Holly Ch. 11

(For Tess. As always, thanks for reading and caring about my characters.)

Monday morning Hollis is late for work. Only by ten minutes, but he still bristles at the disrespect to Damian; the fact that they're friends makes him want to be perfect, not take advantage, as most people would.

Damian doesn't wear the smirk Holly'd expected when he acknowledges his presence in the garage. It's a distracted nod as he holds some paperwork in one hand and the phone in the other. It says only, 'Hey,' and why wouldn't it? Why would Damian assume that his favorite employee is late due to sex in his amputee mate's shower chair? Hollis feels sure he's got the world's most expressive face, but it's more of a beautiful mask than merely mortal until he lets his guard down.

One thing Damian and Hollis have in common is that they get hungry to verge on hangry at the same time each day. Luckily, Damian doesn't believe in motorcycle repair on an empty stomach. Good Omen Motors has a reputation for precision that he wisely wants to keep. He approaches Holly's corner of the workspace.

"Hollis, my office, please?" Then he adds, "Oh, fuck it. Want to break for lunch?"

Holly smiles up at him sweetly and gracefully rises from the floor. It seems they are giving up the attempt to hide their unique friendship from the other guys. Hollis approves of this decision, grateful to be coming out in all aspects of his life. Having a pregnant mate at home makes the Alpha too full inside his chest with exhilarating joy and strength to weigh himself down with masquerade. An Alpha's raison d'etre is always to keep his loved ones safe, but there are two routes he can go: Hide in the beta culture and hope no one notices he and his kin are A/o or carry himself like a damn Pharoah. When Damian strides across the floor like he owns the place (because he does), Holly glides behind him. It appears he's chosen the latter.

"Do you wanna eat here? MK packed me a lunch. She meant it to share with you, if ya like," Holly drawls invitingly.

"Aw, she's a sweetheart. You sure there's enough?" he asks.

Holly grins almost mischievously and nods. "Oh yeah. I'll get it- it's in the truck."

Holly slips through the side door and returns from outside with a wall of icy air at his heels. Damian is brewing hot coffee, something he takes seriously. Hollis thinks he makes it like tar, but it's fair trade, quality tar. "Here, feel this," Holly says as he hands him the box MK packed. It's got a heft to it that allays any of Damian's worries about taking his friend's lunch.

"Yeah, that's just like an omega," Holly explains fondly about the brown box neatly secured with kitchen twine. "They tend to be old school about food, at least the kitchen ones."

"They come in different models?" Damian asks, amused.

Holly cuts the string with his pocket knife. "Yeah, they tend to have their natural talents. We alphas are more predictable in our... interests," he chuckles. Damian raises an eyebrow. "Yeah, fuckin' and fightin'. I get to say that-betas don't."

Damian shakes his head. He's known Hollis for years; this much joking around must be him positively giddy. He continues as he unpacks the contents of the cardboard box onto Damian's desk. "MK is an old A/o, so she's got a way with herbs, feeding people, healin' people. A lot of omegas aren't very domestic at all. They become soldiers, the kind in the elite forces, search and rescue workers, anything in harsh conditions, ya know? They have a higher tolerance for pain and extreme temperatures than most people. They do jobs that are too hard on the body, even for most alphas. Quite a lot of professional dancers are omega. That ballet shit is no joke."

"That's how she lost her leg," Damian realizes. It's one of the first things Holly had told him about her, but not how it had happened.

"Uh-huh. Stunt double. But now I got her barefoot and pregnant, nice and safe," Holly concludes, half-joking in his phrasing, but it's also the truth. "Oh, look. Told ya."

MK has placed two paper napkins with notes on them in the box. One is for her man: "Have a good day, Alpha." The other reads: "You too, Damian."

"See, she knew we'd be busy, first day back after the ice storm an' all. She worried we wouldn't have time to go grab lunch."

"She'd be right about that. It's still the slow season, but missing a week did set us back."

"It was good, though, right? I mean, to have time off with the family," Holly says.

"Ha! You mean, you had a great time making a family. Elle and I got to do a little of that, too. You know, the night we went out with you guys, she couldn't keep her hands off me all the way home! I think something about being around MK got her hot as hell. Is that a thing?"

"Huh. It could be chemical. Or else, Elle's omega-curious and wants to fuck my woman," Holly sasses. He shrugs his broad shoulders and flutters his hands, as if to say, 'to each her own.' "I think it's more likely that being around us reminded her that she and her smokin' husband haven't been havin' enough sex lately."

