by J. M. Snyder
Someone knocked on the door and called through it, “It’s Mindy, your RN.”
David tried to tell her to come in but couldn’t speak loud enough, so Uncle Ed did it for him.
Mindy checked the IV which was hydrating him, along with blood pressure and pulse. “Your recovery is coming along nicely,” she said. “Is there anything I can get you before bed?”
“Another pudding,” he decided.
“Coming right up.”
Jake was wheeled in by a beta couple, presumably his parents. “Mom, I’m fine. You heard, it’s just a couple weeks on crutches.”
“But…”
“I know you’ve been worried, but I’m okay. My knee isn’t the bigger issue here and I really need to think.”
“Alright,” said Jake’s dad. “Call us tomorrow, okay?”
“I will.”
By the time Jake was in his bed and his parents left, Mindy was back with David’s pudding and another juice. She took Jake’s presence in stride, asking if he needed anything. When he said he didn’t, she looked at them for a moment before saying, “I’m sure you have a lot to talk about, but you both need rest. David needs it desperately. So please try to put the conversation on hold, get some sleep, and talk in the morning. We’ll have a social worker in for you first thing.”
How he was supposed to sleep with all the questions rattling around his head, David didn’t know. Uncle Ed must’ve felt the same way because after Mindy left he cleared his throat and said, “Despite what she said, I think the three of us would feel better if you’d let us ask a couple questions.”
“Okay,” agreed Jake.
“Would you consider claiming David, if it’s what he wants and we approve?”
“Yes,” replied Jake after a moment. “This has thrown me for a loop big time, but yeah, I’ll definitely consider it.”
David asked, “What kind of alpha are you?”
“I’m not quite sure what you mean.”
“How would you treat me, if you did claim me?”
“Um, like an alpha is supposed to? I’d protect you and take good care of you.”
“You wouldn’t mistreat him or expect complete subservience?” asked Aunt Julie.
“Of course not.” Jake sounded insulted that they even asked.
David reminded himself not to let a couple good answers build his hopes up too much. Yes, it was a good start, but it was only the beginning.
“Thank you,” said Aunt Julie. “We’ll let you sleep now.” She probably decided that when Jake yawned. Then she gave David another hug. “Get some sleep, okay? We’ll be here all night.”
“You’re going to sleep in the chairs?”
“You’re safe,” answered Uncle Ed. “It’ll be the best night’s sleep we’ve had in two weeks.”
Despite all the thoughts, fears, and questions he had racing through his brain, David was so exhausted, he fell asleep easily.
* * * *
Eleven hours of sleep did David a lot of good. So did breakfast; instead of hospital food he ate homemade French toast which his cousin Roxanne had dropped off while he was sleeping. He savored the meal, partly because it was delicious and partly to avoid the awkward silence. Jake focused on his own food as well.
As promised, a social worker arrived early. In fact David hadn’t quite finished his breakfast, or at least he would’ve kept eating if the social worker’s arrival hadn’t caused him to lose all interest in food.
“I’m Amanda, and I’ve been assigned to help you process the unusual circumstances you’ve found yourselves in,” she began, pulling a chair over between the two beds. “Let’s start with introductions.”
“Jake Nelson.”
“Julie Rowan and my husband Ed.”
Amanda shook their hands. “You’re David’s guardians, correct?”
“His aunt and uncle, yes.”
Finally she got to him. Save the omega for last, of course. Like his aunt and uncle—and for that matter most of the human population - Amanda was a beta. He hoped she was a compassionate one or she’d only make the whole mess worse.
“Have you spoken about your options yet?” asked Amanda, taking a seat.
Jake was the first to speak. “Not much beyond establishing that I’ll consider claiming David if he wants and I’m not an abusive bastard.”
“Okay, that’s good. We’ll get to that in a little bit. Right now I think both of you should introduce yourselves. Jake, why don’t you start with the basics: age, career, education, family.” These were all things a prospective alpha suitor would be asked when being considered for an omega.
“I’m thirty and I teach high school physics.”
Interesting. Teaching was mostly the domain of betas. A few alphas went into it but not so many it was common.
“I graduated from West Point.”
Now that was a much more typical alpha path. Still, his second career was teaching and David appreciated the willingness to go beyond a stereotypical alpha life.
“My military career was cut short after the incident that busted my knee. It’s not usually this bad, but I took a kick to it yesterday. Usually I can walk alright. Lost a little bit of peripheral vision in my left eye but it doesn’t stop me from doing anything.”
So Jake had two injuries on the left side of his body and still made taking out their kidnappers look easy. That was impressive. David wanted to know, “What did you do in the military?”
“Special forces. Rescue missions.”
“And your family?” prompted Amanda when no one else said anything.
“I’m an only child. Mom and Dad live in Oak Grove. Oh yeah, they’re buying me a house.”
“Just like that?” asked Aunt Julie.
“They won a smallish lottery. That’s why I was picked to kidnap for ransom.”
It made sense. Roger probably wanted to use the ransom money to disappear with David.
