Omega's Submission Page 10

  “I’m sorry, babe,” he replied, kissing my forehead. “Did you decide on a name yet?”

  Kitchi had decided to leave the naming of the baby up to me. He said he wasn’t good with names, but I think he just didn’t want to step on my toes, so he just gave the decision over to me.

  “Well,” I smiled. “I thought, given what’s happened to us, that if it’s a boy we should name him after my dad. And if it’s a girl, we should name her after your mom.”

  “John Junior?” he chuckled. “Hopefully no one calls him Junior Johnson.”

  “Stop!” I laughed, slapping him softly on the forearm. “What do you think?”

  “I think that’s great,” he replied. “Our parents will love that.”

  I smiled and nodded. Wendy had joined us in the cabin and was sleeping on the couch, and John had shacked up in a spare room in the main lodge. We’d talked about adding onto the cabin, or building a new one entirely somewhere up on the mountain. If Red or Osana decided to have kids any time soon, or even find a mate, this little place would be pretty crowded.

  “Ouch,” I winced as a shot of pain ran through my side.

  “What is it?” Kitchi asked quickly. “A contraction?”

  “No, I don’t think—” My stomach convulsed, cutting me off like a fist was gripping my guts and twisting. “Yep! Yep, that’s a contraction! Gah!”

  “I’ll get Osana!” he replied, kissing my cheek before racing from the room.

  “Osana? Osana!?” I heard him shouting as I tried to resituate myself on the bed. My stomach was in a knot as I tried to prop myself up on the pillows.

  “Where the Hell is Osana?”

  “She’s in the lodge with Kyle,” I heard Red reply.

  “Shit!”

  The door to the cabin burst open and I heard Kitchi race outside. Another contraction twisted inside me and I gasped, trying to remember my breathing.

  In…and out…in…and out…nice and slow…

  The next contraction was like a punch to the gut, and I heaved forward, grasping my stomach like I was about to explode. The door to the cabin swung open and I heard two sets of footsteps coming down the hall.

  “How are you?” Kitchi asked, kneeling down at my side as Osana came into the room.

  “It hurts!” I gasped as Osana placed her hands on my belly.

  “That’s okay, sweetie,” she said in her usual calm tone. “It’s going to hurt.”

  “No!” I shook my head. “It’s not that – something’s wrong!”

  I felt a lot of wetness beneath me – more than my slick, and assumed it was my water breaking. But when I looked down, I knew it was something worse.

  “Oh…” Osana said softly as she saw what I was looking at.

  Blood.

  “Osana,” Kitchi said slowly, trying to hide the concern in his voice. “Is that…normal?”

  Pure panic shot through me and I started to hyperventilate.

  “Is it!?” I shouted. I could see by the look on Osana’s face that it wasn’t normal. Something was wrong.

  “Okay,” she said, laying a towel down beneath me. “Help me get his pants down, Kitchi. I need to see what’s going on.”

  Kitchi’s hands were instantly on my waistband, tugging my pants to my ankles. My head was spinning, my heart was quivering in my chest and I was starting to feel lightheaded.

  “Are you all right, Toby?” Osana asked as she slid a pillow under my lower back. “What are you feeling?”

  Another contraction, more violent than the rest, gripped my stomach and twisted like Satan himself was trying to squash my guts.

  “It kills!” I shouted, slamming my fist against the mattress. “It…it…”

  My words slurred as the room started to close in. The corners of my vision were going dark as another contraction hit me.

  “Stay with me, Toby!” Kitchi shouted, his strong hand on my shoulder.

  “Push, Toby!” Osana yelled.

  “Ah!” I shouted, summoning all the strength I had inside me. I felt the baby starting to come, but something in my stomach was killing me. It was like a hot knife scraping against my skin from inside. All my energy was being sucked out of me from somewhere.

