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The horror faded from Gray’s expression, and the tears welled even more. He chuckled, but there was no genuine mirth to it. Wilder was sure it was just a way to hide some of his pain. Another of Gray’s tears escaped and rolled down his cheek. He lifted one hand and wiped it away. “I think perhaps you give me too much credit.”
“I don’t,” Wilder said with a soft smile. “I absolutely don’t. Don’t take my earlier words to heart. I understand you’re where you need to be. It just took me a while to realize what Jamie had seen in you. You’re a wonderful papa… and an amazing husband to Rohan. Which,ifyou were listening, Ijustsaid to Jamie.”
Gray waved a hand. “Stop, you’ll make my head grow. And I already have one part of me that’s too big as it is.”
Wilder smiled. Glancing down at Gray’s burgeoning belly, he chuckled. The omega was only a few months pregnant, but he looked much further along. “Having another set of twins?”
“Bite your tongue!” Gray laughed again before he looked down at the flowers in his hand. “I’ll step away so you can finish. Apologies again… Ididn’tmean to eavesdrop.”
“No point in leaving,” Wilder said, half turning to gaze at his brother’s tombstone. “I’m just about done here.” Wilder lifted a hand to his lips before pressing those fingers to the stone.Until I see you again, brother.
Wilder backed away to give the omega some privacy and observed as Gray knelt and placed the flowers at the base of the stone. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out two small pieces of colored paper, both adorned with toddler-drawn stick figures. Gray tucked them into the flowers before bending to kiss the stone.
As he waited, Gray rested his forehead on the stone and murmured something, Wilder struggled with his own emotions. After another kiss to the headstone, Gray attempted to rise, but struggled in his pregnant state. Wilder walked closer to offer a hand and assisted the omega.
“Thank you,” Gray murmured.
“You’re welcome.”
The omega sighed. “I can’t believe it’s been three years already,” Gray whispered as he looked down at the grave. “It seems like yesterday.”
“But some days it seems like forever ago,” Wilder replied.
Gray eyed him. “Yes, it does. I miss himsovery much.”
As do I. Wilder offered Gray an arm, and once taken, they made their way back through the rows of graves to their cars parked a few hundred feet away, their pace languid. “Rohan didn’t come with you?”
“No. He’ll come tomorrow morning early and pay his respects then. Rohan prefers to come alone.”
“That doesn’t bother you?”
“Why should it?” Gray asked. “Jamie was his first love… and willalwaysbe his first love. I accept that and understand that they deserve a little time alone every so often.”
Wilder smiled inwardly, knowing he wouldn’t be able to share someone he loved like that. But then, Gray had loved Jamie almost as much as he did Rohan. Perhaps even more.
“I never understood the bond you had with my brother. You two barely knew each other… yet you and he were as thick as thieves at the end.”
Wilder noticed a tender smile spread across Gray’s face in profile.
“We were, weren’t we?” Gray turned to look at Wilder, his eyes shining with tears. But the smile never faded. “Jamie was the best friend I think I’ve ever had. The best one I’lleverhave.”
Wilder fought back tears of his own. “Me, too.” Jamie had been a mixture of brother, papa, and confidant. He could tell Jamie anything.Anything.There was never any judgment. No admonishment. Only love. “I miss him more than I can tell you.”
“I know,” Gray whispered. “I know.”
They walked a few more steps before Wilder eyed the omega. “But you didn’t answer my question. What built that connection you and Jamie had?”
“I don’t know that you’d believe me,” Gray said.
“Try me.”
The omega hesitated a moment before pausing and bringing them both to a stop. “Did you know some alphas can have more than one mate?” Gray asked him.
Wilder frowned. He shook his head. “That’s not possible.” And it was borderline heresy, not that Wilder was religious. Lessons fromthe Bookwere taught to all schoolchildren, training them from an early age to understand right from wrong.
But as Wilder had grown, he’d learned there were so many gray areas between the black and white.
“After the Great Catastrophe, powerful alphas maintainedharemsfull of omegas—and there’s speculation that some omegas were the alpha’s true fated mates. Not one, but two—perhaps even more.”
