Married to My Rival Alpha(MM Romance)
Sebastian Wolfe was supposed to be Elliot Gray’s rival. Not his husband. Not his protection. And definitely not the man his body refuses to ignore.
In a league where Omegas are forbidden, Elliot has survived for six years on iron discipline and triple-dose suppressants. He is hidden. One mistake away from losing everything.
Then Sebastian Wolfe shatters his stick. He shatters everything Elliot thought he could control.
The most feared Alpha captain in the league is everything Elliot cannot afford: dominant, obsessive, and dangerously perceptive. For two years, their rivalry has burned hot enough to destroy them both. The moment Sebastian starts looking closer, the secret begins to unravel.
Sebastian knows. Not everything. But enough.
When a threat rises that could expose Elliot to the world, Sebastian offers a solution: a legal marriage. A shield no authority can break. A deal between enemies that should mean nothing more.
Now they share a home. A bed. A life neither of them chose.
But when an Alpha decides something is his, he does not let go.
Elliot agreed to a contract. He did not agree to want his husband. He did not agree to need him. And he definitely did not agree to carry his child.
In a league built on dominance and silence, two rivals are about to learn the truth about fated mates. You don’t walk away. You don’t fight it. And you don’t survive it unchanged.
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Chapter: Chapter 89- The Shadow InterceptSebastian POVThe only sound in the bedroom was Elliot's breathing. I smoothed the sheet one time to make sure the blanket was tucked around his shoulders. My scent was over the fabric, sealing the room from the outside world. Elliot was asleep, his body relaxed after the exhaustion of the foyer and our intense bond.I got out of bed. Walked down the long, dim corridor of the penthouse to my private office. I didn't put on a shirt.The steel door locked behind me with a motorized hiss. I sat down in the leather chair. The terminal arrays came to life. Three curved monitors turned on in the room, casting a cold blue glow over my chest.I tapped my wrist terminal. Transferred the high-priority alert to the main desktop screens."Aris," I said into the microphone."I'm tracking the sedan now, boss," Aris responded. "The tactical team put a beacon on the bumper before they opened the gates. We're three blocks behind him in a van.""Tell me about the satellite feed," I said.On the center
Last Updated: 2026-06-29
Chapter: Chapter 88- Absolute AssuranceElliot POVThe heavy steel doors at the end of the hall closed with a click. The smell of lilies was still in the air, but the elevator took us away from it. By the time we got to the floor, the only sound was the storm hitting the windows.I walked into the bedroom. My body was tight, muscles stiff from what happened. Still feeling the effects of the argument. My fingers are shaking. My heart is racing. My sweat; sharp, a sour smell from anxiety. My instincts are still on alert, telling me to protect myself and the people I care about.Sebastian came into the room behind me. He threw his tablet on the nightstand without looking at it. Looking at me, his eyes fixed on my shoulders, seeing how tense I was."Elliot." His voice was low, calm, filling the room.I did not say anything. I sat down on the bed. Looked at my hands. My knuckles were red and sore. I kept thinking about what Daniel did. He tried to touch my stomach. It made me feel sick. He looked perfect, belonging in the billio
Last Updated: 2026-06-29
Chapter: Chapter 87-The DismissalSebastian’s POVDaniel's fingers were reaching for the cotton shirt. His hand was less than an inch from Elliot's stomach.Before I could lung forward, Elliot moved first. My mate's hockey-honed reflexes went live, his hand clamping around Daniel's wrist like a steel vice. I saw the pure shock flash in the intruder's eyes as Elliot twisted his arm out, pinning him in place with a low, lethal warning.A red haze took over my vision anyway. I could not control the protective rage roaring inside my chest.I stepped into the gap. My massive hand came down, wrapping right over Elliot's fingers to secure Daniel's trapped wrist in an even tighter, icy grip. I squeezed until the bones beneath the white wool coat shifted.Daniel made a sharp, gasping noise. His entire arm went stiff under our combined hold. He tried to pull away, his heels slipping on the wet marble floor, but I would not let him move an inch."Step back, baby," I said to my mate. My voice was not normal. It was a bottomed-out