  “Kitchi,” I gasped, trying to catch my breath between contractions. “Kitchi, I can’t…I can’t…”

  “You can!” he told me, his voice confident and strong. It was exactly what I needed, but it didn’t matter. Another contraction hit me like a knockout punch and I felt myself starting to drift away. I pushed with everything I had in me. My vision blurred and the world went dark.

  “Toby!” I heard Kitchi’s voice, calling at me through the darkness. “Toby!”

  Toby

  Darkness…

  My mouth was dry. My stomach felt like a giant had kicked me with a steel-toed boot with his enormous hands around my head squeezing with all his strength.

  Somewhere…someone was crying.

  A child!

  My child!

  My eyes opened, but the world was a blur. I wiped at them with my arm while trying to prop myself up. I was lying in bed.

  “Toby!” It was Kitchi’s voice. “Osana! He’s awake!”

  The room was just a bunch of fuzzy shapes, and I rubbed at my eyes until things began to clear.

  I was lying on the bed in my bedroom, with an IV sticking out of my arm. Osana raced into the room. Kitchi was at my side, and in his arms, a little baby.

  A boy!

  “How are you feeling, dear?” Osana asked, checking my pulse on my wrist.

  “Is that…is that our son?” I asked Kitchi, unable to believe the beauty in his arms. Smiling, he nodded and sat down on the edge of the bed, leaning forward to show me the child we had made together. “He’s beautiful.”

  His eyes were closed and his pink skin looked so soft and pure as my mate held him in his arms. He looked so peaceful.

  “You gave us quite the scare there,” Osana said from beside me. I couldn’t take my eyes off my son.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  “Well, you bled a lot,” she replied. “Which is to be expected. But when you passed out, I thought there was something really, horribly wrong.”

  “But there wasn’t?”

  “No,” she chuckled. “It turns out you just really don’t like the sight of blood. You fainted.”

  “And the baby still came?”

  “That big push of yours basically did it,” Kitchi told me. “Osana did the rest.”

  I blurted out a giggle that made me sound like a total doofus, but I didn’t care. I had my baby.

  “He’s…beautiful,” I gasped, stroking my son’s head. He was the softest thing I’d ever touched.

  “You said that already,” Kitchi joked. “Here – hold your baby boy.”

  It would be impossible to describe to someone what it feels like to hold your first child. It was something I’d dreamt about, but nothing could have prepared me for the reality of wrapping my arms around the ultimate sign of the love between Kitchi and me.

  He was so warm and soft, and gurgled softly as Kitchi passed him to me. It was instinctive to rock him in my arms and I felt like I was melting as I looked down at him.

  “John Junior?” I asked Kitchi, looking up with a smile.

  “That would be nice.” I looked up to see my father standing in the door, and behind him, Kitchi’s mother. It shouldn’t have surprised me. I knew they were around, but I just hadn’t prepared myself for this moment. I’d been so wrapped up in my child that I hadn’t been able to think about anything else.

  Instantly, I was a blubbering mess, swirling with emotions and hormones as my father stepped into the room. He was moving slowly, almost like a sudden movement would destroy the sanctity of what was happening.

  “You’re naming him…after me?” he asked, looking more vulnerable than I’d ever seen him before. I was doing my best to not turn into a complete blubbering mess. So I just nodded and smiled and let it sink in as my fathe
r looked down at his grandson.

  “Don’t feel left out, Wendy,” I laughed. “If we ever have a girl, she’ll be named after you.”

  “You are too sweet,” Wendy told me, squeezing me on the shoulder. “I can see why my son loves you.”

  “Here, dear,” Osana said, raising a glass to my lips. I could smell ginger and sipped the iced tea that slithered down my throat like a cool wave of comfort that I hadn’t known I’d needed.

  “Oh, that’s good!” I told her, nodding for more. She smiled and put the glass to my lips again.

  “Osana is the queen of tea,” Kitchi told the room. Everyone chuckled, but we were all looking at my son.

