EXTRA 5

**One year later.**

Dominic had tried to approach Luciano for months. He tried his best to support his best friend, but after a while, he understood that the King needed some time on his own.

Seth had gotten better and after she found out what had happened, she decided that they would try for the last time.

Everyone understood why she felt like giving up. After so many failures, anyone could feel discouraged and lost.

The only thing Dominic really wanted was to get back the dynamics they enjoyed over a year ago. All of them, together and united as one.

It wasn’t only Luciano who had grown distant. Seth wasn’t her usual self either. As for Ryder and Vlad - those two threw themselves in work, ensuring they left the castle before the sunrise and returned after everyone had fallen asleep.

Dominic couldn’t remember the last time when they all had had dinner together, let alone slept in one bed.

These days the Alphas, the King and Seth, all of them had separate bedrooms with locks to keep each other out of them.

Their life had turned into a mundane cycle with no happiness at all.

Dominic had thought that after figuring out what was happening, why they kept losing babies and finally, freeing nature, their life would turn back to normal again, but in reality, it was far from it.

And now, as he sat next to the river and watched the sunset, he reminisced in the memories of the good old days. Perhaps his idea of happiness was so unreal it wouldn’t happen after all.

Tears filled his eyes as he considered the possibilities of their future. All of them had claimed Seth as theirs, but it didn’t feel like she truly needed them anymore.
What if fighting for her was a mistake after all? What if Luciano was the only one she needed?

But didn't it make sense these days? Dominic didn’t want to let his mind wander that far, but he couldn’t help it either. Seth found comfort only near Luciano. He was the only one who had held her hand, kissed her, slept next to her, and held Seth when she needed it.

Dominic felt like a backup plan. His presence wasn’t needed anymore, and deep down, he knew Ryder and Vlad felt the same.

“Fuck this,” he hissed, rubbing his eyes to rid himself of the unwanted tears. Dominic wasn’t a child anymore, he knew crying wouldn’t change anything.

As Dominic jumped to his feet, he wanted to scream at the world, to curse fate and attack someone for his misery, but even his voice didn’t stand on his side. Was it really too much to ask to be happy? To become a family again?

While Dominic grew more restless and desperate, he even thought of leaving. Maybe it really was about time for him to turn his back on everyone? Why was he supposed to stick around while he clearly wasn’t wanted or needed?

He had promised to stay by Seth’s side for better and worse, but their better had lasted only a while and worse had been dragging out. Besides, how was it fair that he upheld his part of the bargain and she didn’t?

Dominic didn’t want to blame Seth, he really didn’t, but he couldn’t help it anymore. He had waited for over a year and she still refused to acknowledge that she wasn’t the only one who was suffering.

How would Seth feel if she was pushed out like she pushed out the Alphas? How would she feel if she saw someone enter her loved ones bedroom while she was kept out like some disease?

“You’re thinking about it,” Vlad’s voice startled Dominic.

He spun on his heel to question Vlad, but stopped the question as he noticed that Vlad wasn’t alone. Ryder and Luciano stood by his side.

Dominic opened and closed his mouth. No question, no answer felt like it belonged when all of them stood before him. Instead, he just looked away and nodded.

Once again, tears filled his eyes. Dominic felt like he had failed, like he had broken every promise he had given even though he did everything in his power to make them all happy.

“Maybe you should try to talk to her? She’s getting better, Seth is talking to me and Vlad, we even stept together yesterday,” Ryder added.

Dominic knew he was supposed to feel happy for his friends, but the words were like a knife, aimed straight to his heart. His bottom lip trembled as he gritted his teeth and looked at his friends, letting the tears loose.

“Should I go beg her? Should I drop to my knees and beg for her forgiveness? For what? For the fact that we are hurting as much as she is? For the fact that she decided to act as if it is our fault? I didn’t cause the miscarriages! I didn’t do anything to deserve the treatment she is giving me! I was the one who insisted we need to fix everything! I fought for her and she just tossed me away like a fucking trash! I’m happy you two got to enjoy the night in her bed, I’m really fucking happy, but don’t count me in. Don’t. I will figure out how to rid your woman of my mark, but I’m out. I was thinking about leaving, yes, but now, I’m sure I need to leave before her selfishness destroys me. I have done nothing but love her, fought for her, and Seth, yeah, she looks at me like I am the cause of her problems. Like I destroyed her life. Tell me how is it fair that I’m the only one blamed for what I didn’t do? How is it fucking fair that you get your ‘happy ever after’ and I don’t?” Dominic screamed at the top of his lungs.

