He slapped both hands down over the table and made a grab for my checkbook. “Doing money, Daddy?”

“I am doing money, Dee,” I singsonged back at him, tapping the end of my pen lightly over his button nose. I slid my check register across the table, just out of his reach. “Gotta balance the checkbook so I know how much money we have. It’s payday!”

“Payday!” he chimed back. “Can I do money?”

“Here, how about we draw stuff instead?” Chance came padding into the kitchen, his sketchbook tucked beneath one arm. I glanced up to meet his gaze, thankful for his sudden appearance. He winked at me, then sank into the seat on the other side of Dresden.

The little wolf clapped his hands together. “I wanna draw! Can I draw in your book?”

“Mmm? How about I give you your very own paper?”

“Thank you,” I mouthed to him and he shrugged, like it was really no big deal.

Setting the box of colored pencils down on the table, Chance flipped through the sketchbook he’d bought a couple weeks ago. I’d given him the money for it after I’d seen a couple of his so-called “doodles” on cheap notebook paper. Damn. The man had talent in spades—why wasn’t he using it? Ever since then, I’d made it a priority to make sure that he got whatever art supplies he needed to further his hobby.

No matter how much he tried to argue with me.

At the very back of the book, he carefully tore out one of the perforated pages and slid it across the table, in front of Dresden. “Feel how nice it is? Like this.” He ran a finger over the thick, rippled cream paper and smiled. Chance rubbed his chubby fingers over the page, but he definitely wasn’t impressed. Chance giggled. “What’s your favorite color?”

“Blue!” Dresden barked.

“Great choice. Here. Blue.” Chance handed him a sky blue colored pencil, which he gripped with his stubby fingers in that awkward way kids always did. “Make all the pretty pictures for me, okay? When you’re all done, we’ll hang it up on the refrigerator for everyone to see. How about that?”

“Yay. We put yours on the ‘fridger too, Uncle Chance?”

Chance just smiled. “Maybe.”

When they both began to draw, with Dresden humming softly to himself, I turned my attention back to the checkbook. I’d been lucky to find a job working from home, doing administration work for some big-name business out of California. My bosses were only a Skype call away and not being chained to the typical 9-to-5 made it easier to be the Alpha my growing family deserved.

After Charlie died, Soren basically became a live-in nanny. He stepped up to the role without a single complaint, and he took care of Dresden whenever I had to shut myself up in the office to get paperwork done. I felt guilty. I did. I knew that he needed a life outside of helping raise his nephew. He had friends in Gracie’s pack that he used to hang out with a lot.

Not so much anymore. At least until now. Chance had stepped in, relieving Soren of babysitting duty more and more. He seemed to genuinely enjoy spending time with my son and it was obvious that Dresden adored him. Uncle Chance. Just seeing them together made my heart swell with pride.

But it made me wonder… Would it be hard for Dresden to accept when we told him that he was getting a little brother or sister? Would he be upset with me when I told him that Chance and I were mates, and that Chance would be his new daddy? Would he think I was replacing Charlie? The thought made me sad.

That night, lying in bed with Chance cuddled up to my chest, I touched his stomach. His belly was already beginning to pouch out and it wouldn’t be long before his pregnancy would be obvious to everyone. I slowly massaged my palm over the bump, then rolled onto my side to press a kiss to his pale skin.

“What are you doing?” Chance squirmed slightly.

“Kissing our baby,” I retorted. I nuzzled my nose against the Omega’s navel and Chance’s stomach dipped with his sudden inhalation. I cradled the bump with both hands, then kissed it again. “Relax, lover. I just want it to know it’s loved. It needs to know how strong its daddy is.”

Pink flushed the fox’s freckled cheeks, but he was smiling and it did such sweet things to my heart. “You’re a goofball.”

I beamed, then crawled up his body to plant a kiss upon his lips. “I’m your goofball.”

We fell asleep tangled in each other’s arms and woke in the same beautiful disarray. With the beginnings of dawn’s light streaming through the sheer curtains, my gaze roved over my snoring lover.

My smile stretched so wide my cheeks ached. Passed out cold, his cheek was scrunched up against the pillow and drool was dried on his face, bubbles of spittle on his lips. He was perfect. He was mine, and I was so happy he’d stumbled into my life.

After awhile, he groaned and stretched and blinked bleary eyes at me. “What?” he mumbled, wiping his mouth with the back of his arm. Seeing the drool, he made a horrified face.

“You’re so gorgeous, Chance,” I said, unable to help myself.

He glanced down at himself, mostly bared to me, and grabbed at the sheets to jerk them up over his body. “You say that, but…” He frowned. “I don’t feel like it. My scars…”

I tugged the blankets back down, then traced my fingertip over a deep gouge written into his hip. “These scars are beautiful. They are a part of you, and they’re living proof of how strong you are.” My lips caressed the silvery lines and Chance let out a choked whimper. I pulled back, frowning. “What’s wrong, baby?”

“I just never thought I’d find anything like this,” he admitted softly. “You’re so damn kind, so gentle and loving and careful with me and I’m not used to it. Hux, I’ve been abused most of my life and honestly? I thought for sure I’d die at Bones’s hand. That’s why I ran…” He dropped his gaze, his cheeks blotching with shame. “Every heat, I was whored around to Bones’s friends and whoever else would pay him for an hour with me. They used me and I felt so filthy, so…defiled. Bones told me that no other Alpha would ever want me.”

Anger bubbled through me, but what came out instead was a calm resolve. “This Alpha does,” I rumbled out, a growl hiding behind those words. Chance’s lower lip wobbled like he might start crying. I kissed over the scars, letting my tongue trace along their grooved paths, and then bumped my forehead against his stomach.

“You’re my Omega. My lover. My partner—and right here, growing inside of you, is proof of that. Don’t you doubt my feelings for you. Bones was a monster. He was a liar and he was cruel to you, and you never once deserved it.”

I kissed my way up his body, until I could press my lips to his neck. I felt his pulse beating wild as a hare’s just beneath my touch and I sucked at that spot. “You’re mine.”

I gently took his arms and flipped them so they were palms-up. Then I rubbed my wrists against his in a slow, steady glide of skin and scent glands. I marked him and when I was satisfied with the deep purple hickie on his neck, I brushed a kiss over his lips. “And now you smell like me.”

His whimper was plaintive as he clung to me, and in that bed we made love. Chance shattered in my arms with a cry of release, burying his face in the crook of my neck while his body trembled with the power of his orgasm. “God, I think I love you,” he whispered and my heart soared.

“I know, baby. I know.”