“Yeah. Sometimes I wonder why you’re even hanging around with us,” Kai said, dragging his thumb across Micah’s lower lip. Micah kissed his finger.
“Because we make him come every night.” Spike wriggled his eyebrows.
York banged on the closed bedroom door from the hallway outside. “Don’t say that so loud, you fucker!”
Then he slammed his own door, and Micah’s face burned. Spike grinned; Kai’s gaze darkened, possessive.
“I like watching you come,” Kai growled, dragging his wrist down Micah’s throat, marking him with elm. “Especially when you shake so hard and you can’t move afterward.”
“Yeah, those are the best times.” Spike rumbled. “When we completely please our omega until he can’t have any more. Fill him up with our come.”
Micah stood, his entire head scorching. “Right, out with you. We’re traveling instead of talking about bedroom matters.”
Spike laughed, slipping his arm around Micah’s waist. “We could talk about the baby, too. Have you thought of a name?”
Micah shook his head. “There are so many names out there. I’m still deciding.”
As they made their way to the front door, there came the faintest flutter in his abdomen. Micah paused, looking down.
“What’s wrong?” Kai asked, his gaze sharpening.
“I felt the baby move,” Micah murmured, pressing his hand over his belly. His child was in there, alive and reacting to his voice, and Micah’s heart thumped for his baby.
Identical looks of fascination and wariness flashed through Kai and Spike’s faces.
“Our baby,” Spike said slowly, pressing his hand against Micah’s belly. “I don’t feel it.”
Micah tried to reposition Spike’s hand, but the flutter had been faint. At sixteen weeks, only Micah would be able to feel his baby moving. “You might have to wait a few weeks more, until the baby gets bigger.”
“Oh.” Spike chewed on his lip. Then he dropped to his knees, pressing his face against Micah’s belly. “Hi,” Spike murmured, his voice vibrating through Micah’s body. “I guess I’m really gonna be a dad, now that Micah’s feeling you move. I don’t know if I’m ready yet.”
Micah’s heart swelled for him. Spike was acknowledging their baby, talking to it. Kissing all over Micah’s belly, even though he wasn’t sure about being a dad.
I love him so much, Micah thought, brushing his fingers through Spike’s hair. He knew he shouldn’t.
Kai stood to the side, a mixed, hesitant look in his eyes. He looked... envious. Torn. And Micah remembered encouraging Kai to submit his scholarship application to Highton College.
With the sheer possibilities in Kai’s future... Micah didn’t want to constrain him to this small town. He would hate for anyone to do that to York.
But he couldn’t help the thump of his heart, when Kai glanced up, meeting his eyes.
For all that Kai said little, sometimes holding back with his affections whereas Spike was forthcoming, Kai craved the same intimacy Spike shared with Micah. Micah read it in the moments Kai ran his wrists over Micah, the moments he wrapped himself around Micah, his teeth worrying Micah’s skin.
That alpha was possessive as hell. He was just holding back, like Micah was. So Micah reached toward him with a smile.
Kai wrapped an arm around Micah, nipping on his earlobe. Then he kissed Micah, claiming his mouth, tasting Micah inside. Micah groaned against Kai, and Spike rumbled.
“Touch the baby,” Spike said, grabbing Kai’s hand.
“I can’t.” Kai broke the kiss, glancing hesitantly at Micah’s belly. “Sorry.”
Micah squeezed his hand. “It’s okay. I don’t expect you to.”
“But it’s our baby,” Spike said, looking pointedly at Kai. “You’re its dad, too.”
Kai looked uncomfortable, so Micah distracted them. “I don’t want to be late in meeting your mom. That’ll be terrible.”
Spike grumbled, but he pressed a kiss to Micah’s belly, then rose to his feet.
The drive to Kai and Spike’s family home passed too quickly. Micah wiped his sweaty palms on his jeans, following Kai and Spike up to the apartment.
Kai and Spike’s parents lived in a poorer part of town, the apartment building run-down, the common corridor dim and narrow. Micah had grown up in relative comfort, so this... it made his heart ache.
“Did you grow up here?” Micah asked.
“I did,” Spike said. “Kai and his dad moved in.”
From an even worse situation. Micah held Kai’s hand, squeezing it. Kai just looked amused.
“It’s fine,” Kai rumbled. “It isn’t that bad.”
Micah imagined these two alphas as boys, suffering through their own hardships. He wished he could’ve helped them.
They stopped in front of a door with splotchy paint. Micah clutched his fruit basket in front of himself, his worries crashing back into him.
What did you say to a fellow omega your age, when you’d been dating her children? When you’d spent years teaching your own child not to let older people take advantage of him? She’d think so badly of Micah.
Micah gulped, his heart racing. If it gets bad, I’ll bail and wait for them downstairs.
Movement sounded from inside the apartment. Micah stopped breathing. Then the door swung open to reveal a friendly-looking omega in her forties with blond curls and copper eyes, her skin weather-worn, laugh lines on her face.
“Spike! Kai!” Natalie held her arms open, grinning when her sons crowded around her, giving her big hugs. Micah’s heart warmed, even as he wiped his sweaty palms off again.
“Haven’t seen you in too long,” Spike said.
“I hope you’ve been eating enough,” Kai said.
“I have been eating,” Natalie answered, ruffling their hair. “And hush, Spike, you were only here last week!”
Then she turned her gaze toward Micah, and Micah froze. Whenever he met a new person, Micah knew they saw his ugliest parts first—the scars, the bald spots, the crow’s feet at his eyes. And when he walked, his limp.
To someone like Natalie... Micah was as good as a cradle-robber.
“Micah?” she asked, cutting through his ramping anxiety. “Spike has been telling me a lot about you.”
Micah’s dread grew. He felt old, suddenly, standing between Kai and Spike. “It’s great to meet you, too,” he said, his skin too
