Page 13 of His Unicorn Alpha (Shifters Sanctuary #3)

M y intention to work was derailed the very moment I walked through the doors to the clinic. I should have anticipated that my friends would be just as eager to corner me as my brother had been.

Damon and Ollie looped their arms through mine and guided me into the soundproofed treatment room and closed the door behind us.

Damon pointed to one of the chairs next to the desk. “Sit and start talking, buster.”

I did not sit.

“I thought we were easing into it,” Ollie said with some amusement, but Day shook his head.

“We don’t have time for the softly-softly approach.” He looked at me. “Jazz has the kids. She’s going to give them way too much sugar and then hand them back all hyped up.”

“Is that not a reasonable consequence for abducting me?” I teased lightly.

“Payback’s a bitch, Bran,” Day shrugged. “You’ll have three toddlers of your own soon enough.” His smug expression fell into one of hurt. “I can’t believe you didn’t tell us. Tell me.”

The guilt welled up inside me again and I looked at the floor. “I didn’t tell anyone. I couldn’t. What I did…”

“ Pssshhht ,” Damon waved his hand dismissively. “Forget the ethics for a minute—”

Ollie made a strangled sound at the back of his throat.

Damon ignored him. “Forget the ethics,” he repeated. “For as long as I’ve known you, you’ve had baby fever. Don’t deny it.” He pointed his index finger at me. “I’ve watched you with the pack kids.”

“Yes,” I agreed, “but—”

“So finally getting to have your own is huge ,” he cut me off before I could say anything about the actions I had taken.

Ollie nodded, adding, “And that’s ignoring the species saving thing.”

“So, yeah,” Day cut back in easily. “We’ve got your back, Bran. And, y’know, we’ve been through it all if you want to bitch about the morning sickness, or the sore back, or the…other stuff.” He made a face, clearly remembering the many complaints he had shared about his condition when he had been pregnant.

I looked between the two men, feeling overwhelmed by their support and continued friendship. “Thank you. I…” As I moved to once again apologize for my actions, I realized that they —and Micah— were right. I couldn’t keep going around in circles. I had made my choices, and they were making theirs. Tears welled in my eyes and I managed to choke out another effusive, “Thank you.”

Day lunged forward and wrapped me in a hug, and I tried not to focus on how much larger I was, comparatively speaking. Oliver followed suit moments later, making the hug more of a huddle, but the embrace helped heal my guilt in ways I couldn’t articulate.

“So,” Ollie asked as we pulled out of the three-way hug, “three babies. You’re a brave man, Bran. I thought two was a handful!”

“Are you going to find out if you’re having boys or girls or whatever mix of both?” Day asked before I could react to Ollie’s comment.

“Oooh,” Ollie nodded emphatically, “yes, are you? And have you started thinking about names?”

“Uh…” I blinked, stunned by their rabid enthusiasm and rapid-fire questions. Neither man was particularly prone to such excitable behavior…though, now that I thought about it, Oliver had been just as enthusiastic when Lena and Brandi had announced their twin pregnancy. I had assumed that had more to do with his friendship with the women than anything else and… oh .

The urge to cry hit me all over again.

I had known we were friends, but to be treated the same way as his closest friends…well, it meant a lot to me. I was more introverted than either of my brothers, but I still craved the closeness of pack and family. Having Ollie and Day treat me like family warmed me from the inside out.

“It’s such a pity kids don’t shift until they’re school-aged,” Day lamented, moving the conversation along despite my lack of a response. He turned to Ollie and crooned, “Could you imagine cute little baby dragons? The tiny wings!”

“The breathing fire when they’re upset,” Ollie laughed back at him. “I’m concerned about the impulse control of five-year-olds, let alone babies or toddlers. So, no, I think school-aged is best.”

Day rolled his eyes and folded his arms across his chest. “Spoilsport,” he accused playfully. Then he looked back at me. “Do you think they might be dragons?”

“I don’t know,” I answered, finally able to get a word in edgewise. “And, to be honest, it makes no difference to me whether they are boys, girls, non-binary…dragons, horses, human. I—”

“Will love them in any and all combination,” Ollie finished with a gentle smile. “Yeah, we both know. But it’s still fun to hypothesize. I used to imagine a set of twin boys who looked like Beck.”

Day leaned back against the examination bed and tilted his head as he looked at the first of us to find an alpha. “Didn’t Eric tell you their sexes when he was doing your ultrasounds?”

Ollie blushed and shook his head. “Beck and I decided we didn’t want to know. Everything else had been a surprise to that point, so we decided that could be, too.”

