A little hello from me (the humble author).
Hello there! Long time, no see! For some time I have had trouble writing. I've had writer's block. And I think it came from a growing feeling that I'm actually very bad at writing. Which led to me not being able to write at all.
It's starting to get better. I love the McCallister family and their friends far too much to let them go. So here's a new chapter. And there will be more, so the story of the McCallisters is not over yet. Not by far.
I hope it will be to your satisfaction. With kind regards - Toffnokk.
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Caoimhe
When Caoimhe woke up on Saturday morning, it was the first time since Wednesday she felt rested. When she looked in the mirror by her desk, she was relieved that her eyes were no longer red and puffy. She had cried so much the last few days that they had been so swollen that she could barely open them. But now, Caoimhe no longer felt heavy in her body, and her mind was clear. Most alphas and omegas didn't remember their first heat, but unfortunately, Caoimhe did. She remembered exactly everything, and that made it all much worse. She felt terrible for the things she had done to Alex, the poor bodyguard. And not only that, the whole class had seen her in heat. She was so embarrassed that she never wanted to go back to school. It was horrible! She just wanted to crawl under a rock and stay there. But luckily, there were only a few weeks left until the summer holidays, and she didn't have to go to school for several weeks. And if it was still too uncomfortable to go to school after the holidays, Caoimhe was determined to convince her fathers to get her a private tutor or send her to a school somewhere far away. Preferably the other side of the world.
Caoimhe's heat period had really been something out of the ordinary. It was so strong that she couldn't function like normal, and she wouldn't have eaten at all if it weren't for Dorian. He used his pheromones to calm her enough to make her regain control of herself for a few minutes, and then she managed to eat something, like an energy bar or a fruit. But his pheromones only had an effect on her for a short time. Then the heat took over again. Caoimhe had done things she had never done before, and the feeling of shame she felt when the heat subsided was overwhelming. Enormous self-loathing and disgust filled her with such enormous self-loathing and disgust. Finian had tried to calm her down by telling the girl that it was perfectly normal, but it didn't help. She was just a twelve-year-old girl who suddenly went through a heat period far more intense than what most alphas ever experienced during their lifetime. Finian couldn't relate at all, but Dorian could. He had only been a year older and had gone through almost the same thing. But his pheromones hadn't affected betas like Caoimhe's had done. And that was one more thing that made Caoimhe hate herself. She had completely lost control over her actions and attacked a beta. What if he had been an omega? She would have marked him, and that was the scariest thing of all. She didn't want an omega partner. Or a partner at all. Because Caoimhe was only twelve years old, she had just recently realised that you could have feelings for someone. Feelings you didn't have towards your family. And that was a strange and scary thing.
It was such thoughts that went through Caoimhe's head when she woke up. Sure, she was in full control over herself and quite relaxed, but she couldn't stop thinking about what had happened. But a sudden knock on the door snatched her out of her depressing thoughts.
"Can I come in?"
Caoimhe didn't recognise the voice, but she still answered yes. She knew her fathers would never let anyone dangerous into their home.
The door opened, and someone Caoimhe had never expected to see again walked in. It was Alex, the young bodyguard she had bitten. Caoimhe said nothing. She just stared at him with a startled expression on her face as the young man approached her.
"How are you?" He asked while smiling. It was a gentle smile.
She was about to respond, but then she noticed the bandage around the man's neck, and she turned pale. Caoimhe had asked Finian if the young man was alright, and her daídai had assured her that he was fine. The wound hadn't been serious at all. But Caoimhe immediately understood that it was much worse than Finian had told her. The girl burst out in tears. Feelings of guilt exploded in her, and she almost screamed as she cried.
The man sat down by her feet, and he looked concerned.
"What's the matter?"
"I'm so sorry," the girl wailed.
"Please, don't worry. It's really nothing."
"But I hurt you."
"I'm not going to lie. It hurt, but it's much better now. So, please don't cry."
But Caoimhe didn't stop crying for a long time. Alex watched as the girl wept with a compassionate expression while he gently patted her on the head and said that everything would be fine. It took a while before Caoimhe calmed down, and when she did, she looked at Alex with tear-filled eyes.
"Are you going to stop working for us now?"
Caoimhe could see that the question surprised the man as he frowned and looked confused.
"No, why would I do that? In this profession, it is guaranteed that you will get hurt and injured. It goes with the job. And this was the first exciting thing that happened since I started working last year."
