Page 12 of His Unicorn Alpha (Shifters Sanctuary #3)

I t had been a long time since I was in the kind of relationship that involved sleeping over in someone’s bed. But, after performing a thorough search for my alpha mark (which we discovered on my inner thigh) and subsequently indulging in the urges from our bond again, I was too tired and too happy to even suggest returning to Beck and Ollie’s house, even though that was where all my stuff was being kept.

But waking up wrapped around my omega —and wasn’t that a mindfuck? I was an alpha !— was an experience I wanted to repeat over and over again. It felt odd, at first, not being alone…but my inner alpha radiated contentment and pride.

And that was odd, too; feeling so blissfully content with a veritable stranger. We had so much to learn about each other, but I meant what I had said the previous day: I trusted that the universe wouldn’t lead me astray when it came to my mate.

My mom was never going to shut up about being right.

I snorted to myself.

Brandt grumbled and cracked a dark brown eye open. “What has you so amused at this hour?”

“Not a morning person?” I asked him as I leaned over to check the time on my phone screen. His bedroom windows were covered by blackout curtains, so I couldn’t see if the sun had risen or not. My phone told me it wasn’t quite seven yet.

“I can be,” he practically purred and rubbed his morning wood into my hip, “with the right motivation.”

Arousal flared low in my belly and my dick stirred to life without any other prompting. I wasn’t sure if it was the bond between us or just the newness of our relationship causing the reaction, and I didn’t care.

Beneath his sexy goatee, my mate’s lips quirked and he wrapped his large hand around my shaft. I groaned as he observed, “This is fine motivation indeed.”

“Fuck,” I muttered when he started to slowly stroke me. “That’s it, sugar.”

“Hmm,” he practically purred into my ear, “I believe I can do better than that.”

Before I could ask what he meant, he shuffled down the mattress, taking the sheets with him. After sex and a shower the previous night, we had gone to bed naked, and I had surprised myself by not feeling self-conscious about being so vulnerable and exposed. I assumed it had something to do with the bond, and the obvious proof of Brandt’s appreciation of my body, but it was still a novel sensation to not want to hide away behind at least a pair of briefs.

However, I was glad for our choice when, moments later, Brandt’s warm, wet mouth sank down on my dick.

“Oh my god,” I breathed, closing my eyes when he began to suck and bob his head. “That feels… nnngh .”

He hummed around my cock, presumably in pride or agreement, and the vibrations made the tingly feeling which I was beginning to associate with my knot start to tickle the base of my shaft.

I wasn’t accustomed to getting such enthusiastic blow jobs. I hadn’t lived a life without head, but it was usually an afterthought, or a half-hearted, quick and easy way to get me off if I didn’t come during sex. But with Brandt, I could feel how much he wanted to do this for me. With me. His arousal and enjoyment were obvious, not only through the bond, but through his actions themselves.

I glanced down my body to watch him, to take in the dark eyelashes resting on his cheeks as he lost himself to his ministrations.

He was gorgeous.

He was gorgeous, and he was mine.

“Shit,” I cursed, my back arching from the bed at the delicious suction, “I’m fucking close already…”

He hummed again as a sense of satisfaction traveled through the bond and I groaned, one of my hands moving to the back of his head, my fingers tangling in his dark tresses.

“B-Brandt,” my breath caught on his name. “Sugar, I’m…oh, fuck, just like that…”

He slurped as he bobbed, and he twirled his tongue around my dick like it was a lollipop or a popsicle or—

“Fuck!” I cried out as he took the whole thing into his mouth again without warning, and I felt my balls meet his chin. I knew that in and of itself wasn’t exactly hard to do, but those thoughts filtered away as he swallowed around the head of my cock. The suction and the relatively new sensations, combined with the enjoyment I could feel through the bond, made my eyes roll back in my head. “Oh, god,” I groaned, no longer able to prevent the inevitable, “I’m coming. Fuck, I’m… unnnggh .”

I slammed my head back onto the pillow as I came down his throat, and then the tingling started up for real. “Pull off,” I demanded. “M-my knot…”

I didn’t know how large my knot could possibly be, but I didn’t want to risk getting stuck in his mouth, with his jaw unable to open wide enough to release me. I doubted that was really a possibility, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.

Brandt seemed to gag before he pulled away, but as I looked down to check on him, shock rocketed through me.

