Page 25 of His Unicorn Alpha (Shifters Sanctuary #3)

“ I hear you have located information to unbind a shifter’s repressed designation and abilities,” Sergio said not long after our meeting began. His eyes drifted casually over Beckett, then Micah, then Rex and Brandi. “And I can see that you have already begun doing so.”

“Actually, no,” Beck told him with a slightly sheepish smile. “We, uh, we didn’t control this. It kind of just happened naturally for us.”

Sergio’s eyes —set in a face so similar to my alpha’s, it was almost as if we were seeing into the future— widened.

It was difficult not to pull Micah into my embrace and help him process the shock of meeting this man —this unicorn, his biological father— without warning, but he seemed just as eager for answers about the magic as the rest of us. Later, I would force the issue with him but, for the moment, we would focus on the task at hand. I would most certainly be having words with Dexter and Sage later, though. It was unlike my brother to allow his friend to be quite so chaotic.

“Naturally?” Sergio questioned.

Beck nodded. “Yeah. Rex, Brandi and I…we all thought we were human. Then we met our omegas and,” he cleared his throat, glossing over the mating ruts which led to their knots forming, “suddenly, we weren’t really human anymore.”

“Fascinating.” Sergio shifted his gaze to Micah. “And you?”

Micah shrugged. “I thought I was a beta. But then Brandt…uh, well, we felt drawn to each other and we put the pieces together and made a conscious choice to bond and draw out my knot and my alpha. At least, with the way we felt sounding so similar to what everyone else had experienced…it was an educated guess that it would happen.”

I was surprised that Micah did not mention that he also believed that he was a horse until after our mating and bonding, but then, we had no idea about Sergio's intentions. It was likely wise to withhold any unnecessary information until after he reciprocated in kind.

The older unicorn nodded slowly and scratched his bearded jaw thoughtfully. “It does seem conveniently coincidental that it has happened to a cluster of people in such a small geographical area.”

“To be fair, we were in New York, and Rex and Day were in Texas…” Ollie interjected.

Sergio’s lips lifted in a little smile. “But to all be in the United States and all around the same time…it is still odd that we haven’t heard of this happening anywhere else in the world, isn’t it?”

“I agree,” I told him, tilting my head genially. “Unless others are keeping it extremely well hidden, it does seem strange that it has all happened here with us.”

“I think part of that can be attributed to the magic itself,” Sergio said. Eric and I both straightened in our seats.

“How so?” Eric asked him, then gestured between himself and me. “We don’t know a lot about the old ways, I’m afraid. They were dying out before we were born.”

“Well, it’s sort of like the way your parents’ pack sees it,” he replied, gesturing genially towards Micah with an upturned palm. “The magic —or fate, or the universe, however you wish to name it— generally blesses those it believes are worthy. The theory I and the other remaining mages and shamen believe is that magic itself began shielding alphas from their abilities until such time as we, as a species, respected each other enough to use the abilities correctly.” He looked back over to where Oliver was seated on Beckett’s lap and smiled. “You were chosen by magic first, correct?”

“Yeah…” Beck answered slowly, while Ollie nodded.

“The magic must have sensed that you would treat your mate and others as equals.” He sighed. “The shifter community has lost its way. The mistreatment of omegas has been appalling. Perhaps the magic saw something in you…a potential to change the world and restore balance.”

Beck snorted. “I was a nobody. I’m still—”

“You’re a born leader,” Micah cut him off. “The way you talk about this pack, about protecting everyone here and omegas in general…Beck, you’re kind of made for this.”

Sergio shot Micah a smile before he continued. “And once you settled here, so did the magic. It likely drew the others here as well,” he waved a hand over the table, “ensuring that you had the support you needed to start bringing order and balance back to our world.”

Eric slumped back in his seat. “So you’re saying there’s still no way to know who might have an alpha side locked away? Not until the magic springs their mate on them and —bam— instant family?” He pulled out his phone, scrolling through his notes. “The journals suggested there were spells…”

“With the magic cooperating, there are, yes.” Sergio nodded, completely unruffled by my brother’s intensity. “However, the spells themselves were hidden away. When the magic became erratic and uncooperative, the spells no longer worked.”

“And so shifters began to forget the old ways,” I finished for him solemnly. “How is it you are still able to wield magic?”

