Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tempest was the absolute light of their lives. Their little girl was the spitting image of her mama, bright and bubbly and had everyone wrapped around her little finger. Then, it all changed on a dime.

When their little pup first started to cry inconsolably for hours at a time, they rushed her to the pediatrician. Pai and Rain in particular were terrified that something was horribly wrong.

Thankfully, nothing was seriously wrong with their little one. She was perfectly healthy, eating and gaining weight normally, but the doctor told them it was a textbook case of colic. All three were simultaneously relieved and worried at the knowledge, especially when the doctor told them there wasn’t actually a cure. There were methods they could use to soothe her and make her more comfortable, but they would have to wait for it to pass on its own.

It turned out that her colic was quite bad, and home became chaotic. Tempest didn’t sleep as much and when she did, it didn’t seem terribly restful. When she was awake she was fussy and upset what seemed like all the time, and all of them were exhausted; but nobody more so than Rain.

Rain insisted that Prapai and Phayu still had to work. He knew it was important to them to be with their little one and support him but they couldn’t just neglect their jobs and other responsibilities. They worked from home as often as possible and gave Rain as many breaks as they could, but as he was the one at home all the time, a lot fell to him.

As the situation dragged on, they were all run ragged and stretched thin. Most days it felt like their little support system was the only thing keeping them afloat. Plerng had stepped up to take on some of Pai’s tasks at work and Phan dropped by regularly between classes and homework to give at least one of them a chance to shower or eat something more substantial than a protein bar. Saifah kept the garage running and did his best to stand in for Phayu at the races when it was necessary, and his girlfriend Oat kept them stocked up with groceries and household necessities.

By far the biggest help was Sky. Rain’s best friend happened to be taking a break after his internship to decide what firm he wanted to work for, and they all considered it a sign that someone up there must actually love them.

Sky became their rock in so many ways. He was over so much that he basically lived out of their guest room, his things pretty much a permanent fixture along with himself. He helped Rain nest, as being surrounded by the scents of her family seemed to be one of the only things that calmed Tempest in the slightest. He brought up the idea of Rain pumping, talked over the pros and cons with all of them, and eventually took to feeding the baby her bottle of pumped milk in the nest and shooing the three of them off to respective showers or watching over Rain as he slept next to them with his hand somewhere on the baby’s skin.

Still, even with all of the help, Rain was struggling. Everyone could see it, but nobody more than Prapai and Phayu. In a whispered conversation they had worried about postpartum depression, and Phayu had brought it up to Rain cautiously one day. Rain insisted that he was pretty positive that wasn’t what was going on, but agreed when Phayu asked if he could find a therapist to have on standby just in case.

“I promise I’m just working through some things in my head, Alpha. I’ll let you in on them once I can sort through them myself.”

Still, his alphas and Sky watched Rain closely, noting how quiet he’d gotten and how much less vibrant. They all hoped it could be chalked up to the stress of everything, but none of them were quite sure.

Everything came to a head when Tempest was almost four months old. After three long and exhausting months, her colic finally seemed to be getting better. Rain was in the nest feeding her, Sky next to him, when he felt her mouth go slack. His body tensed, preparing for the heartbreaking screams he had become to accustomed to, but they never came. Instead he looked down and saw her chubby little face, her mouth open with some milk still caught at the corner, fast asleep.

“Look at that,” Sky cooed quietly. “She’s all milk drunk. Good job Rain, you’re such a good mama.”

Sky had absolutely no idea why, but something about that sentence seemed to break something in Rain, who burst into ragged sobs.

“Oh no, no, Rain, it’s okay. Whatever it is, it’s okay.”

“It’s not!” he cried.

Sky leaned in and took the baby from his arms and laid her in the bassinet next to the bed, thankful that she was exhausted enough not to stir. Then he reached over and helped Rain re-fasten his top before he pulled the omega into his arms and started to rock him back and forth.

By that point, Phayu and Pai had heard the sobs and smelled their omega’s distress and all but skidded into the room, both of them looking frantic.

“What happened?” Phayu asked as he dropped to his knees next to the nest.

Sky shook his head. “I’m not sure. I was congratulating Rain on Tempest being well fed and falling asleep and he just burst out crying.”

Prapai had already climbed up next to Rain and smiled gratefully at Sky when the beta transferred his mate over to his arms.

“What’s wrong raindrop? Can you tell us?”

For some reason that just made Rain cry even harder, and Pai shot a distressed look at Phayu. The older man and Sky shared a glance and switched places so that Phayu could join in holding Rain.

“I’m going to take the pup to the nursery,” Sky told him quietly. “I know she’s not in there full time yet but she can sleep there for now so you can talk.”

“Thank you Sky,” Yu said gratefully as he watched him bundle his daughter up and head out the door for the nursery down the hall.

“Now, can you tell us what’s wrong baby?” Pai asked. “Is it the colic? You’ve been such a trooper through all this, such a good mama to our girl.”

“I’m not a good mama!” Rain wailed against Pai’s shoulder. “I’m not a good mama or a good omega. I’m not a good mate. I’m horrible!”

The distress in his voice made Phayu’s chest hurt. “Baby, you aren’t horrible. You’re so good to me and Pai, so good to Tempest. What on earth would make you think that?”

“It’s me,” he cried. “I’m awful. You’ll hate me when I tell you. You’ll want to break our bond.”

Phayu and Prapai both felt as if ice was pouring through their veins. In all the time they had been together, with how messy things had been while they were getting together, the fights the three of them had, everything that had been through together, none of them had ever dared to even mention their bond being broken. The mere thought of speaking it into existence had stopped all of them.

“Rain,” Phayu said cautiously, a tremor in his voice. “Why? Why would you ever think we would want to break our bond with you?”

Rain sat up straight and wrenched himself from their arms, scrambling back so they weren’t touching and wrapping his arms protectively around himself.

“I’m in love with someone else.”

The pronouncement fell like lead between them, and Pai felt his alpha clawing at his chest as pain erupted through his body. Was Rain? No, he couldn’t be saying what he thought he was saying.

