Page 233 of Broken Bonds

I catch the look Todd and Jax exchange, and nearly lose my shit until I spot the twins asleep on a blanket on the floor.

Instead, I sink onto their couch, curl up into a ball, and cry.

Todd starts for me, but Jax intercepts him, and he and Mike take him outside through the back door while Pavin and Shawn flank me on the couch.

Pavin pulls my head into his lap. “It’s okay, pup. I know this feels bad, but most of it’s due to hormones. I mean, it’s actually all hormones—your reaction, and how they reacted. But the wild post-partum emotions are wrapped up in there, too. Things have to settle down, that’s all.”

“I just want to be pack.”

Shawn pokes me in the shoulder. “How many times do we need to tell you that you already are?”

“I don’t want a freebie just because I’m Todd’s mate, and Todd is the pack Alpha’s best friend. I don’t want people looking at me and griping that I didn’t earn my way in, or that I got special treatment. I grew up feeling like I never fit in. I damned sure don’t want to live the rest of my life feeling like that.”

“It won’t be the rest of your life,” Pavin says. “And if you think you’re the first mate who ever put the baby before the bukkake, think again.”

Chapter Eighty-Four

Todd

Scrubbed

“What do I do?” I ask Mike and Jax.

It’s killing me Mal’s so upset about this. I know there’s nothing I can do to fix it, either.

Mike smiles. “Kid, right now his hormones and emotions are all over the place. Is Kylen still nursing?”

“Yeah. She’s got a tooth coming in, though. Dr. Williamson said we could start her on a bottle and offer soft foods.”

“Nursing makes it take longer for his hormones to straighten out. Not,” Mike quickly adds, “that I’m saying you put her on a bottle just because of that.” He looks at Jax. “You explained to Mal that since he smells like pack already, and that he’s Todd’s mate, initiation is just a formality and not a necessity, right?”

“’Til we’re all blue in the face,” Jax says.

“I mean,” Mike continues, “let’s be honest. Probably half of the omegas can barely smell shit if they’re standing in it. If they think he smells like pack, then initiation isn’t necessary.”

“Please don’t tell him that, Mike,” I say. “He’s been looking forward to it.”

He scratches the back of his neck. “He hasn’t had a natural heat yet, has he?”

“No,” I say. “So we still have that to deal with.”

He pulls out his phone and checks something. “Do you think Kylen might be on a bottle or even eating soft foods in two months?”

“At the rate she’s going? Most likely.”

He shows us his phone, a moon phases calendar. “Two full moons from now, falls on a Saturday night.” He looks at Jax. “Want my suggestion?”

“I’m all ears, Pops.”

“Schedule an official initiation ceremony and run for that night. Meanwhile, Todd, if you can get Alphas to fuck him, do so.”

Jax holds up a finger. “What about me fucking him?”

“He blow you yet?”

Jax and I exchange a glance. “We’ve played in the fun room,” Jax says. “Shawn and I’ve spit-roasted him, and he took loads from me while Shawn fucked him. Couple of time. That was before the babies were born, though.”

“Well, there you go,” Mike says. “Problem solved. And considering the gallons of cum you and Todd and Shawn have swapped over the years, in addition to Todd, you know, making Mal his mate and having Todd’s baby, you already did it. Which is another reason he likely smells like pack to the omegas. Get the Alphas together who want to do him before then. If anyone else wants to, let them. Saturday, on the full moon, hold the public celebration. Give the kid a firm date to look forward to, and by then I bet the omegas will at least be able to jerk off on him and Mal should be happy he ‘went through initiation.’” Mike uses finger quotes on that last part.