Double Trouble, Triple Heat

Chapter 13

Dominic’s POV

The drive back is silent.

I can feel Sera through the bond—adrenaline crash, fear, exhaustion hitting her in waves. She's shaking, though she's trying to hide it. Caspian has his arm around her in the backseat, murmuring things I can't hear, and I grip the steering wheel hard enough to make the leather creak.

A baby.

She's carrying our baby.

I've faced down rival alphas, buried my father, survived Luna's betrayal. None of it prepared me for this—this overwhelming terror and joy crashing through me like a tidal wave.

Inside the cabin, I round on her.

"You should have told us." My voice cracks on the last word, betraying the emotion I've fought to contain since she placed her hand on her stomach in front of the entire pack. "A baby, Sera. You're having our baby, and you faced down Marcus without—without—"

I can't finish. The words tangle in my throat.

Caspian moves first. He wraps his arms around her from behind, chin resting on her shoulder, and I watch them—my best friend, my brother in everything but blood, holding the woman we both love.

I wait for jealousy. The old, familiar poison that used to burn through my veins whenever Luna looked at another wolf.

It doesn't come.

Instead, something settles in my chest. Rightness. Like a puzzle piece clicking into place.

"We don't care whose blood it is," Caspian says softly, meeting my eyes over her shoulder. "It's ours. All of ours."

Ours.

I close the distance between us and join the embrace from the front. For the first time, we hold each other as a family—three people tangled together in the firelight, the weight of secrets finally lifted.

I press my forehead against hers, breathing her in. Vanilla and something sweeter now, something that must be the pregnancy changing her scent. My wolf recognizes it, rumbles with satisfaction. Mate. Pup. Protect.

"You're not alone in this," I say roughly. "You'll never be alone again."

She makes a small sound—half laugh, half sob. "I was scared. I didn't know how you'd react. Either of you."

"React?" Caspian sounds incredulous. "Sera, you're carrying our child. Our pack's future. You think we'd be anything but—"

"Terrified," I finish. "Overwhelmed. Grateful." I tip her chin up, force her to meet my eyes. "I've never wanted anything the way I want this. Want you. Want our family."

My hand slides down to rest over her belly. Reverent. Terrified. A life. Our life.

Caspian's hand covers mine. I feel his pulse through the bond, racing as fast as my own.

We stay like that until the fire burns low, until Sera's breathing evens out and her weight sags against us. Then Caspian guides her to the couch, wraps her in blankets, and I force myself to do what I've always done.

Patrol. Protect. Provide.

The night air is cold, the forest silent except for my footsteps. I don't shift—I need to think, and my wolf is too close to the surface right now, too protective, too ready to tear apart anything that threatens what's ours.

I think about my father.

He died before I turned twenty—killed by hunters, torn apart in these very woods while I watched from the treeline, too young and too weak to save him. I never got to ask him how to be a man. How to be an alpha. How to be a father.

I've been fumbling through all of it, building walls so high no one could see how lost I felt inside.

I think about Luna.

She was supposed to be my mate. I thought I loved her—or at least, I loved the idea of her. The stability. The tradition. A week before our ceremony, I found her in another wolf's bed, and something inside me shattered.

She said I was too cold. Too controlling. That I'd never know how to love anyone.

Maybe she was right. Maybe I was becoming exactly what she said—a frozen shell of an alpha, going through the motions of leadership without ever feeling anything real.

Then Sera came back.

And god, the way she makes me feel. Terrified. Alive. Like I've been sleepwalking through years and suddenly woke up.

She makes me want to tear down every wall I've built. Makes me want to be vulnerable, to be soft, to be the man I might have been if life hadn't broken me so many times.

And now there's a baby.

A child who will depend on me to protect them. To teach them. To love them in all the ways my father never got the chance to love me.

I'm not ready. I'll never be ready.

But I'll burn the world down before I let anything hurt them.

When I return to the cabin, the fire has died to embers. Sera is curled against Caspian's chest on the couch, half-asleep, his fingers trailing through her hair. They look peaceful. Perfect.

Something shifts in my expression—not jealousy, but hunger. A fierce, possessive love that encompasses them both. My brother. My mate. My family.

I lift her easily. She murmurs something, nuzzling into my chest, and the trust in that gesture nearly undoes me. When I lay her down in the bedroom, Caspian follows, and we bracket her—him at her back, me at her front.

I press my lips to her temple. "Sleep. We'll keep watch."

She drifts off between us, and I stay awake, hand resting on her belly.

There it is. Faint, but unmistakable. A second heartbeat fluttering beneath my palm like a butterfly's wings.

My child. Our child.

I don't know how to be a father. I don't know how to be a mate to two people, how to navigate a tri-bond that breaks every tradition I was raised to follow.

But I know this: I will learn. I will fight. I will love them with everything I am and everything I'll become.

Morning comes gray and cold.

A knock at the door—too early for pack business, too deliberate to be friendly. I'm on my feet instantly, a growl building in my chest.

Luna stands on the porch. Alone. Expression unreadable.

"I came to warn you," she says without preamble. "Marcus won't wait for the challenge. He's planning something."

Sera appears behind me, wrapped in a blanket, Caspian at her shoulder.

Luna hesitates, then continues. "And your human stalker—Joseph—he's been asking questions in town. About you. About the pack. About hunters."

The blood drains from Sera's face. "Joseph is here?"

"He's been here for days." Luna's gaze flicks between us. "Asking about wolves. About you specifically. The townspeople are talking."

"Why warn me?" Sera's voice is sharp. "You hate me."

Luna's laugh is bitter, hollow. "I don't hate you. I hate myself for destroying what I had. There's a difference." She turns to leave, then pauses at the edge of the porch. "Marcus contacted someone outside the pack. I don't know who. But this isn't just about you anymore. Something bigger is coming."

She disappears into the trees before any of us can respond.

Sera is trembling again. I pull her against my chest, feeling Caspian press close behind her.

"Joseph," she whispers. "He found me. He's asking about hunters."

The pieces click together in my mind—her stalker, the man who drove her here, now digging into the supernatural world she stumbled into. Asking about hunters. About wolves.

About the daughter of Robert Mitchell.

I don't know what's coming. But I know this: whatever it is, we'll face it together.

"We'll protect you," I tell her, and it's a vow. "Both of you."

My hand finds her belly again. My child. My family.

Nothing will take them from me.