Golden Valley (Pack 3)

“A male omega?”

The voice outside the closed office door distracted him from his attempt at self-diagnosis. Eavesdropping was rude, but so was talking about someone behind his back, so he figured his indiscretion was cancelled out by that of the female who was clearly referring to him in a not-at-all-happy tone. He rested his cheek on the cool toilet seat, something he’d almost certainly be disgusted by later, but for the moment seemed like a great idea, and tried to make out the rest of the not-as-quiet-as-they-probably-thought words.

“No way. Not possible. Fate wouldn’t punish you that way.”

Ricky hadn’t yet made sense out of the cruel remark when the next voice slammed everything into focus.

“A mate is a gift not a punishment. And keep it down. He just fell asleep and you’ll wake him.”

Mate. Alpha. Memories fell into place in bits and pieces. An awkward dinner, being in a room away from his mate while Alpha Berger paced, wandering through the empty house with only his nose to lead him to what he wanted, needed, craved.

“Yeah? Well, I guess running a con is hard work. Your alleged mate needs his beauty sleep.”

Ricky flicked his gaze toward his stomach. The pitch-black room prevented him from seeing anything so, hand trembling, he reached down. Crusty, slightly damp fabric. An open button. Oh no. What had he done?

“Lillian, stop,” Morgan snapped. “You won’t speak that way about him.”

Head back in the toilet, Ricky’s retching drowned out whatever, if anything, was said next.

“I’m not talking to you as your Beta. I’m talking to you as your friend.”

“Beta, friend, or anything else. You will not use those words or that tone when talking about Ricky. He’s my mate.”

“Morgan, listen to me. You’ve been under immense pressure. You’re exhausted and you’re drunk and that male Omega tricked you.”

No. He shook his head and pressed the back of his hand to his eyes to wipe away tears. No. No. No.

“Why are you here?”

“You texted me and told me to come over.”

“Tomorrow. I asked you to come tomorrow, not to rush over right away. But you know what? It turns out, I don’t need your help. Everything’s fine. I’ll go talk to Berger. I’ll explain the situation—”

“I saw Berger stomping around his car when I walked up. The guy’s so agitated, he didn’t notice me and you’re going to talk to him about taking his Omega and everything will be fine? Are you listening to yourself? Sleeping with another Alpha’s Omega means blood.”

The Beta was right. Since nearly the first day he had come to lead Purple Sky, Alpha Berger had expressed an interest in Ricky. Until that point, he had handled Ricky’s rejections with grace, which was impressive for an Alpha, but since their arrival in Golden Valley, Alpha Berger had become progressively angrier and more paranoid. It was impossible to know how well he would react if he saw Morgan succeed where he had failed.

Maybe once he calmed down, Alpha Berger would listen to reason, but the last time Ricky had seen him, he had been the furthest thing from calm. The already weak Purple Sky pack couldn’t withstand the loss of their new Alpha, which was a real possibility if he instigated a fight on Golden Valley land. And although Ricky had no doubt Morgan would come out victorious in that battle and any other, a battle meant injuries. He couldn’t bear to see his mate hurt.

“You need to shift and run off the whiskey you drank,” said the female outside the door, who Ricky now realized was the Beta who had not-exactly greeted them when they’d arrived the day before. “Please, Morgan, that male Omega manipulated you, and if you don’t snap out of it, people are going to get hurt and you’ll never forgive yourself.”

She was right about that too. Ricky pressed his hand to his belly. Though he hadn’t done it intentionally, he had manipulated his mate. He had hunted him down, walked into this space uninvited, and begged for his touch. No decent Alpha would have been able to deny their Omega mate under those conditions. And although his memory was cloudy, when Ricky focused hard, he remembered plowing forward while Morgan tried to hold him back and slow things down. Even when the man had asked him for something as simple as time to think, Ricky had pushed him.

At that point, he had only bile left to vomit.

***

“You can touch it, if you want,” Ricky said, forcing himself to smile at the Blue Mountain Omega hovering in the doorway to his bedroom, green eyes glued to his basketball-sized stomach. He tried to be happy about the life growing inside him. After all, it was a miracle and a blessing. But it was also a constant reminder of his biggest mistake and greatest loss.