Last Updated: 2026-06-28
Chapter: Chapter 86- Spark of JealousyElliot POVThe air hit my face as the lift doors opened. The green emergency lights were flashing over the black marble floor, making everything look really clean and cold. Then I smelled something. Under the smell of my alpha, which is like cedar wood, there was this sweet smell that I did not like. It smelled like flowers and some kind of spice that is made in a lab. It was a perfume that rich people wear.This smell made my stomach feel bad.I got out of the elevator. My body got ready to react like when I play hockey. I looked across the room and saw Sebastian. He was wearing a shirt with his sleeves rolled up. There was a man pressed up against him wearing a white wool coat. This man had his arms around Sebastian's neck, and his blond hair was on Sebastian's shoulder.Sebastian had his hands on the man's wrists, holding him in place.I stood up straight and got ready to defend myself. I felt like I was about to play a game. The strong feelings inside me were burning. This is my
Last Updated: 2026-06-28
Chapter: Chapter 85- The Intruding OmegaSebastian POVThe security panel's monitor screen glowed in the foyer. Outside the iron gates, a black armored car sat like a hearse. Its headlights were dead. Rainwater ran down its reinforced glass panels."Do we turn the vehicle around, sir?" Aris asked. His finger hovered over the gate release button. His tactical vest made a noise against his uniform shirt.I looked down at my lap. Elliot was still asleep in the bedroom down the hall. His breathing was deep and even under the doctor's medicine. My mate needed every second of rest. His blood pressure was a line. If a scene erupted in the courtyard, media vans would arrive within minutes. News people would broadcast the chaos to the league offices."No," I said. My voice was low. "Open the gate. Bring him into the lower reception foyer."Aris paused. "Sir?""We isolate the threat," I said. I stood up from the leather chair. "With armed guards. He does not step foot into the elevator. He does not come near my family."Aris nodded. H
Last Updated: 2026-06-27
Chapter: Chapter 84- The Ghost Ex-FianceElliot POVThe backup power kicked in. The kitchen was filled with this weird humming noise. The emergency lights made everything look green and spooky. Our penthouse was really quiet except for the sound of the wind, which was blocked by the strong storm windows.I was standing by the kitchen counter, my bare feet on the stone floor. I had my arms crossed. My fingers were gripping my gray shirt tightly. The air smelled like something was burnt, mixed with Sebastian's scent, like cedar wood."Do not try to change the subject," I said, my voice rough.My husband was standing near the door that led to the terrace. He looked at the drone on the patio, then turned back to me. His face was like a stone, and the green light made his jawline look really sharp."I am not trying to change the subject," he said, taking a step toward me."You did not tell me about Daniel," I said, gripping the counter. "He knows all your secret codes, and he knows the layout of the vault. He even knew how to get
Last Updated: 2026-06-27
Twin Aces: Claimed by the Alpha Captain (MM Romance)
Omegas aren't allowed in the league. Lucian Virek breaks the rule.
With his scent suppressed and identity hidden, he steps onto the ice disguised as a Beta , fighting for a place in a world that would destroy him if it knew the truth. He plays clean. He plays smart. He stays invisible.
Until Orion Kael starts watching.
Captain. Untouchable.Billionaire Heir. The kind of Alpha who doesn't miss anything.
Orion doesn't just notice Lucian. He studies him. Corners him. Gets close enough to know , and then closer still. When the truth comes out, he doesn't report it.
He keeps it. And he keeps Lucian with it.
Now they're rising together as the Twin Aces, the league's most dangerous pair on the ice and its most explosive secret off it. Every game pulls them closer. Every moment of proximity makes Lucian's control harder to hold. And the more Orion refuses to let go, the more dangerous it becomes to want him.
The only man powerful enough to protect him is the one who could claim him completely.
