Warning: Pregnancy
The Silence of Lies Epilogue
One Year Later
Elowen
I've been kneeling on the bathroom floor for ten minutes.
The cold from the tiles has soaked through my knees and into my joints, which is unpleasant, but standing up feels ambitious in a way I'm not ready to commit to yet. I press the back of my hand against my mouth and wait, listening to my own breathing and the distant sound of something being made in the kitchen two floors below.
I think the worst of it has passed.
Taking a deep breath, I push myself up from the floor, grip the edge of the sink, and turn on the tap. The water is cold and I cup it in both hands, pressing my face into it. I hold it there, feeling my pulse slowly talk itself down from the ceiling.
Once my face stops burning, I straighten up and look at my reflection.
I look terrible.
My skin is off, slightly grey around the edges in the way it's been for the last few weeks, and there are deep shadows under my eyes. I’m over feeling like this.
It's a stomach bug. That's what I've been telling myself for three weeks. A persistent, inconsiderate stomach bug that hits hardest in the mornings and occasionally right before bedtime. And it seems completely unbothered by the ginger tea Perrin keeps making me drink.
I reach for my toothbrush, and squeeze out some toothpaste.
Three weeks of exhaustion. Three weeks of nausea. Three weeks of being so unreasonably warm in a house full of alphas that I've started sleeping with one foot out of the nest.
"Elle?" Adam knocks on the bathroom door. His voice is low and careful, clearly worried. "You okay in there?"
I spit, rinse, and open the door.
Adam is leaning against the frame in his sleep shirt and a pair of worn grey sweatpants, his dark blond hair still rumpled from sleep, his honey brown eyes moving over my face with the quick, thorough attention of someone running an assessment.
"I'm fine," I say.
"You don't look fine."
"Thank you." Giving the omega a pointed look.
"I'm serious." He reaches out and presses the back of his hand to my forehead. "You've been sick every morning this week."
"I know. I was there." I run my fingers through my hair, pushing it away from my face.
"Perrin went out to get you something." He steps back, holding the bathroom door wider, gesturing toward the bedroom with his head. "Come on. Get into bed."
"What did Perrin go to get? Which pharmacy did he go to? Did he call ahead because the one on Birch Street doesn't stock the—"
"Elowen." Adam's voice is flat. "Stop being a pharmacist and get into bed."
I open my mouth and he points at the nest.
I close my mouth and go.
Our nest is in the far corner of the master bedroom, built into the alcove where the window seat is, low and wide and layered deep with everything soft we own. Cliff's old flannel blanket is draped across the bottom. Raff's pillow in the center, the one that smells most like him. The top blanket from our original nest that has somehow survived a full year and two wash cycles and still smells exactly right.
I lower myself into it carefully, praying I don’t get sick again, and the second my hands touch the soft fabric something in my chest unclenches.
My omega biology has never been subtle about what it needs, and right now what it needs is my pack. The layered scent of my mates is pressed into every fiber of every blanket, Cliff's cedar and chocolate, Raff's sage and sunflowers, Perrin's citrus warmth, Adam's sweet, sun-warmed cotton. All of it wrapped around me at once, soothing me all the way to my core.
I pull the top blanket up to my chin and close my eyes.
Adam drops onto the edge of the nest beside me, not quite in it, sitting cross legged on the floor with his back against the window seat frame, his phone face-down in his lap.
"When did Perrin leave?" I ask.
"Twenty minutes ago."
I nod, my eyes still closed. My stomach has settled to a dull, manageable unease, the kind I've learned to breathe around over the last few weeks. I think about my symptoms trying to figure out if it’s a stomach bug or the flu.
-
Nausea
-
Fatigue
-
Sensitivity to certain smells
-
Intense heat in my skin at night
The front door opens downstairs.
Perrin's footsteps move up the stairs, and then the bedroom door pushes open and he appears in the doorway with a white paper pharmacy bag in one hand and his jacket still on.
He looks at me in the nest.
“You look pale.” He frowns as he crosses the room.
“I’m okay,” I say for the hundredth time this morning.
“I got you a few things.” Perrin reaches into the bag.
He pulls out a box of anti-nausea tablets, a bottle of electrolyte drink, a packet of plain crackers, a small jar of ginger candies, and then, last, a single white pregnancy test in a slim green box.
