The Other Alpha's Baby
Andrea’s an abused omega, and Dell is a neglected beta. After time and shared trauma, they end up bonding in a pack made to protect the omega, and it changes to support the beta.
Andy was trapped in a relationship that was forced on her. Her finances were depleted on a regular basis. She couldn’t choose her own life, car, associates. He even decided she should bear his child when his wife wouldn’t.
His sudden death was more relief than burden, and her body immediately undergoes a transformation from stunted beta to petite omega. Only her terror is holding her back now. A friend she has known for years steps in and helps hold her up. He finds her a pack and helps her embrace her new designation and all it means. The pack finds her an assistant to manage life with five males.
Dell is a woman who has seen the dark side of alphas. When she is offered the chance to work with and for Andrea, she accepts and helps her through the loss of the child she never chose but still looked forward to. Dell had her own experience a few years earlier.
The day she meets Andrea’s pack, Dell is prepared to stand in the shadows, but her own nature puts her into the path of one of the alphas, and he is delighted to finally have a breeding mate of his very own.
Balancing her job and her lover will be difficult as the pack pulls tight, with Andrea and Dell firmly in the middle.
The characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any similarity to real persons, living or dead, is coincidental and not intended by the author.
The Other Alpha’s Baby
Copyright © 2021 by Viola Grace
ISBN: 978-1-990635-04-5
©Cover art by Angela Waters
All rights reserved. With the exception of review, the reproduction or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, is forbidden without the express permission of the publisher.
Published by Viola Grace
Look for me online at violagrace.com.
The Other Alpha’s Baby
Betas in Waiting, Book 3
By
Viola Grace
Chapter One
Andy lifted her head and spoke to the assembled officers and family. “Terror has been my friend for as long as I can remember. He was like a brother, a cousin, and that annoying kid next door all rolled into one.”
The photo display ran through image after image of Terrance Macabee. She was next to him or in a headlock in all of the early images.
“No matter where I was or what I was doing at the time when it was time to take a picture, he yanked me over there to stand with him. It gave him an excuse to look taller than he already was.”
A ripple of amusement went through the mourners.
“I stood at his side when he was proud, grieving, furious, and on the happiest day of his life. I know I was annoying to his wife, Cassie, but you know how it is. Some alphas you just can’t shake off.”
More laughter.
“He put the job first, family and friends second, but that is how it is supposed to be. He made a commitment, and he carried it through.” She swallowed and smiled. “His last words were I just had one day until retirement. I laughed then like you are laughing now. I know I am just admin, but it was nice to work with my best friend. Oh, except when he got baby rabies.” There was a roar of laughter. “That shit I just couldn’t stand.”
She dragged in a breath. “To Officer Terror. You will be missed.”
She raised her glass and pressed it to her lips in the toast. She stepped down, and his mother hugged her and ruffled her hair like she always did.
“Are you coming over later, Andy?”
She nodded. “I will try, but I have to work in the morning, so...”
Terrance’s dad nodded. “Those files don’t sort themselves.”
She straightened her shoulders. “Damned straight.”
Andy made her way to the edge of the crowd, and she watched the alphas and burly betas that Terror had worked with mill and coo around Cassie. She was milking the law enforcement widow thing with everything she had.
“That was a good speech, Zeller.”
She looked up and blinked at the captain, Philip Acory, Terror’s cousin. “Oh, thanks, Cap.”
“You and Terror never had a thing?”
She chuckled and looked at the pictures of them dressed in formals for prom and her fixing his tie on his wedding day. “No, his thing never got near me. I don’t have one active hormone in my body. He started off by waiting for puberty, and when nothing happened then, he waited for college, and then, he stopped waiting, and that was a very good thing.”
“Nice joke about the baby rabies. He was talking my ear off all the time. Every time Cass was receptive, he went crazy, and then nothing. It was sad.”
“It was a case of them being on the same page to start with, and then, someone changed the book.” She shrugged and almost drank from the highly alcoholic punch, and then, she set it down.
“You aren’t drinking?”
“No, my stomach is upset. I don’t want to barf on anyone’s dress shoes.”
“I wish we could have had the memorial earlier, but the holidays got in the way, so this was the soonest we could do it. The dress uniforms are in that awkward between season weight.” He tugged at his neckline.
She beckoned to him and took a napkin, smoothing the skin of his neck from the starched collar of his tunic.
“How did you know how to do that?”
“I did it for Terror every time he had to get dressed up. The napkin leaves small fibres that absorb sweat and keep you from sticking.” She folded the napkin and set it aside. Five weeks had been too long.
The IVF had worked. She was carrying Terror’s baby, and he was finally going to have the baby he wanted... five weeks too late.
The shooter that had come after them knew him on sight, and he had thrown himself on top of her to take the shots. The medics who arrived didn’t even know there was another victim until they pulled him off and saw her covered with blood. They had just come from implantation at the centre and were off to get some pickles for her, ice cream for him, just to get some good luck. They hadn’t managed to get the luck.
