Jesse’s heart thumped. “Yeah. Why do you ask?”
“You’re young, son.” Wayne clapped Jesse on the shoulder, his palm heavy. He’d aged so much since Jesse last saw him—he’d grown thinner, his hair grayer. “You don’t know so much about the world.”
Jesse sighed. “I’ve been through enough for several lifetimes, Dad.” He turned his arms over, showing Dad his scars. “I’m not right in the head anymore.”
Dad’s face fell. “You mean the thing about slamming doors? Your... flashbacks?”
“Yeah. Dom helps me get out of them.”
Dad was quiet for a moment. “He’s a lot older than you.”
Jesse shrugged. “That’s okay. I don’t mind.”
“You don’t want someone that’s more your age? An omega, maybe?”
Jesse had thought about that, on and off. He’d thought about how easily he went into panic attacks, how easily he jumped when someone accidentally touched him. “Honestly, I don’t think I want an omega to put up with this. I don’t want to accidentally hurt someone. I’ve already punched Dom a lot of times, thinking he was trying to take me down.”
An omega probably wouldn’t approach him like Dom did—but then what sort of relationship would that become? When Jesse scared off people who couldn’t handle him?
And maybe... he’d grown far too comfortable around Dom. Enough to forget that there was a threat lurking nearby, just waiting for him to slip up.
He palmed the holster at his hip, glancing at the deepening shadows around the house. The sun had set, the sky fading from salmon-pink to a rich purple hue. It had been a good afternoon with his parents.
After that initial awkwardness, Jesse had emerged from his bedroom. His mom and dad had welcomed Dom anyway. Even though they knew what sort of relationship he and Jesse shared. Then Kelly had come home, and she’d hugged Jesse and told him how cool his scars were.
“He was looking at you strange over dinner,” Dad said.
Had Dom? “He always looks at me strange.”
Dad shook his head. “No, different from before. Don’t you see the way he looks at you?”
Jesse stared blankly at him.
Dad sighed. “When you first showed up with him. After he called you Sinclair. The way he looked at you... I’d say it was gentle. Warm. Like—you know how I look at your mom and think she’s the best thing that ever happened to me?”
“But that’s what you think of Mom. Not what Dom thinks of me.”
Dad looked pointedly at him.
“Can’t be,” Jesse said. Honestly, he wasn’t sure what Dom thought of him, aside from Dom really liked having him in bed. Dom also liked saying sappy shit sometimes. “He just likes giving me donuts and pounding m—No, forget I said that.”
Dad snorted. “Anyway, after that. After you got out of your room, all the way through dinner. Felt like... he was in a bad mood. You guys fought?”
Jesse shook his head. Then he looked at his abdomen, and... Yeah. That was what Dom was still upset about. He sighed, scrubbing his face. “Maybe.”
Dad raised his eyebrows, but he didn’t push. He deserved to know, though. When he’d been searching for Jesse all these years. At length, Jesse admitted, “He wants something I can’t give.”
“Love?”
Jesse’s stomach flipped. No, he wasn’t ready to think about that. None of this was permanent. “Worse. Remember what I said about the experiments?”
He showed his dad the big scar, his heart thumping. Dad had been so accepting of him all afternoon. But what if this changed everything?
He told Dad about the visit to the medical center. Then he told Dad about the uterus. “So... I’m pregnant. And he wants the baby.”
That threw Dad for a loop. “Holy fuck, son. Pregnant?”
Jesse looked at his feet, trying to breathe. Maybe this was where he fucked up, and Dad would tell him to get out. Having a uterus was one thing, but letting another alpha knock him up?
Dad took a while to digest the news. Then he sniffed at Jesse, and his eyebrows drew low. Jesse’s stomach twisted. He tried to brace himself for Dad’s disappointment.
But instead of condemning him, Dad wrapped his arm around Jesse’s shoulders. “So what’re you gonna do about it?”
Relief swelled through Jesse’s chest; he leaned against his dad, a lump forming in his throat. “Damned if I know.”
He’d looked at the resources Perry sent. He’d considered both alternatives. And every time he thought about undergoing surgery to remove that thing, he remembered Dom’s wistfulness, his yearning.
Part of him was ready to give Dom whatever he wanted. The pregnancy, the baby, everything. No matter how many times it sent him into a panic attack. That scared the crap out of him. But it was the alien parts influencing him, wasn’t it? The parts that tried to turn him into an omega?
“How did you decide you wanted kids?” Jesse asked. He hoped his voice wasn’t shaky.
Dad shrugged, smiling sheepishly. “You were an accident. I went along with it, because your mom was so excited.”
That didn’t help, though. “How’d you decide you loved Mom?”
Dad looked him in the eye. “I’d do anything for her. The moment I figured that out, I realized I wanted to spend the rest of my life with her. I’d regret not doing it.”
Did Jesse... feel that way about Dom? His heart pounded. He didn’t know. It felt like a commitment he wasn’t ready to make. “Oh.”
Dad patted his shoulder. “Important things to think about.”
Jesse nodded, filing those thoughts away. “I’m sorry I didn’t come home earlier,” he blurted.
Dad frowned. “Why didn’t you?”
Jesse turned his scarred hands over. “Was just—afraid, I guess. I thought you and Mom might’ve moved on and forgotten about me. The Facility, being stuck there for years... No one showed up for the longest time. I think it really fucked with my head. I thought... maybe I was good enough to be sold. And that was it.”
Dad pulled him into a