I hadn’t seen my knot the previous day, as the two times I had knotted Brandt, I had been buried as deeply inside of his body as possible. But now I was getting a good look at it and—

“Holy shit,” I blurted, staring wide-eyed at my dick as though I’d never seen it before. Because, technically, I hadn’t. Not like this. “What…?”

The bulbous swell of the knot, I had expected. The extra length, on the other hand…

“How is it bigger?” I demanded, reaching to grasp it, then slamming my eyes shut as I remembered belatedly just how sensitive the knot was. Cum spurted somewhat weakly over my hand and I watched, fascinated, as the practically entirely-new-to-me appendage twitched and dribbled out the last of my most recent orgasm. I looked at Brandt, knowing he could probably feel the spike of mixed emotions inside me. “Did…did either of the others…?”

My omega shook his head. “Neither Beck or Rex mentioned anything changing other than the knot itself.” After a beat, he cautiously added, “However, Brandi’s body changed significantly…”

Looking back down at my still rock hard, still significantly larger than usual dick, I sighed. “I guess it probably needs to be a certain size to knot properly, or whatever.”

It was strange, but for as many years as I’d lamented how small I was, it seemed like even more of an insult from fate that my dick had to magically grow to accommodate my mate’s needs. I’d genuinely believed that my body was enough for Brandt…but, apparently, it was only enough because it had grown without either of us knowing it.

“Whatever it is you are thinking, you need to stop,” his voice dragged me from my musings with a growl. When I blinked and focused on him, he was scowling.

Why did that expression make him look even hotter?

“I was just—”

“Assuming I only enjoy having you inside me after your knot forms?”

It was a scarily close guess to what I had been thinking. Swallowing roughly, I tried again, “I—”

“You would be wrong if that was the case,” he continued, crawling back up the mattress until we were face-to-face again. “I know that you do not know me well enough to believe me, but I am not so shallow that the size of your cock makes a difference to me one way or the other. Do I enjoy your knot? Yes. Did I enjoy riding you before we knew if you would even be able to knot me? Also yes. You are perfect as you are in every possible way, Micah. But you are most likely correct that it changes purely to facilitate the size of the knot.” Then he smirked. “Besides, none of that makes any difference to how you will feel impaled on my cock, does it?”

Just like that, I was completely distracted. Because, really, he was right, wasn’t he? We’d known that if I was an alpha, my body would change during sex. I couldn’t control that, and the sex had been phenomenal even before I popped my first knot.

And speaking of phenomenal sex…

“I’m ready for you any time, sugar,” I told him, reaching down to stroke the appendage in question. He hadn’t come yet, and I felt like I had been an inconsiderate lover. “Do you have lube?”

He nodded, jutting his chin towards the nightstand. I released him to go digging around in the drawer, smirking at the toys in his limited collection. We could have fun with those. But, for the moment, we had each other’s bodies to explore thoroughly first.

I tossed him the bottle and he opened the cap with a satisfying snap .

“How do you want me?” I asked him, spreading my legs in invitation.

“Like this,” he said, waving his hand over me. “I want to be able to see you.”

“Sounds perfect.”

He bent to kiss me and I melted for him, more than happy to let my big, brawny omega take the lead. I reached between us to stroke his dick again, thrilling at the jolts of pleasure that echoed through our bond.

It was all I could do not to whimper and complain when he pulled away, but then his lubed fingers were nudging my hole and I had to grip the pillows behind my head to prevent myself from reaching for my cock. I’d only experienced stimulation to my knot twice before, but I knew that if I bumped it now, I would probably regret it.

I relaxed into the stretch and burn of Brandt opening me up, letting go of the pillow with one hand so I could slide my fingers into his silky dark hair instead. I watched the movement of his large bicep as he fucked me with his fingers, and I marveled at how stunning he was.

His large, hairy body, with its softening pecs and soft belly, was my favorite kind of catnip. The silvery specks in his goatee and through his hair made my mouth water. And those eyes! Such a deep, dark brown that they were almost black. I swore they could see into my soul.

“Get inside me,” I demanded when the desperation to connect with him became too much to bear. “ Now , sugar.”

“Gods, you know what that endearment does to me,” he muttered, but he did as told regardless, withdrawing his fingers and positioning his thick, slicked-up cock at my entrance. He groaned as he nudged his way in, and the pleasure inside me seemed to double as I felt his echoing mine through the connection between us.

That was still going to take some getting used to.