He holds it out toward me.
"I had a feeling," he says.
I stare at it.
Then I laugh. I can't help it. It bursts out of me, and Perrin's expression shifts from sheepish to cautiously relieved.
"Perrin," I say, shaking my head. “Seriously?”
"I know," he says, still holding the green box.
"I have a stomach bug."
"You might," he says, but his tone tells me he doesn’t really believe that.
I look at the test in his outstretched hand and my laughter starts to fade as I really think about my symptoms.
Three weeks of nausea. Worse in the mornings. Better by early afternoon.
Fatigue that sleep doesn't help relieve.
The smell of Cliff's coffee made me gag last Tuesday when I normally love the aroma.
The strange, embarrassing spike in arousal that has me waking Raff up at three am last night.
And the last time I had a heat.
Eight weeks ago.
I reach out and take the test from Perrin's hand.
The three minutes it takes to get the test results are the longest of my life.
I sit on the edge of the bathroom counter with the test face down on the sink beside me, my hands folded in my lap and my feet dangling.
Perrin is leaning against the far wall with his arms crossed and his eyes on the floor. While Adam is in the doorway, both hands gripping the frame above his head, staring at the ceiling like the answer might be written up there.
Nobody speaks.
The tap drips once.
A car passes on the street outside.
"It's been three minutes," Adam says.
"I know."
"You should look."
"I know."
"Elle."
I reach out and turn the test over.
Two lines.
Huh?
I stare at them for a long moment. They're clear and dark and completely unambiguous, the way I've seen them described in textbooks and in ads on TV.
Two lines.
That means pregnant. Right?
"Well?" Adam says.
I silently hold it up, and the omega slaps his hands over his mouth.
The squeal he makes starts in his chest, coming sharp and loud. It fills the entire bathroom and spills into the bedroom beyond.
"Really?" I laugh at his reaction, thankful for something to think about other than the shock still kicking around in my brain.
"I'm fine.” His voice is incredibly high-pitched. It’s kind of adorable. “I’m fine.” His mouth falls open in a wide, glorious smile. “A baby,” he whispers, clearly just as shocked as I am.
I turn to Perrin, and the beta looks just as undone, despite being the one that bought the damn test. His jaw is working slightly. His eyes wide and still.
"I had a feeling," he says again, very quietly.
"You said that already," I say.
"I know." He crosses to me in two steps and takes my face in both hands. “I can't believe it.” He presses his lips to my forehead, holding them there for a long moment. When he pulls back his eyes are glassy, brimming with happy tears.
I look down at the test in my hand.
Two lines.
And it finally hits me: I'm going to have a baby.
This feels enormous.
Scary.
Weird.
It feels like the best thing that has ever happened to me.
My eyes fill up as I stare at the test. I press my lips together and breathe through my nose, and Adam makes a completely undignified sound from the doorway and I lose the battle entirely.
Perrin laughs as a few tears slip from his eyes. He smiles, watching Adam cross to me. The omega wraps both arms around my shoulders, pulling me into his chest, his chin dropping to the top of my head.
“Oh, my god,” he whispers, then pulls back just enough to look at me. His hands slide down, pressing flat against my belly. He looks down at them for a second before looking back up at my face. "You're going to give us the most beautiful baby in the world," he says quietly.
I press my lips together very hard as the sound of footsteps thump from somewhere down the hall. I can feel both Cliff and Raff check on me through our bond, curious about the whirlwind of emotions ripping through me.
Adam releases me, and I slip off the counter top. We all file out of the bathroom, making it about three steps into the bedroom before the door opens and Cliff and Raff walk in. The whole room gets considerably smaller and considerably warmer all at once.
Cliff's eyes find me first. They move over my face like he’s trying to read me, his brow pulling together slightly.
Behind him, Raff is doing the same thing, his gray eyes sharp and alert, scanning the room, taking in Adam's red rimmed eyes and Perrin's poorly concealed attempt at composure and the test still in my hand.
“What’s going on?” Raff asks.
I hold the test up and Cliff goes completely still.
Raff's eyes drop to it, then they come back up to my face. Slowly, his mouth opens and I feel a burst of shock and excitement in our bond. “Is that….” he whispers as his hand comes up, pointing at the little white stick. “Are you…”
"She's pregnant," Perrin blurts out.
