Ashly's eyes fluttered open at the noise, and her eyes widened when she saw Jenny sitting next to her. "Mom?" She was caught between surprise and disbelief. "Am I dreaming?" "N-No, honey. It's really me," Jenny said. "Oh." She tried to sit up, using her hands to support herself, but Jenny was faster. Before Ashly knew what she was doing, she helped her into a sitting position, leaning against the headboard, and placed some pillows behind her back. "Thank you," she told her mom after she returned to her seat. Jenny shook her head, tears threatening to fall again. "You didn't have to thank me, Ashly. It's the least I could do." Ashly nodded her head awkwardly, still wondering why her mother was here. "Rose told me what happened," she said softly, answering Ashly's unasked question. There was a pin-drop silence before Jenny asked, "Are you okay?" Ashly gave her mother a small smile. "Everything's fine. According to Maya, she's a nurse who is also the same nurse who helped me during
31st week Monika knocked on Ashly and Alex's bedroom door before she popped her head into the room. "Good afternoon, siso," she greeted her sister with a smile on her face. Ashly returned it with a scowl. "So, you're my babysitter for today?" Monika didn't take this to heart, though, knowing Ashly's bad mood was only because of her hormones. Or because she was ordered on bed rest for the last few weeks of her pregnancy, which happened because she developed preeclampsia. Or perhaps it was because Alex insisted someone accompany her to the apartment at all times if Alex was not at home. She didn't let her smile falter as she walked into the room. "I brought some snacks from our mother," she said, showing her the lunch bag she was carrying. She pulled up a chair and sat next to Ashly. Then she took out a container from the bag. "Here's some fresh citrus salad to help lower your blood pressure. She also made beetroot juice," Monika added after taking out the bottle from the bag. "She s
After Adom left, Ashly let out a contented sigh as the warm water soothed her tensed muscles. She leaned back against the bathtub and closed her eyes. She didn't feel any pain pass through her anymore, so she passed the earlier pains off as a Braxton Hicks contraction. Nearly an hour later, she almost dozed off, but fortunately, a knock on the door woke her up. "Ashly, are you done?" It was Adom. "Give me a minute," Ashly mumbled as she pulled the plug and started washing herself. A few minutes later, she called for Adom, and the Alpha helped her out of the bathtub. Adom handed Ashly her towel before Ashly, with great difficulty, took off her clothes. Adom offered to help Ashly take it off, but that was where Ashly drew the line. Adom left Ashly in the bedroom so that she could get dressed. While putting on her baggy sweater, Ashly felt the familiar pressing grip on her stomach. She hissed when the pain caught her by surprise. Still thinking it was Braxton Hicks, she continued putt
Before Ashly and Alex's daughter was born: ***** Alex lay on his side, head propped on his hand, as he watched Ashly's black eyes concentrate hard on the book she was reading, her eyebrows furrowed together. The corner of Alex's lips tucked upwards in amusement, watching the various expressions on his Omega face. Feeling Alex's eyes on her, Ashly turned to her right. "What?" Alex shook his head. "It's nothing." "Do I have something on my face?" She asked self-consciously. "No," Alex grinned. "You're just so beautiful, I can't take my eyes off you." Ashly blushed and hastily returned her attention to her book. It wasn't long after that when Alex took her attention once more. "What are you doing?" Ashly asked. Alex had taken Ashly's hand with his free hand and placed their hands together. He smiled. His hand was slightly bigger than Ashly's, and his fingers were slightly longer. He intertwined their fingers together and then brought their clasped hands to his lips. He placed a
Present:- Alex was an emotional wreck by the time he arrived at the hospital. He had just returned home after a meeting with some clients and a couple of meetings when John called, saying Ashly was hurt, and the beta didn't even bother giving him any other explanations. Alex stormed to the hospital without waiting for anyone to show him the way. It had been two weeks since Ashly gave birth to Cecily, and the Omega insisted that she was healed enough to return to his work at a shop. Alex argued, saying, What if Cecily was hungry and needed to be breastfed?When they discovered that Ashly could still produce milk, both Tammy and Maya advised her that it would be more nutritional for Cecily to be breastfed instead of using formula feeding. Ashly countered by saying she had pumped enough milk to last Cecily the few hours that she would be away. In the end, Alex had to agree. The Alpha clenched his fists as he walked down the hallway to the hospital. He shouldn't have agreed so quickly
When they arrived in the bedroom, Cecily started to squirm in Alex's arms and her finger in her mouth. "Is she hungry?" Ashly asked. Alex nodded. "Yeah. It's almost her feeding time." Ashly sat on the bed, and Alex smiled when he saw that Ashly was sitting on her own side of the bed. The Alpha passed their daughter into Ashly's arms. "Uhm…" Ashly looked at Alex uncomfortably. Her face was slightly red. "I know you must have seen me naked a lot before, but..." she pursed her lips. "Could you…" Alex nodded her head understandingly. "I will be in the kitchen." Before Alex left, Ashly said, "I'm sorry." Alex paused by the doorway and turned towards Ashly. "It's fine. Right now, I am like a stranger to you." Ashly didn't know why, but she felt slightly guilty about that statement. She was glad, though, that Alex didn't notice it. After Alex left, she pulled up her shirt and expertly breastfed Cecily. She looked at her daughter and sighed. "I wish my memories would return more quickl