“Rain… are you saying you don’t love us anymore?”

He didn’t get a chance to answer before keening wail split the room and Phayu dropped to his hands and knees, panting and pressing a hand to his mating mark.

“Yu!” Pai crawled over and kneeled behind him, pulling him into his arms. He whined plaintively as Phayu tensed and gazed off into nothingness. “Yu, can you talk to me baby?”

Phayu was silent and Rain gave a distressed cry and planted himself in front of his mates. “No, no, no, I’m doing this all wrong. It’s all wrong.”

“Then fix it, Omega,” Pai snapped. He hated losing his temper with Rain, but Phayu’s distress was radiating through their bond and joining his own to crawl under his skin.

“Look at me, P’Phayu.” When the older man’s eyes didn’t move from where they were staring off into space, he cradled his face between his hands. “P’Phayu, I need you to look at me when I tell you this. Daddy? Alpha?”

Phayu’s eyes snapped to Rain’s then, and the younger man felt more tears pour down his face at the sight of the pain in them. He moved one hand down to press firmly against Phayu’s mating marks as he spoke.

“Alpha, please listen to me when I say I love you. I have always loved you, I still love you, and I will always love you. Both you and P’Pai.” Rain made sure to look up and meet the younger alpha’s eyes when he said that. “Nothing will ever change how I feel about you two. You and our pup mean everything to me. I just did all of this so wrong.”

“What did you mean then?” Prapai asked quietly. “Because, I’m kind of losing my shit here, raindrop.”

Rain moved his hand from Phayu’s cheek so he could reach up and press it to Pai’s mating marks as well, linking them all together. “I meant that I love you both so much, but I’ve also fallen for someone else.”

They were silent for a moment and Pai’s mind whirred with thoughts before he came to what seemed to be the only logical conclusion.

“Sky. You’re in love with Sky.”

Rain nodded. “I’m in love with Sky.”

“Thank fuck!” All of Pai’s tension drained away and he felt Phayu sag against his chest in relief.

Their omega’s eyes were confused as he watched the worry fall away from his partners. But the stunned ‘what?!’ didn’t come from him. It came from Sky.

Three heads whipped towards the door to find the beta in question with a hand braced against the door frame and the other clutched around a baby monitor as he trembled.

“I heard P’Phayu cry out and got worried, so I came to check on you but…” His eyes were the widest Rain had ever seen them as they darted between the faces of the men on the bed. “What?”

Rain buried his head in his hands and let out muffled scream. “I have fucked all of this up, so badly.”

“Language,” Phayu chided weakly.

Pai let out a snort of relieved laughter and nuzzled his nose against the top of the other Alpha’s head. “There you are.”

“At the risk of sounding redundant, I’d like to repeat. What?” Sky asked, voice shaky.

“There’s a little bit of that going around on all sides,” Prapai said, holding out his hand. “Would you come sit with us, Sky?”

His steps were tentative, but he did move away from the door, turning the baby monitor on and setting on the beside table as he went. He was hesitant to set his hand in Pai’s, but the older man just waited until he was ready and closed his hand softly when he was. He guided Sky gently until they were all seated in a rough circle on the bed with Phayu tucked tight against Pai’s side. Things seemed to be looking up, but he was still a little too jittery to let him go just yet.

Nobody seemed sure where to start, but finally it was Sky who broke the silence.

“Rain is in love with me, and you two seem to be okay with it?” he asked, voice tremulous.

“I can answer the first part of that,” Rain said quietly. He took a deep breath when his best friend in the entire world turned to look at him. “Yes, I’m in love with you.”

Sky’s eyes filled with tears, but for the moment the stubborn beta seemed to refuse to let them fall.

“Okay.” He turned to look at Pai and Phayu, seeming even more unsure. “And you two…?”

“Yes, we’re happy about it. Phayu and I have feelings for you as well, Sky. I don’t think either of us are ready to say love yet, but we’re well on the way,” Prapai told him.

Phayu nodded. “Pai’s right. We’ve both been feeling something stronger than friendship for you for some time, Sky. Dealing with Tempest’s colic and al of the upheaval that came with it, we just decided it wasn’t the time to bring it up to Rain.” He turned his attention to his omega mate. “Especially since you still seemed to be struggling with some things. Was all of that about your feelings for Sky?”

“It was. I was just so in my head about all of it, and so tired and worried that I let all of the worst case scenarios invade my brain and didn’t even stop to think whether you and P’Pai might have gone down the same road. Sky called me a good mama today and something just cracked and I completely lost it.” Rain reached out and took his hand. “I am so, so sorry about how poorly I handled that. I never meant to scare you that way.”

Phayu squeezed his hand. “You’re forgiven baby. Just please, next time, try to talk to us.”

“I promise I will.”

While Pai was thrilled that the pair of them seemed okay, most of his focus was on Sky, who looked about five seconds away from dissociating.

“Sky? I know this is a lot. How are you feeling?”

His dark eyes were a bit unfocused as he answered with a question. “Rain loves me, and you and P’Phayu have feelings for me too?”

“We do,” Phayu agreed, turning his attention to him.

Sky nodded weakly, his mouth tightening as he seemed to fight for words. Evidently he couldn’t find them, because it was his turn to bury his face in his hands and burst into tears.

“Oh no. Oh, Sky.” Rain moved to hover next to him on his knees, not quite sure what to. “Can I touch you?”

Sky nodded and Rain wrapped him up in his arms, doing his own rocking this time.

“I’m sorry,” he soothed, running his hand over Sky’s dark hair. “We upset you. We made you uncomfortable.”

“You didn’t! I’m not uncomfortable. I love you too! I love all of you!”

Prapai blinked over at them. “Come again?”

Sky raised his head and gazed around at them. “I love you. All three of you. I just don’t understand how you can possibly feel the same for me when I’m so broken .”

Rain tucked Sky’s face into his neck, rubbing his back as his body was wracked with sobs.

