Page 151 of Blood Fist

“Why do you want pups?” he asked idly, not expecting an answer. There was no judgment in his tone, just the lilt of curiosity.

For a while, Corric didn’t answer. Ridan wasn’t sure if he’d fallen asleep or if he didn’t know the answer himself. Either would have been fine.

“I want a family,” he murmured, watching the ice begin to melt into puddles. “I want to raise a pup the way I wished I was. I want to see Jonen become a father. I want to watch as this perfect combination of us both toddles around the tent with their fingers in their mouth and light in their eyes.”

Ridan swallowed past the rush of unexpected emotions. He didn’t plan to have pups. Hadn’t had time to consider if he wanted to. They just came—perfect little mixes of Brune’s empathy and Ridan’s tenacity.

“You’ll be a good dam, Corric,” Ridan told himlong after exhaustion had pulled the other omega into a dreamless sleep. Eventually, Corric would wake, pull himself together, comfort his distraught alpha, and go about his day. He’d done it before.

But for now, they lay together in a silence only omegas could understand.

Leaves brushed past his cheek as he crept through the brushes. Crouched, his legs shaking from holding his weight for so long, he steadied himself on the ground. Fingertips just barely kissing the dirt, he resisted the urge to sneeze as a thin branch tickled his nose. Beside him, his keen ears picked up the rustling of undergrowth.Good,he thought as he readied himself.

His prey was foolish. Sitting in the middle of a clearing backs to the thicket. Unaware they were being stalked by two predators. Without making eye contact, he signaled to his partner. He didn’t need his eyes to know it was seen.

With a war cry, they leaped from the brush as one. With all the blinding speed their five-year-old bodies could muster, they ambushed their quarry. Arms tightened around his sire’s neck as he dragged him to the ground with an oomph.

“Got you!” he yelled, voice warbling as he struggled to hold his father down. The bigger alpha roared, kicking his legs and wrapping his arms around Tarro’s middle. Across the way, Aeson had Jonen by the curls, grunting as he tried to wrestle him to the ground. Jonen was laughing, unable to keep a straight face as the pup struggled to pull him down.

Brune let Tarro have the victory…for a moment. After he grew lax in his hold, he began tickling his ribs. The cries of victory turned to shrieks of laughter as he struggled to hold on to his prize.

“Not fair! Not fair!” he yelped, little legs struggling to keep his father pinned.

Their wrestling kicked up a fair amount of dust. By the time it settled, they were breathless on their backs; the pups smiling in victory.

“Well, what have we here?”

The twins' heads shot up as Ridan and Corric walked up. “Dama!” they grinned. “We caught prisoners!”

With a pale eyebrow raised, Ridan stared at the downed alphas. He crossed his arms imperiously. “Have you? Well. What shall we do with them?”

Corric laid a hand on his pregnant belly. “I believe we have no choice. We must sacrifice them.”

“It would be only right.”

Brune foisted a giggling Tarro off him, getting up to his knees so he could walk on them to his mate. He held his hands up, supplicant, as he laid his chin over his mate’s navel so he could look up at him beseechingly.

“Please oh great chief,” he began, voice high. “Spare us. I’ll doanythingif you’ll just spare our lowly lives.” Brune blinked his long lashes as he tried to keep the smile off his face.

Lips pursed as if in thought, Ridan ran his fingers through Brune’s long hair, using his grip to twist his head to get a better look at him. “Hmm. I suppose we could find a use for such…handsome strapping alphas.”

“Oh!” Brune threw his arms around Ridan’s waist, dragging him down to his level. “Thank you, wise and merciful chief. Your kindness is only overshadowed by your beauty, grace, intelligence, and sense of humor. What would we do without your fighting prowess and unbelievably tight?—”

“Brune!”Ridan slapped him. He dragged the big alpha to the ground and instructed his twins to attack. They abandoned their uncle Jonen to take on their father under the watchful gaze of their dam.

Dusting himself off, Jonen stepped around the flailing piling of limbs and made his way to Corric. He laid a hand on his stomach, stepping close to scent his mate.

“How are you feeling?”

“Sore,” Corric sighed.

Jonen’s hand migrated to his back, rubbing where he knew Corric felt the twinge of all the extra weight he was carrying. “You should be resting.”

The omega hummed. “Iylah said it was good to walk.”

Jonen looked down at his belly, smiling softly. The healer said it would be any day now. He tried to keep his anxiety from his scent. They’d been trying for so long. Corric had almost given up. Every day they wondered if he could carry to term, or if he would lose this one like the others.

Corric dropped his head to Jonen’s shoulder to watch as Ridan held Brune in a headlock so his pups could get their revenge by tickling their sire. Brune howled in mock pain, his cries for mercy going unheard by the cackling twins.