"You're mine to handle now." Not a command. Not a threat. A decision that changes everything.
When the truth finally breaks, and it will, Lucian will have to choose: keep running, or trust the Alpha who refused to walk away.
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Chapter: Epilogue: The New Era on IceOrion POVThe air was cold and clean. It cut through my lungs as I stood at the line of the big outdoor rink. The rink was on the grounds of the Kael Estate. My hands were deep in my heavy wool coat pockets.The afternoon sky was clear and blue. There was no smog or city noise.Ten years ago, my life was different. I was in stadiums with lights. There was a lot of pressure from contracts and loud crowds.Now, the only sound was the scrape of steel blades on the ice.“Look at me, Dad! Watch my glide!”Little Leo skated across the line. His cheeks were red from the cold. He was five years old and full of energy. He wore a Winter Wolves jersey. The jersey was a bit big for him. He held his hockey stick loosely. His dark hair was under his helmet. He had my eyes. His jaw was like his father's.“Keep your knees bent, Leo,” Lucian said. He skated backward in front of Leo. He moved easily.Lucian moved across the ice with the smooth balance that I loved watching on his first day on my top li
Last Updated: 2026-06-29
Chapter: Chapter 131 — The First ContractionOrion POVThe thick rubber of the yoga mat felt cold beneath my palms as I kneeled beside Lucian. I was adjusting Lucian's posture for the pelvic drill when Lucian's entire body suddenly went rigid. A sharp gasp left Lucian's throat, his fingers instantly clawing into the foam mat.Before I could ask Lucian what was wrong, a rush of clear liquid soaked straight through the fabric of Lucian's white maternity pants, spreading across the blue mat. Lucian's water had officially broken.The entire gymnasium went dead silent. The fifteen local couples stopped their breathing drills, their eyes widening as they stared at the circle on the floor. The young instructor dropped her clipboard, the plastic clattering loudly against the hardwood.My protective instincts instantly kicked in. A territorial heat rushed up my neck, and my cedar wood scent spiked through the room like a wave heavy with alarm.“Lucian?” I dropped lower, my hands hovering over Lucian's waist. “What is it, sweetheart ?”“T
Last Updated: 2026-06-29
Chapter: Chapter 130 — The Pre-Labor PanicLucian POVThe blacked-out windows of our luxury SUV did nothing to hide our arrival.Outside the local community wellness center, the street was a scene of total chaos. We were in the middle of our high-profile paternal sabbatical, so our head of security had insisted on a full convoy. Three identical black vehicles moved in a tight line, packed with four pairs of massive bodyguards in sharp suits.The convoy pulled up to the curb. On the sidewalk, ordinary citizens stopped in their tracks. People pulled out their phones and began to whisper to one another.“Look at that convoy,” a teenager on the street shouted, pointing at our guards. “Who is that? Is that a royal family? What major global celebrity comes into a regular community center with that many bodyguards?”The doors of the lead and rear vehicles flew open at the exact same moment. Eight burly security guards stepped onto the concrete. They formed a tight, impenetrable moving wall around our door. The sheer size of our detai
Last Updated: 2026-06-29
Chapter: Chapter 129- The Sovereign RewriteOrion POVThe digital tablet on the mahogany desk showed the draft of the league constitution. I sat back in my leather chair. Read the fine print of the document. The morning sun was shining through the cedar trees outside the study window. For four months, people were wondering where the captain of the Winter Wolves had gone. Now, they had their answer.I did not spend my time off resting. I used my time to build something that no one could ever break. The big estate was where the Virek Foundation for Athletic Equality was working for now. My father, Alistair, was sitting on the couch across from the desk. He had a glass of ice water. Looked serious as he watched me check the money.“The last votes from the board are in,” Alistair said. He put his glass down on the wood table. “The International Hockey Federation has to do what we want. The companies that give us money will not work with them if they do not change the rules about biology.”“Let them think about it,” I said. “The Kae