“Andy? Andy?”
She jerked and looked up at him. “Yes, Captain?”
“You don’t look well.”
She swallowed. “Just thinking about the... when he... when...” She started to cry, sobbing softly so as not to upset the widow. Cassie hated her enough already.
The captain took her into his arms, and he smoothed a hand over her back. “Do you want to get some fresh air?”
She nodded and grabbed a handful of napkins on the way out.
He got them out of the memorial, and he rubbed her back while she cried. “I wouldn’t think you were that emotional, but a month before he died, Terror changed all of his insurance beneficiaries. He said all you needed was a positive pregnancy test, and everything was to redirect to you.”
She fumbled in her purse and pulled out a black-and-white photo that said Macabee-Zeller at the top, and there was a small dot circled with a health rating.
He smiled. “It’s Terror’s?”
“Yeah, he was whining about a baby so much, and I am not doing anything interesting with my uterus, so I said sure.”
“What about Cassie?”
“She values her figure. She had herself sterilized and didn’t tell him.”
The captain tensed. “You are kidding.”
“Nope. She said he was pathetic if he could find someone with an omega rating of beauty and ruin it with a pregnancy.”
“Do his parents know?”
“No,
and I am not telling them.”
“I thought you said you and he weren’t lovers?”
“They took my eggs with a needle, and he jerked off into a cup, and then, we had to wait. Out of fifteen eggs, one was viable, so that is the little dude or miss that I am percolating.”
“His parents will be over the moon.” He smiled. “When are you going to tell them?”
“Um, I am not. They would ask about it, and Cassie would hear about it, and she already hates my guts because I was his security blanket.”
“They will find out when the insurance pays out.”
“I was thinking that I would just not claim the insurance?” She bit her lip.
“Why not? The child is entitled to it.”
“Um... It will upset people?”
He hugged her. She guessed that she looked like she needed a hug. It was weird. All her life, she had been physically avoided by people, but in the last five weeks, she had been hugged by everyone, including the techs who did the scan that confirmed the little one had gotten off to a start.
He murmured above her, “Why were you two in that... that was when the implantation had happened, right?”
She nodded. “Yeah. He jumped on me because it was me and the possibility of an us starting out.”
He stroked her hair. “Do you have a new shampoo?”
She was wedged against him, but with alphas, you just waited them out. “No.”
“I smell pineapple and coconut?”
“Like a pina colada?”
He chuckled. “Yeah, but you didn’t have a scent before.”
“No, I only ever had one when Terror and his family went on holiday for a month.”
He jolted. “You had a scent that stopped?”
“Yeah. Why? Is that a thing?”
Cap leaned back and stroked the side of her cheek. “It can be. His body was trying to hide you.”
“What?”
“He was trying to keep you from other males, so his pheromones shut yours down.”
“And that might affect my hormones?”
“It has been known to.”
She sighed. “Thanks, Terror. You delayed puberty until I was pregnant.”
The captain looked at her. “Are you okay?”
“I usually am. Why?”
He frowned. “If you need anything, call me.”
“Well, I am going to need information on maternity leave, so can you get me that information, so I don’t have to talk to human resources? They are super nosy.”
He scowled. “You think it won’t be odd if I ask?”
She didn’t want to do this, but it always worked with protective alphas. She placed her hand on his chest and looked up at him through her wet lashes. “Please, Captain Acory?”
He groaned. “Do you practice that?”
She paused and tilted her head. “A little bit. Alphas, in general, respond to the cute and helpless thing. It triggers your protective instincts.”
He looked at her in surprise. “That is not what is happening here.”
He picked her up and pulled her to him, holding the back of her head as he kissed her. She paused with her eyes wide before she relaxed and let the kiss continue.
Philip kissed her carefully, but she was reminded of all the times Terror tried to get something started with her. The problem was that with Philip, her body was warming, her pulse was increasing, and she felt a fluttering inside her. She squeaked as arousal started to tiptoe through her body. She lifted her hands to his shoulders, and he tilted his head, opening his lips and taking hers along for the ride. When his tongue touched hers, she jolted, and the arousal situation increased dramatically. She made a small sound, and he made a super sexy growl that caused a damp-panty situation.
She leaned away from him with a snap, and his face had a cruel stamp to it. She smelled him, and it was a bitter lime. “No fucking way.”
He grinned. “Yeah, we are a weird match.”
“I haven’t caught your scent before.”
“You haven’t been looking. Terror had you locked down.”
She whined softly. “Why?”
He wrapped her in his arms to soothe her. “He wanted you, but he couldn’t have you, so he made sure you couldn’t have anyone else. If you don’t want them, you won’t go looking.”
She frowned. “What do I smell like right now?”
“Pineapple, coconut, the start of arousal.”