1 month later: Alex's bad day turned into a horrible one when he returned home after a customer appointment and found Jasmine lounging on his couch. "Out," he said. It had been a long and tiring customer appointment, and if his manipulative bitch of an ex-lover had returned from nowhere and was plotting and scheming once more, he wanted no part of it. "How did you even get in?" Jasmine waved a lazy hand towards a window. Alex was pretty sure he had been shut down when he left. "What a warm welcome," she drawled, raising her eyebrows. "I have missed you too, Alex." "What do you want?" Alex asked bluntly, not in the mood for games of subtlety. Jasmine pouted. "Don't you want to hear the story?" "What story?" Jasmine leaned back elegantly on the sofa. "How I survived all this year's," she said melodiously. "I expect you bribed and bullied some other Alpha into sparing you with the promise that you would disappear from the radar," Alex said flatly. "So no, I don't want to hear the
"Leave him alone!" Alex sounded deadly this time, but she was right; he couldn't risk using his power on her and injuring Ray. There had to be a way to distract her, get her away from Ray, and get her attention on him again. "Jasmine, I will give you what you want. You want me to go with you? You want me to-" Tears filled his eyes as he thought of leaving his family and leaving his happily ever after to go back to his wicked witch. "You want me to abandon them? I will. I'll go with you, but you have to let him go," Alex bargained. "Dad, no!" Ray tried to escape her and run to Alex to stop him, but Jasmine, despite having her full focus on Alex, still had a grip on Ray. "Dad, please don't do this," Ray begged, his distress sending him back into his teary eyes. "I will be okay, Dad, please," Ray promised. Alex stared at him, blinking rapidly. 'It won't hurt me'. He'd said it as a matter of fact, as if it were the most obvious and true thing in the world. Even scared, even while being h
By the time Ray arrived at the Downtown, the tavern owned by his 22-year-old childhood friend, Alvin, it was only a quarter to seven. It was still so early; there were only two patrons there, sitting at the bar. Henna was their bartender. RK, another friend of theirs who also worked with RK, was setting up the stage. It was jazz night. Alvin was at the bar, cleaning some of the glassware. Ray went to the bar and sat in front of Alvin. The older man took one look at him, raised an eyebrow, and said, "Well, you look like shit." "I feel like shit too." "What happened?" "Milly pregnant." "Ah," Alvin said, now understanding Ray's troubles. "You knew she was pregnant, didn't you?" There was no accusation in his voice, just resignation. Alvin nodded. "Of course I did. I think everyone who knew Milly knew. This town is not really a big town. People gossip." He took a bottle of beer from the shelf behind him and pushed it in front of Magnus. "Here, have some. It's on the house." "Thanks
In his room, Ray changed and sat on his bed. His phone lay in front of him, and he stared at it. He didn't want to admit it earlier, but he knew Jane was right. But it had only been a few months, and everything was still raw. He loved Milly, and he still does. He had been in a few relationships before Milly, but he never loved someone like he loves the omega. It wasn't just some Alpha lust. And he knew Milly hadn't moved on either. After Milly broke up with him, Ray spent weeks stalking Milly through F******k and I*******m since the latter wouldn't answer his calls, not that Milly updated much. In fact, Milly's F******k relationship status was still "in a relationship". That gave Ray hope, and he continued to stalk Milly's social media updates until Jane, Jack, and Tommy held an intervention. He wasn't allowed to obsessively refresh Milly's I*******m account or F******k page in the hopes that Milly would post something regarding the two of them. Once he stopped stalking Milly on soci
Both of them got up on their feet, and Milly threw away the pregnancy test and cup in the rubbish bin under the sink before washing her hands. She followed Mai to the kitchen, and Mai told her to help herself with any drinks she wanted. She took a soda for the Mai and was about to look for something for herself when the smell of cheese hit her nose. She was hit by a bout of nausea and quickly excused herself and made her way to the bathroom in the hallway between the dining room/family living room and the second living room, where they entertain guests. By the time Milly returned, Mai had set everything up in the family room. On the coffee table, there was a bowl of popcorn, a plate of crackers, and a pot of tea. The cheesy nachos Mai made earlier were nowhere in sight. "How do you feel about the Marvel movie marathon?" Mai asked as she held out three DVDs. "I just bought a collection of Marvel movies." "Sure." Milly wasn't that interested in Marvel, but she knew quite a bit because
