Mates of a Human

Part Three. Chapter Five. Alex

Pregnancy? Seriously?  I mean I knew that some rare human men might carry, but me? I never imagined that I would be one capable of falling.  What would Michael and Eric say?  Would they be happy? Would it become a deal breaker? I wasn't sure how I felt about the situation either, I was too deep into shock.

Mother told me that the ability to carry children runs dormant in the men born within her family, it does skip generations and men born too far out of the female line are often without the gene at all. Most men of her family will never even become aware of it. However, once a man was... penetrated by another man, the gland carrying the hormone will activate and prepare the man's body for not only carrying children, but giving birth to them as well. I already have a womb and ovaries, Mother had that checked while I was small, but only after sex would they become worthy of their names. They would act just as a woman's, I would produce eggs and my womb would line and I would... self lubricate. I would even suffer menstrual cycles.

My father knew of this, but as I had never 'shown signs' that I might be gay, it was never spoken of. As doctors, my parents happily discussed the medical and biological side of things, while I could only sit in a daze. I listened while mother confided a tale about her second cousin. He had not been born of her great aunt. In fact, his great aunt and great uncle had met after her cousin was conceived after a one night stand. Her great uncle was bisexual and had been a bit promiscuous and usually used protection, but it had failed that night. Her great aunt had just been divorced due to her infertility, great uncle's work colleague had handled her case. Her great uncle was also a lawyer. Their marriage was a little hasty and was to cover up the fact that he was a carrier. But they came to care for each other and of course for the baby, who learnt the truth of his origins when his own son came out as gay. That child, though, did not turn out to be a carrier.

I tried to bury the whole subject to the back of my mind and spend a nice few hours with my parents the following day, before hopping into the taxi to head back to the train station late afternoon. I wanted to be in the company of my mates, the pull was like a taut elastic band ready to spring back at any moment. Just my luck, there was a problem on the line and my train was cancelled. The next one would arrive in thirty minutes. So I sat down at a cafe in the station, fiddling with my phone, wondering whether I should text them or call.

"I was not hallucinating!  You are here!"  So lost in my own swirling stream of thoughts, I hadn't realised that anyone had sat down before me, so his voice completely startled me.

A smile came unbidden to my lips.  "Hi, Adam," I greeted.  Of all the wolves I could have bumped into, I am glad it was him.  It suddenly no longer mattered that I had been trying my damnedest to avoid all and every pack member.

He slapped my arm.  "I don't know whether I should be ecstatic to see you," he told me, a slight pout forming, "or pissed off that you disappeared and refused to let us know where you went!"

"You know that Marcus would have dragged me back if he knew," I mentioned.  It was another small part of why I wanted to avoid the pack; I wasn't sure how strong I was against those puppy dog eyes of his.  Although, the need to return to my mates was coursing through me more that I had imagined when I first made that decision, so I suspected not even Marcus chaining me to the packhouse would keep me there long.

"You could have called!  Or texted!" He continued to wail.  "I wouldn't have even seen you today if I hadn't chosen to send an old packmate on his way.  He had hoped to find his mate in our pack, but it didn't happen."

"How is everything with you and Charles?" I asked, changing the subject.

His pout became more pronounced.  "He is always busy training.  He is hoping to become Marcus' beta when the pack changes hands in a few of years.  I think he only wants me for my body!"

"Then make him realise what he is missing out on," I winked at him.  Adam looked a little uncertain, probably worried about what could happen if Charles missed out on a day or two of training.  "It is actually better to let the body rest, once in a while.  Depending on what sort of training he is doing, if he overdoes it, it could end up being detrimental, even for a wolf.  And I bet his wolf would like to reconnect once in a while with his mate and not just through your bodies."

"Marcus is right," Adam sighed.  "You should have become our pack doctor." 

"Adam, that ship sailed a while ago," I reminded him.  He looked saddened as he recalled the reasons for my unfinished education.  "I don't blame him," I said, referring to my ex-mate.  "I used to hate him and... I'm sorry... for a while I hated all wolves."  He winced and I could imagine his wolf howling, slightly pained at a brother's rejection.  "Not anymore," I added hastily.

"It's alright, I can understand," he said.  "I hated my entire previous pack before meeting Charles. I placed every wolf under the same umbrella of bully or associate.  But really, it was just a handful and they were discreet enough not to get caught.  When the Alpha found out, after... Well, Charles beat the crap out of them," his eyes suddenly gained stars, "he chewed them inside and out and grounded them for six weeks with a huge list of chores.  He said he might have grounded them longer, but the beating Charles gave them was deducted from their overall punishment."

"And how are Marcus and Jenny?"  I asked.

Adam fidgeted in his seat a little.  "Jenny is pregnant," he confessed.  He studied my eyes, gauging my reaction, but actually I was fine with it.  In fact, I was happy for them.

"Not sure I can see Marcus as a dad," I admitted with a laugh. 

Visibly relaxing, he continued; "He walked through the packhouse in a daze for almost three days after Jenny told him, even walked into a door a couple of times."  We giggled just imagining it.  "And then he turned all Alpha, strutting through the house like he was the only guy with active sperm and hovering over Jenny protectively.  She hit him with a wooden spoon when he began growling at pups who were, in his opinion, being too boisterous around his pregnant mate."  I wondered if that sort of reaction was what I could expect in the future and then shuddered as I realised it could be twice fold.  I noticed Adam trying to figure out what was going through my mind, but played it innocent.

"What?" I asked.

He shrugged before mentioning; "He misses you, you know.  I heard him mention to his father that he would have liked to have named you one of the pup's moon guardians."  Moon guardians were similar to a human's godparents.  However, where the latter had become more of an affection, moon guardians played a much more active roll in a pup's life.

"Me?  But I am not a wolf, what could I teach a pup?"

"That has never mattered to Marcus and you know it," Adam said, crossing his arms.  "He has always seen you as one of us."  Guilt blossomed in my chest as he spoke.  I knew it, but I had run away regardless.  "He hoped to find the one who rejected you, make them pay, hoping that if he dealt with it, you would return."  Both of us remained downcast for a moment.  "Of course, Charles and I told him that the person he was looking for was probably not a woman, but that stubborn Alpha just kept telling us; 'Sure it is.  Alex is straight.  I saw all the porn magazines in his room!'"

I groaned with a laugh.  "Those were all his magazines," I pointed out.  "He stashed them in my room so his father wouldn't catch him looking at the bodies of females, that were not his mate, in a sexual way!"  Adam looked at me stunned for a moment and then burst out laughing.

"I am so going to use that against him someday!" He clutched his sides as he laughed.  "Maybe the next time he tries to pull rank over the last slice of cheesecake!"

"Oh, there are worst secrets in my repertoire," I said, conspiratorially.  He looked intrigued, but before I dared share, my train was announced as due to arrive shortly over the tannoy.  "I have to go," I told him and allowed him to pull me into a quick hug.  We quickly exchanged numbers.  "I was originally going to ask you to keep my presence here a secret, but instead, if Marcus' asks, tell him I will see him next time I come home.  I promise."

"I will hold you to that," Adam advised me and hugged me tightly once more.

I waved him goodbye as I headed towards the platform and my train.  I was heading home, but not to my apartment.  I wanted to snuggle between a man with blue eyes and a man with red hair... if they would have me and I had a feeling that they just might.