“I am old,” he admitted, then looked at Micah with an unreadable expression. “We unicorns live as long as the dragons. We are mystical creatures tied to magic itself. It is a blessing and a curse.” His gaze drifted past us, to the strollers parked against the wall. “Our numbers have dwindled without alphas. Even our betas have had declining fertility.” He met my gaze. “We have been going the way of the dragons. Losing hope. There are not many of us left in the world. But with magic on our side” —Once more, he looked towards the strollers, smiling softly.— “Balance is being restored, and so is hope.”

“That doesn’t answer— ouch .” Eric jumped in his seat and then frowned at my mate. “Did you just kick me?”

“Be patient,” Micah told him, “and listen. ” He turned back to Sergio. “Please continue.”

“Take, for example, your existence,” Sergio said, speaking directly to Micah. “Your parents came to me and pleaded for the magic —for me— to help them conceive and carry a child to term. They were pure, loving people and, through my connection to the magic, I knew I could assist them. However, please understand that I believed my entire contribution mystical by nature. I hadn’t realized that I…well.” His expression turned rueful. “I believe that was also fate at play.”

Micah snorted. “You didn’t think that —I can’t believe I’m going to say this— sleeping with my mother might have meant she conceived your kid and not her husband’s?”

Sergio shrugged. “As I said, the fertility of unicorns has been dwindling. I had no reason to assume…” he stopped and sighed, shaking his head. “Everything that occurred that night was consensual, and I believed the magic's insistence on my presence was to use me as a conduit and nothing more. I was obviously wrong. The magic tends to do as it wishes sometimes. It has its reasons. However, there is a different energy here in this place. I can feel it. And, to answer your question,” he turned his attention back to Eric, “I believe, if we locate the information about the spells, we could begin the process of isolating those with shielded alpha abilities and we could unbind them without the necessity of matings and bondings. However,” his gaze traveled around the entire table again, “that could change things for the omegas living in the proximity of unbound alphas.”

Eric was all ears again, leaning forward eagerly. “Change things how?”

“My personal theory is that once alphas become unleashed en masse, the magic will balance that out by restoring omegas’ reproductive cycles. Regular heats, even for unmated and unbonded omegas, were a common occurrence prior to alphas becoming extinct. Bear in mind it is just a theory, but it is a risk we run.”

“Ugh, I hate heats,” Day complained. “But imagine going through it without an alpha. Blergh.”

“We would need to find a way to mass produce the omega contraceptives, too,” Ollie added. Then he frowned. “Could betas get an omega in heat pregnant?”

“In the past? No,” Sergio shook his head, but then he gestured towards Lena and Brandi. “However, in the past, female alphas were unheard of."

"What about betas becoming alphas?" Micah asked him with a hint of challenge. "Because I lived my life as a beta. A horse beta. It wasn't until I met Brandt that I changed."

Sergio's lips twitched. "As with the others, I suspect the magic was shielding your hidden alpha and true breed until such a time that it saw fit to unleash them." He held weathered hands at his sides with his palms up. "It's just a theory, but I believe the magic has changed things, presumably because times have changed. The world has changed. And magic is evolving to create true balance.”

As a man of science, I felt uncomfortable with all the talk of magic…however, I knew that, as a dragon mated to a unicorn, my unease really was unfounded.

“Then, yeah,” Ollie leaned forward and addressed Eric, “I’d say birth control is number one on the list before we go unlocking everyone’s alpha sides.”

“Well, that makes sense,” Sage cut in from where he and Dexter had been suspiciously silent, “but don’t we need to find the spells first anyway?”

Dexter cleared his throat. “I don’t think that will be an issue. All those journals I have been sending photos of?” Eric and I nodded. “They belong to the same collection in rural France. The owner is quite…possessive. However,” he smirked at Sergio, “maybe now that we have a magic wielder on hand, we can persuade the old man to…” he rolled his wrist in the air, “ donate them to our cause.”

Eric’s gaze darted between Sergio and Dexter, before he pulled out his phone. “Where in France? Let’s get you on the next flights over.”

Life became a whirlwind of looking after our babies, research, and manufacturing omega-specific birth control. Micah’s parents visited (to meet their grandchildren, and to provide emotional support for Micah as he dealt with the appearance of his biological father) and they were a great help with the girls. When they left, Micah and I knew we needed to hire a nanny after all.