  “Can you believe it, Kitchi?” I asked my mate, looking up at him. He was standing there with his chest puffed out, looking like the proudest father to ever live. “Can you believe all we went through to get here?”

  “I can,” he told me firmly. He wasn’t kidding either. There was a strength in his words. Kitchi never seemed to falter. He was like a rock in the ocean amidst a hurricane. “I knew we would, from the moment I caught your scent.”

  “I was such an idiot,” I groaned, leaning my head against him.

  “Stop,” he told me, stroking my hair. “It all worked out for the best.”

  “Just like you knew it would?”

  “Like I knew it would.”

  Before I met Kitchi, my life had felt like endless shades of Grey. Survival mode. That was it. And then he came and changed everything.

  Suddenly there was passion, strife and doubt. I’d let myself be vulnerable in front of him. I’d loved it, regretted it, then done it again and again. And we were happy.

  But now, with baby John in my arms, we had more than just love – we had purpose.

  This little baby was our creation and it was up to us to show him love, teach him about the world and make sure he never had to go through what either of us went through. And I would do everything in my power to make sure of that.

  “I never thought it would be possible to be this happy,” I said to no one in particular, my eyes fixed on my son.

  “So,” Kitchi chuckled. “How long until we can make another one?”

  Epilogue

  Kitchi

  “I feel like an old man,” I said with a smile as I held baby John in my arms, swaying back and forth in a rocking chair Tate had brought over for the back porch.

  “Don’t worry,” Toby smiled, stretching his arms over his head. “You’re still young and full of spunk for me.”

  I pinched his ass as he bent down to kiss me, causing him to jump back.

  “Oh, you know it,” I laughed as he rubbed his butt.

  The leaves were starting to turn as the autumn weather came in. The burnt reds were like the color of my son’s fur. He’d shifted for the first time yesterday and Toby and I had just about lost our minds.

  He’d been crawling at our feet, and then all of a sudden he was a big ball of crimson fluff, all puffed up like a dandelion seed.

  “Oh, he’s just adorable!” Toby had cried out, clasping his hands over his mouth as he just about fell over at the sight of how cute his son was. John actually got around much better in fox form. He could do pretty well crawling around in human form, but when he was a fox, he could scurry around on all fours and even trot for a few yards before toppling over.

  He was an alpha, and if I was a betting man, I’d put my money on him being taller than both of us. He was hearty and a perfect blend of Toby and me. He had the same little yellow flecks in his brown eyes like Toby had, and his freckles, but darker red hair and skin like me. I couldn’t wait to se what kind of man he would become.

  Every day was a treat for me – a blessing.

  I woke up with my mate and my son by my side. Toby, of course, had not gone back to Thatcher’s – that much was a given, and the pack was coming together to support us.

  Osana and Kyle were thrilled to bring us meals at the end of a long day, and the fridge in the fox’s cabin was almost overflowing with gifts from everyone else. The wolves were so generous. The gardens had produced well this spring and summer and we were making as many salads as possible to make sure none of the produce went bad.

  My life had done a complete one-eighty. It hadn’t been that long since I was sitting miserably in the Steel Mill bar, trying to drown my sorrows in a glass of booze. But it sure felt like it had been ages ago.

  My family life was new, but it felt like I’d been doing it forever. It just came so naturally, the feelings of love for my son and my mate. Of course there was so much to learn when it came to John, but prior to all this happening, when I was just Kitchi, living alone with the wolves, I’d thought of myself as a warrior. First and foremost that’s what I was.

  I’d fought off countless enemies on behalf of the pack, and I was always ready for whatever would come. But now I was more than that. I was a father. I was Kitchi the father, and the warrior. I was also a husband.

  What a life I’d been missing out on!

  John must have been dreaming about chasing something, as his little feet were kicking in my arms. I hated that I didn’t know what he was thinking! I couldn’t stop smiling when I held him though. I didn’t even know there was this side of me until now.

  “Is he asleep?” Toby asked me.

  “Dreaming,” I replied. “Chasing something.”

