***
PROLOGUE:
Somewhere in the southern part of California, thirty-one years ago…
*
“It’s a boy.” The elderly woman smiled. “Just as was predicted.”
The baby let out an angry cry and kicked its tiny legs with such force the old woman almost dropped it.
“So strong.” She giggled, tightening her hold on the baby. But her delighted giggles turned into a gasp of horror when the baby’s eyes suddenly turned bloody red. “Oh, Great Luna!” Mama Meg turned as white as sheet.
The two attendants looking on turned to run out of the room just as one of the curtains burst into flames. The baby kept crying angrily.
“Give him to me Mama Meg.” The obviously tired mother instructed urgently. “Quick.”
She stretched out her arms and took her baby from the terrified old woman. Then she tenderly placed the screaming baby on her chest, noting the contrast between her own dark skin and her baby’s slightly lighter colour. He was the most beautiful baby she’d ever laid eyes on. The proud mother began to sing softly to soothe her screaming baby. But for the seriousness of the current situation, she would have laughed out loud when it dawned on her that her baby had actually taken more of her colour than her husband’s. She couldn’t wait to see the look on her husband’s face when she demanded her prize for winning the bet. She also couldn’t wait to see the real eye colour of her baby. Was it going to be the intense deep blue eyes his father had or dark amber like hers?
The proud mother didn’t even look up when her husband, the Alpha burst into the room. She kept singing. And as she sang, the baby’s cries gradually died down and to the shock of the others in the room, so did the curtain that had caught fire. Well, it was virtually burnt but at least the fire had gone out…by itself.
“He’s an Ojah.” Mama Meg gasped, her whole body trembling.
“Darling, are you okay?” The giant of an Alpha asked his beautiful wife.
Gloria, the head warrior and queen of the Stanwood Pack lifted eyes filled with pride, joy, and mirth to her anxious-looking husband and gave him a slow wink. “What do you think?” She breathed. “Come meet your son.”
Alpha Stanton grinned and sat beside his wife on the bed. They both stared at the sleeping baby, ignoring the almost frenzied prayers being whispered by Mama Meg. The elderly woman was terrified and rightly so. After all, they had in their midst an Ojah who could raze a whole community to the ground with just a snap of his finger. What made their situation even worse was the fact that their son was a mere baby and therefore had no control over his power. The Alpha and his queen knew they had a lot of work to do.
“He can’t be Alpha.” The old lady chanted. “An Ojah can’t rule. He’ll kill everyone. We are doomed. An alpha has to be tolerant. But it’s not in an Ojah’s nature to be tolerant.” Mama Meg was shaking so much she looked as though she had a seizure. That was the extent of her terror. “Everyone will perish at his hands. This has never happened before. We…”
“Calm down Mama Meg.” The alpha finally turned to look at the frightened woman. “I know something like this has never happened before but let’s consider the other possibilities. Wouldn’t his being an alpha rather control his Ojah side? And wouldn’t being an Ojah rather be an advantage to an alpha…help him protect his people even better? Think about it. Now, why don’t you go and gather the elders for an emergency meeting, Mama Meg?” The Alpha said gently, turning back to look at his sleeping son. “I’ll clean them up myself. Tell the elders I’ll join you immediately after I’m done here.”
The woman fled the room as if the hounds of hell were after her. And even as she hastened to do the bidding of her Alpha, she couldn’t help but feel the surge of power in the air…the power emanating from that little baby. She had faith in the Alpha and the queen to keep the pack safe, but she also couldn’t help but feel their lives were in danger. She prayed the couple and the elders would be able to contain all that power and keep them out of harm’s way.
“Merciful Luna, have mercy on us.” She prayed as she broke into a run.
And back in the room, the alpha and his wife couldn’t keep their eyes off their bundle of joy. To them, he was perfect.
“He’s going to be the most powerful alpha.” The queen muttered.
“I know.” The alpha grinned.
***
At the same moment…in the remote town of Pierre Part, Louisiana…
*
A doctor and three nurses stared at a newborn baby boy. The thoughts running through the head of each person was, ‘am I seeing right?’
“Is something wrong with my baby?” The exhausted mother asked in a tired voice.
All four pairs of eyes turned in her direction for not more than a second. Then each pair was back on the baby. It was a staggeringly beautiful baby. Its angelic face and the full crop of pure white hair on its head made it look almost ethereal. But what arrested the attention of the doctor and nurses was not the beauty of the baby. It was what was between its legs… The beautiful baby had two dicks.
“Will someone please say something?” The mother’s raised voice caused the stunned doctor to finally turn to focus on her.
“Ms. Hicks I don’t know how to say this but…err…your baby…you have a boy.”
“And what is strange about that?” The mother asked with a raised brow. “I already knew it was going to be a boy, remember?” The scan had already revealed she was having a boy so Emma Hicks knew her baby was a boy.
“Well, your son has a…a…he has a condition.” The doctor said, turning his eyes back onto the baby.
“Condition? What kind of condition?” The alarmed mother’s eyes widened with dread as she moved to sit up.
“A deformity.” The doctor couldn’t mask the confused shock in his voice. He turned his eye back onto the mother and groaned.
“No you don’t have to…” He started to say but the mother ignored him and sat up.
“Please give me my baby,” Emma demanded shakily. She just wanted to hold her son. “I want to hold him.” She silently prayed that whatever deformity her son had was not life-threatening.
The nurse who held the baby in her arms gently placed it in Emma’s arms. Whilst they all stood back to witness Emma’s first reaction to her son’s weird body part, the doctor went to the phone in the corner and started dialing.
Emma looked at her son’s face and gave a tremulous smile. “He’s beautiful.”
Then she started checking his fingers to make sure he had ten, looked on his chest and saw the tiny nipples, went further down and touched his umbilical cord stump, and then she moved her eyes lower to his groin and froze. Emma stared at the two tiny dicks for a moment and then continued with her inspection as though she hadn’t just seen the weirdest thing ever.
“…Yes come immediately.” Emma heard the doctor talking to someone on the phone. “We’ll be waiting. No, I haven’t taken any pictures yet. Okay, I’ll do that but hurry.” He hung up.
“Who was that on the phone?” Emma asked quietly.
“That’s a specialist.” The doctor responded. “I called him to come and check your son out.”
“Really? I didn’t know you had specialists in this part of the country. No one is poking my son. He’s no E.T. I…”
“You watch too many movies, Ms. Hicks,” The doctor gave a nervous laugh. “We’re not going to harm him.”
“How long will it take for the specialist to get here?”
“He’s going to fly in from New York. He’ll be here in about three hours. Now, why don’t you allow Nurse Sarah to clean the baby and put some clothes on him?” The doctor smiled. “You need your rest.”
“I’m fine. Can I breastfeed him when she’s done?”
“Sure.” The doctor nodded.
“Okay.” Emma smiled. “Need to use the bathroom. I want to clean up before I feed him.” She said as she allowed the nurse to take the baby.
Emma slowly got off the bed and went to the bathroom. Her tears mingled with the water as she showered. She’d seen how those people had looked at her son. She’d seen amusement on one face and disgust on some. Emma knew that a male with two penises was strange and she didn’t know why her son had it but she sure as hell wasn’t going to allow anyone to make her feel as though her son was any less of a human being. She was a strong woman. Had to be strong as she’d never had anyone to look out for her. And she was going to make sure that no one had the chance to make her son feel bad about himself. Her son was special and she was going to protect him from the cruel world they lived in.
When the nurses came back into the room an hour later to check up on mother and son, they found an empty room.
Emma Hicks had disappeared with her son.