Adam's head snaps toward him. "That was her news to share, Perrin."
"I know." The beta grimaces. "I'm sorry. It just came out."
"It's okay," I laugh, and I mean it, because nothing about this moment feels anything less than perfect.
Then Cliff moves.
He crosses the room in four strides and takes my face in both hands and just looks at me, his dark eyes moving over every inch of my face. His jaw is tight. His thumbs are trembling slightly against my cheekbones, which is the most undone I have ever seen this man's hands.
"A baby," he says. Very quietly. Just a statement of fact, said out loud, like he needs to hear it in his own voice to make it real.
"A baby." I nod, smiling so wide my cheeks hurt.
The pack alpha pulls me into his chest and holds on, one hand cupping the back of my head, his face pressed into my hair. I feel, through our bond, what he can't say out loud right now. His happiness moves through the connection between us like a wave, enormous and warm and completely without words.
Raff reaches us a second later. His hand finds my back, pressing flat between my shoulder blades, and he leans down and puts his lips against my temple and leaves them there.
"How far along?" he murmurs.
"I think eight weeks," I say into Cliff's chest. "That was my last heat.”
Raff makes a low sound that I feel more than hear, and his hand spreads wider against my back.
Adam, from somewhere behind us, is crying again. He's not even trying to hide it this time.
"Adam," Perrin says quietly.
"I'm fine," Adam says.
"Come here, baby," Raff says as one hand leaves my back.
"I'm fine," Adam says again, his crying muffled.
Cliff’s thumbs are still moving against my cheekbones, slow and careful, and I tip my head up, looking at him.
Then he drops his forehead to mine and closes his eyes.
His hands slide from my face, down my neck, down my sides, and settle warm and wide against my stomach. He stays there for a long moment, just breathing, his forehead against mine and his hands spread flat across my belly.
Then he opens his eyes and looks at me.
"We're having a baby," he says.
"We're having a baby," I say.
We stay like that for a long time, all five of us tangled together in the middle of the master bedroom on a perfectly ordinary Tuesday morning, nobody moving, nobody needing to.
Cliff's hands are still warm and wide against my stomach. Raff's lips are still at my temple. Adam is somewhere behind us, definitely still crying, while Perrin is watching all of it with a bright sweet expression.
Outside, the world keeps going. A car passes on the road and the refrigerator hums downstairs.
But in here, everything has changed.
***
A Few Months Later
Cliff
I can't stop watching her.
I've been doing it for weeks now.
This quiet, helpless surveillance that I'm not entirely sure Elle has noticed yet, though knowing the omega she clocked it around week ten of the pregnancy and has simply chosen not to say anything.
I watch her across the breakfast table.
In the shop when she sits on the workbench with her herbal tea.
Even late at night when she's asleep and the room is dark and I should be sleeping too.
I'm watching her now.
She's sitting at the kitchen island in one of my old shirts, the hem hitting her mid thigh, her dark hair piled on top of her head in a messy bun. She's eating. Actually eating, with appetite and enthusiasm and none of the careful, tentative approach she had for the first twelve weeks when everything was a negotiation between her body and her stomach.
The morning sickness is gone.
In its place is something that looks a lot like Elowen at full capacity. Sharp and funny and warm, filling every room she walks into without trying, eating everything Perrin puts in front of her, laughing louder than she used to, sleeping deeper, taking up space in the nest with a comfortable, instinctive sprawl that tells me her omega biology has decided this pregnancy is something to settle into rather than survive.
I watch her reach for a second dinner roll and I can’t help but smile.
She's sixteen weeks and I swear I can see a bump.
It’s the faintest curve just below her navel, barely there, visible only when she's in something fitted or when she stretches and her shirt pulls tight across her midsection. I've said nothing about it because the last time I mentioned it she looked down at herself for a long moment and then looked at me and said "Cliff, that's just dinner" with complete seriousness, and I have been trying to figure out how to argue with that ever since.
But it’s not just a big meal.
It's our baby.
A baby girl, in fact, and it’s the greatest thing I have ever seen, and I am completely gone for both of them in a way that I suspect is only going to get worse.
The second dinner is finished, Elowen yawns loudly. Perrin immediately takes her hand and leads her upstairs. Adam and I follow them upstairs to the master bedroom.
I can hear the shower start up through the wall as I pull the curtains closed and sit on the edge of the bed to take my boots off.
