Page 24 of The First Omega Made (Scales and Tails of Fate #2)

Doc

My mouth watered as I bit into half-raw steak and hunks of genetically engineered beef.

Noel’s sweet-talking of the clergy had made me a very happy bastard, despite the fact that I couldn’t meet with them as easily as Noel had before Nexus hatched.

He was much calmer than I was. I hadn’t even let anyone but Sarge and Noel in to see the egg, despite Gorm being the beta father of him.

He was growing impatient, though. And from what Noel and Sarge had said, he held some kind of bond with the little one and was fretful wanting to see it. So, I had to swallow my instincts and put pants on and clean sheets.

I sat up straight and waited as seconds passed by, waiting until I could calm myself enough. I didn’t think it’d get better, but I grunted for Merriel.

“’Sup?”

“Go ahead and let Sarge and Gorm in.” I settled down and took deep breaths, relieved when Noel came in with them, Nexus held in his arms. It’d been a month since I’d laid, and his presence helped, especially with Nexus.

The little one distracted me from Gorm as he approached, hands raised, head tilted to show me his neck.

“That’s him?” Gorm stayed a few paces from my bed and swallowed so hard his throat bobbed. “I can hear him. Lil guy’s happy as a lyret in a pantry.”

“He is,” I agreed, stroking the shell as I tamped down my distress. Having Sarge there as calm as he was and Noel watching made me a lot calmer, but one wrong move and I would happily disembowel my egg’s other sperm donor.

Despite my unease, I gestured Gorm over and held the egg out a little, curious to see what our egg thought of his beta pater’s presence.

Gorm didn’t question my offer and sank to his knees by my bed to press his palm to the smooth surface. “His egg is a little bigger than Nexus’s. Good genes, I suppose.”

Noel snorted, and my cheeks heated. I could only hope that Gorm’s more pleasant features came out in our little one.

Though, it was anyone’s guess as to who they’d be in time because we were all concerned about the lewdness of the ship being an issue when the children were old enough to form memories.

“I’m your…” Gorm started, staring down the egg. “Bana. Yeah. I do like that.”

And like that, all my stress faded away. The egg accepted him, our little one perking up inside his shell at his beta pater’s touch.

He would be part of the child’s family. Maybe not part of Sarge’s and my bond, but to the young, he’d be there.

And if we wanted siblings, arrangements would have to be made.

The bond would allow for it if Sarge was there, I thought.

There was still attraction, but my heart only wanted Sarge.

Maybe I had to be ovulating for that to happen?

It didn’t matter. “Bana Gorm will be very sweet to you, Noah. He will be the unreasonable parent who lets you stay up late and say curse words and play in the holodeck too long.”

Gorm scoffed. “No squirt of mine is spending all his hours in the holodeck and cursing like me. I want better for him than myself, you know? He’s got no chance of being normal unless we try our hardest.”

Our child wouldn’t be pure Naleucian, would have small parts of human and Tal in him from Gorm, but Noel felt like he would look enough the part that it wouldn’t matter in time. And that made me happy. It made Gorm happy, too.

“Sorry I can’t be part of your mate thing. I see that love you got going on and I envy it, but I—” Gorm glanced from the egg to me. “I’m not the settling down type.”

Sarge chuckled and leaned in to give me a kiss. “Thankfully, from what I remember, couples with donors aren’t much of a rarity. Not everyone was meant to throuple.”

“Too right. I was meant to be a man w-h-o-r-e.” Gorm grinned, proud of himself for not swearing until he spit out an F-bomb right as Nexus tried to climb him like a tree to perch over his shoulder.

“Egg!” The little one beamed, very proud of himself.

“That’s right. And us betas gotta stick together, yeah?” Gorm ruffled Nexus’s messy dark-blue locks and grinned. I wondered what color our Noah would be, as his skin was still translucent in the 4D scans we’d taken.

“Unca!” Nexus affectionately rubbed into Gorm’s hand and grinned, his little needle-sharp teeth glinting until he leaped onto the bed and sniffed about my plate for an uneaten morsel. Finding something, he nibbled away with lip-smacking pleasure. “Mea!”

Noel’s sweet smile broke through his monotony, a truly beautiful thing that made me jealous. He looked like some sort of elven prince when happiness dominated his face. The way his ears pointed, eyes glistened, and perfect lips upturned…

“Stop that!” I shooed at Noel, making him raise a brow.

“What is it that I have done?” Noel plucked Nexus up and held him, head tilted.

“Being cuter than me. Not fair.” I stuck my pointed tongue out with a flick, and Noel rolled his eyes.

“Once we reach Paradise, you’ll see how very drab I am.

You are the beautiful one. I’m sure your babe will be no different.

” Noel smiled and stalked off, his tail swishing as he did so.

And if I wasn’t mistaken, a buzz of something came off of him, hitting my receptors like the tiniest bond—our connection. A bond of friendship.