“You’re not broken, and how could we not fall for you Sky? You’re smart and sarcastic and funny. You’re one of the only reasons I made it through our degree, you helped take care of me so well. You treat Tempest like she’s your own, to the point where she fusses if your scent isn’t in the nest, even though it’s not as potent as ours. You’ve been such a support and a source of happiness for all of us throughout this whole ordeal. You’re beautiful and sexy and though you’d never want to admit it you’re sweet as well. You are not what that man did to you. You are so much more than that to us.”

Sky lifted his head to brush tears from his face. “I want to believe you. I’m just not sure how.”

“You don’t have to get it,” Rain said resolutely. He reached out to brush Sky’s bangs out of his eyes. “But I will keep on telling you, and if or when you tell P’Pai and P’Phayu about what happened, I know they’ll join in with me.”

Sky turned his gaze to the other men, and both of them nodded.

“Everything Rain said holds true,” Phayu told him. “We like you just the way you are, Sky. Whatever happened in your past doesn’t define you. You can tell us when you’re ready, and if you never are, that’s okay too.”

“I think I want to,” he said quietly. “I think I have to before any of this can have a chance to move forward.”

“That’s entirely up to you, my Sky,” Pai said. “You do what you need and want. We’ll follow your lead.”

Sky tilted his head curiously. “My Sky?”

Color rose on Pai’s cheeks as he realized what he’d said. “I’m sorry. I’ve sort of been calling you that in my head for a while now and I guess when you said you love us my brain decided my mouth had permission to say it out loud. I absolutely don’t have to call you that if you don’t want me to.”

“No,” he said with a small smile. “I like it, and I really do think I want to tell you all what happened. What made me the way I am. Can we lie down?”

“Of course,” Rain said enthusiastically. “Cuddles and story time.”

Sky gave him a wry smile, but he did nod.

“Cuddles and story time.”

Chapter Text

Phayu and Prapai were downright docile as they sat and waited for Sky and Rain to tell them where they wanted them. Despite both of them being strong, muscular alphas, they were making themselves as small and calm as possible to make sure they didn’t scare Sky off. The beta had to let loose a little smile at that, despite how serious things had gotten.

“Do you only want to touch me, Sky?” Rain asked.

Neither of the alphas moved at that question, but Pai’s lips pursed in a pout before he caught himself and schooled his expression again. The very fact that he had pulled himself back showed his conviction to not overstep and make Sky feel bad. Prapai was typically very free with his emotions.

It was just another check in the win column for the alphas.

“I’m fine with touching everyone. I think it will ground me, and we’ve all touched casually before so I’m used to it.”

The mama inside Rain took over, and he directed and arranged them until he was happy with their configuration. When they settled it was with Pai and Sky in the middle, with the younger curled up on Pai’s shoulder. Phayu spooned up behind Pai and Rain behind Sky, and they all waited quietly until the beta was ready to talk.

“My mother left when I was three,” he said on a shaky breath. “My father never wanted to say it outright, but people talked, and he told me the truth when I asked him. She didn’t want me because I was a beta.”

Phayu sucked in a harsh breath and Prapai frowned, but they kept quiet.

“There weren’t a lot of betas in my small town and none in my mother’s immediate family, so that definitely didn’t help. Evidently her rationale was that, as an omega, she didn’t know what to do with me. I wasn’t the easiest baby and once I started getting bigger I was an obstinate kid who knew my own mind. I started questioning things as soon as I could talk. Pa thought it was endearing and a sign that I would be strong and independent, my mother thought it made me too much work. She chalked it up to me not being an omega and said my father was making me worse by encouraging my behavior. So she divorced my father and left, and we haven’t seen her since.”

“That’s such bullshit,” Pai said. “Secondary gender doesn’t determine that kind of thing. I’m an alpha and I bottom. Rain’s an omega and he can be a complete brat.”

“Hey!”

“Can you really argue with him, baby?” Phayu asked.

Rain pouted but had to concede. “No, I can’t.”

“Let’s let Sky continue then.”

The man in question chuckled a bit. “I know that now, but it was hard not to internalize it as a kid. Anyway, money was tight without my mother’s income, but my father always paid for the best childcare for me at a place where they treated alphas, omegas and betas exactly the same. I was the one who convinced him when I was eight that the money would be better spent elsewhere and I was perfectly fine to stay by myself; and I proved him right. I never caused any trouble and I took to cleaning and making sure we had dinner after I finished my homework. He always told me I didn’t need to, but I wanted to take care of him like he took care of me. We made a great team, so I genuinely wasn’t interested in making tons of friends or doing typical kid things. I liked our life the way it was.”

Sky played absently with the collar of Pai’s shirt as he spoke, and the older man fought down the happy wiggle that wanted to run through him at the contact. He would not scare him away.

“I focused a lot on school, and just before my first year of high school I found out that I had gotten a scholarship to a prestigious school here in Bangkok; full ride including housing. I hadn’t even applied.”

“Your dad?” Phayu asked.

Sky smiled. “My dad. At first I was so angry. I don’t think I realized just how much my mother’s rejection impacted me until I was crying and screaming at him and asking why he wanted to get rid of me like she had.”

Rain couldn’t help the sad little whimper that escaped him, and he nuzzled closer to Sky so he could lightly scent him.

“I was completely inconsolable for a while. I don’t remember some of it, but when I tuned back in we were on the floor and I was in his lap while he rocked me.” He gave a wet laugh. “We must have looked completely ridiculous. I was already taller than him. He calmed me down and told me that he loved me more than anything in the world and that he never wanted to let me go, but that I deserved so much more than our small town. He said I was too smart and had too much promise to be stuck there where people talked about the weird kid whose mother didn’t want him.”

“I hate people,” Phayu said grumpily.

Sky snorted and reached over Pai to pat Phayu’s arm. “Well, hell is other people. If it makes you feel any better, most of the people who said shit like that knocked someone up or got knocked up at like seventeen and never got out of there.”

“It does.”

“Good. Anyway, he wanted to give me a better chance. He had deep roots in that town and that house, but he wanted more for me. So I agreed to go.”