The house settles around me, warm and quiet. The familiar sounds of night. The pipes in the walls, the distant sound of a car passing on the road outside, and the soft hum of the air conditioner. Elowen has been running hot lately, so we’ve been keeping the house very cool.
I set my boots on the floor, then stand and pull off my shirt.
And then I hear it.
Elowen lets out a soft moan inside the bathroom, almost swallowed by the sound of the shower.
Our bond hums, and I feel her body wind up, slow and warm and tight. She's been like this for weeks. Warm and soft and desperate to get off.
I fucking love it.
I stand in the middle of the bedroom holding my shirt, listening to her gasp and Perrin moan. My cock grows hard in my jeans, thick and heavy, pressing against the fabric like it's demanding to be free.
The heat radiating from Elle through our bond makes my own body ache with need, and I can feel my hands trembling from the effort of not barging into the bathroom and taking what’s mine.
“Hey.” Adam steps into the bedroom. He’s freshly showered, hair damp, wearing a pair of grey sweatpants and nothing else. He stops in the middle of the room, head tilting slightly toward the bathroom.
He listens for a second. He nods once, then smiles. "You know. Orgasms are excellent for expectant omegas," he says.
"Is that right?" I say.
I can only assume he’s read some article on it. He and Perrin have been obsessed with reading everything they can get their hands on.
"It aids in circulation and stress relief." He waves a hand, then points at the bathroom door. "Perrin had better be getting our mate off. It's literally his job as the beta to care for our pregnant omega." He says it with complete sincerity as he drops onto the edge of the nest and reaches for the lamp to dim it down.
Another sound drifts through the wall, softer this time. I exhale through my nose and look at the ceiling.
The pulse beating at the base of my cock is so fucking intense, but I’m not allowed in the nest until Adam or Elle invite me in.
I get it.
The nest is their safe space. Their sanctuary. Entering it without permission would be a violation.
I hate it but I get it.
Adam finishes straightening the nest and looks at me across the room. He jerks his chin toward the blankets. “Okay. You can—” but before he can finish his sentence the bedroom door swings open and Raff walks in, pulling his shirt over his head.
"Dishes are done," the alpha says, tossing it toward the chair in the corner. His dark eyes land on Adam in the nest and he smiles. The alpha opens his mouth to say something, but stops the second a soft, desperate moan drifts from behind the bathroom door.
Raff freezes, his head snapping toward the noise. His entire posture changes, his muscles tensing as he catches the scent of omega arousal in the air. He stands there for exactly one second, shirt gone, jaw set, and then he's moving, crossing the bedroom in long strides, pushing the bathroom door open without knocking, then swinging it shut behind him.
The second the door clicks shut, Adam laughs and looks at me. “You can get in now, alpha.”
I kick my jeans off the bed and let them drop to the floor. Adam's gaze drops, following the line of my body down to the thick, hard cock straining against my boxers.
A smirk tugs at the corner of his mouth as he slides back into his nest. He bites his bottom lip with a shy, heated look that makes my pulse jump in my throat.
I don't make him wait. I crawl into the nest, covering his trim body with mine, and take his mouth in a hungry kiss.
He tastes minty and sweet, and he opens for me immediately, his hands coming up to grip my shoulders. I pull his sweatpants down, exposing his hardening cock and the slick glistening between his thighs.
The scent of him hits me. Sun-warmed cotton mixed with the unmistakable tang of omega arousal.
I grip his hips, then move down his perfect body, desperate to get my mouth on him. I lap at the head of his cock, tasting the salty precum beading there, before moving lower.
A ragged moan tears from Adam's throat as his fingers sink into my hair, pulling tight enough to sting, holding me exactly where he needs me. His hips buck up off the blankets, sinking deeper into my mouth.
I bob my head a few more times, then suck hard before I pop off.
Adam hisses, then whimpers softly as I move down.
My tongue traces over his soft balls, down to his entrance, where he's already wet and open.
I eat his ass out, feasting on the slick pouring out of him, listening to him gasp and whine above me. The taste is pure omega, sweet and slightly musky, driving my own arousal higher. His hole clenches around my tongue, greedy and eager, and I groan against him.
"Cliff," he breathes, his fingers tangling in my hair. "Please."