Last Updated: 2026-06-29
Chapter: Chapter 128- After Marriage: The Nesting Penthouse SanctuaryLucian POVThe sun was setting over the city, casting a glow over our penthouse. I stood by the window, watching the cars move slowly below us. It was hard to believe that a few months ago, our lives were so different. The hockey league, the media, they were all so overwhelming. Now, we had our peace.It had been four months since our wedding. Four months since Orion had stood up to the league, giving us the freedom to live our lives. I was so grateful to him. I looked down at my belly. I could not help but smile. I was pregnant. It was a beautiful thing.My body had changed much. I was no longer the athletic man I used to be. Now, I was round and soft with a belly. I looked like a man who was about to become a father. I was happy about it. I felt like a nurtured Omega, with a sense of happiness inside me.I moved slowly, my hands under my belly to support it. It was heavy. My back ached. I was safe, and that was all that mattered. Orion had built a sanctuary for me, a place where I c
Last Updated: 2026-06-29
Chapter: Chapter 127-The Sovereign VowsLucian POVThe big windows in the dressing room were wide open. Outside, the green trees of the cedar forest went up high into the afternoon sky. Below the terrace, lots of white vanilla orchids were blooming in stone beds. The two smells mixed together in the wind, floating through the glass to fill the quiet room. This was our smell. The exact smell that connected my life to Orion's, free from the bad memories of the arena.There were no news trucks hiding in the trees. No big satellite dishes pointing at the clouds. No sports people waiting with microphones to talk about my past. The big media network did not exist on this estate. The Kael security guards locked down the area before dawn, making sure our pack was safe.I fixed the cuff of my jacket. The special linen felt soft on my skin. It was a change from the heavy, hard plastic of my old hockey gear.I looked down at my reflection in the mirror.My suit had fabric in the front to fit my stomach. At this point, my pregnancy was
Last Updated: 2026-06-27
The Forgotten Vow (MM Romance)
He promised forever. Then he forgot he ever loved him.
Alpha Leander Voss had everything: power, wealth, an empire at his fingertips. Until the night he's kidnapped, escapes, and is left for dead along a desolate coast.
When Omega Avelin Mirei rescues the dying stranger, he never imagines the broken man will become his entire world. Renamed Shen Ross, the mysterious Alpha builds a quiet life with Avelin, tender mornings, stolen touches, and a love that feels like destiny.
They marry by the sea.
They promise forever.
But forever shatters the day Avelin's father suffers a heart attack. While Avelin keeps vigil at the hospital, Shen rushes home to gather supplies—and his kidnappers return to finish what they started.
The brutal attack brings everything back.
Shen wakes as Leander Voss: cold CEO and heir to a ruthless empire. He remembers his wealth, his power, his enemies, everything except the year he spent loving Avelin.
The man who promised forever is gone.
Abandoned and pregnant, Avelin raises their son alone in the coastal town where they built their life.
Three years later, desperate for a fresh start, he accepts a position at a prestigious company. Only to discover the CEO he'll be working for is the Alpha who destroyed him.
Leander doesn't recognize the beautiful Omega now working under him. But his body does. An inexplicable pull. A scent that haunts his dreams. A bond his soul remembers even if his mind can't.
As old enemies close in, Leander fights to recover what he's lost. But Avelin has already mourned the man he loved. And some broken vows can't be mended, no matter how desperately the heart remembers what the mind forgot.
Can you fall in love with the same person twice? Can you reclaim a forever you don't remember promising?