Pai smiled gently. “So you moved here all by yourself.”

“Well, my dad came with me and stayed for a week while I got settled, but then it was just me.”

Sky remembered those first days all on his own. He had been homesick not for his town but for his father and their relationship, but for the first time in his life he wasn’t the weird kid, or the motherless kid or one of four betas. He was just another smart kid in a dorm who wanted to do well.

“I actually made some real friends after a bit. I still wasn’t super social but I found some other introverts who were happy to just exist together. And for the first time I was actually happy to be a beta.”

“Why was that?” Phayu asked.

“There were so many of us in the dorms. People were starting to get their first heats and ruts and of course the school didn’t allow them to be spent with partners, and most everyone was far away from their family and couldn’t have their comfort. If someone refused to go to a clinic or couldn’t go home, they had to ride it out locked in a special room in the dorms and sometimes it didn’t go well. A couple of students had to be taken to the hospital for heat or rut sickness.”

Rain whimpered, well aware of the potential perils of heat sickness as an omega. “How awful”

“It was scary. One of my friends was from a different country and was terrified of medical settings and not ready for any of the sexual aspects of her heat. She was too scared to even tell the school when her first heat started. She just called out sick and when I came to her room to bring her some homework I figured out what was going on. She was planning on just riding it out with scent blockers and suppressants.”

All three other men noticeably flinched. Suppressants taken after a heat started could be incredibly harmful, and not letting your scent out throughout was downright distressing.

“It was awful,” Sky whispered. “My milder scent calmed her a bit, but she was in so much pain that it couldn’t help for long. It took me twelve hours to convince her that we needed to tell someone, and in the end she had to be sedated for the remainder of her heat. She still isn’t sure if there will be any permanent damage to her body.”

“Poor thing,” Rain said quietly.

Sky squeezed Rain’s hand where it was resting against his stomach.

“It’s been hard on her, but she’s gotten better. She has a mate now, another omega.” He took a deep breath. “Anyway, I was finally thrilled to be a beta and not have to deal with all of that. School was going well and I had some friends and talked to my dad every day. Then I met him.”

His eyes fluttered closed as he thought back. Every minute of his time with Gun was so vivid in his memory. The first time they met, Sky had caught the other man staring from across a club and had been startled to realize someone was actually looking at him. He had been too nervous to do anything about it so Gun had made the first move, making his way over to him and offering to buy a drink. Sky had been hooked.

He was pulled out of his reverie by Prapai’s voice.

“My Sky? Do you need to take a break?”

He opened his eyes and met Pai’s; pretty as ever but so worried.

“No, I want to continue.” He patted the man’s chest. “I promise.”

“You tell us if that changes,” Phayu insisted. “You only have to share what you’re comfortable with.”

His smile then was genuine. “I know, P’Phayu. Thank you.” He gathered his thoughts again. “I met him in a club my friends and I weren’t supposed to be in. We were way too young but the place was notorious for not checking IDs and for once I actually wanted to go out. We had just finished a big exam and I thought there was no harm in letting loose. I wish I hadn’t been so wrong.”

God, how he wished it every single day.

“He saw me from across the place and came and offered to buy me a drink. I thought he was handsome and nobody had ever looked at me like they wanted me before, and I was so painfully young. Sixteen and too young to think too hard about any of it.”

“How old was he?” Pai asked.

“He was twenty,” Sky said flatly

Rain jolted behind him. “You never told me he was that much older.”

“Well I’m not exactly proud of how stupid I was,” he said, self deprecation dripping from every word.

It made Phayu’s heart hurt to hear Sky talk about himself that way, and he got the impression the feeling was only going to get worse. Still…

“You weren’t stupid, Sky. You were young and excited and someone was interested in you for the first time. Naive maybe, but not stupid.”

“You haven’t heard the whole story yet,” he whispered.

Phayu held eye contact with him as he spoke. “That feeling isn’t going to change.”

Rain had been quiet during the exchange but he spoke up when they went quiet.

“Is that why you were so nervous for me when I met P’Pai and P’Phayu?”

Sky nodded. “That was part of it. My history isn’t great but eventually I was rational enough to recognize that there’s a big difference between twenty and twenty-four and sixteen and twenty. What made me more nervous was that these two idiots didn’t seem to know how to be normal human beings and just tell you they liked you.”

Phayu buried his face in Pai’s neck, groaning. “I can’t even fight you on it because we were so stupid. Sabotaging cars and cornering an omega we wanted. We’re so lucky Rain forgave us and we proved we weren’t total assholes.”

“Yes, yes you are,” Sky said archly. If you hadn’t I would have taken Rain and made him run for the hills.”

“My protector,” Rain said sweetly, planting a kiss on Sky’s cheek.

Sky valiantly tried to ignore the heat rising to his cheeks and cleared his throat. “Well, anyway. My friends told me it was weird that essentially a grown man was into a sixteen year old high schooler, but I wasn’t hearing it. I just insisted that it was because I was so mature for my age and that he was super sweet. I took the drink, I danced with him the rest of the night, and we exchanged numbers. It was one of the biggest mistakes of my life.”

He began to play with Prapai’s shirt again. His hands desperate for something to do so he could split his focus as he got to the hard parts.

“The first two months or so were amazing. He gave me gifts and took me on all of these great dates where he showed me Bangkok and brought me flowers all the time.”

“Love bombing,” Rain murmured.

“Exactly what my friends told me. I insisted it wasn’t the case. I was hooked from the first time he kissed me. I wanted it that first night but he insisted we wait until we had a real first date. He wanted to make sure that he came across as a gentleman, someone I could trust, and that’s exactly what happened. I trusted him with everything I had.”

Absolutely everything.

“I made him wait almost three months before I slept with him. I know now that I wasn’t really ready, but he’d been dropping hints. He kept telling me he loved me and saying he just wanted to be as close to me as possible in every way. So I gave in.”

To this day he still couldn’t figure out how he hadn’t seen the predatory look in Gun’s eyes when he had agreed.

