Only You Read online

  “Not that.” Alexander laced their fingers together and shivered one more time, shifting closer. “The other.”

  Ah. “I’m staying,” Zach said. His smile turned into a laugh as he gave their joined hands a jostle. “Try and get rid of me.”

  “I won’t.”

  Zach looked up at Alexander and said, “I know.”

  Alexander let out a sigh, believing him, and let himself relax. He pressed his mouth to Zach’s arm, then raised himself up on his elbow. His grin bent sideways. “We might be genuinely stuck together if we don’t wash some of this off. Join me in the shower. It’s big enough for two as well.”

  Probably true, but Zach wasn’t ready to move yet. “You go on,” he said, lazily stroking Alexander’s chest. “Get the water warm for me. I’ll be there. I promise.”

  “I believe you.” One more kiss, and Alexander rolled out of bed. He stretched, arms over his head and raising himself on his toes until his fingertips brushed the ceiling -- grinned over his shoulder at Zach, who had to laugh at him a little -- and moved away with the rolling grace of an Alpha who’d given and taken until he was replete.

  For now. There was a promise of more in his walk, and Zach didn’t mind. He let his eyes drift shut again as he heard a glass door slide open, and then the patter of water on tile. Warm. So warm, inside and out, and hungry, but for food. Real food, as much as he could hold, and that he knew Alexander would provide.

  He might need it more than usual. Zach glided his hand across the sheets and let it rest on his belly. It could only be his imagination, it probably was even with how he’d responded to Alexander claiming him so good and hard, but he seemed even warmer there, his body no longer shifting inside but throbbing with a slow pulse he’d never felt before. His scent seemed to be changing, ebbing from bitter to something sweeter.

  It might be true. It might not.

  But no birth control was effective one hundred percent of the time, especially if an Alpha didn’t have it in place the moment he got hard. Zach was almost sure a little piece of Alexander had taken root inside him. That what was happening now would become the baby he’d -- they’d -- wanted seven years ago.

  He made a low, pleased noise, and slid out of the bed. His hips rolled as he went to join Alexander in the shower, maybe a little looser already. Yes, almost sure. But they’d see what they’d see, and one thing he especially wanted to see was the look on Alexander’s face when steam made his scent bloom around them and the penny dropped.

  Now, and later, and always.

  And soon.

  Epilogue

  Nine and a Half Weeks Later

  Alexander eased sideways on the window seat, giving Zach a little more room to stretch out. Alphas were mostly taller and wider than Omegas, but his legs were long enough that he could let one fall to the floor and rest his foot there. “Better?”

  “Hmm,” Zach sighed, easing his legs into the empty space. “Mmm. Yes.”

  Alexander pressed a kiss to the back of Zach’s head. Whatever it took, he’d do it to keep Zach snuggled in the cradle of his body and Alpha pride be damned. He liked this, both of them covered in the warmest blanket he owned and not a stitch on underneath. Zach’s back and head rested against Alexander’s chest, his hands lay draped over Alexander’s knees, and the rest of him was kept safe between Alexander’s thigh on one side and the picture window at the other.

  There with him, here and now after so long spent apart. Alexander wouldn’t trade it for anything.

  He drew Zach closer and glanced up at the glass. They’d been there for hours, letting the night pass as they held each other close. “Sun’s rising.”

  Zach made an absent but pleased noise, his eyes half-open like a sleepy cat as he turned to look too. He touched his fingertips to the glass, but he didn’t say anything else. He’d been quiet for a while, not like his usual self, but there wasn’t much of the “usual” this night. Alexander preferred hearing Zach put all his thoughts into words. Once Zach got going there wasn’t much he couldn’t go on -- at length -- about.

  Alexander jostled him as gently as he could. “Are you comfortable?”

  “As I can be,” Zach said, still watching out the window, tracing a pattern in the faint mist forming on the glass. He hummed a snatch of song to himself, quiet and dreamy. “It’s not that old chair in my old place that I loved, but it’ll do.”

  “Glad to oblige.”

  Alexander would have gone on, maybe teased him a little -- winding Zach up was almost as good as setting him off -- but Zach fidgeted abruptly, hands dropping back to Alexander’s knees and gripping them tight. He stiffened and pressed his face to the crook of Alexander’s arm, and the abrupt movement made the blanket slip away from both of them.

