I was holding on to a secret.

I wasn't proud of the fact that I was keeping something from Richard and Dr. Michael. But I didn't know how to tell them that I didn't end up taking the morning-after pill. When I was in Richard's bathroom that afternoon, I had flushed the bright red pill down the toilet. I didn't know if I was even pregnant, but after being knotted by Richard and having him come in me many times, I knew the chances were pretty high.

I followed Richard down a rocky path to cross the stream, jumping on each rock carefully and trying not to fall into the freezing water. We were looking for sticks for the fire, which was hard because most of the ones on the ground were wet. We found an area with tall trees, and we searched around there. I was pretty distracted though. I couldn't stop staring at Richard's back. His muscles were so defined. When he wasn't expecting it, I jumped onto his back and wrapped my arms and legs around him.

"Cut it out," Richard said. "We're supposed to be looking for kindling."

"That doesn't mean we can't have a bit of fun," I said, playfully biting his neck.

Richard rolled onto the ground, and our bodies were covered in leaves and snow. He sat on top of me, straddling me with his legs and packed a snowball in his hands. He held the snowball in the air with a smirk on his face.

"Don't you dare," I said.

Before I could protect myself, Richard threw the snowball at my chest.

I made my own snowball and threw it right back at him, hitting him on the neck.

Richard didn't look too pleased. He dug his fingers in my ribs and started tickling me. I couldn't stop laughing as I tried to get him to stop.

"Okay, okay," I said. "You win."

Richard finally stopped and lay down next to me in the snow. We could see the stars that speckled the sky through the tall trees.

"That's something you don't get to see in the city," Richard said.

"They're beautiful." I pointed to the biggest star in the sky. "Look at that one."

"That star reminds me of you," Richard said.

"Really? Why?" I asked.

"Because it's the brightest one."

Richard inched his hand closer to mine and held it. I felt a warm sensation in my body, and I was happy to get to share this evening in the city limits with Richard.

He brought my hand to his face and kissed the back of it.

"You know, one day, I really do want to have a baby with you," Richard said.

My heart started beating faster. I thought about the secret I was keeping from the Alpha. I wondered if he'd be angry if I told him the truth.

But what confused me the most was why Richard was interested in me in the first place. He could get any Omega in the world. He was successful, handsome, and strong. He was the perfect Alpha, and any Omega would be lucky to have him.

"Really?" I said. "When do you want to have a baby with me?"

Richard shrugged. "When I find Tyler and things settle down. I bet we would make cute babies."

I smiled when I thought about our Golden pups running circles around us.

"What if we have one now?" I asked.

"We can't now." The tone of his voice changed, and he sounded serious. "There's too much going on, and it's far too dangerous for you to be carrying a baby out here."

"How dangerous can it be?" I asked. "I bet people give birth here all the time."

"When I have a baby with you, I want you to be safe in my home. I want to make sure you're comfortable and well fed. I can't have that kind of control here. This environment is far too unpredictable."

I knew Richard wanted to protect me and make sure I was safe. But I wanted him to realize that we were wolves after all. The baby would learn to be strong if it was raised out here. But behind the gates of the mansion, the baby would never learn to fight for his survival.

"Have you always lived in the city?" I asked.

Richard shook his head. "I was raised in the city limits. Which is probably how I got to be so resilient. I was raised in the wild, so I had to fight and defend myself within the pack. Dr. Michael and I were raised in the same pack. He's like a brother to me. But we both realized that it wasn't the way to live. So we decided to move to the city and make a life for ourselves there."

"And look how successful you've become," I said. "I think it's better to raise wolves in the city limits. It teaches them how to deal with difficult situations later in life."

"You may be right," Richard said. "But there's no way I'm risking the chance that you or our baby will be injured...or God forbid, killed. I'm not going to let that happen. If I impregnate you, I'm going to make sure you're in a safe and controlled environment. There's no discussion about it."

The Alpha was stubborn, but so was I. And I knew that the conversation was going in circles. I didn't know if I was actually pregnant yet, so I didn't want to start a fight with Richard. Plus, we had more important things to deal with. We had to find Tyler. I was curious to meet Richard's son. As far as I knew, Tyler and I were around the same age, and it'd be nice to be around a Golden Omega like me. I wondered if Tyler was anything like his father.

We continued to search for fire kindling. When we returned into the cave, Dr. Michael was sitting on a bed of leaves next to the fire that was almost out.

"You guys are back, finally," Dr. Michael said.

Richard gave the sticks we found to Dr. Michael, who quickly put some of them in the fire to get it going again

"We're going to have to get some food tonight," Richard said. "We've had a long day, and we haven't eaten anything yet."

The mention of food made my stomach grumble.