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Chapter: BONUS CHAPTER: LITTLE SHEN AT EIGHTLittle Shen POV"What I Know"I am eight years old, which is old enough to know a lot of things.I know my name is Shen Voss-Mirei. My teacher asked me once which name was real and I said both, obviously. She nodded like I told her something surprising. I do not know why it was surprising.I know Aria is three, which means she still thinks worms are interesting enough to carry in her pocket. She dropped one on Papa's suit jacket last spring. Papa's face went through six different expressions before he carried her inside to change. I counted. It was six.I know my father is Leander Voss, who runs a large company. My friend Jin asked me once if my dad was the Leander Voss. I said yes, and he said wow. I told him Papa makes good pancakes on Saturdays. Jin thought about this and said that was a more useful thing to know than anything on the internet. I agreed.I know my other father is Avelin Mirei, whom I call Dada. He has warm eyes and quiet hands, and he always knows when something is
Last Updated: 2026-06-14
Chapter: BONUS CHAPTER: THE LETTER AVELIN NEVER SENTLeander POV"Year Two"A letter found folded inside the journal, dated fourteen months after Leander's disappearance. Given to Leander by Avelin the morning after the memory returned.Shen,I do not know why I am writing this. You are not going to read it. I know that now in a way I didn't let myself know for a long time, that you are not coming back to this address, that if you are alive somewhere, you are not looking for us, and that the Shen Ross who married me on the beach is not the person who existed before I found him bleeding on the road.I know all of that. I am writing this anyway.Our son is fourteen months old. He has your eyes, I know I have thought about this before, but they keep being your eyes every time I look at him, stubbornly yours. He has started walking, or trying to. He walks the way you fixed things: with complete certainty that he is doing it correctly, right up until the moment he falls over, and then he gets up and tries again without any drama about the fa
Last Updated: 2026-06-14
Chapter: Bonus( Renlo x Elias) Chapter 3 — The Long Way AroundElias POVI asked him to dinner on a Tuesday in November, which I mention because it took me four months to get there and I want the timeline acknowledged.The four months were for practical reasons. Leander and Avelin were in the middle of the most complicated reunion in recent romantic history, and inserting my own situation into that orbit seemed both poor timing and mildly absurd. Also, Renlo is Avelin's best friend, and the structural symmetry of both of us pursuing our respective people simultaneously felt too neat. Too convenient. Like something that happens in a book rather than in life.Then again, Leander developed amnesia, fell in love with the same man twice, and named his son after himself by accident. Perhaps I should lower my standards for narrative plausibility.The certainty had arrived early, somewhere between the gala and the second occasion I found myself reconsidering an opinion because Renlo made a point I could not argue with. It arrived quietly, less like a rev
Last Updated: 2026-06-14
Chapter: Bonus(Renlo x Elias) Chapter 2 — The Slow Accumulation of EvidenceRenlo POVIt took three months before I admitted to myself that I looked forward to seeing Elias Thorn.This was annoying for several reasons, primarily because Elias was an Alpha who operated with the quiet assumption that every room he entered belonged to him. It should have irritated me, and did, technically, but it had somehow stopped feeling like a problem. He was also, frustratingly, interesting. He was the kind of person who asks questions that signal actual listening rather than performed interest, and who says things that take twenty minutes to fully unpack after the conversation ends.He also made very good coffee. I mention this because it matters.We fell into a pattern without either of us naming it. When Leander visited Avelin and Baby Shen, which became every weekend, then several evenings a week, then eventually most of the time, Elias was often present in an adjacent capacity. When I visited Avelin, which was always, because that was simply what we did, we ended up in
Last Updated: 2026-06-14
