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Chapter Twenty-Three

Teal

T eal laid a gentle hand atop Sorcha’s head, running his fingers through the silky blond hair covering the pillow.

He whispered into the sleeping man’s ear, “I hope we did right by you today, my darling. When you wake up tomorrow, everything will be different. Your uncles will be gone and they can never degrade you ever again. And Ronan and me and our boys are going to be there to love you and cherish you and give you all the care you’ve never had. Goodnight.”

Teal peeked into the boys’ room to find them fast asleep before heading into his own bedroom.

Ronan sat up against the headboard, his naked chest displayed deliciously. “Did you check on Sorcha?”

“Mm-hmm. I think he’ll be recovered by tomorrow.”

“That’s good.”

Teal let out a drawn-out breath. “It’s a lot of change,” he said. “I’m going to be busy with High Court in a few days, and for the rest of the tribunal. Hopefully, that won’t interfere with Sorcha getting acclimated. I thought it went okay with the boys today. Niall too.”

“Yes.” Ronan looked down at his hands as Teal slipped into bed beside him. He leaned into his husband’s side, surprised to sense tension radiating from the alpha.

“What’s wrong, my love?” Teal asked. “I know it’s a shift, but it seems like we’re off to a successful start.”

“It’s not that.” Ronan shook his head. “I really hesitate to bring this up again, but I can’t help being in awe of how amazing you’ve been through all of this.

Telling the boys today, telling Niall, just made it so real .

And as much as I think we’re doing the right thing, the inevitable thing, there’s a part of me that still feels like I’ve treated you poorly. ”

Teal didn’t mince words. “You’re still upset you fucked another omega?”

Ronan grunted softly in confirmation.

“Even though I told you I wanted it, that it turned me on?” Teal sighed in exasperation. “Even though I got to sink into Sorcha’s sweet little hole too? And enjoyed it?”

“I’m not saying it’s rational. I just don’t want you to feel for even one nanosecond that I’m disrespecting you—”

“Us making a mutual decision for you to help Sorcha through his heat isn’t disrespecting me—”

“But it’s not just that!”

“Then what is it?”

Ronan rolled his eyes. “It’s like we’re dancing around the biggest issue. Especially with how fast this has all happened.”

“Which is?”

“C’mon.”

“What?” Teal thought he knew what Ronan was driving at, but he wanted to hear his husband say the words. Out loud so they could deal with them.

The alpha huffed. “You heard it, baby. Sorcha had a breeding orgasm.”

Teal smiled. “I heard it. I’d be surprised if the whole neighborhood didn’t hear it.”

Ronan’s jaw flexed. “Making light of it won’t work.

” He exhaled hotly. “I just…I can’t believe I made a baby with someone else.

Even knowing how I feel about Sorcha, how we both feel, it’s still hard to process.

And that’s all I’ve been doing these past few hours, now that the initial crisis has passed. Processing.”

Teal laid a gentle hand on his husband’s thigh.

“And what else have you been thinking about, exactly?”

“That in the times we shared our bed with Niall, or even before him, I could sometimes envision us having a permanent third. I think we might have gotten there with Niall eventually if Jax hadn’t come along.”

“Agreed.”

“But even when I had visions of our relationship evolving to something beyond just the two of us, I never imagined a scenario where you weren’t the daddy to my children.

Since we only played with betas, I never had to consider it.

But now, everything is different. Four days ago, we were living our old lives, and now…

now…” Ronan ran an agitated hand through his hair.

“For stars’ sake, I’ve impregnated another omega! ”

Teal fixed his gaze on Ronan’s. He searched his heart for that small sliver of himself that shared Ronan’s fears.

Did Teal harbor a seed of resentment that Sorcha might be pregnant, that Teal would no longer be the only daddy of Ronan’s sons?

If he were being one hundred percent honest, he could find it.

And he owed it to Ronan to tell the truth.

“My love, I won’t say there isn’t a part of me that worries about giving Sorcha this part of you.

” Ronan opened his mouth to speak, but Teal put up his hand.

He needed to get this out. “Of course, it’s surreal to think of how fast this all happened.

That Sorcha went from being our neighbor to being an integral member of our family.

Thinking about watching Sorcha grow round with your child makes me catch my breath a little.

I won’t lie about that. However—and I need you to hear me on this—I truly believe that the underlying reason for all those fears is because this is happening so quickly, not because it’s happening at all. ”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because of the way I feel about Sorcha. Regardless of your relationship with him, he’s already a part of my heart.

I would have wanted to be with him, no matter what.

I’ll use the same word you did. Inevitable .

In a perfect world, we would have gotten to know Sorcha more before sharing his bed, or his heat.

We would have had a few more choices as to the sequence of events, more time to get the boys accustomed to the idea.

But we still would have ended up here. I smell Sorcha.

I feel him. He’s meant to be a part of us.

It’s fast, yes. But knowing that we were eventually going to make Sorcha a part of us means knowing that, eventually, he would have had your babies.