“He was sweet and gentle the first time. Had to make sure he lured me in. I was ready to give him everything, but he insisted that he would only take my ass. He said it was because he wanted to save everything else for when we were mated and trying for a pup, but that was all completely and utter bullshit. Right from the beginning he dangled this future in front of me that he was never going to give me. It was right before the third time we had sex that he hit me for the first time.”

“Oh Sky,” Pai whispered.

“He wanted sex and I said I was too tired, and he backhanded me across the face. He was immediately apologetic of course, but even as he said sorry he managed to make it my fault that he hit me.” His breath hitched almost painfully. “He convinced me that I deserved it and I let him have me that night to keep the peace.”

He remembered it so well, and how many other times he’d decided to keep the peace.

“After that it was like a switch flipped and his true colors came out. The comments started about me being a beta. The little jabs about how an omega would have picked up on his feelings or another alpha would hold his own when the sex was rough. The sex was rough all the time. It was never gentle like the first little while again. And I put up with all of it. I told myself he just liked it rough and I was too sensitive. All of the progress I had made in accepting my secondary gender was just shattered, and I figured I was lucky an older alpha wanted a beta like me at all. He kept hitting me, and hitting me, and I stayed because of all that, and because I loved him.”

Phayu let out a distressed sound. “Where were your friends when all of this was happening?”

His friends. Even though they had only met when Sky came to Bangkok, they had been amazing. They had tired so hard to help him.

“They were right there, trying to get through to me. They noticed me becoming more subdued and withdrawn. They said I seemed sad and that if my relationship was a happy one I shouldn’t be so miserable. I insisted that nobody’s relationship could be perfect all the time. The more they tried to help me the more I pulled away. I started spending almost all of my time with him. I was never at the dorms so they only saw me in class.”

“And the bruises?” Prapai asked.

Sky scoffed. “What bruises? After that first time we ran in to one of my classmates at a restaurant and they asked what happened because I hadn’t covered the marks well enough. He spun this tale about how I’d fallen down the stairs and was too embarrassed to say anything so I tried to hide it. They believed him, and that night he put his cigarette out on my chest and told me I had better not make people question him again. He learned to keep the bruises where people couldn’t see them, and when he messed up and put one somewhere they could he made sure I learned how to cover them like an expert.”

“I hate that you went through that. I hate it so much,” Rain said with tears in his voice.

Sky squeezed the omega’s hand. “I survived, and I’m here. I need you to remember that while I continue. I told you a lot, Rain, but not everything. So I need you to hold on to me and remember that.”

“Sky, can I get closer?”

Phayu’s voice burst loudly into the room and the other three looked over at him in surprise.

The eldest of them looked like he was about to vibrate out of his skin. Suddenly Sky was reminded that Phayu had been incredibly distressed not so long before.

“Of course,” Sky soothed. “Come here.”

Phayu crawled out from behind Prapai and squeezed himself between the alpha and beta, resting his head on Sky’s stomach.

“P’Phayu, we can take a break. We don’t have to do this all tonight,” he said softly, carding his fingers through the part of his hair not caught in his ponytail.

He shook his head against Sky’s belly. “I need to see it through. So as long as you want to keep going, I want to keep going.”

“Okay. Okay. I want to get it out.”

“Whenever you’re ready,” Pai said. “We’re here.”

Sky took a deep breath. He had to be stoic if he wanted to get through this. “For a long time I never said no to sex. Even if I wasn’t in the mood I never said no, because I thought that I was being good and he wouldn’t be as upset with me. But one day just before I turned seventeen I was feeling really ill. I had a fever and was sick to my stomach, so I said no when he tried to start something. So he raped me.”

Behind him, Rain began to cry. Sky couldn’t feel his tears on his neck and his body shaking.

“He left me alone for a good week after that because he was disgusted that I threw up from the pain. Then on my seventeenth birthday he was really sweet and told me he had a surprise for me. I thought maybe he had planned dinner or gotten me a nice present. Turned out the big surprise was him bringing two friends home so they could share me.”

He said it so flatly. It broke their hearts.

“My Sky,” Pai whispered. “My Sky.”

“It was never consensual after that, and it was rarely just him. The first time I had vaginal sex it wasn’t with him. I bled, but at least he also made them use condoms so there was no risk of a baby. Couldn’t have a kid ruining the merchandise,” he said, so matter of fact it was clear he was on the border of dissociating.

“Oh Sky,” Rain sobbed.

“It went on that way for about a year. I’ve blocked a lot of it out, but some of it I’ll never forget. It seemed strange to me that I rarely noticed the same people coming to our place twice. I knew he couldn’t possibly have that many friends interested in the sick game he was playing. Then I found out that he had been selling me to people at the races.”

Rain gasped and Phayu’s head snapped up, his dark eyes focusing intently on Sky’s face. “He was a racer?”

“A wannabe racer. He was never very good so he was only given a slot a couple of times. But people kept letting him come around because his family is rich.”

“What’s his name, Sky?” Prapai asked, his voice like steel.

He knew he’d have to tell them eventually; had avoided it as long as possible given their connections.

“Gun. His name is Gun.”

Prapai and Phayu shared a dark look.

“I never liked that bastard, but I never knew he was that bad. I’m so sorry Sky. If we had known..” Pai trailed off.

“We would have kicked his fucking ass, castrated him, and buried him where nobody would ever find him,” Phayu finished.

“Amen,” Rain said wetly.

“Wait, didn’t Gun disappear?” Prapai asked.

Sky couldn’t help the grim smile that came to his face when he thought about what had happened to his tormentor.

“I found out about Gun selling me the first time he took me to the races. We were walking along the outskirts of things and someone came up and asked how much it was for my pussy. Gun casually quoted him a price and I completely lost it. Something in me just shattered and before I knew it I had slapped him across the face. I was screaming at him and hitting him, and as you can imagine he wasn’t having any of it. He and his friend dragged me behind the transport trucks and he beat the shit out of me, without holding back. If P’Chai hadn’t gotten there late that day I really don’t know what would have happened.”