"Have you only worked for one year?" Caoimhe couldn't help but ask. After all, she was a very curious girl.
Alex smiled. He was relieved that she was no longer crying.
"Yep, I finished high school last year."
"What?" Surprised, Caoimhe shouted. "Are you 18?"
The man laughed and shook his head.
"19. How old did you think I was?"
"I don't know. Perhaps twenty-five."
Alex kept on laughing until he got a message on his phone.
"I have to go now, but try to cheer up, and remember that none of this is your fault. So see you later. Okay?"
"Okay," Caoimhe replied, following Alex as he closed the door behind him.
His words had somehow made her feel better. Caoimhe was fully convinced that betas were far better people than alpha and omegas. There was no doubt about it in the twelve-year-old girl's mind, and for the first time since Wednesday, she wanted to shower, eat a big meal and hug her fathers. Yes, maybe everything would be fine after all.
Isaac
It had been a busy day at work, and all Isaac wanted was to close the store and leave. He was happy because it was finally time for Lucas to meet Lucy properly. Lucas wanted to build a relationship with Lucy, which made Isaac so incredibly happy. He had no illusions that he and Lucas would ever be a couple again, even though he really wanted to. More than anything. But for now, Isaac was thrilled that his beautiful girl could have a relationship with her father.
Lucas would pick up Isaac in a few minutes, and the black-haired man was about to go to the door and lock it when it suddenly opened. It was a tall man who walked in, completely dressed in black. Isaac looked up and immediately got an irritated expression on his face.
"What the hell do you want?"
The man with short dark blond hair grinned at him.
"Hi, Beautiful! It's been such a long time. Have you missed me?"
"No, Tyler, I haven't missed you. When are you going to stop this? You know I hate you."
Tyler put his hands on his chest and looked devastated.
"Stop, you're breaking my heart."
Isaac sighed and shook his head. He was so tired of this.
"I don't have time for this. Just leave me alone."
"You know, I haven't followed you around all these years just to let go of you now."
Isaac said nothing. He just desperately wanted Tyler to leave. Even after Isaac broke up with Lucas and he had Lucy, Tyler didn't leave Isaac alone. It could take months before Tyler contact him again, but every time it was the same. Tyler still wanted Isaac. He wanted to have Isaac as his mate. And each time, Isaac was determined to report Tyler to the police, but Isaac never did. He was too scared. What if Tyler hurt Lucy or his mom? Isaac would never forgive himself if anything happened to them. So Isaac pretended like nothing and kept everything to himself.
Each time he had to deal with Tyler, he managed to act tough, but as soon as he was alone again, Isaac was so scared he could barely stand. But now, when he once again stood face to face with Tyler, Isaac wasn't at all afraid. He knew Lucas was on his way.
Tyler noticed that something was different with the shorter man, and he frowned.
"What's with you today?"
Tyler's voice was dark and unusually tense. Isaac flinched. The tone of the other man's voice frightened him. He didn't dare to move. Tyler suddenly snatched the key from Isaac's hand, went to the door, locked it, and went back to Isaac. Isaac hadn't moved, he was too scared, but he gathered enough courage to speak.
"Give me back the key, or I'm calling the police."
"You say that every bloody time, but you never do anything. And I'm so tired of your shitty attitude. This whole cat and mouse game is getting really old, don't you think?"
Isaac didn't have time to react before it was too late. Tyler put his hands on Isaac's shoulders and pressed him against a wall. Isaac looked up at him, and he trembled with fear when he saw the sinister grin. And from Isaac came a desperate cry for help.
Lucas
Lucas felt guilty as he drove towards Isaac's workplace. He didn't have the courage to talk to Kenji about Lucy, not with everything going on. They had been to the hospital the day before, where Kenji had been examined, and the doctor had taken several blood samples. The examination showed that everything was as it should be, with both Kenji and the baby, but they had to wait several days for the results from the tests.
Lucas hated that he had lied to his boyfriend. He had told Kenji that he had to go to his parent's place and help them with their computer. Lucas didn't want to lie, but he wanted to wait for the right opportunity to talk with Kenji about it. If there even was a right opportunity for something like this.