"Thanks, I like that last one the best."

"It's probably true. Elle could pick up some habits hangin' around with MK... bonded omegas are total sluts. Just for their mate, of course," Holly adds. "Sex for us is kind of a priority, not something we can put off."

"I get that, I do, but wait 'til the babies are born. When you guys are up to your eyes in diapers and spit-up towels, see where sex falls on your to-do list," Damian says warmly.

"Well, we have a washing machine," Holly states, completely serious. In his mind, it's a problem solved. They sit across from one another with the meal between them on the metal desk.

Damian scans the assortment of treats. He unwraps a sandwich. "Seriously?! Damn, Hollis, you are a lucky bastard."

MK made them BLTs on home-made sandwich bread loaded with bacon from the farm down the road, freshly made mayo spread, and surprisingly good L and T for the dead of winter. There are sweet potato chips, also from her kitchen, an olive salad, ginger cookies, and lots of blood orange slices to cut the saltiness. There's a bottle of apple cider for them to share of the non-alcoholic variety made by the local cider mill.

Holly blushes a little. Yes, he is lucky. Then again, so is she, and this is her way of saying she knows it. "She knows she's gonna get spoiled good when I get home."

He removes his knit cap and runs his square hand through his hair, something he does when he's feeling a little bashful. The red yarn wrapped lock hasn't quite relaxed and bows out from the rest of his tangles. Damian notices it right away.

"Don't tell me you guys got bored," Damian remarks between bites and points a chip in the direction of the new adornment.

It takes just a moment for Holly to catch up. He's still not used to wearing the traditional marker of a bonded A/o.

"Nah, it wasn't a bore to get this. It's how an A/o shows that they're committed to a mate. A/os never used to have money for gold jewelry, so we started doin' this instead. Making the bond is as good as getting married for us, except that MK's a Catholic, so we're getting married in a church next month. You guys wanna come?"

"To your wedding? Hell, yeah. We wouldn't miss it!"

"Cool. We got witnesses now. Neither of us has family or many people at all, so this will be very low-key. No presents, don't get too dressed up. MK wants to do somethin' fun after the ceremony, like ice skating or sledding. Your girls will like that, right?"

"For your wedding? Yeah, that does sound good, now that I think about it. I can't ice skate."

"Neither can I. It's gonna be a disaster," Holly grins.

"So how preggo is MK going to be when she walks down the aisle? That why this is happening so soon?"

"Shotgun wedding, uh-huh. She'll be showing, especially on her frame. How big might depend on how many pups there are..."

"Shit. How many could there be? You guys ready for that?" the beta asks.

Holly regards his friend quizzically, head tilted with those electric blue eyes narrowed in thought. It's a strange question for an Alpha, as he was born for this. Then again, his mother hadn't been ready, but she was just a broken-hearted kid. For your average adult A/o, the arrival of three or four babies is as natural as spring following winter, or her body recognizing her Alpha's cock and opening for him deep inside like a shoot through melting snow.

"We have to go to the A/o clinic where she'll see the baby doctor. She's goin' tomorrow, so then we'll know..." Hollis trails off. He's only idly interested in how many young there will be. His main concern is that all is well in his mate's damaged body, that she's healthy, that she can do this, and that he won't lose her. He can't.

"Okay, brother. Do you need the whole day or just half?" Damian asks.

"Nah, I don't need to go. She told me I don't have to go with her."

"Dude. I don't mean to insult you, but are you, like, clueless? Maybe with those eyes you never had to learn how not to piss a woman off, but trust me, you were supposed to insist on being there."

"Wait-she lied to me?" Holly asks, a cookie crumb catching in his throat to make his voice break. He swigs from the cider bottle.

"Not a lie so much as a ritual they go through. The females want to seem lower maintenance than they ever are, so it's up to us to ignore them when they say we don't have to do certain things. You were supposed to insist, bro."

"Huh. Lucky for me that we had this conversation. Do you think MK knew if we sat down together, you'd set me straight?" Holly muses.

"That would make her kind of devious. She is a little spooky, in a cool way, I mean."

"Yeah. I know. I dig it," Holly confesses, grinning at the thought of the beta society not knowing what to make of his omega Queen.