I need him too much to tease. I crawl up his body, lining my cock up, then push inside in one smooth stroke.
His little hole is tight and wet, his inner walls gripping me like a fist. The sensation is incredible. The heat and the way his muscles ripple around me as I sink deeper and deeper. I start to thrust, setting a slow, deep rhythm that has him arching his back, his fingers digging into my biceps.
Behind me, the bathroom door flies open. I glance over my shoulder, the movement dragging my gaze away from Adam just in time to see Raff stride out of the steam-filled bathroom. He's got Elowen wrapped around him, her legs locked tight at his waist, and the second they hit the cooler air of the bedroom, I see the flush on her skin, the desperate arch of her back.
He's already inside her, fucking her as he moves, his hands gripping her ass to move her up and down on his cock. Her head is thrown back, her lips parted, lost to the pleasure.
They make it to the nest, and Raff lays her down right next to Adam, not breaking his rhythm. The sight of her all flushed and eager, her breasts bouncing with Raff's movements makes my cock throb inside Adam.
"That's it, omega, take every inch," Raff growls, his voice thick with lust. "Feel how hard I am for you? I’ve been needing this all fucking day."
The lights in the bathroom click off, and Perrin appears in the dim light.
He's broader than he looks in clothes, thick through the chest and shoulders, soft at the edges in the way that makes you want to press your face into him and stay there. His curls are damp and his skin is still flushed pink from the heat of the shower, and he's fully hard, his cock curving up toward his stomach as his warm brown eyes find Elowen.
He crawls into the nest, settling next to the omega's face, then he strokes her cheek. His thumb brushes over her jawline, grounding her before he guides himself to her lips.
The tip of his cock taps gently against her bottom lip, smearing a bead of precum over the soft skin. Elowen's eyes flutter at the sensation, and she opens eagerly, her hands fumbling down to grab him. Her fingers wrap around his shaft, guiding him into her mouth with a desperation that makes my own hips jerk.
I lift up, pushing Adam's legs higher, spreading him wide so I can rest my hands on the back of his thighs. I use the leverage to really pound into him, driving my cock deep with every snap of my hips. The angle lets me hit that spot inside him that makes him gasp, his body clenching around me in rhythmic pulses.
The friction is perfect, and Adam's eyes roll back as he lets out a hoarse cry. His cock pulses between us, and thick streams of cum erupt from the tip, painting his chest and abs in milky white ropes.
His body convulses beneath me, his ass clamping down hard on my dick as he rides out the intensity. I keep thrusting, waiting for his breathing to slow.
When he comes down from the high, his gaze drifts sideways, settling on Elowen.
We both watch as our omega takes Perrin’s cock deep into her mouth, her cheeks hollowing and her throat working. Perrin groans, his head falling back. He keeps one hand on her face, his thumb stroking her temple, anchoring her to him even in the midst of this raw, messy pleasure.
Adam's eyes are locked on both of them, watching Elowen suck Perrin's cock like it's the most beautiful thing he's ever seen. His mouth falls open, a ragged moan tearing from his throat as he tightens around me.
"Cliff," he breathes, his gaze never leaving Elowen. "Please. I need to see you fuck her. Now."
Raff slows his rhythm, the slick sounds of their bodies quieting as he meets my eyes. There's a knowing heat in his gaze, a silent communication we've perfected over years of sharing everything. He nods once, sharp and deliberate, then shifts his weight. He pulls her onto her side, lifting one leg to expose her ass to me.
"Get in there, alpha," he murmurs, holding her open for me. “Fuck that ass.”
I pull out of Adam with a groan, ignoring the whine he lets out, and move to Elowen. I position myself behind her, spreading her cheeks. Her pussy is dripping, swollen from Raff's attention, and her asshole is puckered and tight. I press my cock against her rear entrance, feeling her stiffen slightly, then relax.
"Easy, omega," I murmur against her ear. "I've got you."
Then I push in slowly, letting her adjust to the stretch. She moans around Perrin's cock still in her mouth, the vibration making him curse under his breath.
The tight heat of her ass is incredible, gripping me just as perfectly as her pussy would.
Once I'm fully seated, Raff moves, shifting his weight to roll us. I go with it, letting him maneuver us until I'm on my back with Elowen sprawled across my chest. Raff crawls over us, his knees braced on either side of my hips.