Chapter: Bonus(Renlo x Elias) Chapter 1 — The Man Who Showed UpElias POVThe first time I met Renlo Caelisi, I did not like him.This was not unusual. I do not like most people on first meeting. It saves time to withhold approval until someone earns it. Leander built an empire on the same principle, which is why we have been friends for fifteen years without either of us becoming insufferable.But Renlo Caelisi was a specific kind of irritating.He was tall, unreasonably tall for an Omega, taller than most Alphas in the room, which he seemed both aware of and deliberately unimpressed by. He had the kind of face that suggested he had never been uncertain about anything in his life, which I knew immediately was a projection. Nobody goes through life that composed without having practiced it. He wore a charcoal jacket that fit too well for someone who claimed to work in marketing at a mid-sized firm, and he looked at me across Avelin's small living room like I was a problem he had already categorized and filed under manageable.I found this offensiv
Last Updated: 2026-06-14
Chapter: EPILOGUE — Five Years LaterAvelin POVThe morning starts the way all our mornings start now.Loud.Shen is eight years old and possesses his father's eyes, alongside Leander's knack for demanding things with intense specificity. He currently wants pancakes. Specifically, he wants Leander to mix the batter because Papa makes them the right shape, which Leander maintains is a standard circle and Shen maintains is a structural failure. This particular debate has been running for six months with no resolution in sight.I lean against the kitchen door frame with my mug, watching Leander stand at the stove in last night's wrinkled cotton shirt with a smudge of flour on his collar. He is locked in a fierce geometric argument with an eight-year-old. Under my collar, the bond mark pulses, a slow, warm current against my skin.Aria sits on the edge of the counter, swinging her bare feet. She is three. She arrived the way second children do, without a formal announcement from the universe, just quietly inevitable. She has
Last Updated: 2026-06-13
The Contract Omega( MXM Romance)
Twenty-four hours. Half a million dollars. Or his mother dies.
Omega Caelen Ryn is out of options: his mother is dying, treatment costs half a million dollars, and loan sharks are closing in with brass knuckles and threats. Then a lawyer appears with an offer from Alpha billionaire CEO Aldric Fenmore: marry him for two years, every debt disappears, and his mother will be saved.
The rules are brutal: separate bedrooms, zero feelings, don't fall in love. Their marriage is a transaction. Nothing more.
Their first kiss is for the cameras. In public, they play devoted spouses. Behind closed doors, they're strangers.
Until Monaco.
When Aldric's race car spins out at 200 mph, Caelen realizes the truth-he's fallen in love with his husband. And when Aldric kisses him after his victory, raw and desperate and real, the contract between them shatters completely.
They broke every rule. They fell impossibly in love.
Aldric's ex returns, the man who destroyed his ability to trust, bringing a ruthless business rival and a plan for revenge. What starts as sabotage escalates into kidnapping, violence, and a premature labor that leaves both their lives hanging by a thread.
In the trauma room, as Caelen bleeds out, the doctor delivers words that break Aldric completely:
"You have to choose. We can only save one."
The husband he loves. Or the child they never planned for.
In that impossible moment, every vow they made, every sacrifice they offered, and every fragile dream they built together came down to a single, devastating choice.
A contract that was supposed to end. A love that refused to.
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Chapter: Epilogue: Part 2Aldric POVMira arrived last. As she had always arrived at things for as long as any of us knew her, at full volume and carrying something she had definitely been told not to bring but had brought anyway. “I know,” she said before anyone could speak. “I know. We said no presents. These are not presents. These are educational materials.” “Those are toy dinosaurs,” Adrian said. “Large-scale, anatomically accurate replicas,” Mira corrected. “For educational purposes.” James took his with the gravity of someone receiving something important. Lucas had already opened his. Adrian, who was nine and had been told he was too old for this kind of thing, and clearly disagreed, accepted his with dignity. “Thank you, Mira,” he said. “See?” she said to the room. “Educational.” She had been there through everything, the pregnancy, the kidnapping, the NICU, the years of learning to be parents, the twins, and everything the past decade had accumulated. She had cried at every significant event, u
Last Updated: 2026-03-27