Our relationship was still solid, but we hadn’t spent any time alone as a couple in months. I was horrified to realize that the last time we had exchanged more than a hurried hand job was the night I had gone into labor. However, three newborns truly did interrupt any and all opportunities to do more together, and Micah and I were both constantly exhausted.

That had to change.

After weeks of interviewing candidates from the town, we eventually agreed on Carson, a young man who had been living in the homestead known affectionately as Frat House. I had been surprised when Carson said he suspected he had a hidden alpha side. If anything, the petite twenty-seven-year-old human seemed much more likely to be an omega. However, he explained that he was born to shifter parents but, obviously, scented completely human from birth and had never once shifted.

His parents had never shunned him, but when they heard about Shifters Sanctuary and Beckett’s backstory, they encouraged him to come to us and try his luck.

Carson had been working at the town’s daycare part time and picking up odd jobs at the local farms. With childcare experience and a naturally sweet disposition, it made sense for Micah and I to hire him, and he seemed thrilled to move into our guest room and out of the communal lodgings.

“They really do act like a frat house,” he lamented with a sigh during his first night in our home. “They’re all nice guys, but…I guess I didn’t fit in there, either.”

“Well, please treat our home as your own,” I told him. “We do not expect you to take care of the girls overnight every night, only three out of seven nights a week. Enough to give us a chance to recharge. During the day, you won’t have to watch them often, either. However, your room and board is covered here, and you should socialize…date…settle in properly.”

And he did.

The first few nights leaving him in charge of the girls were treated as a trial run. Micah and I hovered, making sure Carson could handle them, but we needn’t have worried. He was sweet and efficient, and he seemed to enjoy taking care of our babies, who were no longer quite so tiny or fragile.

“We lucked out with him,” Micah said on Carson’s first official night on duty.

“We did,” I agreed.

It felt strange not to be tending to our daughters, to not be waiting with bated breath for the first wails during the night. The urge to leave our bedroom suite and assist him was fierce, but so was the desperate need to reconnect with my mate.

In fact, it was a need which had been building since early in the day, as though my brain had sent signals to my body, letting it know that tonight we were free and uninhibited.

I led Micah into our bedroom and closed the door, then slammed him bodily against its painted surface. He barely had time to let out a stunned “oof” before my mouth was slanted over his, my lips demanding he open for me.

I couldn’t recall ever feeling so needy, not even when we had bonded, or the night I had gone into labor. As soon as our mouths connected, it was as though my veins were filled with lava. Arousal simmered in my blood and heated my skin. My cock surged to life, and I felt my slick spilling from me and into my underwear.

I tore at his clothes, not caring if I destroyed the fabric. I had endless resources: I would buy him more and tear those from his body as well.

“Whoa, sugar,” he pulled his mouth from mine, turning his face to breathe. I attacked his neck, sucking at the smooth, flawless skin, leaving marks in my wake. “I know it’s been a while, but…”

I whined and rubbed my erection into his thigh. “I…I need…” My brain was scrambled, thoughts pushed aside for primal urges. The ache inside me was becoming painful. I whined again.

Even though I could feel his answering arousal, through the bond and through his pants, Micah’s concern broke through the fog of lust enveloping me.

“This isn’t just pent-up horniness, Bran,” he said, bringing a hand up to gently stroke my face, his fingers brushing over scales which I had not realized had erupted over my skin. “You’re warm to touch —warmer than usual— and…” he chuckled, then removed his hand from my face, gripping at my hips instead, “baby, you’re still rubbing off on my leg.”

Sure enough, I had been grinding into him, seeking friction while my body begged to be filled and knotted and— oh.

“I…I think I may be in heat,” I admitted. The frantic desire inside me, the fire in my veins and infusing my skin, the insane amount of slick I was producing; it all added up.

Gently pushing me to take a step back, Micah frowned. “That’s soon, isn’t it? You only gave birth a few months ago.”

“There are not any set rules for these things,” I fought to think rationally, struggling against the burning and the now painful urge to submit to my alpha. “For Ollie, it took almost a year before his first post-natal heat. For Day…maybe six months?” I frowned back at my mate. “Why…why are you not affected? To hear the others tell it, their alphas fall into rut with them. But you…”

Was I somehow defective? Were the pheromones I was sending out not actually compatible with my alpha after all?