“Fuck,” I cursed when he pulled out and slammed back in without warning, making my cock bounce against my lower abdomen — a wholly novel sensation. But I wasn’t able to focus on the strangeness of that feeling for long, because the movement also stimulated my knot, forcing another short orgasm out of me.

It bordered on painful, and Brandt moaned as it ricocheted through the bond. “That is…intense,” he mused through panted breaths.

I nodded and carefully gripped my shaft above the knot, hoping to prevent it from bouncing against me with his next thrust. “But fucking awesome,” I replied. “Keep…keep going. Yeah, that’s it. Just like that, sweetheart. Oh, fuck, you feel so good.”

“ You feel good,” he told me, his voice strained as he carefully closed the space between us —probably afraid of jostling my knot— and pressed a sweet kiss to my lips. He continued to rock his hips, resting his forehead against mine as he confessed, “I’m close. Too close.”

I shook my head. “No such thing. Come for me, sugar. Come for your alpha.”

I felt the moment he lost control, the spike of bliss rocketing around the magic that tied us together. As he cried out his release with a loud, growly “Fuck!”, I felt it as a multi-sensational experience.

Even without touching my knot, I came again, pushed over the edge by the phantom orgasm which didn’t actually belong to me. When I opened my eyes, it was to find Brandt's dark pair staring intently at me, warmth and awe painted on his face. He brought a trembling hand to the side of my face and stroked my cheek tenderly with his thumb.

No words needed to be said as we took a moment to bask in the afterglow of this first for us — the first time my omega was inside me, making my inner alpha sing. The first time of many, if I had my way.

Brandt pulled out and flopped down at my side, working to catch his breath. Resting his head on my sweaty shoulder, he pressed lazy kisses onto my skin. I kissed the top of his tousled hair, nuzzling my cheek over the top of his head.

“That was most certainly the right kind of motivation for waking early,” his voice rumbled through his chest, and I chuckled.

“I’m happy to motivate you any time, sugar.”

“Are we going to talk about it?” Beck’s voice startled me. I turned from where I was re-packing my suitcase on the bed inside the guest room I had been staying in and found my former roommate leaning casually against the doorframe.

“About the alpha thing?” I asked him easily, still finding it all a bit surreal.

After our morning spent motivating each other, Brandt finally admitted that he did have work to do at the clinic, and I knew I needed to head back to Beck and Ollie’s to gather my things and, also, thank my friends for their hospitality. I also knew that Beck and Sandy would want to talk about the huge and sudden changes I was making in my life, but neither had been around when I let myself inside the house.

Beck crossed the room and sat on the edge of the bed’s mattress, making my suitcase bounce. “Yeah, about the alpha thing,” he agreed, matching my light tone. Then he cocked his head and looked up at me. “But also about the bonding thing. And the baby thing. Because, I gotta tell you, man, I wasn’t expecting…” he trailed off.

I understood where he was coming from. A few years earlier, when he had told me and Sandy about his impending parenthood, I had reacted with shock on his behalf. But back then the whole concept of alphas existing, of magical bonds being more than simple legends or slowly-forgotten history, had been mind-blowing on its own. Now, it was rare, but not a complete anomaly. Even so, I had embraced the idea of my omega carrying my babies with a lot less freaking out than me-of-three-years-earlier would have, and we both knew it.

“Yeah, well, he’s my omega,” I shrugged and rolled a pair of jeans up into a neat cylinder shape, placing it into the open case beside him. “I realized that if I wanted him, I needed to be okay with everything that comes with that.”

“Yeah, but… triplets , Mike. Twins have been…” he shuddered, then looked instantly shamefaced. “I mean, I love my kids, don’t get me wrong. But…two has been rough, and you’re having three . And you didn’t even—”

“If you’re about to say ‘enjoy the sex that made them’ or something along those lines, I think it’s safe to assume that Brandt and I have made up for that.”

My friend snorted. “No. But thanks for the mental imagery, asshole.”

“You’re welcome.”

Shaking his head, Beck ignored my snarky teasing. “I was going to say that you didn’t even get a choice…I mean, I guess you did , but…Ugh, I’m not saying this right.” He huffed out a breath of frustration, then stared up at me with a whole bunch of emotions on his face. “I’m just saying, it would have been totally understandable if you were pissed with Brandt, or if you weren’t ready to have kids. Three kids, Mike.”

“Yeah,” I sighed and pushed the suitcase further up the bed so I could sit beside my friend, “it would have been understandable. But I didn’t feel like that. And that doesn’t make your freakout when Ollie got pregnant any less valid, by the way.”