At this point, his body started shaking in anger, tears streamed down his cheeks and left ugly marks behind them. Dominic couldn’t control his emotions, he couldn’t hide the pain anymore. And honestly, he was done with holding it all in. Everyone knew there would be a day when one of them would break down, and the day had come.

Luciano rushed to Dominic and wrapped his arms around his best friend. Although Dominic tried to push him away, the King refused to release him. “Cry it out Dom, it’s stupid, but you’ll feel better. Let it all out, I’m here. I promise I won’t leave you again. Ever.”

The words were just a whisper, but the promise held so many emotions, Dominic gave in. He rested his head on Luciano’s shoulder and cried like he had never cried before.

After a while, Vlad and Ryder stood next to them and threw their arms around them too. All four men stood hugging for what seemed hours. At one point, all of them were crying and shouting out their pain.

It wasn’t only about Dominic. They all were hurt, for the same reason, but Dom was the only one who had bottled up his emotions to the point he couldn’t tell right from wrong anymore.

Even as the sun finally disappeared and the only source of light was the moon, the men still stood holding each other until neither had tears left to cry.

Once Dominic calmed down, he was hit by an insane wave of guilt. The things he had said - he didn’t mean them. It was his anger speaking, not his mind, and although he was clearly trying to push them all away, the opposite had happened.

How badly he had hurt his closest people? How was he to ask for their forgiveness now that he had pushed the wrong narrative on them?

Just as Dominic parted his lips to apologize, the moment was interrupted by someone, clearing their throat. The men separated and glared at one of the guards, who looked more than uncomfortable. “I-I, I’m sorry to disturb, but the Queen asked for the King and her Alphas to join her in the bedroom. She would have come here herself, but since the King said she isn’t to leave the castle without any of you with her, she sent some guards to look for you,” he explained as he brought his hand to the back of his neck and scratched it nervously.

All four of them exchanged glances while Luciano told the guard they would join the Queen soon so he could leave. When he left, they hugged again and agreed to go to Seth together.

Whatever had happened, whatever was the reason she suddenly needed all of them, Dominic realized that he too needed her as much as his closest friends did. They had started this together and no amount of bottled up emotions would stop him from trying getting close to her again.

After all, they had promised each other to build a family together. Kids or no kids at all, it didn’t matter - they were a family already. For better and worse.

After all, nobody had told them that life would be a fairytale, if they wanted one, they had to write it - together.

Seth sat on the bed, silently preparing herself for the conversation that had to come. Her nerves and emotions were all over the place.

Today, she had spent hours watching a family from her bedroom window. She couldn’t tear her eyes away from the adults and their children, running through the garden, laughing and showing affection to each other.

The longer she watched, the heavier became the feeling in her heart. All it took was for her to watch how the man had kissed his beloved for Seth to realize she had made a massive mistake with her lovers.

For the past year, she had tried to heal at the expense of those she loved the most. At the expense of men, who were willing to go above and beyond for her, and proved that times and times again.

Luciano, Dominic, Vlad and Ryder - they loved her more than they loved life itself and Seth had taken it for granted.

She knew that all men had the right to reject her. They had the right to spit in her face and be done for her for good. After how she had treated them, Seth herself would react just like that.

But deep down, she held a hope she could fix it all.

Seth had no chance of fixing what she had broken in a matter of minutes, but she was determined to do anything in her power to earn their forgiveness. She should have done it ages ago, but she let her grief and pain overshadow logical thinking.

Whatever were the consequences, she was ready. Or so she hoped.

When she heard the footsteps getting closer to her bedroom, Seth wasn’t as sure if she could do it anymore. It was easy to convince herself when her men were away, but as the moment of facing them came closer, she felt the fear creep in.

The bedroom door flew open and Seth instantly felt like her heart had stopped.

Dominic was the first one to enter the bedroom, after him came Luciano, and then, Vlad and Ryder. Her breath hitched as her eyes scanned the sorrow, tear-stained faces.

“I did it,” she muttered, slowly standing up from the bed. “I broke my strong Alphas.”

