The omega’s voice cracked. He clearly still had strong feelings for the man from his past, even as his love for Calder was undeniable.
Wes had no qualms about Zinn’s hesitancy. Not finding Ryde’s alpha father benefited them, considering he was the one person who could unravel the adoption. The alpha had never agreed to it, so he might have a claim. It would be a longshot after eight years, but since Wes had inadvertently hired his son’s birth father to make his birthday cake, he was willing to believe in extraordinary coincidences.
“Asher seemed convinced that your old butler—Antoni?—knew what happened to Ryde’s alpha father. If you ever decide to track him down, he would probably be a good place to start,” Wes said.
Zinn nodded. “I’ll keep it in mind.”
Calder eyed Wes and Assa. “Please continue to keep Zinn’s identity secret. His parents might still be looking for Zeller.”
“They must have realized by now that Zinn isn’t going public with his story, so why would they look?” Assa asked.
“To keep tabs,” Zinn responded. “They don’t like loose ends. I’d like to think they wouldn’t do anything to me, but I can’t take the risk that they’d come after Calder or you guys.”
“Don’t worry about me,” Calder said, pulling Zinn’s chair next to his.
“Too late,” Zinn looped his hands around the big alpha’s elbow. “We’re a team now, cap. You said this was what you wanted. No take-backsies.”
Calder looked at him with shiny eyes. “I want all of it.” He kissed Zinn on the nose.
Assa squeezed Wes’s knee.Thank stars Zinn has him,he mouthed.
“Okay.” Calder slung his arm over Zinn’s shoulders. “We’ve deconstructed as much as we can about how we got to this point,” he said. “The more important question is, what are we going to do moving forward?”
Wes was about to reply when Zinn cleared his throat. The other three men looked at him. He wiped a tear from his cheek.
Calder tried pulling him closer, but Zinn held him back. “No. I’m okay. I need to get this out.” The tension in his limbs was clear as he faced Wes and Assa. “I know this is hard for you. On all of us… But I’ve had three hours sitting here, and honestly for the past eight years I’ve asked myself what I would do if I was ever in this situation, if I found my son happily living with adoptive parents…”
Assa’s fingers twitched and Wes knew he wanted to soothe the omega.
“…Now that I’m here, the answer I came up with a long time ago hasn’t changed. I don’t want to disrupt his life. I’m not here to try to take Ryde away from you, or to insert myself into your family.” Another tear slipped out, and he let it fall. “That beingsaid… I can’t force you to do this, and I understand if you’re not ready to decide, but I would like to ask you, humbly, if there’s a way for me to be a part of my son’s life. If I had been given a choice, I never would have been separated from him. And if it’s possible, I’d like to…know him. But I’ll also accept it if that’s not what you want.”
Assa let out a small cry. He circled Zinn in his arms. “Oh, Zinn!” Leaning back, he cupped the omega’s face. “You’re correct that we’re not ready to hammer out all the specifics tonight, but you are absolutely going to be a part of Ryde’s life, of all our lives. We are going to figure this out. I promise.” He looked at Wes.
“Yes,” Wes said. “We'll figure this out.”
“Even before today, everything Asher told us made me realize how brave and strong you are,” Assa said, dropping his hands to Zinn’s lap as he knelt in front of him. “And now that we’ve met you, I know you belong in Ryde’s life. He was stolen from you. We can never replace those years, but we can make sure the rest of them are set right.” He shifted his attention to Calder. “The stars clearly had the long game in mind when I met you eight years ago.”
“Calder told me that story while I was making the cake,” Zinn smirked. “Of course, he told it in the context of you being customers, not the adoptive fathers of my long-lost baby.”
Wes guffawed. “It was certainly fortuitous meeting your…Calder.”
“My alpha,” Zinn corrected. “He’s my alpha. It’s okay to say it.”
“Your alpha.”
“I never thought I’d call anyone that, not after Ryde’s alpha father, but Calder won me over.”
“It wasn’t one-sided, sunshine.”
To Assa, Zinn said, “If I’m a part of Ryde’s life, Calder will be too.”
“I’m counting on it.” Assa grinned.
Wes registered the high emotions of both Assa and Zinn. Per usual, his instinct was to ensure Assa’s happiness, but he had the powerful urge to comfort the omega as well.
Ten minutes later, Assa and Zinn huddled on the couch, studying another photo album.
“Your husband has a remarkably generous soul,” Calder whispered to Wes as they stood on the opposite side of the room. “Zinn spent the entire party worried you two might order him out of the house, and instead it’s like they both made a new best friend.”