The platinum blonde alpha had spent almost the entire night thinking about how he would handle all of this with Lucy. And when he got up in the morning, he was determined to meet the girl and get to know her. He wanted to be her father. Honestly, Lucas didn't care much for Isaac. He didn't think he could ever forgive Isaac for the way he treated him. Just thinking about everything that had happened made him angry, which was unusual for the otherwise so gentle Lucas. But he felt that Isaac had deprived him of his daughter. And that feeling intensified when he saw Kenji, and he thought of the child growing inside him. Lucas thought about how he had missed Isaac's entire pregnancy and childbirth. Lucas saw Kenji and knew he could never let him go through something like that alone. He wanted to be there for Kenji, just as he knew he would have been there for Isaac.
And when Lucas came to Isaac's workplace, he was still full of guilty feelings towards Kenji, and he really didn't want to meet Isaac, but those thoughts were soon forgotten. As he approached the store, Lucas picked up his phone and was about to call Isaac as he peeped through the shop window. Lucas froze. He couldn't believe his eyes. A man stood and pressed Isaac against the wall. It was a tall man with dark blond hair and black clothes. The man stared down at Isaac with a grin, and it made Lucas shiver all the way to his bones. He would have recognised that face anywhere. Why was Tyler there, and why did he push Isaac up against the wall? Lucas could see that Isaac had an angry expression on his face, but then Tyler said something that made Isaac flinch, and suddenly he looked terrified. The tall alpha then took something out of the back pocket of his jeans and put it in his mouth. He leaned down, grabbed the back of Isaac's head and kissed the omega. It wasn't a tender kiss. Instead, it looked like Tyler wanted to devour Isaac. Lucas could see that Isaac was trying to fight back, trying to push Tyler away from him. But he couldn't do anything. He was powerless against the much stronger alpha.
Lucas wasn't like Dorian, who would immediately go into a prime-alpha rage. Lucas tried to open the door, but when he realised the door was locked, he was calm enough to call the emergency number. Lucas didn't stop pulling the door and shouted while he waited to be connected to the police. Lucas heard someone answer, and he automatically gave them the address, but then he heard nothing more of what the woman on the other side said. Helpless, he saw Isaac collapse on the floor, and Lucas screamed in wild panic as he hammered on the glass with his fists. And that made Tyler turn around. He finally noticed Lucas, and Tyler's eyes widened as if he couldn't believe what he saw. Tyler began to laugh. It was as if he thought Lucas' desperate attempt to get in was the funniest thing he had ever seen. He laughed like crazy, Lucas could hear it, and he knew. That wasn't a sane person. But then Tyler suddenly froze, his laughter died down, and he turned back to Isaac, who was squirming on the floor under him, now in heat. But Lucas had time to see the burning yellow eyes, and he shook his head back and forth in desperation, screaming, "Don't do it!"
Tyler was over Isaac in a second, kissing him hard. Lucas didn't think, he began to pound his fists against the window again and again until his hands were covered in blood, but there was nothing he could do when he watched as Tyler violently flipped Isaac over as if he were nothing more than a rag doll. Lucas screamed as he watched Tyler bend down, moved the black hair to the side and bit into Isaac's bare neck.
That was when the two police cars arrived. Tyler had started pulling down Isaac's pants, and he didn't even react when the police smashed the window. He didn't even notice when the officers rushed up to him, with tranquillisers in their hands, pulling him away from Isaac while being injected with sedatives. In a few seconds, the alpha was knocked out.
Lucas ran to the lifeless omega on the floor and fell to his knees next to him. Isaac turned to Lucas, but he was still in heat. He couldn't speak. Two paramedics approached them, injected Isaac with quick working suppressants, and gently placed the small man on a stretcher. Lucas quietly followed them to a waiting ambulance. Just before the paramedics pushed the stretcher inside the vehicle, Isaac gained enough self-control to open his eyes and look straight at Lucas.
"My phone," he said in a low voice. "Can you call my mom?"
Lucas quickly took the phone out of Isaac's pocket and nodded.
"Of course."
Isaac then looked at Lucas with the saddest expression that alpha had ever seen. It was filled with grief, and it pierced Lucas' heart. Lucas was about to say something when the paramedic pushed the stretcher inside the ambulance and closed the doors. They told him which hospital they were taking Isaac to, and then the ambulance left.
Lucas looked down at his bloody hands. It hurt. Something was probably broken. But the pain was nothing compared to the pain he felt when he remembered the sad expression and the bleeding mark on Isaac's neck.
Lucas scrolled through the contact list on Isaac's phone with trembling hands until he found the person he was looking for. After four signals, he heard a woman's voice.
"Hi Isaac, are you on your way?"
Lucas closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
"Natsinet, this is Lucas. Something has happened."
And the conversation that followed was one of the worst in his life.