Sometimes, he wished that maybe she could just... love him. He’d tried asking her to. She never listened. And then Ulric wished he had one of those loving parents like the ones on TV. The sort who loved you regardless of anything.
If Mom ever met Gage... would she convince Gage to see Ulric the way she did?
Ulric’s stomach dropped. He closed the message and shoved the phone into his pocket. He wasn’t going to think about it.
19
The Surprise
On his lunch break, Gage drove to the bakery downtown, where the best cakes in town were. He’d just received his paycheck. He wanted to do something nice for Ulric.
The selection at Ben’s Buns was one of his favorites—whenever his mom or sister felt disheartened, Gage came here to get a treat for them. Ulric wasn’t unhappy, but over the past week, Gage had caught him staring listlessly into the fridge. He’d been eating healthily lately—Gage wanted to reward him with something nice.
He stepped into the store, heading over to the refrigerated cakes. Individually-wrapped slices lined the top shelf—fruit cakes, chocolate cakes, strawberry cakes... His sister loved the Blackforest cake, and his mom, the tiramisu.
“Hello,” Ben said cheerily behind the counter. “What would you like today?”
“A slice of the coffee cake, please,” Gage said. After some consideration, he added, “And the tres leches.”
Ulric loved coffee, Gage knew. So the coffee-cream cake was a good bet. The tres leches was Gage’s favorite—it was cake soaked through with three different kinds of milk: whole milk, evaporated milk, and condensed milk, and it was topped with a layer of whipped cream. To Gage, it was pretty damn decadent. Would Ulric enjoy it, too?
He paid at the register, about to leave when the door chimed behind him.
“Gage?” Jesse asked. “Didn’t think I’d meet you here.”
Gage turned to see his cousin at the store entrance, Jesse’s three-year-old toddling off to peek at the buns in the display cases. Jesse’s husband wasn’t with them—Dom was probably on duty at the fire station.
But what caught his eye was the bulge of Jesse’s abdomen—instead of the gentle curve of a beer belly, the bump was a lot more pronounced. It looked... like an omega’s belly, a heavily pregnant one.
Jesse was an alpha.
“Uh,” Gage said, alarmed. “What the hell happened to you? Do you need to see a doctor?”
A few patrons glanced over; Jesse turned so they weren’t facing the rest of the bakery. “What does it look like to you?”
Gage stopped next to him, unable to help staring. This really did not look right.
“Wanna touch it?” Jesse grinned, waving toward his belly.
So Gage put his palm on it, half-expecting this to be some medical condition he’d never heard of.
Somewhere in Jesse’s abdomen, something kicked against his palm. A child? Gage’s mouth fell open. “Fuck. How?”
Jesse smiled wryly. “Long story. But the short version is that I had an organ implant.” He tugged his shirt up to reveal a long silver scar going down his abdomen, stark against the stretch marks and various other scars covering his skin.
“So—so you’re pregnant,” Gage said, his mind going several different directions at once. Alphas could get pregnant. He was looking at a pregnant alpha right now. Could he get pregnant?
“Yup, twins. After this, I’m gonna have the uterus removed,” Jesse said, looking pretty damn calm despite what he was telling Gage.
Gage tried to digest all of this. “So, Owen...”
“He came from me, too.” Jesse grinned. “He looks like me and Dom, huh?”
Gage stared at the kid running around the store, darting between patrons to return to his dad. Yeah, Owen was pretty cute. But he’d come from an alpha dad. Two alpha dads.
“So you can just... walk into a hospital and ask for a uterus?” Gage asked.
Jesse’s expression closed off. “No. But if you’re interested, I can dig up some contacts. It’s a long process.”
Something wasn’t right there. Carefully, Gage asked, “You weren’t on board with the—the uterus? But you kept it anyway?”
Jesse cracked a smile. “Some things are worth fighting for, Gage.”
Gage thought on those words, watching as Jesse picked out a pile of chocolate donuts. Then Jesse called Owen over, and got a cheesy bun for him.
What would Ulric say if he discovered that alphas could get pregnant, too? Not that they were even boyfriends, but... this was news that Gage couldn’t keep to himself.
When Jesse was done paying for his donuts, Gage asked, “Can I take a pic of your belly? To, uh. To show a friend.”
Jesse grinned. “That boyfriend of yours?”
Gage’s face heated. “He’s not my boyfriend.”
Jesse snorted. “You smell like another alpha, Cuz.”
That was because Gage had pulled Ulric close last night, and he’d dragged Ulric’s wrists all over himself. He sniffed at the honey oak scent on his skin, mixed in with his own pine. “We’re just really good friends.”
“Don’t forget to invite us to the wedding.”
“Fuck off,” Gage muttered under his breath. He might be willing to give a relationship a try, but marriage was so far off the table, Gage couldn’t even smell it.
Jesse pulled his shirt back up, looking proud. And now Gage realized why Jesse had been defending his belly that time they’d play-wrestled—Jesse had been protecting his unborn babies back then.
What did it feel like to be a dad?
Gage snapped a quick picture with his phone, intending to show Ulric later tonight. “See you around,” Gage said. “Congrats. Sorry for trying to hit your belly that other time.”
“It’s fine. You didn’t know.” Jesse waved. “And text me if you want to babysit. You’ve seen how many kids the team has.”
Gage remembered the children running around during the barbecue party, the pair of snake-aficionados with their snake streamers fluttering in the breeze. “Can Ulric and I crash the next station party, too?”
Jesse shrugged. “I don’t see why not. I’ll text you.”
They parted ways at the street, Gage returning to the gym, tucking his precious cakes into the staff pantry fridge.
Then
