Page 25 of The First Omega Made (Scales and Tails of Fate #2)

Sarge

“A little omega,” Doc said, his voice cracking.

Of all the things that Noah could have been, an omega was the best. When we reached Paradise, he’d be accepted so much more readily than Gorm or Noel.

From what I could gather from Shafa, Noel’s existence would be considered a shame on his patrons.

And their mateships would be excused with ignorance.

The Naleucians were forgiving people until it came to those who harmed their own kind.

The Colthraxians and their near-extinction were good indicators of that.

As far as I knew, they were the main reason for the largest part of our demise.

My biggest worry was that they’d reject me.

What I was could be considered an abomination to them.

Though, unless anyone knew my host before, it was unlikely I’d be discovered.

I could claim memory loss and that a Colthraxian was removed from me.

They’d not find a Colthraxian body to blame, at any rate.

Our navigation had been tricky. The planet was in a known part of the universe, two black hole jumps away from Starbase Delta, but the planet itself was obscured by technology that I had a bare understanding of.

Merriel helped us decode the cloaking with software he wrote himself—illegally. With it, we were able to see a planet that was still obscured but discoverable once we were within its orbit. Paradise was closer than it’d ever been.

I’d woken that morning to jerking twitches in our bed and rolled over, swatting around to see if Nexus had snuck in through an air vent. It was not an uncommon thing, but the motion was not from him. Doc woke with a snort and sat up, drawing my attention to our egg.

“Noah?” Doc’s breathless words preceded the wet crunch of tearing eggshell. A little orange hand fought free of the shell, followed by a leg as albumin leaked onto our sheets.

A sharp mew of frustration bubbled free of our egg, and my heart skipped a beat as I reached forward to tear the rest of the eggshell away.

Instinct told me to help my young, and that I did, pulling him out with a wet yawn.

Beautiful black eyes with blue irises like Doc’s had been before the change blinked up at me. “Noah…”

He struggled, fat tail wiggling until Doc pulled the wet young one into his arms to hold his sticky little form. “Sarge. We… We have a baby… It’s our baby…”

The breathless sobs that broke free of Doc’s lips made my heart swell and tears flow freely. I didn’t care if I was less of an alpha or seen as weak for it, because the tears were mine to shed.

I was the luckiest Colthraxian in the galaxy. The universe, even.

“Congrats, dudes! It’s a space lizard!” Merriel chimed above us, and a celebration song played over the speakers, letting everyone on the ship know that little Noah had been hatched.

A strangled growl told me that our young one would be hungry soon and Wallace would be one of the first to see our young. If the song above didn’t have him making something, the early breakfast rush would have.

I let Doc love on our little one as I snuck off and got a wet towel to clean him. And I thanked the stars that baby Naleucians only eliminated over water when prompted and didn’t require diapers. We weren’t responsible enough for that.

So, when we finally emerged from our bedroom to carry our newly-hatched little one, it was more than Wallace that had woken. Vil and Noel had greeted us with Gorm, arms outstretched. And Doc let him hold Noah first. “Bana’s little accident!”

Noah, who had no idea what Gorm said, chirped excitedly and snuggled into his hold and curled his tail in with a yawn. He’d change his tune when meat got involved, but that was enough for us.

It didn’t end with Gorm, as most of the ship wanted to hold the new one, making Nexus bark with jealousy at people, holding his little hands up in want of uppies himself. Wallace ended up putting Nexus on his shoulders while he cooked, handing the little one bites to taste test.

Part of me wanted to be afraid of all the people around holding my young. Doc should have been scared, too, but everyone had lunar cycles of experience being uncles, already. They openly accepted the new little hybreed as part of the community. We were a family.

I tried to tap into memories from my body’s original life, trying to recall what children had been like before.

I recalled eggs and omegas, but never children running about, no laughter or little ones scampering—in place of that, only sadness. Shafa had never had a live young. Families were so spread apart that he’d never had the experience of holding his own young.

And his memories had abruptly ended shortly after leaving Paradise. He’d entered stasis and been infected before ever waking.

“Sarge?” Doc rested a hand on my arm and stared me down as a few hot trails slid down my face and landed on my chest.

“I never had a family. Not until now. Not in this host or myself. I never knew my parents.” Few Colthraxians ever knew their progenitors.

“You have one now,” Doc said, pushing up onto his toes to kiss me. Our tails entwined playfully, a gentle version of the mating lock that had lost the edge of carnality. It was something more than that, really. It was a hug, a kiss, a comforting touch. “And I have one, too.”

When little arms wrapped around my leg, I glanced down and smiled at Nexus’s bright eyes staring up at me. “Mea?”

“Yeah. Let’s all have some meat.” I sniffed and picked him up with far more love and understanding than I’d had ever before. Nexus gave Vil and Noel just as much joy as bringing Noah into the world had done for me.