Beck scrunched his nose. “Except—”

“Nope. No exceptions. And if you’re still feeling guilty about that, that’s something you need to talk to him about.”

“I’m not. Not really. I mean, this whole thing with you and Brandt has kind of shaken up some of those old feelings, but I guess I just assumed…I mean, three babies , Micah. You’ll be outnumbered.”

“We, uh, we’re talking about employing help, actually. Like…a nanny.” I cringed as I said it, associating the word with the rich and affluent. “Not to, like, do all the work or raise them for us or anything. But I will have to travel for work, and Brandt wants to keep working at the clinic, and…what?”

Beck was staring at me with wide-eyed surprise. “That's…Wow. You only met him yesterday.”

“And I bonded with him.” I smiled softly, remembering my awe when he first told me about bonding with Ollie. “With the biting and the foreverness.”

His own expression softened, likely remembering the same conversation, and he nodded. “With the biting and the foreverness, yes.”

“And I chose that, Beck. I knew it was an option and…I chose it.”

I didn’t need to tell him that that was where our pivotal difference was: all of this had fallen in his lap and had taken him by surprise when it had happened to him. I had grown up as a shifter and, after he and Ollie bonded, I understood that the magic wasn’t just in stories anymore. While I had never imagined that I, as a beta, would ever be presented with the opportunity to bond with a mate, I had known what I was doing before I went with my instincts. I had chosen my fate.

It was that choice which made the sudden changes in my life seem so much easier to handle. I had known what I was signing up for. I had known, theoretically speaking, what to expect going forward.

“It’s that easy for you?” Beck still sounded a little bewildered. “I know you chose it, but it’s still happening so fast. This time yesterday, you hadn’t even met the man. Now, you’re bonded forever and are having triplets in, like, six months. How are you so calm?”

“Sandy asked you that same question, remember? Or at least something close to it. And you said that what was done was done and there was no sense losing your shit over something you couldn’t go back and change.”

“Well, yeah, but Ollie’s pack had just tried to snatch him off the street, too, and that kind of put it into perspective for me.”

Thankfully, my mate was not at risk of being kidnapped by a cult-like pack. Or, rather, I hoped he wasn’t. At least, no more at risk than any other member of Shifters Sanctuary.

I clapped Beck on the shoulder and squeezed. “This is still kind of like that. Not with the life-endangerment, but Brandt was already pregnant either way. He was having my kids either way. And, honestly? Even if I could go back in time to change it, I wouldn’t. Not just because of the whole thing where it might potentially help keep an entire species going, either.”

The flash of guilt across Beck’s face made me aware that my words might have struck a nerve, but he shook it off and asked, “No?”

“No. Brandt has wanted to be a dad for hundreds of years. This…this makes him so happy. Am I a little terrified of having kids with someone who is practically a complete stranger right now? Yeah, I am. But yesterday, while the bond was still settling in, I could feel his happiness inside me and there’s no way I would want to take that from him.” Pushing back to my feet, I added, “It’s different to your situation. I know you and Ollie love the twins, but neither of you expected them and, on top of the alpha thing being a surprise, and the threat from his pack, you had a lot to deal with. For me? The only threat I’m facing is that my mom will want to move here and never leave when she finds out she’s getting grandchildren.”

Beckett laughed at that. “She’s welcome here. Everyone is. That’s kind of our thing.”

“Don’t tell her that,” I joked back, then I groaned as the truth of what I was saying fully dawned on me. “She’s going to be impossible . She’s been wanting a grandbaby for a long time. Add to that the fact that she was right about coming back here…”

“Wait, what? What do you mean?”

Reaching for one of the t-shirts in the pile of clothes I still had to pack, I started to tell Beck everything about my feelings since I visited for his wedding, and the conversations I had had with my mother. My suitcase was fully packed by the time I was finished, and Beck appeared contemplative.

“Do you think there’s something to it?” he asked. “To her connection with the universe, or whatever she calls it? Because Sage and Dex are looking into the magical side of shifters and alphas and stuff...and maybe your mom can help with that?”

Didn’t Brandt say something about it sounding like the old ways last night?

My thoughts swirled as I started to consider the fact that my mom’s airy-fairy talk might actually be a bit more than just a quirk. What if she and her family before her had been passing down forgotten magic from the older generations of shifters? If something she knew could help the pack —my new pack, Brandt’s pack— I couldn’t risk not asking.

“I guess I’m calling Mom.”