  And there they were, both of them. Naked, one holding, and one laboring.

  Alexander put his hand over the heavy curve of Zach’s stomach, so weighty that it amazed him Zach had been able to walk around like that. When he’d mentioned it, Zach had given him a look that could have melted the glass, then laughed at him and minced away. Never had lost his grace, but the only place he’d put on weight despite Alexander’s efforts to feed him up was around the middle.

  That he’d done that, was willing to do this, and for him --

  Zach was stubborn about not making noise, but as he reached the worst of it he keened quietly into Alexander’s elbow. Alexander didn’t shush him but started counting the seconds out loud. He knew how long it lasted, and it took a full sixty seconds to ease. Zach slumped against him, panting short breaths through his nose.

  “Sun’s almost up,” Alexander said, drawing him back from that odd dreamlike state he fell into so easily because he needed Zach to be present for the moment. “If I didn’t know better, I’d think you planned it this way.”

  Zach laughed breathlessly. “No. It’s luck.” He licked his lips, dry and sore-looking from being bitten. “Maybe fate.”

  He might be right. Alexander kept up his slow stroking; Zach had said it helped. Even so, he shook his head doubtfully. “Are you sure you don’t want to go somewhere? Get a doctor?”

  “We’ve had this conversation before. I choose what I choose. I want to do this the old way.”

  “We’re going to call a doctor if you need one.”

  “I won’t. I can do this. It’s entirely possible that I’m -- oh -- going to kill you before this is over, but…” Zach had to pause there and breathe a moment before he could speak again. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.” He rolled his forehead against Alexander’s arm. “All I want is the two of us, here, at home.”

  Alexander stroked lower as another contraction started. They weren’t far apart at all now, and he could feel Zach’s body opening wider with each rippling spasm. He shook his head in alarm and awe. “There’s no ‘used to be’ for your first time giving birth, and you’re scaring the shit out of me. How do Omegas do this?”

  “Same as they have since the world started spinning. I need it this way.” Zach finally relaxed fully, limp with fatigue. When Alexander made to pull the blanket back up, he made a face and pushed it away. “Too hot.”

  “And if someone looks in, now that the sun’s on its way up?”

  Zach scoffed. “Let them look. That’s the way things used to be as well.”

  The way things used to be, indeed. Alexander hooked his chin over Zach’s shoulder and stroked his massive belly, big enough to make him worry ever since he’d popped. There was only one in there, but… Even for an Alpha, Alexander was a large-scale man, and Zach was as small and fine-boned as a reed. Omega hormones produced a few natural painkillers and having their Alpha this close supposedly made it all go easier, but even so…

  “You are never, ever doing this again,” he said into Zach’s sweat-damp hair. “Not if I have to wrap it up in three layers every single time you look sideways at me.”

  Zach’s laugh bubbled up, exhausted but still bright and gorgeous. “You say that now.”

&n
bsp; “And you’d better believe I mean it.”

  That got him a dismissive noise. “Please. You’re an Alpha to the bone, you --” Zach stopped and went stiff.

  After a moment, Alexander started to worry. Zach was too still, not fidgeting or moving through it. He jostled Zach gently. “Hey. Talk to me.”

  Zach shook his head. He gripped Alexander’s knees tightly enough to make them creak. He winced, but Zach had already left bruises there and Alexander honestly didn’t give a damn about that.

  “Wuss.” Zach laughed breathlessly, let go of Alexander’s knee and took his hand, guiding it down between his legs. “Kiss me,” he ordered, panting. “Now. Please. And touch me, help me.”

  Alexander did. Both. God, Zach was so wet and open, so open, but different too. As another spasm took him in its grip, he felt a pressure against his palm, one that slid forward and then back, then forward again until Zach had to stop for breath.

  And then, again. Again.

  Alexander lost track of time after that. The only thing that mattered was holding Zach and being held. It seemed to take forever, both of them caught like that, soothing him when his moans got so loud they echoed against the window. Helping him catch hold of his ankles, then putting his hand back between Zach’s legs.