Perrin's cock slips from her mouth at the movement, but the second we're settled, she reaches for him blindly, pulling him back into her mouth. Raff shifts forward, sliding his cock back into her pussy, and I groan at the sensation of him through the thin wall of her body.
"Fuck, look at that," Raff hisses, his gaze locked on where our bodies meet. "Two cocks in our girl. You're so full of us, Elle. So fucking full."
She lets out a muffled cry, her body trembling between us as we start to move, finding a rhythm.
Raff thrusts in as I pull out, then we swap.
It's overwhelming, a relentless friction that builds pleasure fast. I can feel Raff's cock through the thin wall of tissue separating us, adding to the sensation. Every nerve ending is on fire, and the scent of her—pregnant omega slick mixed with arousal—fills my head until there's nothing else.
I watch her face as she sucks Perrin, her movements wild now, desperate. Her mouth opens wide, taking him deep, her cheeks hollowing with every pull.
It's a fucking beautiful sight.
I tear my gaze away for a second, glancing at Adam. He's lying on his side next to us, his chest still heaving, his soft cock growing hard again as he watches the three of us. He's mesmerized, his mouth slightly open.
"Get over here," I rasp out, my voice strained with the effort of holding back. "Give her another cock, Adam."
The male omega blinks once, torn from whatever trance he’s in. Then he moves closer, kneeling above her head. He strokes his cock, watching with dark eyes as she takes Perrin in her mouth. I can feel his gaze like a physical weight, his own arousal mixing with mine and Elle’s through our bond.
"Look at you," I rasp against Elowen's neck. My hand comes around her middle, my palm spreading wide over the soft swell of her belly. I can feel the firmness there beneath the skin, the life growing inside her, and it hits me all over again—she's carrying our child. I rub my thumb over the curve, possessive and awed. "So good,” I growl softly. “Stuffed full of cock like a good girl."
Elle’s body clenches around both of us, her arousal spiking through our bond as she sucks at both Adam and Perrin’s cocks.
She's desperate, her pregnancy hormones making her insatiable. She wants more, harder, deeper. Our bond hums with her need, a feedback loop of pleasure that threatens to drive us all over the edge.
I can feel my knot starting to swell at the base of my cock. It tugs at her rim with every thrust, stretching her wider. Raff is close too, his movements becoming erratic.
"I’m gonna fill this pussy up, omega," Raff grunts, his hips snapping harder.
Perrin is panting above Elle, his hips thrusting shallowly into her mouth as her tongue slips over his and Adam’s cocks at the same time. His hand continues to stroke her hair, her cheek, and throat, grounding her even as his body chases its release.
"Come for us, omega," I command. "Let go. Take it all."
Elowen screams around the cocks in her mouth as her orgasm crashes through her. Her ass clamps down on me, and I bury myself deep with a guttural roar.
My knot pops inside her, swelling instantly and locking us together. The feeling is exquisite, the base of my cock expanding to fill her completely, trapping us in something ancient and possessive, a biological claim that goes deeper than words.
Raff follows, thrusting deep one last time as his own knot expands, filling her pussy.
"Fuck!" Raff growls as his upper body trembles.
Above her, Adam and Perrin stroke themselves faster.
Adam groans, his head falling back as he spills his second orgasm across her face and tits. The hot splash of his release on her skin thrills me, and through the bond, I feel a wave of pure, unfiltered joy from Adam. A relief so sharp and bright it almost blinds me.
Perrin follows moments later, his whole body shuddering. His grip on her face tightens, his thumb pressing into her cheekbone like he needs to hold onto something solid. When he comes, it’s with a broken sound, his hips jerking as he covers her breasts and chin. He watches her face as he finishes, his eyes never leaving hers as his cum mixes with his brothers.
It’s so beautiful and dirty and wonderfully taboo.
Once our knots go down, we collapse together in a heap of limbs and sweat.
The scent of sex and slick fills the room, thick enough to taste. Elowen is mumbling soft, incoherent words, her chest heaving against mine. I press my face against her neck, breathing her in. I can feel the rapid thrum of her heart against my chest, matching the rhythm of my own.
My hand is warm against her stomach, Perrin spooning against my back, with Adam and Raff on the other side of Elle.
I listen to my pack’s slow breathing around me, and everything that matters in this world is exactly where it belongs.
