Page 11 of A Baby for the Beast (Beastverse #3)

Lucas

T he Carters are the type of family that seems almost too good to be true.

Not only are all three siblings best friends with one another and their partners, but they also make everyone they invite into their family feel welcome and loved.

Usually, I enjoy family dinners on Tuesdays with them, but this Tuesday is making me want to throw hands.

I planned on telling Henry I wasn't going to make it this week, but he showed up at my apartment with Jace and Sarah in tow, telling me they weren't going to let me sulk in my own misery any longer.

It either escaped all of them that I was cleaned, dressed, and on my way out of the apartment when they showed up, or they knew what I was about to do.

The same thing I've been doing for the last twenty days since Hayley told me to leave.

Fuck dinner. Go find our mate. I want to watch her again tonight.

Of course, I'm all on board with Remus's plan. We've been spending most of our days in our car, outside of Hayley's apartment, and our evenings have been spent watching the bar she works at to make sure no one gives her a hard time. No one has, yet.

She works at a bar called Night Owls, and as much as I would love for it to be some skeevy place I can swoop in and save her from, it's just a sports bar that caters to mostly alphas.

Some of them will try to hit on her until she turns around, and then they're suddenly uninterested.

Idiots. Whatever, it's for the best because if someone were interested, Remus might have to kill them.

My training hasn't taken a backseat even though Remus and I would both love for it to. No, we've been showing up to practice, lifting, and sparring sessions. I'm pretty sure that Hayley might be willing to give me another chance after the fight with Kyle is over, and that's what keeps me going.

If she can see I still want her when there's no ulterior motive, maybe she'll believe me. She'll have her daughter by then, so she might be hesitant to let a stranger into her life, but we can be patient. We've been patient this whole time.

We're going to drop into a fucking rut soon if we don't get her.

Then you can fuck a toy like you do every time we do.

I don't want a toy. I want my mate.

"You okay?" Henry asks, leaning over so he can ask me quietly as if the whole table isn't looking at us, because Remus and I were growling up a storm, talking with one another.

I've been in my head thinking about Hayley since we left the apartment, and we've been giving off 'leave us alone' vibes, so everyone has done just that.

Sure, it's kind of rude to be the rain cloud amongst a group of perfectly happy people all chatting about work and what's happened in the last week since the last family dinner.

No one forced us to come the last two weeks, which is good because Remus was a little feral at the time while we were learning Hayley's normal schedule. It didn't help that last Tuesday she went to the hospital, and we thought something was wrong with her or the baby.

We called Lilah, technically Henry's sister-in-law, but again, the Carters accept everyone as family, so she might as well be mine, too.

She's a nurse at an omega clinic, and while I could hear the eyeroll she was giving me through the phone, she also calmed Remus and me down when she told us it was probably a routine appointment for the baby since there's a good obstetrician's office in the hospital.

"We're good," I say, offering a small smile around the table. And because I don't want all the attention on just myself, I turn to Henry. "Have you both decided on a date to get married?"

Henry snorts and shakes his head. "Wow, you weren't paying attention to anything, were you?"

"Next month," Sarah says, peeking around from Henry's other side. "It'll be a small ceremony, and we're looking into a bar or somewhere to hold the reception."

"Wait, a bar?" Jace asks, his face screwing up. "You're going to make me go to the boring part, and then I won't even get to go to the fun part with the dancing?"

"You want to go dancing?" Scott, Sarah's brother and Lilah's mate, asks. "Seriously?"

"Well, I'm assuming there will be women there to dance with," Jace says as if Scott's an idiot.

Scott shrugs. "What do I care about any other women?"

He wraps his arm around Lilah and tugs her close, even as she swats at him.

Normally, how in love they are with one another makes me happy.

Remus and I didn't ever really think a mate was in our future, given how much he'd rather fight than try to win over an omega.

We still appreciate the love that surrounds the family our brother is marrying into, the same family that has decided we're one of them.

"Okay, but I want a woman or women or men and women," Jace says, wiggling his brows and earning him a groan from the table.

Henry mentioned packing up once to Jace and his beast, and now they both think they're going to end up with a harem or something.

