“I don’t understand,” Dad said to the side, his voice faint. “Where did we go wrong?”
Wyatt strode down the driveway, looking at the shimmer of asphalt, his family’s gazes heavy on his back. He was almost to the front door when shoes clicked behind him. Raph.
“Wy,” Raph said, snagging his hand. “Look, we can work things out.”
“No, we can’t.” Not if Raph wanted the rest of his family intact, and his parents with a roof over their heads.
“We’ll move. Anything.”
“The baby isn’t yours, Raph.”
Raph’s footsteps faltered. When Wyatt glanced at him, he found Raph’s eyes dark, the corners of his mouth turned down. He would be a terrific alpha for someone else. Wyatt could see him walking down the aisle with a faceless omega, their family smiling all around, proud of Raph, the prized son of the Fleming family.
Raph deserved so much more than him.
Wyatt untangled their fingers, turning away. “You can’t solve this. Don’t screw things up even more.”
Raph flinched. “I got your text,” he said. “From earlier. I’m sorry I wasn’t there.”
“You promised you’d be there for me.”
Raph looked down, silent.
Hazel was waiting by the front door. When she saw them, she hurried down the stairs, her forehead crinkling. “What’s wrong?”
“Raph won’t be your dad,” Wyatt said. “I’m not marrying him.”
Raph sucked in a breath.
Hazel looked between them, frowning. Then a car rumbled, and the front gates swung open again. Sam’s Cadillac pulled in, roaring down the driveway. Wyatt closed his eyes, breathing out.
“I guess this is goodbye,” he said. “I’ll have Penny return your things.”
He strode away before he could second-guess himself, pretending he didn’t care. “Hazel! Come on, we’re leaving.”
“Dad loves you,” Hazel said somewhere behind.
“Tell him I love him, too,” Raph said.
Wyatt’s heart cracked. He didn’t deserve Raph’s love.
When Sam pulled up beside them, Wyatt had no words to explain himself. Hazel hopped into the backseat, and Sam glanced at Wyatt, his eyes knowing.
They drove away from the Fleming mansion, Wyatt with his babies, and his heart aching for his alpha.
27
Wyatt
“Why won’t Uncle Raph be my dad anymore?” Hazel asked when they paused by the front door of their apartment.
Wyatt’s key missed the keyhole. “I decided that it... would be best for us to stop seeing him.”
“Why?”
Because I can only keep some of my family, and you need me more than Raph ever will. Wyatt blinked hard, shoving the key home. Then the door opened, and they were back in the safe, quiet shadows of the apartment, the space that would never hold Raph again. “Remember how Raph and I are stepbrothers?”
Hazel nodded, pulling her shoes off.
“Great-Grandma doesn’t approve of our relationship,” Wyatt said. “Neither does Grandpa.”
“That’s it?” Hazel asked, turning back to him with incredulous eyes. “But the people in the movies get married anyway.”
The reasons seemed so small when she said it like that. Wyatt sighed. He headed to his bedroom, pulling off his sweater for something that fitted his mood better. “This is real life, Hazel. We don’t always get the things we want.”
He looked down at his swollen belly, smoothing his palm over it. The baby kicked, and Wyatt’s chest squeezed. I’ll be there for both you and Hazel, regardless.
Hazel hopped onto his bed, kicking her legs. “But Uncle Raph visits Grandma and Grandpa, right? Will we ever see him there?”
Wyatt paused at the closet. Would they? He didn’t know. Not when reality was just starting to sink in.
He’d broken up with Raph. Raph had been the only alpha to really care for Wyatt, to hold him like he mattered. Raph had started playing the violin again, had talked to Hazel and asked to be her dad. He’d looked at Wyatt with those warm eyes, like he’d never seen anyone so beautiful.
Wyatt had left Raph behind, and there’d be no more of that.
He trembled, his heart aching.
Was it worth it? Leaving Raph so Grandma wouldn’t shut down Wy’s Drive-In? Leaving Raph, with his mountain of debt? Gods, I’m a terrible omega.
They’d talked about the future in bits and pieces, building a nursery for the baby. They’d talked about a wedding, and baby names, and car seats, and Raph learning to change diapers. Would Raph hate Wyatt if Wyatt never let him see the children again?
He leaned into the side of the closet, tears trailing down his cheeks. I miss you already.
And maybe he shouldn’t have let Raph go.
Wyatt peered into the closet, his gaze snagging on the stack of folded T-shirts that had moved in between his sweaters and pants. He had to return these, didn’t he?
He took the first T-shirt in the stack, the one with the Jaguar print, its cotton soft in his hands. It smelled like teak, like Raph, and Wyatt’s throat closed. He’d pack up Raph’s things tomorrow. Tonight, when Hazel was asleep, Wyatt would wallow in the piles of Raph’s clothes, pretending he still had an alpha.
Soft footsteps padded behind him. Then Hazel’s arms wrapped around Wyatt’s belly, and she leaned into his back.
“Did Uncle Raph make you cry, too?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” he said. “He... wasn’t very honest about some things.”
“I told him he’s not supposed to lie to you.”
Did you? Wyatt swallowed, reaching behind to hug her. Then why did Raph keep secrets from me? All the times Raph had said he was working overtime... he’d been juggling different jobs. He’d hidden the truth about the debt. And Wyatt didn’t know what to feel about that.
“I don’t like it when people make you cry,” Hazel said.
Wyatt gulped. “It’s not something you need to bother with, hon.”
“I want to. You’re my dad.” Hazel squirmed around to his side, a tiny frown on her face. “When I grow up, I want to get even with anyone who makes you sad. Like Max.”
Wyatt quailed. They’d get to the Max discussion some