"No, sugar, I am. I'm struggling here." To punctuate his point, he adjusted himself, and his sinfully long eyelashes fluttered closed as he allowed himself the moment of relief. “But I’m trying to shield it from you because…” He paused and licked his lips, swallowing roughly before he met my gaze. His eyes were blown wide with the same level of lust coursing through me. “Because we need to talk about this.”

I did not want to talk. I wanted to fuck.

I whined.

“I know,” he placated, reaching for me, and the touch of his hand on my skin was simultaneously a soothing balm and a jolt to my nerves, “but you’re not on the pill, and we don’t have condoms. If we do this…if we give in to the heat and the rut…”

I bit back another whine. My omega wanted nothing more than to bend over and be bred by his alpha. My alpha. Our alpha.

But it would not be fair to take that choice from him a second time.

Wrestling for control of my urges, I nodded. “You are correct,” the words almost hurt to say, clashing with the instincts building in my gut and in my psyche, “I…I won’t force you…”

“What? No,” Micah gathered me into his arms and I breathed in his scent. The electric alpha buzz was tempered by the near sweetness of his breed. It tugged at my desperation, but I refused to give in. I still had free will, and so did he. “Sugar, you’ve barely recovered from having the girls. I’m not stalling because I don’t want more kids. I’m stalling because I’m worried it’s too soon to put your body through all of that again.”

“Oh.” Relief washed over me, causing my knees to buckle. “I…Micah, I am fine. More than fine. I…” Brushing my hand over my stomach, I sighed. “I am softer than I was prior to the girls. And there are stretch marks, and…well, my body is not as aesthetically pleasing, but I am perfectly healthy. Perhaps even healthier than I was when I implanted their embryos, because I am more physically active and I am more conscious of nutrition now, but…it would be okay. I could…” I licked my lips, still trying to ignore the raging inferno inside me. It was not easy, especially not with the topic of conversation mirroring my body’s demands. “Another pregnancy…another baby…it would be okay.”

“Yeah?” his tone was breathless. Awed .

Was it possible he wanted the same things I did? Not just because of the heat and rut telling us we did, but because we truly envisioned the same future together?

And why wouldn’t we? I wondered. He is my fated mate.

“With my age, and the fact that I am still chestfeeding, there is a possibility the heat won’t take,” I told him. “But…yes. My body could handle it. And my heart…” I swallowed, my breathing hitching as I confessed, “my heart wants it, Micah.”

“So does mine.” I barely had a moment to process his reply before he was guiding me onto our bed, his mouth possessing mine in such an alpha display of dominance, it took my breath away.

Our clothes went flying, and the simple press of his naked skin over mine eased the pain of my heat.

“Jesus,” he whispered against my mouth when his fingers sought out my entrance, “you really need my cock, don’t you, sugar?”

I was certain my slick was making a mess of the bedding, but I did not care. We would do worse before my heat eased up, I was certain of it.

“Please, alpha,” I arched my back, silently willing him to fill me up and fuck me, “ please .”

I felt so empty that it hurt.

“You’re so wet, baby,” he nipped at my jaw, the scrape of his teeth over stubble and scales making me tremble with little shocks of bliss, “you’re going to feel so fucking good around my dick.”

I cried out as he slid two fingers inside me, teasing me instead of giving me the one thing my body craved more than anything else.

“M-Micah, please .”

“God, I love hearing you beg for me. Watching you writhe on my fingers. And, fuck , you’re even hotter inside than I remember.”

Later, I would consider just how far we had come from the first time we were together. When he was self-conscious and almost timid. I loved my alpha’s submissive side, too —I loved to fuck him every bit as much as I loved feeling him inside me— but, in that moment, he was giving my omega side everything I needed.

“I-it is the heat,” I managed to stammer, rolling my hips, trying to find some kind of relief for the intense need building inside me. “I…I feel like I will combust…”

“I’ve got you,” he crooned, pressing kisses down my neck and over my shoulders. The cool moisture felt as though it sizzled with every brush of his lips on my heated flesh. “I’m going to breed you so good, Bran. Gonna put another baby in you.”