He had such a vivid memory of the intimidating man. How he’d yanked Gun off of him and thrown him to the guards.

“P’Chai saved me. He gave Gun and his friend to the guards and then asked me what he could do for me. I broke down sobbing and it all just came out. I don’t know what came over me but suddenly I was pouring out the entire story. I didn’t fully realize who I was telling, but I was only eighteen. I just knew that he was an adult who was not only listening to me but seemed to believe me. When I was finished he gave me a handkerchief, helped me up, and asked me who I wanted to meet me at the hospital because I would be going.”

“That sounds like P’Chai,” Phayu said, nuzzling against Sky’s shirt. “He can be scary as hell and he doesn’t tolerate injustice.”

Sky nodded. “That’s very much how it seemed. I contacted my two friends who had tried the hardest to help me. I knew they’d be thrilled to hear that I was finally done with Gun and would come to help me in a heartbeat. P’Chai drove me to meet them at the hospital and before he left he looked me straight in the eye and told me which emergency nurse to ask for and to give her P’Pakin’s name and no questions would be asked. He said to do that and he would make sure that I never had to worry about Gun and everyone else who had hurt me ever again. So that’s exactly what I did.”

“I’m so glad he found you,” Rain whispered.

“So am I, and so were my friends. They cried when they saw me, and then I cried and it was just a feedback loop of tears. They kept me at the hospital overnight and they refused to leave me alone, slept on the chairs in my room all curled up around each other. Turned out they’d gotten their shit together and gotten together. That’s how long it had been since I spent time with them. I didn’t even know.” He shook himself away from that thought. “Anyway, the next morning when we left the hospital P’Chai was waiting outside. He told me that I wouldn’t be seeing Gun or his friends again and that P’Pakin sent his most sincere apologies for what had been done to me under his watch. He paid for my entire hospital stay and P’Chai offered further compensation but I just wanted to move on and forget. He accepted that and we haven’t seen each other since.”

“So Gun….” Rain trailed off.

Sky shrugged. “I haven’t seen him or any of the other men who he let hurt me since that day. His family came looking for him but I just put on a show. Said he left me and I didn’t know where he was, which was half true. I can only assume P’Pakin made him disappear.”

Prapai brushed away tears and made a mental note to find out for sure. If not, there were things that could be done.

“I’m so sorry all that happened to you,” Phayu whispered, his tears soaking through Sky’s shirt. “I’m so, so sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Sky told him, running his hands through his hair again. “But now you know why I say I’m broken.”

Pai shook his head and reached out to brush a finger over his cheek. “You aren’t broken, Sky. You’ve been through things that nobody should ever have to experience and you came out on the other side. Maybe you didn’t come out exactly the same but you are stronger, and braver, and so, so amazing.”

“I love you even more knowing what you’ve survived,” Rain told him. “The fact that you’re here and you care for me, that you want us? That’s the most amazing thing.”

“You all really still want me? Even knowing…?”

Phayu unwound himself and sat up, wanting to be able to see Sky clearly.

“Of course we still want you. None of what happened to you changes that for any of us. Well, it will probably make us even more protective of you, but that’s about it. We just care that you’re healthy and happy.”

For the first time since he’d started to tell his story, a crack seemed to appear in his facade, and a tear made its way down his cheek.

“Can you really love me?” He asked shakily.

Prapai sat up as well, bringing Rain and Sky with him, and the alphas and omega all three wrapped him in their arms.

“We can,” Rain said firmly. “We can and we do.”

Chapter Text

All three of them wanted to court Sky properly, and that was exactly what they did. There were group dates, individual dates, lazy days at home with the baby, and lots of little gifts. They always kept Sky’s history in mind and tried to make sure that they weren’t overwhelming him or going overboard and reminding him of Gun’s love bombing. Pai in particular found himself holding back far more than he had with either Rain or Phayu. The man’s love language was spending exorbitant amounts of money and he frequently had to rein himself in.

It was only a month or so before Phayu and Prapai were fully head over heels and telling Sky how much they loved him. The first time Rain had grinned from ear to ear and kissed both of them soundly before exclaiming that they had finally gotten with the program.

None of them had really made the conscious decision to not have sex before they mated, but it somehow ended up that way. There wasn’t some big conversation, and there had definitely been some very satisfying encounters, but all four of them seemed to share some unspoken brainwave that everything else would be saved for the night they mated.

That day came just after Tempest’s first birthday. By then they had been courting for eight months, Sky had moved in, and all four of them felt comfortable enough for their daughter to stay the weekend with Saifah and Oat, who were considering pups of their own and were more than happy to take their adorable niece. So mama, papa, eomma and appa said goodbye to their little one and spent the weekend cementing their bond.

Sky and Rain exchanged their bites while Sky was inside him, the pair of them coming together first as Rain had been the one to find the beta and bring him into their lives. Once they were recovered, Phayu opened Sky up while Prapai ate him out and Rain played with his clit until he came screaming for a second time. Then Phayu and Pai slid inside him and made him come twice more before they added their bites with Rain’s. Sky was still shaking with aftershocks and clutching Rain’s hand when he bit each of the alphas in turn and their bonds were finally all complete.

That night they lost track of how many times they came together, and by the morning they were sated and happy in their nest. Phayu fed them all and Sky and Rain were still so exhausted that they immediately fell into a nap. It was when they woke up that they presented Sky with a ring that was custom made to match the ones the other three wore. It may have been true that the world still hadn’t caught up to legal marriages between more than two mates, but Rain, Prapai and Phayu had always considered themselves married and they wanted Sky to feel the same.

Two months later they were fully settled into their bond and their family, and Sky found himself working on a new design for work on a Saturday. He was a little stuck on the windows and wanted to ask Rain and Phayu’s opinions, so he tucked everything away for the day. He had promised his mates that he wouldn’t work for too long anyway.

After a good stretch, he headed downstairs into the uncharacteristic quiet. Phayu had to run to the garage to help Saifah with an issue and had dropped Rain and Tempest off for a visit with grandma on his way and Pai was in their home gym having a workout, so things were much calmer than normal. His stomach growled as he made his way to the kitchen and pulled out the ingredients for a simple stir fry for lunch.