"I think maybe my wife does, too," Damian says. "Since you mentioned it as a joke, the idea's stuck in my brain. She's hinted before she wants to try new things. I think to her, with a woman, it wouldn't be cheating. What about you? If MK wanted a one-night-stand with a woman, would you be jealous? I know already what you'd do to a guy." Damian shudders. He lifts his coffee mug in two hands as if chilled to the bone.

"That would never happen, so you don't have to worry about it. Her with another guy, I mean. It ain't who she is. My jealousy would depend less on gender and more on ABO orientation. I might hate it more if my woman was with an Alpha woman than if she had a fling with a male beta."

"Interesting. I think it could be quite a turn-on to see a different side of Elle..." Damian's dark brown irises flicker rapidly as he imagines. 'Now there's a guy who can't hide what's on his mind,' Holly thinks.

Aloud, he says, "If you want to ask her if she wants to be with MK, I honestly don't object. If my omega wants a sweet night with a female lover, I'd want it to be Elle."

Damian's sandwich is almost at his mouth. He sets it down instead. "I didn't realize I was asking that. It wasn't my intention!"

"Did I get ya wrong? It seemed clear to me you were feeling out if the idea made me angry or not. You sure you weren't? Holly asks.

"Maybe I was asking about asking, not asking-asking, you know?" Damian parries. Holly swears that sometimes he talks more like a high school girl than his daughter, Diana, does.

"Do you want me to talk to MK, see if there's any interest there? I know she admires Elle's body, but that could just be because they're different types and women always want to look the opposite of how nature made 'em. Blondes go brunette, real tall girls wear flat shoes while the short ones wear high heels. It can be hard to know when they compliment each other what the hell they mean by it! Then again, MK is direct in most things. She might just think she's beautiful, simple as that."

"Elle said the same things about her. Actually, what she said was that MK is attractive enough to look good standing next to you."

"Pfft."

Damian chuckles before answering, "Yes."

"Yes to what?" Holly asks.

"Ask MK just to see what she says. Unless it's going to make anything weird. Then don't mention it, okay?" Damian says as he fixes his gaze intently on the alpha's sparkling eyes.

Holly brings a briny olive close to his lips; his nose twitches at the pungent smell. He pushes the container of olives toward Damian, who trades him the blood oranges. "Thanks. You know, she might want me there, as her master. And if I'm there, you would be, too. I've never done anything like that. Have you?" Holly asks.

"Not with my wife. It's a weird thing to ask the mother of your children, at least to me. I've been with two girls at once. That was before Elle. After Di's mother, I went a little wild in my freedom, haha... 'Master,' huh?"

"That's normal for A/os," Holly explains quickly to skip over the discomfort of his best friend picturing him as a Dom. "It's not even considered a kink, just our way. An omega is naturally submissive to her Alpha. So she might need me there. And if I'm there, it would be wrong without you, Damian."

"Christ, I need a smoke." Really, he looks like he needs to plunge his head into the snow. "Join me?"

"Sure. I don't think I'm ever gonna quit all the way. I don't around MK because she still craves it sometimes."

"After eating and sex?"

"Yeah, those are the two cigarettes hardest to give up. I've been tryin' harder to knock her out."

"What a gentleman, Holly."

Hollis shrugs and bundles himself up for the chill wind.

"Mmm, I do prefer smoking in the cold," Holly says as he takes the cigarette from Damian. Holding the filter while wearing his fingerless gloves, he does make it look cool. He's got the right squint and hollow cheeks to look the part of the glamourous rebel. Damian catches himself staring at his friend's pale pink lips and looks away.

After a moment of silent companionship, Holly thinks out loud: "Tonight, I'll ask her. When I'm holdin' her by the fireplace and she's feelin' relaxed and pregnant, I'll ask her if she's ever been with a woman."

Damian turns to face him squarely. "Holly, is this a Me Too situation? Tell me if it is. We're friends, but I'm also your employer. Did I pressure you into a sexual situation?"

"I thought we were just smoking out here," Holly wisecracks.

"Seriously. I've been on the phone all morning trying to track down engine parts for that 750 cafe racer and I'd have been happy to get that squared away. Now it seems I've organized some kind of orgy."

"Also, sexy. I do like that bike... minimalist, naked-looking...," Hollis adds dryly and takes a drag, being impossible on purpose.

"Hollis, I'm serious. We're good, right? I didn't cross a line I can't step back over?" Damian's voice rises in concern and exasperation.