“ Fuck ,” I bit the curse out, clamping around his probing digits, my body tensing for orgasm at the very thought. My cock strained and wept over the pooch of my belly, even though it hadn’t received any actual attention. “A-alpha, please .”

“You want that, don’t you?” He continued, pushing all of my buttons…except for the one inside me, as if he knew doing so would be too much. “You want me to make you all round with another one of our babies. Want to fill this whole house with them. The whole town, even.”

“Y-yes…” My mate’s words were ridiculous, but my yearning for children of my own had spanned centuries. Add to that my first ever heat and a breeding kink which had quite obviously been slowly festering away in the back of my subconscious for a while, and I was a babbling mess. There was nothing hotter than the very idea that my alpha would breed me over and over again. “M-Micah, now. I need… nooo .” I voiced my complaint as he pulled his fingers from me, but he silenced me with a gentle tap to the side of my thigh.

“On your hands and knees, sugar. Facing the headboard.”

I scrambled to do exactly as he had asked, moaning with delight when his long, lithe form stretched over my back and his cock slid inside me.

Instantly, the churning, aching feeling in my belly seemed to ease. It was a strange, almost mystical phenomenon, and I would wonder later on about the science behind it. Was it his precum? Did it cause a chemical reaction somehow?

“Fuck,” Micah panted, grinding his pelvis into the fleshy globes of my ass, “fuck, I was right. You’re so hot, sugar. And so wet. This… ungh, ” he pulled out and pushed back in, and his voice turned ragged, “this is going to be fast, baby.”

I bent forward, pressing my face into the pillow, aiming to give him more access, or a better angle, or…I had no idea what. “ Yes ,” I moaned obscenely as he thrust again, then repeated the word with every increasing slam of his hips, “yes, yes, yes.”

“Oh, shit,” he hissed, “don’t…don’t squeeze…”

I couldn’t help it. My instincts had taken over. I wanted him to come. I wanted his knot. I wanted him to fuck me into the damn mattress. I wanted— “Oh, Gods, alpha .” He’d found my prostate and the pleasure shot through me and, I assumed, through the bond as well.

Suddenly, whatever tenuous control he had held over his side of our connection crumbled, and I wailed at the onslaught of his pleasure and arousal combining with mine. On his next thrust, I saw stars. I convulsed beneath him, my cock erupting even as I felt what had to be a torrent of slick spill over his cock and between our bodies, trickling down the inside of my thighs.

“ Holy shit ,” Micah’s fingers dug into my hips, “fuck, Bran. Fuck, that feels… oh God. ” His words were barely comprehensible, lost as they were in his groan.

I felt his orgasm through the bond almost as clearly as if it were my own, and my body shuddered through coming again as his cock swelled and released inside me.

Once again, the heat in my veins seemed to subside, easing away even further as Micah’s knot inflated and locked us together. He continued to pant and issue low curses through his resulting knotted releases, and I relished in the sensations bouncing through to me via our connection.

Boneless, sweaty, and covered in cum and slick, Micah and I eased down onto our sides, spooning together in the afterglow. Flashes of heat and need surprised me, but my alpha sensed them and ground into me, stimulating his knot and coming again and again until those bursts of desperation dissipated.

“That was… wow ,” he said after kissing the back of my neck. “How are you feeling?”

Opening my mouth to respond, I yawned. He chuckled, then groaned as his own movement bumped his knot. Jolts of pleasure bordering on pain came through the bond. My cock twitched in answer, but I was utterly spent.

“ Fuck ,” he muttered, his fingers flexing on my thigh. “I forgot what this felt like, too.”

“Mmm,” I agreed, feeling my eyelids droop as the afterglow faded into exhausted satisfaction. “I have missed this.”

“Sleep, sugar,” he murmured, kissing the top of my head. “I’ve got you.”

Yes , I thought to myself as the tug towards dreamland drew me closer, he does.

I did not know what was in store for us, for our personal future or for the future of the pack, or even for shifter kind in general. But I did know that, regardless, my unicorn alpha —a man so perfect, I worried I might have just dreamed him up— would always be by my side.

And perhaps, if fate really shone down on us, this heat would take, and hope for dragon kind would be on the horizon as well.