"Okay, enough, you're barely an adult," Henry says, crossing his arms over his chest. "Plus, we're all here to make sure Lucas isn't losing his shit."

"He's been training like normal, except he's been hitting harder during sparring," Jace says as if he's been keeping an eye on me and taking notes.

I narrow my eyes at the little spy who has the decency to look a little embarrassed about being found out.

He gives me a half-hearted smile. "We're all a little worried about you. "

"I'm fine," I tell them, trying to believe the words myself so they don't come out as a complete lie. "Look, Scott and Fenrir managed to stay away from Lilah for what? A few weeks? That's not much different–"

"I didn't stay away," Scott says, laughing. Lilah's in his lap now, his hand around her waist as he holds her close. "And I wouldn't have lasted months. My omega wouldn't have either. She was trying to ignore a scent match, and that never works out."

"Shush," Lilah says, but there's no heat in her words as she melts into her mate. I have to avert my eyes because jealousy is starting to bubble up inside me, and any negative emotions aren't very good for me right now.

"I just need to last until the fight with Kyle, and once that's over, Hayley will know I'm not just using her to get at him," I say, sitting back in my chair.

My plate is still half full, but there's no way I'm finishing it all.

My appetite is all kinds of messed up being away from my mate, and the only reason I'm not losing muscle mass is I make sure to chug a couple protein shakes throughout the day because I'm not about to lose the body I've worked hard for and that Hayley couldn't stop lusting over the one night I was with her.

"Why does she think you're using her to get at Kyle?" Lilah asks.

I shoot my brother a questioning look, but he just shrugs. "Wasn't our place to go around telling people your business."

Jace's cheeks turn scarlet at inadvertently being called out. He was definitely blasting all of my private information about scenting an omega and finding her to Henry and Sarah, but then again, they're the people he's closest to, so I can't be surprised when he tells them everything.

"Hayley's pregnant," I tell the table.

No one really reacts except for Janie, Sam's mate, who looks a little shocked, but not at my information. No, she turns to look at her mate, who presses a hand to her knee and gives it a squeeze while keeping his attention on the rest of his family.

I wonder if she's pregnant, too? Sam's told us he wants a family, but he's been waiting for things to calm down with the Young Alpha Center he runs with Henry. Now that the free clinic they've been working on opening is nearing completion, maybe they're looking to start their family.

"What does her being pregnant have to do with Kyle?

" Scott asks, stabbing his fork into the crock pot and snagging a chunk of meat.

For being the most educated at the table, he is kind of an idiot sometimes, especially when he's too busy looking at the pot roast like it's giving him life instead of the looks from his family that make it clear they'll all piece together what he hasn't.

"It's Kyle's baby," I say, earning me a rumbling growl from Remus that comes out through our chest. He's in control before I can stop him, not that I have much of a chance to stop him when he wants out. " My baby. Mine. Not Kyle's. "

Genetically, you idiot.

Mine, you idiot.

"No one's arguing with you, Remus," Henry says, patting me on the shoulder.

He and Sarah are the only two looking at us. The rest of the table has their heads tilted down. Sarah likes staring at Remus when he comes out because they both find it amusing that she doesn't have to respond to him like alphas and omegas do.

" Lucas is arguing with me, " Remus snaps, and then he must realize how stupid that sounds because he gives me control of the body and only snarls inside our mind a little bit more.

"Sorry about that," I say, feeling bad for getting all alpha asshole during family dinner. It happens sometimes, but usually not because of me and Remus. He's so much more powerful than anyone else here that he's usually fine with staying put inside me unless we're trying to rile Henry up.

"Before everyone gets comfortable with Remus being put away," Jace says as he holds up his phone and gives me a grimace. "You should probably see this."

I snatch the phone from him before anyone else thinks to look first. I have to bite back a growl when I see Kyle's stupid face on the screen, but I know Jace has been watching all of his social media because he thinks it's better to know what's going on with the enemy.

I'd prefer to pretend he didn't exist at all until it was time to fight him, but I understand why Jace does what he does.

As I watch the video, I appreciate his willingness to watch this bullshit in his free time to keep me updated on what's going on.