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“He does have a tendency to hyper fixate,” Morgan agreed, returning Ricky’s grin.
After a few moments of silence, Ricky’s smile faded. “He told me what happened in the challenge. I'm glad you’re okay.” His gaze was lowered when he spoke, but he pulled it up, the action seeming like it took effort. “I’m sorry for leaving like that and for turning you away when you came for me.”
“I’d hurt you, so you had to protect yourself. I understand.”
“You didn’t. That’s not why.” Shaking his head, Ricky gulped and then licked his lips. “I was scared, and I didn’t know what to do.”
“You were scared of me?”
“Not of you.” Ricky drew in a deep breath and closed his eyes. “Why is this so hard to explain?” he said under his breath.
“Whatever it is, you can trust me to help you. I’m your mate. Tell me what’s wrong and I’ll fix it.”
A soft laugh accompanied a sniffle and then Ricky looked at him again, his eyes wet. “It’s not that simple.”
Fingers combing through the side of Ricky’s hair, Morgan met his gaze. “Try me.”
“I wasted your time running around searching for me. I almost got you in a fight with multiple Alphas at Blue Mountain. When I talked to my parents, they said you came to Purple Sky and things got physical with Brian Berger. I know I’m the reason you’re in this bed, because no way could Alpha Iredell take you down unless you let him. Your whole pack hates me except the Beta’s mate.” Tears dripped down Ricky’s face. “And even with all that, you have no idea how badly I messed up.”
“Those weren’t my first fights and they won’t be my last. I’m fine. What you see in my pack isn’t hate, it’s fear, and it has nothing to do with you. They’ll come around. And most importantly”—softly, he swiped his thumbs across Ricky’s cheeks and dried his tears—“you can trust me to handle whatever it is that’s scaring you.” He tipped Ricky’s face up and met his gaze. “I’m your mate. Tell me what’s wrong and I’ll fix it.” Because it absolutely was that simple.
Chapter 9
Even as he had been running from Golden Valley nearly four months earlier, Ricky had known he was making a mistake. He had kept going because he hadn’t known how else to deal with his other Morgan-related shortcomings—guilting him into being intimate, allowing the kind of sexual contact that could result in pregnancy without telling him that was a possibility, and doing all of that while the Purple Sky Alpha was in the same house and in a paranoid, angry state. Ricky had then spent the nine weeks of his pregnancy trying to figure out how to confess his sins to Morgan, but when his Alpha had come to Blue Mountain, Ricky had made another mistake by sending him away instead of facing his own fears.
He’d holed himself up in a room in Blue Mountain for four weeks with The Baby, the entire time telling himself Morgan had the right to know he was a father, then taken a long car ride aware that he and The Baby would be facing Morgan so he needed to formulate an explanation, and now Morgan had given him the perfect opening to explain himself, and yet Ricky still didn’t know what to say. At that point, he had to admit to himself that he’d never find the right words, so he turned to action. As much as he was enjoying Morgan’s gentle strokes of his hair, Ricky forced himself to step away.
“What are you doing?”
“Something I should have done weeks ago, but I was too much of a coward.”
“You aren’t a coward.”
Kind sentiment, but false. “Well then, I was doing a damn fine impression of one.” A few more steps and Ricky was at the foot of the bed, where The Baby slept in his carrier. “Someone should give me an Oscar for that convincing role.”
“Ricky?” The sheets rustled as Morgan moved in the bed. “What’s going on?”
“He’s a deep sleeper,” he said, his voice quiet despite his assurances.
“Who?”
Crouching down, Ricky moved the blanket aside, clicked open the safety belt, and curled his hands under The Baby. “If what other parents say is true, he also sleeps more easily than other babies.” He draped the blanket over the Baby, held him against his chest, and straightened. “Actually, he’s great in every way. He’s never fussy. He eats well. He’s sweet natured.”
When Morgan remained silent, Ricky stopped babbling and forced himself to raise his gaze away from The Baby and over to the bed.
The Alpha’s mouth was open, his eyes wide, and his nostrils flared. “A baby,” he whispered. “Is he yours?” He drew in a deep breath, his nose twitching. “Jasmine and roses.” Morgan rose to his knees. “He has your scent. That’s probably why I didn’t distinguish it in the room.”
