Page 39 of His Unicorn Alpha
“Pretty much,” Beck answered. “We don’t know what possibilities are out there, but with Moonmusic still posing a threat, we’re willing to look into all avenues to keep our pack and others like us safe.”
It was an admirable sentiment, but I couldn’t help thinking that if we eventually managed to bring back the magic of our elders, they might soon follow.
Still, that should not prevent us from researching.
Micah nudged my foot with his own and smiled down at me when I looked up at him. “Ready to meet my parents?”
Chapter Fourteen
Mom’s squeal could be heard all the way from California, I was certain of it. I had asked to Facetime with her and Dad, and it was surprisingly easy to tell them that I was mated —no longer a beta, but an alpha— and that they were going to have grandchildren. Sitting on Brandt’s couch, with my phone propped on the coffee table in front of us, we watched my dad wince as my mom shot out of her seat, still squealing at a pitch which I feared would damage all shifter and animal hearing within a hundred-mile radius of both her house and Brandt’s.
“Mom,” I laughed, “stop. You’re hurting my ears.” I jutted my chin at my screen. “I think you made Dad deaf.”
“I’m sorry,” she apologized, sitting back down so we could see her in the frame of the screen again. Her blue eyes were shiny with happy tears, and she clutched her hands to her chest, “I just never dreamed this day would actually happen. The universe told me it would, but—”
That was the perfect opening for my main reason for calling, and I leapt on it. “Actually, Mom, the universe thing…can we, uh, talk about that?”
“You want to talk about the voices in your mother’s head and not about the fact that you’re suddenly an alpha?” Dad asked with a hint of bewilderment. “Mike, really?”
My parents, for all that they were a pair of aging naturalists, were like apples and oranges sometimes. Mom was an eternal optimist who just expected that fate and karma would do their thing, but Dad could sometimes get hung up on concepts that threw him for a loop, even if he was easy going most of the time.
It was funny how I seemed to be a mix of the two of them, and not just physically. I didn’t really look like either of my parents, even if I had inherited Mom’s facial structure and a similar color of hair to Dad’s, but personality-wise, I was a blend of the two of them. I went with the flow…until something came along for me to hyperfixate on.
I shifted in my seat. “Well, it’s just that—”
“This is kind of a big deal,” he continued. “I know your friend, Brett?”
“Beckett.”
“Beckett, right,” he nodded. “I know he was the first alpha known to exist in hundreds of years, but I remember you saying he was practically human before he met his omega. You are —were— a beta. You already had a designation. Does it feel different to be an alpha now?”
I considered the question seriously. It had only been a day since I had first popped a knot and bitten down on Brandt’s neck, and I really hadn’t felt any different outside of the bond itself, and the physical changes during sex.
“Not…really,” I admitted slowly as I really thought about it.
“But changes could develop over time,” Brandt cut in gently. He had been nervous to meet my parents, even if he had tried to hide his anxiety. Even now, he was sitting stiffly at my side, and only speaking if he absolutely had to. Of course, that could have also been because he could barely get a word in edgewisewith my mother on the call. “The three other alphas all reported their shifter senses developing over time, though they were, as you said, starting from a human baseline. Still, I suspect we may see changes to Micah’s senses and abilities over the coming days, perhaps even weeks.”
“Oh, Mikey, he sounds so exotic,” my mother told me, making me facepalm.
“Mom,” I groaned, “that’s not the compliment you think it is. It’s actually offensive.”
Her eyes widened and suddenly the tears didn’t seem as happy anymore. I immediately felt guilty. “I’m sorry,” she said, “I didn’t mean—”
“I know,” I told her softly. “It’s just that it’s kind of dehumanizing and also fetishizing and—”
“And I was not offended,” Brandt placed his hand on my knee and squeezed. Under his voice he added, “But thank you for defending my honor, my alpha.”
I stifled a groan of an entirely different kind. “Behave,” I murmured back at him, enjoying the deep, dark chuckle my plea elicited.
Then he turned his attention back to the screen and said, “Thank you for the compliment, Mrs. Hawthorne.”
Mom recovered from her own guilt at rapid speed and…was that ablush? Oh, God, did my mother think my bondmate was hot?
While I was grappling with those disturbing thoughts, she giggled, “Oh, no, sweetie, call me Hannah.” After half a breath, she asked, “Whereareyou from originally, Brandt?”
“My clan traveled around Europa —what we now call Europe— quite a lot before we eventually settled in the New World, that is, America. I believe I spent most of my formative years in what you would now call Eastern Europe; Hungary, Ukraine, Romania...” He aimed a crooked smile at the screen which mademy stomach flip with instant arousal. “I am aware my accent is somewhat mottled between that and spending a couple of hundred years here…”
“It’s lovely,” Mom assured him. She nudged Dad with her elbow. “Isn’t it, Jeff?”