  “I can’t even…” Toby smiled, shaking his head as he started to tear up over just how adorable his son was.

  “He’s out,” I told him. “Want to go inside and lay down? You’ve had a long day.”

  “Yeah,” Toby smiled as I got to my feet. “I don’t want to say I’m jealous of my son being held in my mate’s arms – but I’m jealous of my son being held in my mate’s arms.”

  Using my foot, I slid the front door open and braced it with my shoulder to let Toby inside.

  “Don’t worry,” I whispered as he passed. “There’s enough of me to go around.”

  I could hear Osana in the kitchen as we headed down to our room. Toby’s father had gone home to get more of his things to bring up to the lodge. He was going to move here, and so was my mother, and it was getting clear we were going to need even more room.

  But the property was getting cluttered, so I’d suggested to Tate that the foxes build a new house up on the mountain somewhere. The boys could clear some trees to be sold at the mill and give us some ground for gardens, and we wouldn’t be more than a few minutes’ run from the main lodge where the wolves were living.

  But that would be another day. Right now, I was going to spend time with my mate.

  Gently, I lay baby John down in his crib, made sure his was comfortable, then snatched Toby by the waist and lifted him onto the bed.

  “Oh!” he gasped in a whisper. I brought my lips to his, smiling through an enormous kiss.

  “God, I want to ravage you,” I told him. “But I think you’re just as exhausted as I am.”

  “I am!” he whined. We were both horny as Hell, as usual, but our parental duties had taken a lot out of us today.

  “Tell you what,” I said, stroking his hair and inhaling his scent. “Why don’t we take a nap, and later tonight I’ll have Osana watch John for a little bit.”

  “Yeah?” Toby asked, a sly smile in his eyes.

  “Yeah,” I nodded. “And then I’ll wear that ass out!”

  Toby laughed and rolled over, small spooning for me, pulling my arm over him. Instantly, his scent and the warmth from his body started to overwhelm me and I started to nod off. There was nothing more calming than lying by my mate or holding my baby boy in my arms.

  “Can you believe it?” Toby whispered.

  “What?”

  “Two guys like us,” he replied softly. “With such…terrible pasts. Can you believe we would ever work out?”

  “Of course I can,” I told him, kissing his earlobe. “Just like I told you when we first met. As soon as I smelled you, I knew.”

  The End


  Afterword

  Hope you all enjoyed the first book in my new series! More to come soon.

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  Aspen Grey

  Also by Aspen Grey

  Claiming His Mate - Scarlet Mountain Pack Book 1

  Claiming His Love - Scarlet Mountain Pack Book 2

  Claiming His Baby - Scarlet Mountain Pack Book 3

  Claiming His Fate - Scarlet Mountain Pack Book 4

  Claiming His Future - Scarlet Mountain Pack Book 5

  Claiming His Miracle - Scarlet Mountain Pack Book 6

  Claiming His Mate

  Chapter 1

  Tate

  “Woo wee! Bring that sweet beta booty over here, baby!” A loud, raspy, obviously drunk alpha howled across the sidewalk to an innocent-looking omega in tight faded blue jeans with a tucked in red flannel.

  His voice was swayed by the sweet taste of whiskey or rum, actually probably cheap beer by the look of him, as he licked his lips from the back of the line.

  I sighed at his obnoxious tactics. Not that you can’t find a mate with similar behavior, but we try to keep a low profile here at The Love Knot, and shouting things like “beta” across the street, when we’re in a town filled with humans, isn’t the best way to go about it.

  “Yo, dog!” I growled in his direction, snapping my fingers to get his attention. “Keep it down until you’re inside!”

  I could see he wanted to talk back, show off in front of the two plain-looking betas standing with him. They must have been members of his weak pack, on their nightly prowl for ass. But the poor guy was at least six inches taller than me, and when I let my fangs extend and flashed them at him with a grin that let him know who was the fucking boss, he backed down.