Given a choice between you impregnating him now versus any other alpha having him, I can’t even imagine choosing a different alternative. He’s ours. Mine.

“So, you’re not disrespecting me. Because you’re not excluding me.

We are very much in this together. You, me, and Sorcha.

We’ll have to learn how to function as a threesome.

We need to figure out how he fits in with the boys.

And we’ll get there. But any life with Sorcha—even if it’s fast and confusing—is better than a life without him.

I’m sure of it. Change comes to every relationship, and when people love as hard as you and I do, it’s kind of miraculous we didn’t need to expand our love bubble before now. ”

“You’re amazing,” Ronan said, rubbing his emotion-filled eyes before pulling Teal to his side. “And wise. I think we were doing that subconsciously with Niall, trying to forge a new phase in our relationship. I wish we’d realized.”

Teal recalled Niall’s reaction earlier when he learned about the couple’s new situation with Sorcha. And the look of curiosity Jax had given Ronan when he’d heard Ronan’s alpha voice.

“That’s a good reminder that there might be more changes to come,” Teal said vaguely.

“If we learned anything this weekend, it’s that the future comes whether you’re ready or not.

When we were with Niall, we couldn’t have predicted he’d meet Jax, or that we’d both fall in love with Sorcha.

I only know that we’ll be okay as long as we communicate.

That’s why you have my full permission to dismiss any errant thoughts that arise in that gorgeous head of yours about disrespecting me. ”

“You’re right, my omega. I just wish we’d had a bit more time before Sorcha got pregnant.”

Teal guffawed. “Yeah. I’d try to make you feel better by saying there’s a strong possibility you didn’t breed him, but I heard those noises he made when you breached him.

Like he’d died of pleasure. I swear, I could hear his womb sucking in your cock.

Not to mention the groans coming out of your mouth.

The last time I heard those sounds was when we made Zayne.

A breeding orgasm is pretty unmistakable. ”

Ronan shook his head, grinning. “Teal?”

“Yes?”

“Not to totally change the subject, although this is related, but there’s something else I’ve been thinking about today.”

“What’s that?”

“I know we’ve been talking about your heat for a while. And I know it’s coming soon.”

“I certainly hope so.”

“Right. And I want to make sure you know that, despite everything that’s happened with Sorcha, I’m still all-in on breeding you when it comes.

I don’t want what’s happened here to take away our dream of having another little one together.

Maybe it’s crazy, but I know I can live happily with everything that’s happened over the past week, but not if it costs you that. ”

By necessity, Teal had pushed aside thoughts of his upcoming heat.

He’d almost been afraid to ask Ronan if he still wanted to attempt a breeding.

Leave it to his perfect husband to not only bring up the matter himself, but also to have the best response.

A tear slipped down Teal’s cheek. If he needed further proof that Ronan had enough love inside him to care for two omegas at once, this was it.

“My love, I appreciate you saying that. So much.” Teal placed a gentle kiss on the alpha’s shoulder. “And even though there’s uncertainty right now, I don’t want to miss my window. I still want to try for a baby when my heat comes.” He turned hopeful eyes to his husband.

Ronan angled his chin to kiss Teal’s forehead. “Then that’s what we’ll do.”

“I’m sure the boys will be thrilled to welcome two brothers.”

“Yeah. Luckily, we’ll have time to prepare them. They may have accepted the general concepts about Sorcha we introduced them to today, but having him be the daddy of a new brother will be tougher to explain.”

“My love,” Teal began carefully, “do you think all this worry about disrespecting me is because of us, or because you’re thinking about your own omega daddy?”

Ronan sucked in a breath. It was a sensitive subject for him, Teal knew.

A married, much-older alpha had seduced Ronan’s omega father, Pacy.

Ronan was the product of their affair. His childhood had been difficult, raised by a single omega daddy.

Omega rights were bleaker back then, and Pacy struggled against his community’s harsh judgement.

Ronan’s alpha father passed away without ever claiming Ronan.

Ronan never said so directly, but Teal had inferred that Pacy had engaged in some very precarious employment to make ends meet, including selling his body.

For the past decade, Pacy had suffered from dementia and no longer recognized his son.

Ronan paid for him to live in the best care facility in the state and visited at least once a month.

Watching the way society treated Pacy laid the groundwork for Ronan’s deep desire to protect omegas and promote their equality.

“I’m always going to think about what my daddy went through. And I’ll always believe that the best way to care for omegas is to make sure they have the same rights as alphas and betas. I never want to be like my alpha father .” Ronan spat the last word.

Teal scrambled to straddle Ronan’s lap, nudging their cocks together through the thin material of his briefs and Ronan’s joggers.

“You could never be like him. Never.” He kissed his husband softly on the lips.

“He walked away from his responsibilities because he was weak. You are dealing with this, taking care of everyone, because you are strong.”

“You’re sure?” Ronan choked out.

“Absolutely. You’re the very best alpha in the world. For me…and for Sorcha.”