The words had such an effect on all of them, Seth realized that she was crying only after she noticed new tears stream down the faces of her lovers.

Seth felt as if someone had grabbed her heart in a claw and kept squeezing it.

“I know this means nothing, but I’m sorry. I’m so sorry,” Seth sobbed.

Her knees felt like jelly, she could collapse before them any moment, and perhaps she had to. Maybe if she did fall to her knees, they would understand how much she regretted what she had done?

“Are you kidding me? It means everything, doll, all we wanted was to have the old you back. The real you, not the shell of a person you became,” Dominic spoke as he approached Seth and threw his arms around her.

Out of all of them, Dominic looked the worst, so it surprised Seth to hear his voice first. Luciano had always been the one to jump in whenever she needed it, but now it felt like the one person she had hurt the most was the person who stood the closest.

“I shouldn’t have let my grief and pain guide me. By doing that, I pushed all of you away, I let it take over my life and in turn, it hurt you. I never wanted to hurt you. I’ve been too weak to deal with my own issues, so I ignored everything that was happening around me, I ignored the pain in your eyes and kept acting like a victim. We drifted apart and it’s because of me,” Seth kept pushing.

She had thought of what she would tell them, but when they finally were next to Seth, she struggled to remember a word from her speech. In fact, she struggled to make sense of the words she was saying herself.

Seth closed her eyes and held her breath, silently preparing herself for the possible rejection. After how she had treated them all, she had to accept that the same favor could be returned, twice as hard.

“We aren’t blaming you. Heck, even Dom had an emotional moment just minutes ago, but he’s still here, fighting for you. We all are,” Luciano spoke up. Vlad and Ryder instantly agreed with his words.

As Seth opened her eyes and looked at the men before her, she started bawling - ugly crying with snot and hiccups.

A few words were enough to slap the sense in her. A moment with all of them together was proof that they did fit together perfectly, and she had almost lost it all.

Seth decided right then that she would seek therapy to learn how to deal with the issues created by her mind, rather than keep running away from them. She had run for her entire life, and now that she had four men to anchor her, she didn’t need running anymore.

She sucked in a deep breath and tried to stop the tears as she had another thing to come clean about. It could make or break their family, but the risk had to be worth it. Or at least that was what she thought.

“Could you all please sit down? I have something to tell you, but I need all your eyes on me and full attention for that. Would that be possible?” Seth held her voice steady even though she felt like her insides were about to blow up.

As Luciano sat on the bed, her heart started hammering in her chest so loud, all of them heard it. Before Dominic sat next to Luciano, he quietly questioned Seth if she felt okay. As soon as she told him she did, Dominic pulled away from her, rather reluctantly.

Vlad and Ryder stood aside for a brief moment, as always, using their weird wordless language to communicate. Seconds dragged like years for Seth as she looked at both men until they nodded and sat on the bed.

“We’re all ears, doll. Whatever it is, we’re in it with you. Right, guys?” Dominic grinned.

All of the men nodded eagerly, clearly excited to hear whatever the news might be. While they were in a rather good mood, Seth still feared that what she was about to say could ruin it all.

They were back together, actually together for a couple of minutes and she was about to throw such weight on their shoulders. Was this the moment for her to speak or maybe she should wait for a couple of days and see how it went?

“Don’t do that. Stop overthinking, love. We’re waiting on you and I can assure you that neither of us will let you leave the bedroom before you come clean with us,” Vlad spoke to encourage Seth.

In any other situation Seth would be grateful, but she was so scared she felt like those words made the situation way worse. She didn’t want to be locked in the bedroom with no way out.

“Whatever it is, we will take on it together,” Ryder added in the final push.

“Okay, listen,” Seth whispered, sucked in a deep breath and held it.

Not a word left her lips, which made all of the men visibly uneasy. Luciano tried to get up from his seat but Seth just shook her head and still held her breath. They had to hear…

“I don’t get it,” Ryder muttered.

Groaning, Seth closed her eyes and muttered. “Listen carefully. You hear my heartbeat, you hear yours, but what else do you hear?” She repeated the same - sucking in a breath and then holding it.

As if on cue, Dominic slid out of the bed and dropped to his knees right in front of Seth. He grabbed her hips and pulled her closer, “you’re pregnant. You’re finally pregnant!”