  It took forever, and no time at all, and then it ended with their son’s head cradled fully in his hand.

  “Oh my God,” he said, as horrified as he was thrilled, his heart beating as hard as Zach’s, gorgeous Zach’s. “You’re doing this. You’re doing so well.”

  “Says -- you.” Zach shook his head. “Don’t let go. Don’t ever let go.”

  Alexander had meant to look, but he couldn’t. Zach shuddered like a willow tree caught in the wind, and this time it wasn’t passing but only rising and falling. One more tremendous effort, two more, three times, and then with a gasp that wrenched him nearly in two, it was over. He fell back, going limp, while Alexander only barely caught the slippery creature that’d slid free of his Omega’s -- his Zach’s -- body.

  “Help me.” Zach tried to reach down. “Alexander, help me.”

  Alexander had been too caught up to move before, but he did now even if he was shaking like a willow tree. He almost dropped their son -- poor kid! -- before he could lay him in Zach’s open arms, laughing at how he was already shrieking about how very unhappy he was with the past few hours and this new indignity.

  Zach cradled the baby, hands shaking. “Alexander… look. Look.”

  As if he could turn away, or would ever want to. Alexander cupped their son’s head again, awed down to his core as the infant shrieked at a volume fit to make the glass rattle in its frame, and made them both wince and laugh.

  “Oh, we’re going to have to buy some earplugs, aren’t we?” Zach looked back at him, so delighted that Alexander had to kiss him.

  “I kind of like the noise. He takes after you.” Alexander brushed his thumb over Zach’s temple. “He’s beautiful, he’s so beautiful, Zach. Love him. Love you, always. Thank you for this. For loving me enough for this.”

  “Finally,” Zach breathed against his mouth, and came back for another kiss. Alexander tasted salt on Zach’s lips, and knew Zach could taste it on his, but that was all right. Neither let it stop them, because they weren’t letting anything do that now. No shame, no blame. No going back. Only the two of them holding their son, bathed in the light of the rising sun of Second Chance.

  Second Chance Omegas -- Series Notes

  Welcome to the world of Second Chance! Located roughly halfway between Chicago and Albany, the Alphas and Omegas who call it home are unique in some ways but are all in need of another shot to make things right with the loves of their lives -- the ones who got away.

  Opportunities to change your life always come at a cost, but these men are willing to pay the price.

  Anything can happen in Second Chance -- and it usually does.

  The Alphas and Omegas in this world are descended from various animal bloodlines and clans. Some can shapeshift to a degree, and everyone has at least one aspect about them that hints at where they come from. A man with a wolf in his ancestry might have eyes that change from brown to green and teeth that get sharper when he’s upset, or a man descended from dragons might have a faint pattern of scales on his forearms and calves.

  Alphas and Omegas both have a unique scent that gets stronger when emotions run high, and -- with Omegas -- changes when they conceive.

  Omega pregnancies last approximately nine weeks. If an Omega is aroused, they are fertile. Very fertile. Family planning is one thing, but you can’t fight fate forever -- especially in Second Chance.

  Some Omegas -- not all -- can become physically ill when separated from the Alpha their body has chosen as its mate. Alphas do not have a corresponding reaction. Which is unfair, but Omegas also have the biological bonus of an internal cousin-to-a-clitoris as well as a prostate. They can reach dry orgasm multiple times before their grand finale.

  All books in the Second Chance series share a world and the occasional character might pop in and out for a cameo, but each of the stories is written to stand alone and can be read in any order.

  All stories also focus heavily on Omega/Mpreg themes and contain childbirth scenes.

  Opportunities to change your life always come at a cost, but these men are willing to pay the price.

  Anything can happen in Second Chance -- and it usually does.

  Will/a Okati

  Willa Okati (AKA Will, AKA Daniel) is made of many things: imagination, coffee, stray cat hairs, daydreams, more coffee, kitchen experimentation, a passion for winter weather, a little more coffee, a whole lot of flowering plants and a lifelong love of storytelling. Will’s definitely one of the quiet ones you have to watch out for, though he -- not she anymore -- is a lot less quiet these days.

  Will at Changeling Press: changelingpress.com/willa-okati-a-35