Heat Race - Tanya Chris Page 0,98

chasing behind her, too twisted around her little finger to discipline her. They’d better hope it was a boy.

“I’d like a girl.” Saul gave a big yawn as his eyes flickered shut. “All that alpha/omega stuff is stupid. The only good thing it ever did for me was this.”

Elias couldn’t disagree, but this was pretty big, worth all the self-doubt and anxiety of his teenage years and all the fighting and fear of the last few months. He let Saul’s hand slip away as Saul gave in to sleep and rolled onto his back. He wasn’t touching Saul directly anymore, but his shoulder brushed Jasper’s and his knee was wedged against Jack Henry’s hip. Even Saul wasn’t truly lost to him thanks to the bond. Elias would never be alone in this world again. The four of them—no, the five of them—were an unbreakable unit.

The next morning, he called his parents from the library to share the good news. They wouldn’t have medical confirmation until Jack Henry was far enough along for an ultrasound, but they could all feel the growing mass on the bond. It was only a dot now, a little spark of almost-life, basically a collection of their own cells, but like all their cells, it had its spot.

His exciting news got derailed by a diversion into what had happened with Lon, which he hadn’t discussed with his parents yet. In fact, he’d been hoping not to discuss it with them, that perhaps the news wouldn’t make it all the way to Ferris since no charges had been filed. Alphas were rarely charged with crimes that arouse from defending their omegas, and between that and him being a member of the revered Treehouse Pack, he’d barely even been questioned. But his parents had questions.

“Darling, you were never so violent.”

“And hope to never be again,” he assured his mother. “It was a special situation. Justified.”

“Lon’s family doesn’t seem to think so.”

“Well, they wouldn’t. You don’t think I should’ve let him rape Jack Henry, do you?”

“Of course not,” his father said from the other extension. “We’re not condemning what you did. We’re just surprised by it. Wondering how much you’ve changed, living with those mates of yours.”

“A fair amount,” Elias admitted. “But only in ways I’m proud of.” And that was the truth. He’d become both stronger and more comfortable with his strength. He would always be more at home in a library than on a farm or a build site, and fighting would never be his first choice for how to handle a problem, but now he knew how to swing both a hammer and a claw.

“And the main thing,” he said, trying to get back to the reason he’d called in the first place, “is that you’re going to be grandparents.”

“Isn’t it a little soon to start a family?” his mother asked. “I’m surprised an agency would even consider placing a child with you, considering your age and the, er, unusualness of your arrangement.”

Probably true. Good thing they didn’t need an agency’s approval to do what they’d done. It took some explaining, but when he managed to get his point across, the line went silent.

“Mom? Dad?” Somewhere in the background, Elias could hear his mother sobbing. His father finally came back on the line.

“Mom says to tell you she’s very happy and she’ll call you back when she’s done crying. Be prepared to get a lot of helpful information.”

Helpful information didn’t sound so bad. They were going to need it.

JASPER

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Elias’s call home was met with a certain amount of disbelief but a lot of good will. Baby things started arriving almost immediately. The postal service had recently been convinced that Treehouse was a valid address for deliveries, and Elias’s mother made good use of it. Every day brought another shipment of clothes or furniture or stuffed animals.

Jack Henry’s call home resulted in his parents deciding to move to Treehouse to become part of the pack. As such, Saul was charged with turning the shack into a cottage for them to live in—just as soon as he finished the main house, which he doubled down on. He sent a letter to his grandmother to make his own announcement, and while they waited for a response, word got out around town—maybe from Dee, maybe from Dr. Morris’s office, maybe just because gossip had a way of doing that—until one day Jasper’s mother pulled him aside and demanded to know why she’d learned she was going to be a grandmother