"Damian, not to play the 'alpha card,' which I don't do because it makes me sound like a jerk, but it's not possible for you to 'me too' me. An alpha would never allow that... and if I felt violated you'd totally notice it. It'd be hard to miss my boot up your ass."

Damian sighs in relief. "Good. That's good to know."

Holly smirks. "I'm still gonna ask her."

"You kinky fucker. You like this idea," Damian realizes.

"You do, too."

And with that, Holly steps forward right into his friend's space, so close he can smell the leather of his motorcycle jacket.

Lesser men than Hollis Graves are blessed with all the self-confidence in the world. Holly is long past due to start feeling himself a little. Damian appears taken aback, but it's beautiful to behold. He freezes when Holly stands on his tiptoes, leans even closer, and tilts back his head to expose the holes at the corners of the upper lip. "Holly, what...?"

The alpha touches his lips softly to his friend's jaw to leave a deliberate imprint, then grins and steps back to eye him almost flirtatiously. Holly's in a funny mood today and now it seems he's become a cat who decides, "That's mine, and this is mine, and this, too," slinking around and scenting everything in his path with glands at the mouth.

Damian resists the urge to touch the spot where he's been "kissed."

"What was that for?" he asks.

Holly shrugs. "Dunno. I just felt like doin' it. Reassurance that we're good?" he guesses with a nonchalant shrug.

The rest of the afternoon passes quickly. Holly's at work on a Harley. They aren't his favorite bikes because they aren't his style: Superfluously muscular aesthetic, excessively loud for no good reason. Still, they are popular enough that he's familiar with their design features. He can let his mind wander just a little if he wants to without losing his place.

Naturally, his thoughts turn to MK and her sleek titanium leg with the black fiberglass "thigh" around its socket. She'd look good on that vintage Honda that Damian mentioned earlier. That one's meant as a Christmas gift for some guy's wife and Holly, for just a second, has the harebrained idea to tune up MK's bikes for Christmas and take her out on the road in the spring. Then he remembers she's too precious for that, housing their pups as she is. Her place is in the den where he can keep her safe. They'll just have their adventures in bed. And on the table... in the shower... the living room floor in front of a fragrant fire...

* * * * *

Holly's greeted like the conquering hero when he arrives back at home in the woods. It's excessive because they're still in that honeymoon period, which, for the A/o couple, is all jumbled up: They are already on their honeymoon after making the chemical bond and breeding but are also still "engaged" to be married in the church. The heightened emotion is further amplified by the fact that it's Christmastime, they have a scan scheduled tomorrow, and life is a lot right now. MK grabs onto her mate as if she's trying to keep from being swept away in the whirlpool of it all. She thrusts her tongue into his mouth like a wolf tasting where one of her pack has been.

"Mmm," Holly nearly moans. "How wonderful, babe."

"It's good to see you, Alpha. I missed you today."

"Were your little ears burning? Damian and I were talking about ya over lunch. Thank you for that, by the way. It was delicious."

"Oh, good! Did he like it, too?"

"Uh-huh. He cracked up at how spoiled I am. He liked everything you made. I kinda got the impression that feedin' him isn't one of Elle's concerns," he chuckles.

"Pfft. Beta women!" the omega snorts. She's only kidding; it's obvious her culinary pursuits are an enjoyable hobby for her, not her obligation as a female. "Maybe we could make that a Monday thing, if you want. I mean, if it's helpful to you guys, I could make you a box every week?"

"Good. That will be great. And how can I ever thank you?" he asks coyly, stepping close enough to hear her heartbeat.

"I think you should fuck me now so that I don't have cum leaking out of me at my appointment tomorrow, Alpha."

"Then what do I do with it tomorrow morning, girl?"

"I guess I'll have you for breakfast tomorrow. Right now, I need you inside me."

"Mmm, bad?" he murmurs against her lips.

"Real bad."

Holly strips off layers of warm clothes and tosses them in a pile on the foyer floor. MK surprises him by getting down on her knee to untie his boots, always the helpful mate. Holly steps out of his work boots and she gets his wool socks, too, to spare him that moment when a man is naked in nothing but socks. He quickly shimmies out of his jeans and boxer briefs. Instantly, he's covered in goosebumps. She is, too, at the sight before her.

"Come in here with me! It's too drafty there, honey," MK coos and leads him into the tiny living room where a modest flame is still burning. She hurries to add another piece of firewood and stokes it skillfully. It flares up with a crackle and whooshing sound.