Page 69 of His Bonded Omega Mate
Tate sighed. “I don’t want our bond to affect your bond with him.”
“I can’t promise it won’t, but you and I are a package deal. Our alphas just have to deal with that.”
One Month Later
Tests and more tests.Tate grumbled down our deepening bond.
I know,I answered, equally frustrated for him. It was almost daily that the scientists and Aldrin were taking samples of blood, skin and hair, to test Tate for everything and anything. Again. His pregnancy had them needing to start from scratch with the testing, which sucked for him. They were testing his genetic make up against that of another raven shifter and his cousin, Jake. The two profiles were useful in trying to pinpoint what had happened. They were getting close to a breakthrough, though that was little comfort to Tate.
“Now that you have passed the point where an abortion is possible,” Ívarr began, “we have decided that the tests must end. This is the last day. All checks going forward will be the usual prenatal exams for your health and that of the baby.”
Tate’s body sagged with the relief that we both felt. I hated he was being used like a pincushion. I was healing away his bruises daily, but he’d developed a fear of the needles that I couldn’t just whisk away. “Thank the goddess!” he exclaimed. He smiled at Ívarr. “I’m sorry —“
“No. It’s quite alright. This ordeal has been more than most could cope with. The Luna must have chosen you for your fortitude.”
“So the baby is okay? Is Tate healthy?” Asher asked from his place across the room. Elves that Hakeem had picked for the task guarded him on both sides. Both were used to working with feral shifters from their land.
Tate frowned but said nothing. I didn’t like the implication that Tate’s well-being was lesser than that of the baby, but I kept my mouth shut and was careful not to telegraph my feelings down the bond or to the room.
My mate had seen his alpha mate just a few times in the last month. It was only in the last week that the elves and Hakeem felt Asher was stable enough to come here to visit Tate and see the progress of the pregnancy.
We hadn’t celebrated Christmas, not that we were Christian, but we liked the winter holiday of sharing gifts and having a meal together as a family. The pack had canceled their yule and solstice celebrations after another threat to the babies. A shifter from an unknown pack had broken into the compound, getting far too close to the house before the elves caught him. Before they could question him, he killed himself with a potion that was either his back up, or meant for Elliotte.
Needless to say, both events had stripped us all of any desire to celebrate any of the winter holidays. We ate and traded small gifts, but it wasn’t the same. We were aware of the gaping hole that Asher left in our lives. The guilt over my mate being separated from his alpha mate ate at me continually.
While Tate wanted Asher to be involved in the pregnancy, there was a tension that wasn’t easing between them. It made me concerned that while Asher might be allowed to play an active role in his baby’s life, Tate might never forgive him for his reaction when he thought Tate might not want their child.
I honestly could understand Tate’s reaction. Roan and I had spoken about it at length. Roan could look at it from the outside, since he wasn’t mated to either Tate or Asher. He saw and understood Tate’s fear.
Ívarr looked at Tate for permission. “The baby is perfectly healthy. I am concerned that Tate has been dealing with an undue amount of stress. I’ve made my recommendation that he stop the flights for the pack —“ Tate tried to interrupt. “For the time being only. Just until that blood pressure comes down a little and you put on some of the weight that you’ve lost.”
“You’ve lost weight?” Asher shot an almost accusatory look my way.
“Hiroshi has been feeding me. Roan cooks for us.” Tate gave Asher a quelling look at his disgusted expression when Roan’s name was mentioned. “I just haven’t felt hungry. That’s all.”
Ívarr prevented Asher from digging himself in deeper by adding, “that will be the stress. So no flying and some rest for a few days. No more visits to the clinic for another week.” Asher looked like he wanted to speak up, but subsided with a grumble. “I’d also like to get you both to agree to no mate visits for the next week.”
Asher stood. “What? No way! I need to check on Tate and the baby!”
“No. You don’t. I will bring news to you daily. You are the primary source of Tate’s agitation. So, therefore, he needs a break from you as much as he does from work and the testing.” Honestly, I wanted to hug Ívarr for his words. He saw easily what Asher could not.
I felt Tate’s relief and wanted to cry for them both. This entire thing was tearing them apart, and I hated it. Asher was so different from the man I thought I’d loved. Tate was so sad all the time. There wasn’t enough sunshine in me to lift him up out of the dark.
Asher sat down despondently. “Does that mean you’ll recommend the bond is severed to Alpha Blake?” he asked Ívarr.
“No. It doesn’t mean that at all. I’ve been hearing from my people about your progress in our realm. There you are perfectly calm and rational. We need you to spend time here around other alpha males and see your reaction to them. This needs to be done away from any omegas for their safety and mental well-being. We want you to get better, Asher. To be a good alpha mate for your omega. As it stands, you are too unstable.”
I took Tate home after our meeting, having been excused from healing duties for the day. Aldrin and James had cut my hours to part time because of the twins, not wanting me to put them in danger by over exerting myself to heal others when we had Aldrin available and the elven magic to assist him.
The little house was empty. Our belongings had all been packed up, the ridiculous amount of them cluttering the hall almost to the door. It was surreal to think we had only been living with the pack for a few months but somehow had accumulated all this stuff.
We had decided not to wait for Asher to return to us full-time before moving. The pressure that it put on Tate was too much. We didn’t want him to feel like he had to have Asher with us before we could move, and we also wanted to settle in properly, buy furniture for the nurseries and find an appropriate room for Tate to nest in well before we got too big to enjoy any of that.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, but I ignored it. I knew it was another call from my mom asking me to return to Japan before I couldn’t fly any longer. She had heard about the babies. The entire shifter world was abuzz with the news that a former beta male was pregnant and that I was also expecting twins, the second multiple birth here in Sweetwater in less than a year.
With a fated mate match, there was nothing my family could say about Roan not being a tiger, too. Yet they had plenty to say about my raven mate. Insisting that I couldn’t possibly be bonded to another person.
Accepting that Tate was also my mate was a step too far for my former clan and family. They, like a lot of other shifters, believed that I wasn’t bonded to either, and just wanted to cover an unwanted pregnancy with fantastical tales of two mates.