Ray laughed before removing his robe and boxers. Then, he continued his meditation on Milly's jaw while his hands started playing with Milly's boobs. He trailed kisses down to Milly's neck, nibbling on it, biting it, and marking Milly while pinching and twisting the reddened verginia with his fingers until she became a complete mess. When he trailed kisses down to Milly's chest, he replaced his fingers with his tongue on one of Milly's boobs. His free hand, on the other hand, moved down to Milly Verginia. It was already wet once more. Milly whimpered when Ray gave his attention to her other boob, circling the hardened nub with his tongue. She whimpered, "Please, Ray. Enough foreplay. I want to feel you inside me." Ray straightened up and shook his head. "No, you deserve the best, love. And because it's your first time, I am going to make sure you feel thoroughly loved." He dove down again and trailed kisses down Milly's torso. His tongue dipped into Milly's belly button before he rea
On any other day, Milly would have been amused by the deer-in-the-headlights look on her boyfriend's face. However, today was not like any other day, so she walked into Ray's bedroom without a laugh, with a frown on her face instead of a smile. "Milly, hey," Ray greeted his girlfriend. He quickly sat up on his bed, his legs crossed. "Why are you here?" Milly had her hands crossed over her chest. "Shouldn't I be asking you that question, Ray? You said you had practice today. The funny thing is, Shine told me practice was cancelled." Shit, Ray thought. He forgot that Milly was friends with Shine too, and she always talked to him and Cecily on the phone. The excuse he gave Milly when the final class ended was the first thing that came into his mind before he all but ran out of the classroom. "Sorry?" he said, although it came out more like a question. Milly sighed and climbed onto the bed. "Why are you avoiding me?" Ray forced out a smile. "Who said I was?" "We've been together for
"There's no threat here. I'm just trying to show you that my brother and I are more useful to you alive than dead." Eliott seemed to take in his words for a moment before talking again. The more he considered Ray's proposal, the less focus he put on keeping hold of his brother. If he lost control and became totally distracted, maybe he wouldn't be able to keep Shine under control. Maybe he could free his brother and get Shine to fight alongside him. Apart, they were nothing more than trained wolves with no real fighting experience or skill, but at the bare edge of their full potential. Together, though, they might be enough. They might even be unstoppable. It was a long shot and probably a stupid idea. It was also the only idea he had, so Ray would make it work. "Even if I believed you, how can I know they won't kill me as soon as they find us?" "You must know a defense technique that is strong enough to prevent that." Ray shrugs, trying to appear casual. "Also, my parents value o
The first time Ray ever met Shine, he came back when he heard about his Omega brother. When Ray entered their home, he saw Shine, who was just a mess of pale skin and fancy pajamas on his dad's lap. At the time, of course, he didn't think about being an Omega big brother. Ray was just scared and confused about how he was going to take care of his omega brother. Everyone around him was talking and smiling, and he didn't understand. Nothing made much sense at all. Ray knows the meaning of Omega in this world, but society still doesn't accept it. His own mother is a big example. When Cecily was born, Ray was relieved; she was born as an Alpha, but now... His dad snapped him out of his daydreaming and smiled at him as he came to offer his hug, then offered him a look at the boy in his arms. Even though Shine was already 3 months old back then, he still loves Ray and Cecily's scent. Maybe it'll make him safe, and Ray will make sure to protect him all his life. Seven Years Later: Ray f
Alex and Ashly didn’t write their own vows this time. This time, they just repeated whatever the fake prince told them to, and they swapped the same rings they already had on. Alex even pressed the button on his bouquet to make it sing the wedding march. It was very tacky and nothing fancy. But their friends were there—their family. It was perfect. Monika was tearing up in the front row, with Rose soothing her from the side and smiling at Ashly like she was proud of her. Adom and Seth gave them a thumbs up, throwing confetti over them when they walked down the aisle afterwards. It was a spur-of-the-moment, I-dare-you-to-do-it decision on their part, but Ashly thinks that it doesn’t matter. Because if Alex is really happy with them, he wouldn’t say no to anything. “I thought it was lovely. Priest even sang a few lines from ‘Can’t help falling in love with you’.” Monika comments when they sit on a bridge, looking over the Vegas lights. Her legs dangle over the edge, and she’s hol
They sit in the huge living room, complete with a flat-screen TV that takes up a whole wall and a fountain in the middle of the room. Ashly just knows that Shine would've loved that fountain. "So, we need—Monika, where'd you get that?" Alex eyes Ashly's sister, who's sipping a new cocktail, this time a mai tai. "There was a bar downstairs, duh." She waves the yellow drink at them, lounging on the armchair. She looked stunning as ever in her black glittering dress and black stilettos. "Are you sure you don't want to slow down? What even is that?" Seth asks and comes closer to sniff at the cocktail. "Mai tai. I never mix alcohols, and today is a rum kind of day." Monika responds, ignoring the first part and giving Seth a sip. "That's actually good." "I thought men only drank brown liquids." Adom teases, and Seth flips him off. "People," Alex gets their attention effortlessly, his ringed fingers catching the light from the great chandelier on the ceiling, his voice commanding. "Th