So far everything Jake had shared was fine, David supposed. Most often prospective alphas were expected to be in great physical shape so they could protect their omega, but Jake had already demonstrated he could do a fine job of that even with a bad knee. A respectable career and the pending ownership of a mortgage-free house were also good.
Amanda moved the conversation on. “Interests and hobbies?”
“I’m a baseball fan. Major League gets all the attention but I prefer going to Osprey games.”
Before David could ask Aunt Julie beat him to it. “Osprey?”
“The farm team,” answered Uncle Ed. “Remember when Roxanne went to a birthday party for one of their games?”
“Other hobbies,” continued Jake, “include weekly low-stakes poker nights with a few other teachers during the school year, swimming, and dabbling in amateur astronomy when I have the time.”
“Excellent start, Jake, thank you. David, can you tell us a little bit about yourself?” asked Amanda.
“I’m eighteen,” he started, because that was an easy one. “I finished high school.” While the rise of online schooling made it more common that was still not usual for omegas. The tradition from time immemorial was that an omega was paired off with an alpha once they reached maturity. He considered himself fortunate to have an aunt and an uncle who encouraged him to complete his high school education and wait until he was eighteen before looking for an alpha.
“I’m an only child, too, but my cousins are sort of like two older sisters. My parents died in a car accident when I was ten and I’ve been with Aunt Julie and Uncle Ed since. I love reading and writing my own stories, I’m the Scrabble champion of the family, and since I’ve been staying inside most of the last year and a half I took up 3D puzzles and learning German.”
“Excellent,” said Amanda. “Now let’s consider some specifics. Jake, what would you look for in a relationship with an omega?”
“Can’t say I’ve given it a lot of thought. It’d be nice to be with someone who likes to cook, I guess.”
“I cook,” replied
David. When leaving the house was a production, you had a lot of time to cook. “I’m not as into baking though.”
“Anything else come to mind?” Amanda asked Jake.
“Just that I teach at a public school. I’m never going to be rich and anyone I’m in a relationship with would have to be okay with that.”
Omegas were rare enough that some would insist on a certain income level, what David considered a gilded cage. He didn’t care about wealth, so long as there was sufficient income to live on. He didn’t know exactly what public school teachers made, but without a mortgage payment he imagined it would be enough. Jake might receive military benefits as well.
Amanda turned to David. “What are you looking for in an alpha?”
“I don’t care about being rich. I want an alpha who treats me well, who understands that being an omega doesn’t preclude having a brain. I’m nowhere near as meek and subservient as society seems to think an omega ought to be, so I don’t want an alpha who thinks his word is law. I don’t want an alpha who thinks I’m all his and therefore should forget about my family. I want a say in making major decisions. For instance, I definitely don’t want children the first year.”
Now that he’d bonded with Jake, David was bound to have his first heat in a couple weeks and wouldn’t that be miserable if he was alone? In any event, most alphas considered it a point of pride to get their omega pregnant immediately. Heats were annual events for at least fifteen years and David saw no reason he needed to get pregnant during his first.
“Do you want children?” asked Jake.
“Two or three, I think, after a year or two. What about you?”
“Two or three kids sounds good, and I definitely don’t think now is an ideal time. Everything you’ve said sounds reasonable.”
“It does?” Most alphas he’d encountered didn’t think he was reasonable.
“Yeah, of course.” Jake said this like it was blindingly obvious.
For the first time, David allowed himself to believe this whole bonding mess might actually work out alright.
Chapter 3
David seemed surprised Jake found his desires reasonable. Jake had always assumed the whole meek and subservient omega image was a stereotype, not reality. Did many alphas really want that? It sounded boring, to be honest. Maybe that was because he was raised by two betas. His paternal grandfather was an alpha married to a beta woman; the only alpha-omega couple he knew well was his Uncle Tim and Uncle Zeke. While Uncle Tim was definitely the alpha, Uncle Zeke didn’t just go around saying ‘yes, dear’ all the time. He was his own person for sure, and Jake had met members of Uncle Zeke’s family at parties. This business about an omega forgetting his family came out of nowhere as far as Jake was concerned.
Which reminded him, he ought to call his uncles at the earliest opportunity for their perspective on his situation.
Their conversation was interrupted when a nurse came to check on David, and they hadn’t even resumed yet when Detective Rossini knocked on the open door. “I thought you’d appreciate an update,” he announced.
“Very much,” agreed Jake.
“The crew McLaughlin hired couldn’t make plea deals fast enough. They were all happy to testify against him to reduce their sentences. My bet, McLaughlin’s lawyer is telling him to plead out as we speak.”
Jake hoped the bastard would plead out since it would save them, by which he mostly meant David, the stress of a trial.
Rossini returned Jake’s phone, wallet, and keys. “You two up for making statements this afternoon? I’ll send someone over if you are.”
“I’d like to get it over with,” said David.
“Yeah. What he said.”
The detective handed them each his card. “Call me if you need, and I’ll be in touch with any updates.”
“Thank you,” said Jake. David’s aunt and uncle went on to speak with the detective privately for a moment. It looked like they’d developed a rapport while David was missing.
Jake took the opportunity to consider his situation. While he had no legal obligation to claim David, he felt he had a moral obligation to at least consider it. After all, David wouldn’t be able to bond with another alpha and so far it seemed they might be a good fit.