"We can probably catch some fish in the stream," Dr. Michael said.

"Remember when we were younger and we used to fight over who could catch the most fish?" Richard asked.

Dr. Michael smiled. "And I was the one who always won."

Richard furrowed his brows. "I don't remember that part. Pretty sure I was the one who always caught more."

The doctor rubbed his hands together close to the fire to warm his hands. "Are you challenging me to a competition?"

Richard smirked. "If you're up for it. Why not?"

The two Alphas stood up and went to the stream, surveying the water.

"First person to catch three fish wins?" Dr. Michael said.

Richard looked back at me. "Ollie, can you be the judge to make sure Dr. Michael doesn't cheat?"

"How am I going to cheat in a fishing competition?" Dr. Michael said, throwing his hands in the air. "It's not like I have fish hidden away somewhere."

I laughed at how competitive the Alphas got. I could tell Richard was trying to impress me. They were pretending like it was just a silly competition, but we all knew that it was much more than that.

"What does the winner get?" Dr. Michael said.

Richard thought for a moment. "Winner gets to cuddle with Ollie tonight."

My eyes widened. "Are you sure?"

"I'm so confident that I'm going to win that I'm willing to risk it," Richard said.

Dr. Michael smiled. "Okay, if you say so. But don't go crying once you lose. You'll be watching me cuddle your sweet Omega all evening."

Richard turned to me and winked. "Don't worry. You’re going to watch me win," he whispered.

"Okay, we go in on three," Dr. Michael said.

I counted down, and both Alphas shifted into wolf form and jumped into the stream. In the darkness, it was hard to tell them apart. They were similar in size, and they were splashing around in the water, desperately trying to look for the first fish. I was sure all that splashing was scaring away the fish.

Richard swam back first holding a fish in his mouth. He brought it back and put it by my feet, then quickly jumped back into the water and went to look for another one. Dr. Michael returned soon after with one too. I was secretly rooting for Richard to win. I wanted to cuddle with him that night.

Both Alphas came back with a second fish at the same time, and they jumped back into the water to find the last one. They had different strategies. Richard stood on the edge and waited patiently. While Dr. Michael was using the more chaotic technique of jumping from rock to rock. I watched Dr. Michael dive into the water, before re-emerging from the surface with the third fish.

He shook all the water off his coat before he shifted back to human form. Richard shifted too, and I saw how defeated he looked with his shoulders rounded forward.

"How did you win?" Richard said. "There's no way."

Dr. Michael smiled and put an arm around Richard. "Don't worry, bud. I'm not going to steal your Omega from you tonight. Since you lost...how about you just cook the fish?"

Richard didn't look as upset after Dr. Michael said that.

"Deal," Richard said.

We gathered the five fish and went back to the cave. Richard skewered the fish and started roasting it over the fire.

I could barely wait for them to finish cooking. And when they finally did, Richard let me eat the biggest one. I ate two, and Richard and Dr. Michael shared the other three.

The meal was delicious, and the only thing left remaining was the bones. I clutched my stomach, leaning against a rock. Richard sat next to me and put his arm around me. I was lucky to be with Richard and even Dr. Michael. For once in my life, I actually felt like I was part of a pack.

I noticed Richard staring blankly into the fire. I could tell that there was something on his mind, and I figured he was thinking about Tyler. I was determined to help him find his son. I curled up in Richard's arms, taking in the Alpha's musky scent, which made me feel safe. Richard wrapped his arms around me tighter, and it felt like I was snuggling up in a warm blanket.

"I'm going to go to sleep now," Dr. Michael said, lying down in a corner of the cave.

"Good night," Richard said. "If you want to come cuddle with us, you're more than welcome to."

Dr. Michael laughed, and it echoed in the cave. "Thanks for the offer, but I'm nice and warm in this corner."

The fire was starting to dwindle, and we were all too full and tired to get it going again. I was warm lying next to Richard. I closed my eyes to sleep and felt Richard lips on mine when I wasn't expecting it. He ran his hands over my ass and squeezed it gently.

I could feel his hard cock pressed against me, and I reached down to stroke him gently. My back was turned to Dr. Michael, who was snoring.

Richard groaned quietly as I jerked him off. I was surprised that he was able to put his cock inside me last night because I could barely wrap my hands around his girth.

"You're going to make me come if you keep doing that," Richard whispered.

I leaned down and wrapped my lips around the Alpha’s tip as I continued to stroke him. I felt Richard's body tense up before he released his load down my throat, and I swallowed every drop of him. I looked into his eyes and kissed him. Richard crinkled his nose.

"I can taste my come on your lips," he said.

I smiled. "It's like dessert after a delicious meal."