He was admittedly zoning out a bit when Prapai wrapped his arms around him from behind and scared the living daylights out of him.

“P’Pai!” He exclaimed as he turned around enough to smack him on the shoulder. “You’re lucky I didn’t smack you with a hot pan!”

Pai nuzzled into his neck in apology. “I’m sorry, my Sky. It just smells so good in here. Are you baking something?”

Sky frowned even as he continued stirring. “No, I’m just making stir fry. Nothing sweet.”

“Hmm,” he rubbed his nose against his mate’s scent gland and let out a surprised noise. “It’s you!”

“Me? Sky turned around fully in his arms and cocked an eyebrow. “My scent is yuzu. How can I smell like dessert?”

Prapai wrinkled his nose briefly. “You still smell like yuzu, but right now it’s almost like someone added it to a crème brûlée. It’s sweeter and a little bit milky. Almost like….”

Sky watched as Prapai’s eyes widened and he went completely still. He was quiet for so long that it actually began to freak him out.

“P’Pai, are you okay? You’re worrying me.”

The alpha seemed to break from his reverie and gave Sky a brief hug. “I’m sorry. Something occurred to me, and I’m going to need you to hear me out and try not to freak out.”

“P’Pai?”

“Sky, there’s a reason the way you smell is familiar to me. You smell like Rain did when his scent first shifted while he was carrying Tempest.”

The spatula Sky had been holding fell from his suddenly boneless hand to clatter to the floor. Suddenly he was leaning hard against Prapai as his knees went a bit weak when his words really sunk in. He smelled like Rain had. He smelled like Rain had when he was PREGNANT.

Prapai reached around behind him to remove the pan from the burner and turn off the heat before guiding Sky to sit in one of the dining room chairs and dropping to his knees in front of him.

“My Sky? Are you okay?” he asked, seeming a bit panicked. “Do you need to put your head between your knees?”

Sky let out a strangled laugh and patted his mate’s cheek consolingly. “No, P’Pai. I don’t feel like I’m going to pass out; I’m just surprised. Really, really surprised.” He felt like his brain was going ninety miles a minute. “I really smell like Rain?”

Prapai smiled up at him. “You really, really do. If you’d like, there are tests upstairs in the bathroom. Rain has always kept them around so I’m guessing there’s at least one in date. Or if you want to set it to the side for a while, or until Yu and Rain get home, we can do that to. It’s all up to you, baby.”

“Baby,” Sky whispered; the endearment hitting so differently in that moment. “I think I’d like to know sooner rather than later. But wouldn’t it be selfish not to wait for the others?”

“Hey,” he soothed, rubbing a comforting hand up and down Sky’s thigh. “This is all about you and your body and a big thing that may be happening to it. You get to decide. Phayu and Rain will feel the same.”

Sky took a deep breath and nodded. He knew that, he really did. It was just that sometimes his brain got stuck back in old memories and patterns and made him forget, however briefly, that he had the best partners in the world.

“Okay. Let’s go take a test.”

They made their way upstairs and found four tests that were still well in date. Sky absolutely refused for Pai to be a part of all of the process and kicked the alpha out so he could pee. Once his hands stopped shaking enough for him to take care of things without making a huge mess, he washed his hands before leaving the tests sitting on the counter and making his way out to his mate.

Prapai was sitting on the corner of the bed and when he spotted the beta he immediately reached his arms out. “Come lay in the nest with me while we wait?”

Sky all but flew into his arms and the pair of them tumbled into the nest where Pai wrapped him up in his arms as they snuggled against the pillows.

“How are you feeling about all of this?” He asked.

It took Sky a moment to gather his thoughts before he spoke, but when he did it was with a slight tremor in his voice.

“I’ve always wanted children,” he said quietly. “From the time I was little I knew that I wanted a family; but as I’ve gotten older I’ve realized that one of the things that I really let people get in my head about was the fact that it’s hard for betas to conceive. Growing up I heard all the time how difficult it was, and then with Gun…”

Prapai almost growled at the mention of the man but Sky just ran a soothing hand up his back.

“I know, I hate talking about him too but it’s an important part of my thought process. I promise I wouldn’t bring him up if it wasn’t necessary to explain what I’m feeling.”

“I know you wouldn’t,” he grumbled. “Doesn’t stop me from wishing I could resurrect the man just to rip his windpipe out and shove it up his own ass.”

Sky snorted and kissed Pai’s neck. “Very colorful, sweetheart. Anyway, once Gun let all the pretenses drop he always made it perfectly clear to me that he didn’t see me as worthy of ever carrying his pup. It was why he almost always used my ass and always wore condoms when he didn’t. He told me over and over again that I was weak and wasn’t fit to be a mother. Then he would add in the dig that I was just a beta so it wasn’t like it was likely to happen anyway. It was hard not to take that to heart, and all of that combined with how a lot of society views betas and how much the world emphasizes the difficulty of it all for us, it really seemed like I would never get the chance.”

Prapai sighed into Sky’s hair. “My Sky, I understand why you’ve felt that way. I would never tell you that your feelings are invalid or you shouldn’t feel something. What I will remind you of is that everyone is different. Yes, some betas struggle to get pregnant and it never happens for them. But equally, some conceive surprisingly quickly and it’s not nearly as difficult. Bodies are weird, secondary genders are weird. It all just depends on the individual.”

“Thank you for the reminder. I logically really do know that. It’s just hard to remember that sometimes when it’s what I’ve heard for so long. I guess right now I just can’t believe it could have happened so fast even though I logically know we haven’t been trying to prevent it.”

Pai grinned down at him. “Baby, the weekend we mated we all had a lot of sex. Like, just so much sex. And we’ve been surprisingly active in that department ever since, especially considering we have a one year old. I’m honestly not all that surprised that it may have taken.”

Sky couldn’t help the flush that rose high on his cheeks as he was reminded of their very active sex lives. “Yes, well.”