“I’d want to know,” Day said after taking a moment to consider our other friend’s reasoning. “If I ever had another one —which will never happen— I would want to find out.”

“Never say never, Day,” Ollie teased.

Day snorted. “This coming from the guy who is trusting untested birth control.” He winced and shot me an apologetic glance. “No offence.”

“None taken,” I assured him. “I understand why you feel that doing so is a risk.”

Ollie sat on the edge of Eric’s desk and drummed his fingers on the wooden surface. “I’ve seen the science. I trust you and Eric. And, really, condoms don’t mix well with knots and multiple orgasms during the whole heat and rut thing.” He gnawed on his lower lip for a moment before telling Damon, “You’d be better off taking the meds and using condoms if you want to eliminate as much chance of getting pregnant as possible. But even then…” He shrugged.

“You may have a point,” Day mused in return. Then, looking at me once more, he smirked, “Are we placing bets on how long it takes you to sing the song of my people?”

“The…song of your people?” I looked at Oliver in askance. He held up his hands and twisted his lips in the universal gesture for ‘I have no fucking clue’.

Day snorted. “The ‘no more kids for me’ song.”

“I am middle-aged, even for a dragon,” I conceded, then looked down at my stomach as melancholy swept over me. Placing my hand over the soft bulge, which had been present prior to my test-tube conception, I sighed softly. “They may be the only chance I get.”

“Well now I just feel mean,” Day complained, which startled a laugh out of me. He pushed away from the exam bed and closed the distance between us to rub between my shoulder blades. “You’re still a dragon. Middle-aged or not, I think you’ve still got at least another hundred years of baby making in you.” His eyes went wide and he looked in Ollie’s direction in horror. “A hundred years of heats. Can you imagine?”

Ollie shuddered. “No, thanks. Hard pass.”

Head swiveling to look between one and then the other, I said, “I’ve never experienced heat. But is it not…a pleasurable thing?”

“It’s…intense,” Ollie answered. “I don’t like how out of control I feel when I’m in heat.”

“Yeah,” Day agreed, rolling his shoulders as if experiencing physical discomfort. “And having to rely on my alpha to make the unbearable ache stop is frustrating as hell. If I could just sit on a dildo to make the feelings go away, I would.”

“You definitely wouldn’t get pregnant if you could do that,” Ollie told him by way of agreement.

“I hate that I have to fight my biological instinct every few months,” Day grumbled. “Like, you think my omega would get with the program, but nooooo . I think that makes my in-heat mood swings even worse, now that I think about it.”

I was fascinated by all of this. It was somewhat new information to me. With Eric dealing with the majority of the people-facing roles in the clinic, most of my job had become research-based. I probably should have shown more interest in learning about how we truly functioned as omegas, but I had been too jealous of those lucky few who could experience mating heats to want to learn.

That, I realized belatedly, was a mistake.

“I am curious as to whether the birth control will assist with minimizing these symptoms of heat,” I pondered, watching as Oliver’s eyes lit up.

“It would be amazing if it does,” he admitted. “The many, many orgasms are amazing, but they don’t really outweigh the pain points.”

“I’ll make a note to discuss it with Eric,” I decided. “If not the birth control, perhaps another hormone supplement…”

“And we’ve lost him,” Day joked, referencing my tendency to hyperfixate on scientific theories.

Ollie checked his watch. “We should probably rescue Jazz from my little hellhounds,” he said ruefully, but the words were underlaid with affection. His twins were a handful, I knew, but he adored them. “I really do hope she hasn’t plied them with ice cream and milkshakes again.” He shuddered.

“We’ll take them out for a run in the fields if that’s the case,” Day suggested. “They love it when we shift for them.”

“I don’t love it when they pull my tail. Or my ears.”

I snorted. “Which is worse: that or the sugar high?”

Day and Ollie exchanged glances and, in unison, replied, “The sugar high.”

“So, apparently, I have to call my mom,” Micah told me later, when he came to the clinic with Beckett in tow.

“I mean, that’s usually what people do when they find out they’re having kids, isn’t it?” Damon interjected cheekily from the reception desk. Then he made a face. “I mean, not me, because my pack was a Moonmusic cult base, but most nice shifters do, don’t they?”

Beside my mate, Beckett shrugged. “Don’t ask me: I was a foster kid and thought shifters were practically a myth.”

I snorted. “You were living with two.”

“And with a human nose, couldn’t scent either of them for what they were,” he argued back. “I had no idea how many really did live among us.”

It still boggled my mind that people like Rex, Beckett, and Brandi had lived entire lives as humans without any real understanding of the world to which they belonged. At least my alpha had known he was a shifter, even if that did make him the odd one out. An anomaly.