She paled. “I have to walk through a room full of alphas. They are going to notice.”
He chuckled. “They probably will. They won’t comment on it, though.”
Andy scowled up at him. “Have you met these guys? They are going to comment.”
Philip was running his hands down her back and up slowly. “Do you realize how tiny you are?”
She poked him in the chest. “Focus, alpha. How am I going to get through the crowd?”
He chuckled. “You are very used to dealing with us, aren’t you?”
“That is a stupid thing to say. All my life. The photo reel in there shows it. When Terror took me in like I was a stray kitten, my parents tried to object, but the Macabees promised to watch out for me, and that was that. I went where they went, ran where they ran, hunted when they hunted.”
He raised his brows. “You did?”
“I caught squirrels and bunnies and let them go.” Her cheeks were pink.
“So, you are ready for the fitness trials in two weeks?” He continued to move his hands on her, and the scent of lime grew stronger.
“Sure. If I stop puking by then.” She shuddered and moved closer. Alphas were excellent portable heaters.
“Why did you really get pregnant?”
She looked up at his handsome and concerned face. “He wanted it so much. He talked about it constantly. It hurt something in him that Cassie had promised him a family and taken it away. It hurt him badly, and I always tried to give him what he needed. He needed this.”
“Well, if you need anything, anything at all, call me, text me, let me know.”
“Get me the information on mat leave?” She looked at him hopefully.
“They are going to know in a few weeks.”
“I know, but I am still organizing my house, getting my furnace fixed, the usual. I don’t need to worry about whispers at work.”
He stroked her cheek and leaned down to kiss her. “No whispers at work.”
Andy leaned up and whispered, “You are going to get a crick in your neck.”
His lips touched hers, and blood rushed through every extremity, her heart was pumping with a whoosh, and she tried to cuddle closer, laying her hands flat on the edge of his formal uniform. He slowly lifted her up, and she wrapped her arms around his neck, whining slightly as their lips clung, tongues touched, and he slid his tongue along hers. She shuddered and whimpered, the kiss getting frantic on her end because she wanted it to get hotter, tinglier, more. He pulled back. “Andy, stop.”
She stopped and whined in desperation.
“We can’t do this here.”
She burst into tears, and that was how he got her out of the memorial.
The will reading was at the Macabee house, and Andy was in her normal jeans and sweatshirt. She studiously did not look over at Philip, who was sitting next to his grandmother. Grandma Acory was watching her with a smile.
The lawyer lifted the next document. “To my wife, Cassie, my biggest mistake, the liar in my life. I leave her the car and all the clothing she bought during our two-year marriage. She promised me children and had made that impossible before I even met her. Get away from my family, you lying whore. And I hope that my partner enjoys your attentions because I haven’t in quite some time.”
The entire room was silent, and Cassie tried to laugh it off. “It’s a joke, right? I mean, the house, the properties, who gets them?”
The lawyer moved to the next sheet of paper, and he said, “The dispe
rsal of the bulk of my estate, aside from the previous provisions to my family, goes to Andrea Zeller—”
Cassie got up with a scream and ran around the assembled folks to launch herself at Andrea. Philip put himself between them, and Cassie brought up short. She looked sad and tiny. “She stole from me. She convinced him to sign everything over to her.”
Andrea got smaller in her chair and had to wait.
Cassie was taken out of the room by her siblings-in-law, and the reading commenced.
“Andrea Zeller. She was the best friend a guy could have, and my presence in her life kept her from finding the person she deserved. For that, I am sorry. I am not sorry for the time we spent together and for the final project we were working on putting together.”
Andy blinked. “Excuse me, sir. When was this written?”
“Six weeks ago.” He smiled kindly. “He didn’t want to take chances.”
The lawyer got up and handed letters to Terror’s parents and grandparents. It was the copy of the ultrasound with the tiny speck on it. The date was clear.
He got back and read again. “I wanted this more than anything else, so I asked Andy, and she never said no to me if it was something I wanted. I hope I am able to supersede this letter, but if not, this was all me and a little bit her. So, everything I have goes to her because she will pass it on to our child when it is an adult. I trust her with it.”
Andy sat still as the Macabees turned to stare at her with hope. She waved. “Uh, hi.”
The lawyer ran through the last of the bequests, and then, he walked over to Andy, “Come with me, miss.”
She followed the lawyer, taking her to Mr. Macabee’s office. “So, you know Cassie will contest the will.”
She nodded. “I know. I have DNA tests scheduled for next week when paternity can be determined, and I have medical records to prove it was my eggs involved.”
He smiled. “My firm stands ready to assist you. Do not speak to her, do not interact with her, just call us if she so much as shows up at the same restaurant as you. This estate was worth several million dollars, and she will not let it go easily. He wanted to protect you from his bad decisions, Andy. The defense is already paid for. It isn’t coming out of the estate.”