His mate took pity on him and changed the subject with a soft smile. “But you would be happy? If the tests are positive?”

“I would be ecstatic. I knew the moment we got together that I wanted to have our babies and be a mama right alongside Rain. I’m more scared of it being negative.”

He squeezed him gently. “If it is, we’ll just keep on trying. No matter what the outcome, we love you whole heartedly. All three of us.”

“Bad brain day?”

Rain’s voice sounded from the doorway and both Prapai and Sky about jumped out of their skin.

“I’m sorry!” their omega cried. “We were really quiet when we came in because I wanted to transfer Tempest for her nap without waking her up.”

“We didn’t mean to startle you,” Phayu added from behind him.

Sky chuckled. “It’s okay, we were just a little distracted, that’s all.”

Rain made his way across the room and climbed into the nest, kneeling next to his mates. “You two aren’t usually cuddling in the nest in the middle of the day, even on the weekend. Are you both okay?”

“We’re great, actually,” Sky reassured him. He sat up and looked down at Pai. “Would you?”

“Of course.” He wiggled his way out from behind him and stood to go retrieve the tests; but not before he bent to kiss Sky’s temple and whisper just for him. “I won’t look. We can all do it together.”

Phayu’s brow furrowed as he settled in next to Rain in the nest. “You’re really both okay?”

“We are, I promise. You two actually have pretty perfect timing.”

“What’s going…..on?” Phayu’s breathing hitched before the last word as he saw Pai exit their bathroom with four tests in his hand. “Those are….”

“Those are pregnancy tests,” Rain breathed out, turning his wide eyes to his beta mate. “Sky, are you?”

He smiled over at his beautiful omega mate. “We don’t know for sure. P’Pai said my scent had changed and it reminded him of when you were pregnant with Tempest.”

Phayu leaned forward and sniffed delicately at Sky’s scent gland before pulling back with a smile. “You do. It’s like some sort of yuzu cream cake.”

“I went with crème brûlée,” Pai chimed in.

Rain leaned forward as well and breathed in Sky’s scent. “Oh Sky. You really do smell different!”

“I do,” he agreed. “And if we’re all ready I think what P’Pai has in his hands can tell us whether or not it means what we think it does.”

“I’m ready! Rain exclaimed.

Phayu laughed at their omega’s excitement and leaned forward again to press a kiss to Sky’s cheek. “And you, sweetheart?”

Sky nodded and turned his head to buss Phayu’s lips. “Ready. P’Pai?”

The alpha nodded and sat down in the best, forming a loose circle just like they had all those months ago when they had confessed their feelings. “Ready.”

He handed a test to Sky, kept one in his hands, and passed the other two over to Rain and Phayu.

Sky was struck with how perfectly it had worked out, with a test for each of them. It hadn’t even been on his mind when he’d taken them since he’d had no idea that Rain and Phayu would be home for this. But there being four of them seemed like the universe lining things up perfectly for them.

“On three?”

The others nodded and it seemed as if there was a collective deep breath before Sky started counting.

“One, two, three.”

Sky slipped his test over and tears flooded his eyes as he gazed down. He couldn’t seem to form words in the moment, and for a second the nasty part of his brain whispered ‘false positive’. Then he heard Rain’s shaky whisper.

“Pregnant.”

Prapai looked up from his and showed it to all of them with a grin. “I’ve got a plus sign.”

“Two lines,” Phayu said with a wet chuckle and tears in his eyes. “That’s another yes.”

“Positive,” Sky chimed in. “Holy shit, they’re all positive.”

“You’re gonna have a baby!” Rain yelled, throwing himself into Sky’s arms.

Sky giggled as he caught his mate and rocked back and forth with him excitedly. “We are,” he corrected.

The omega pulled back so he could cradle Sky’s face in his hands and kiss him soundly. “You get to be a mama,” he whispered.

His tears finally broke through at the reminder, and he pressed another kiss to Rain’s mouth. “I get to be a mama.”

Rain gave him one last squeeze before gently directing him into Prapai’s arms where the alpha wrapped him up and buried his face against the beta’s neck.

“Thank you, my Sky. Thank you for giving us this gift.”

“Thank you for loving me and for giving me this chance.”

The pair of them pulled apart and found Rain grinning cheekily at their other alpha.

“Are you going to pass out again P’Phayu? Do you need to lie down?”

“You’re teasing,” he said weakly. “But it might not be a bad idea.”

“P’Phayu!” Sky leapt into action and guided him down to the pillows before curling into his side, head on his shoulder. “Are you okay?”

He nodded and wrapped his arms around his mate. His pregnant mate. Just the thought made joy course through him.

“I’m better than okay. I’m so happy, Sky”

“Me too,” he whispered.

It wasn’t long before Pai and Rain joined their little cuddle puddle, and having them all around him made Sky feel content and loved.

“Our little force of nature is going to be a big sister,” Pai said.

“Oh my God, Tempest! We’ve been calling me mama! She’s not really talking yet. Sky, we can see if we can switch so I can be eomma and you can be mama. You’ve always wanted to be mama.”

Sky laughed and reached out to squeeze Rain’s hand. “I’m perfectly okay with being eomma, Rain. I’ve always wanted to be a mama but I don’t need to be called that. I’ve been Tempest’s eomma ever since we got together and I’d love nothing more than to be the same for this baby.”

“Are you sure?”

“I’m positive.” He stifled a yawn. “All of this excitement has worn me out though.”

Phayu ran a soothing hand through his hair. “Nap then. All of you if you want. I’m not tired so I’ll keep an ear out for the baby.”

“You don’t have to force me,” Rain agreed with a yawn as he snuggled against Pai’s back.

“Me either,” Prapai agreed.

They all went quiet, and before long Rain was quietly snoring. Sky was starting to drift off, soothed by Phayu’s hand in his hair and Pai’s arms around his waist. He was just about to drop off and the last thing he heard before he slept was Pai’s voice.

“Sleep, my Sky. Eomma needs his rest.”