“Anyway,” Micah closed the distance between us in a few long-legged strides and took my hand, squeezing it, “I should warn you that she will probably be, like, super excited.”

The previous day, he had spoken about his parents. It sounded as though they had a good relationship and were generally supportive people. As such, hearing his declaration that his mother would react favorably to his news made me smile. “I am pleased that she will be happy about our children.”

“And our bonding,” he added firmly. “She’s been nagging me to settle down for ages.”

Unease itched down my spine and I shuffled my feet. “Even with an omega so much older than you? So…untraditional?” I gestured to my bulky frame. “So seemingly incompatible?”

He scoffed. “Sugar,” he cooed, and we both ignored Day’s emphatic ‘aww’, which Beckett shushed. “My parents are hippies. It’s all about peace, love, and freedom with them. Plus, they believe in fate. Not only did the universe deem you my compatible mate, but Mom will also say that you’re my fated mate. And she’ll probably love you for that reason alone.”

“Even if I am a dragon?”

“Hippies love dragons. All the mythology and imagery and stuff is right up their alley.”

I arched my eyebrow and shared a questioning glance with Beck, who just shrugged. Meeting my mate’s gaze again, I began, “I am not entirely sure that is correct.”

He rolled his eyes. “Fine, I’m talking out of my ass, but they will love you.”

“Even though I implanted our eggs without your knowledge or permission?”

“Mom’s getting three grandbabies. If anything, she’ll ask when we’re going to have more.”

“ Brrrr ,” Day’s exaggerated shudder interrupted us, and he muttered under his breath, “No thanks, hard pass.”

“Anyway,” Beckett gave our friend a pointed glare, which the young omega merely winked at, causing the pack Alpha to sigh before turning back to me and Micah, “sharing your news isn’t the only reason I’m encouraging Micah to call his parents.” He tilted his head. “Can we head into the lab and talk?”

Curiosity piqued, I nodded and led the way down the short hallway in the converted cottage and to the farthest door on the right. The former bedroom was a fully functioning little laboratory, and it was the room I affectionately considered my research cave. I sat on my rolling chair and, after following Micah and me inside, Beck closed the door and leaned against it. Micah situated himself at my desk, resting his hip against its surface.

Goosebumps pimpled my skin as the awareness that he was finally in the place where our children had been created settled over me. It didn’t matter that it had been an unorthodox creation and conception, it truly felt as though things had come full circle.

Oblivious to my thoughts, Beck said, “To cut to the chase, I think Micah’s mother might have some knowledge about traditional shifter magic. She might even be able to practice it…more than just the ability to shift, I mean.”

I sat up straighter, looking up at Micah for confirmation. “Really?”

He shrugged. “I mean, I was telling Beck about her insistence that the universe guides her, or whatever…”

I tilted my head. “In what way?”

“I always thought it was just wishy-washy talk, you know? Like psychic abilities or whatever. But,” he rubbed the back of his neck and grimaced, “she’s always known just when to call me, and she was the one who told me to come back here. Said the universe willed it, or something like that.”

“Which sounds to me,” Beck took over, “like maybe there’s something more to it all. I’m not an expert in shifter stuff —not even close— but I know you and Eric sent Sage and Dexter on some kind of magic research spree…and I thought maybe this might help, too?”

Nodding, I contemplated the fact that I had thought something similar about the old ways the night before. “It is certainly worth exploring.” Removing my phone from my pocket, I brought up Sage’s contact details to send him a message. “I will ask Sage when he and Dexter plan on returning. It would make the most sense to have their input.”

“Aren’t you the oldest?” Micah asked. “Wouldn’t you remember more of the old magics?”

“They never interested me quite as much as science, I am afraid. Even though there was some crossover a few hundred years ago, my memory is not that efficient. Sage and Dexter have been travelling the world, looking for older dragons or even sorcerers who specialize in magical theory or, preferably, practice magic. If there are those with the ability to tap in to the magics, who knows what advances we can make for shifter kind.”

My mate scrunched his nose adorably. “So, you’re hoping that my mom might be able to help…what, exactly? Practice magic if they bring back the knowledge on how to do so?”

“Pretty much,” Beck answered. “We don’t know what possibilities are out there, but with Moonmusic still posing a threat, we’re willing to look into all avenues to keep our pack and others like us safe.”

It was an admirable sentiment, but I couldn’t help thinking that if we eventually managed to bring back the magic of our elders, they might soon follow.

Still, that should not prevent us from researching.

Micah nudged my foot with his own and smiled down at me when I looked up at him. “Ready to meet my parents?”