Chapter: Epilogue: Part 1Caelen POVThe house had been loud in the way it had been for years now. Not the sharp, alarming noise of a newborn or the exhausted hum of early toddlerhood, but a particular kind of loudness belonging to three boys who had grown into themselves, into their opinions, humor, and unique ways of moving through a room. Adrian, at nine, carried the focused intensity of someone who had already decided what mattered and pursued it with unwavering determination. The twins, at seven, engaged in a continuous bilateral conversation, James methodical and precise, Lucas perpetually in motion. Together, they exuded a gravity all their own.The house held all of this as it always had, still featuring the wooden letters on Adrian’s wall and the star mobile long since stored away but not discarded. The mobile sat in the attic in a box labeled "Adrian, First Year," one of four boxes now, one for each child, with a special box holding the twins’ first months together because there had been no other way
Last Updated: 2026-03-27
Chapter: Chapter 128-What We Chose, AgainAldric POV Back at the hotel, we took our time.That was the particular luxury of these forty-eight hours. Not the expensive room, or the adult furniture or the uninterrupted sleep. The time. The specific, unhurried quality of being together without something immediately requiring our attention.I kissed him, which was the only adequate response.This time, there was no rush behind it. No urgency driven by interruption or exhaustion or the quiet ticking pressure of responsibilities waiting just outside the door. Just him, warm under my hands, familiar in a way that settled something deep in my chest.Caelen shifted closer, his breath soft against mine, and I felt it, the way we always found each other again, no matter how much time had passed, no matter how much life had layered itself over us.We moved slowly, learning each other all over again in the quiet. Every touch lingered longer than it needed to. Every kiss deepened without demand, just a quiet, steady pull. There was no nee
Last Updated: 2026-03-26
Chapter: Chapter 127 — Five Year Wedding AnniversaryCaelen POVFive years.Half a decade since I had signed a contract to marry a stranger for money to save my dying mother. Three years since we had chosen each other for real, properly, in front of a fireplace with the contract burning to ash and a ring that said Always choose you. Three beautiful, chaotic boys who had transformed us from reluctant partners into something neither of us had known how to want until we had it."You're sure you can handle all three?" I asked Eleanor for the fifth time, watching her arrange snacks with the calm efficiency of someone who had been managing this household's logistics for years."Caelen, I raised you alone. I can manage three boys with Sebastian and Mira as backup." She steered me toward the door with the gentle authority she had always had. "Go. Have an actual anniversary. Be adults who remember they're married to each other, not just parents surviving together.""But what if Lucas has one of his nightmares? Or James refuses to eat vegetables?
Last Updated: 2026-03-26
Chapter: Chapter 126- The Letting GoCaelen POV Work was impossible.I sat at my desk with marketing proposals open on my screen and checked my phone every few minutes for calls that would only come in an emergency. The rational part of my brain understood this. The other part generated emergencies at regular intervals that required the phone to be checked again."How's Adrian?" Rachel appeared in my doorway around ten."No idea. Apparently, you can't call to check. This is apparently a policy that exists.""He's fine.""What if he's crying? What if someone is unkind to him? What if...""Then he'll learn to handle it." She sat down across from my desk with the directness she had always had. "That's what school is for. Not just reading and maths. Learning to navigate other people without your parents in the room.""He was premature. He almost died. I should be allowed to be more worried than other parents.""You are more worried. And you're still sending him anyway." She held my gaze. "That's good parenting, not bad pare
Last Updated: 2026-03-25
Chapter: Chapter 125 — Adrian's First Day of SchoolCaelen POVThe school supply shopping trip happened on a Saturday in late August.All five of us in the SUV we had bought specifically because three car seats and the logistics of going anywhere required it. Adrian was in his booster with the supply list his kindergarten teacher had mailed, reading it aloud with the careful pronunciation of a five-year-old still mastering longer words."Twelve crayons." He tracked each word with one finger. "One backpack. Two fold-ers." He looked up. "What's a folder, Papa?""A special holder for papers. We'll find you the coolest ones." I glanced back at him. This child. This specific child who had arrived eight weeks early at four pounds two ounces with a breathing tube and a NICU incubator, is now going to actual school. "What color backpack do you want?""Dinosaurs! And space! And trucks!""Pick one theme. We can't find all three in the same backpack."He considered this with the gravity it deserved. "Dinosaurs. Because dinosaurs are the most cool
Last Updated: 2026-03-25
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