He hadn’t been looking for an omega or, more likely since alphas outnumbered omegas, a beta spouse. Not that he didn’t want someone with whom to share his life, but he’d figured that would come just a little bit later. His transition to civilian life after the accident hadn’t been the easiest. In some ways the physical therapy had been the simplest part; the mental adjustment was harder.
Now he was in a better place, he’d made it through his first year of teaching and decided it was a good choice of civilian career, and apparently he was getting a house. He could support an omega and, down the road, kids. This wasn’t impossible, it was just a huge surprise.
Maybe he should clarify his view now Detective Rossini had left. “David, everything you’re talking about sounds normal to me. When I think of claiming, it means responsibility. Not just to protect you and provide for you, but if I claim you I need to give you a good life. A happy life.”
Uncle Tim had stressed an alpha’s responsibility since Jake’s teen years, and he’d impressed upon Jake that claiming an omega was the ultimate responsibility. Even children would grow up eventually whereas an omega was dependent on their alpha forever. It was true, according to Uncle Tim, that omegas were sexual creatures and liked pleasing their alpha thus (ugh, Jake never wanted to think about his uncles in bed, thank you very much). However, a good alpha earned his omega’s trust and devotion.
“Stuff like having your family involved in your life and getting a say in major decisions? Of course that’s how it should be. I’m wondering other things. Would you want a pet to keep you company while I’m at work? It’s not good to stay home all the time, so what would you want to do to get out?”
David’s aunt and uncle were both smiling at him now, a good and terrifying sign. Good because it meant they liked him, terrifying because they’d probably want him to claim their nephew and that meant accepting a massive responsibility out of the blue.
“I might like a cat,” said David after a moment. Jake was more of a dog person, but cats were alright. He wouldn’t mind one if it would make David happy. “And I’d love to join a writers’ group.”
“Writers’ group?” Jake wasn’t familiar with the concept.
“A few local people who enjoy writing who get together one evening a week to read and critique each other’s work.”
“Oh, okay. So are you hoping to publish someday?”
David couldn’t keep the bitterness out of his voice as he replied, “It’s difficult to publish when you can’t sign a legal contract.”
Right. “I could sign it for you, though.”
David looked at him with awe. “You’d do that?”
“Sure, why not? As long as you weren’t writing manifestos on overthrowing the government or anything crazy like that.”
“I write adventure stories. Most alphas freak out at the idea of an omega earning even a little bit of money.”
The money angle wasn’t that big a deal to Jake. Most writers didn’t make very much as far as he knew, and going for complete honesty, he said, “It’s not freaking me out, though it might be weird if you made more than me.”
“That’s very unlikely,” David told him.
“But what if he did?” pressed Julie.
Jake pondered that for a moment. Definitely weird and not the good kind of weird. Still, he thought about everything Uncle Tim told him about having an omega and how an alpha needed to do the very best for their omega, looked at David’s guardedly hopeful expression, and decided he couldn’t be that cruel in the name of his own ego. “If it did happen, I’d just have to get over the weirdness.”
David blinked in disbelief. Stunned surprise was a good look on him. “Wow.”
Jake was slammed with the recognition that
he was very seriously considering claiming the omega, to the point where the idea was less hypothetical in his mind. He imagined himself coming home to David and it wasn’t a bad picture.
The younger man still looked worn down, to be expected after his ordeal, but nowhere near as ragged as he had the previous day. The IV was doing him a world of good. He had delicate facial features, beautiful blue eyes, and Jake supposed, once healthy, David’s body would be attractively lithe. All this was topped off with dark blond hair. As an omega, he grew no facial hair and it was a little strange not to see morning stubble, but that wasn’t a bad thing.
Physical attraction, check. Jake had asked for a pheromone blocker last night so he could think rationally, and as it started to wear off he concluded the omega smelled amazing. Pheromone compatibility, check.
Damn, on the thinking rationally front he really shouldn’t make a decision until he was off the painkillers. From past experience he doubted these were strong enough to mess with his head, but it wasn’t worth taking the chance while making such a major life choice.
Amanda seemed pleased. “Alright, time for everyone’s favorite question. I’d like each of you to share two weaknesses. Or, as I prefer to call them, opportunities for growth.”
“I hate admitting weakness,” said Jake.
She frowned slightly, “It’s important information.”
“That’s my first answer. I don’t like looking vulnerable.” He wasn’t sure why. It wasn’t a case of being raised to believe he couldn’t ever show weakness, it was just something that made Jake uncomfortable.
“Oh. I’m sorry for the misinterpretation; that’s a perfectly valid answer. And your second?”
Wonderful. Prod the man who just said he hates admitting weakness about his weaknesses. “Tying in with the first, I’m too stubborn for my own good. Or so I’ve been told.”
“Thank you, Jake. David?”
“I worry too much, for one thing. A second, umm. Sometimes, especially since I hit maturity and started staying home more, I kind of get lost in my own little world, reading or writing. I’m not allowed to cook while reading anymore. Long story short, we ate pizza that night.”
