Rosie broke down in tear-streaming laughter and it took threatening to appliqué monkey faces all over her dress before she crammed it all back down inside. She wasn’t done, though, I could tell. Every once in a while a giggle would break free and she’d clamp her hands over her mouth while I growled in mild annoyance. It wasn’t real anger, because I could never be truly mad at Rosie. She brought me down to earth when I got worked up, and when I’d lost sight of what was really going on, she could always point it out to me. My best friend ever.
Dad came home and put an end to our conversation, but it was okay. I knew what I needed to do. Rosie and I stayed up late working on the dress, a wide A-line skirt with a halter top, kind of a Marylin Monroe look, though Rosie looked nothing like Marylin. I tweaked the neckline so it was more sweetheart than straight up and down and by the time we had it all pinned and basted together, it looked amazing. We cut the velvet into the skirt so it was hardly noticeable until she moved, and then the flow of the material made it flare and catch the eye.
“See,” I told her while she peeled herself out of it in the bathroom. “Way better than the blouse.”
“It’s gorgeous, Bram, thank you,” she said as she came out. “But what about you?”
“I’m off tomorrow, and I know exactly what I want to do with my pieces.” I spread the dress out over the floor again and folded it up carefully. “It won’t take me long to get this sewn up.”
“Tomorrow,” my dad yelled from in the kitchen. “Your mom will be home soon and she can’t sleep with you running that machine.”
I rolled my eyes, and Rosie called back, “Yes, sir. I was just leaving anyway.” She leaned and planted a kiss on my cheek. “I really do owe you one.”
“Just make sure he doesn’t get away on you.”
A feral grin broke out on her face. “Not a chance.”
CHAPTER FIVE
After Rosie left, I put everything away except for my new turquoise cloth and took it all upstairs to my room. I spread the turquoise out on the floor and looked at it for a moment. It was kind of startling how happy it made me. Duke liked blue, and I hoped he’d like me in it. I started rummaging in the back of my closet for the shirt I’d been thinking about before, already planning how I would cut the two different colors together. This was the most excited I’d been about sewing in…ever. I was really only as good as I was because I refused to constantly wear T-shirts, like all the other males in the pack—like most everybody in the pack. And Jason’s determined tutorials. So a lot of my hard-earned pack credits went to things like cloth and thread, just like the girls before they mated and settled down.
I froze as soon as that thought crossed my mind, then shook my head and pulled the shirt I wanted off its hanger. No way was I turning into an old mated omega.
Mom came home from her job just then. She worked looking after older pack members who needed a little extra help to get along in their own homes, doing a little cleaning, checking up on them, cooking sometimes. Dad went to bed, because his job as an electrician usually had him up and going early in the morning. I said good night to him, and “Yes, Mom,” to my mother when she reminded me, like usual, to be quiet so my father could sleep. Not that I made much noise. Except for that episode on my sixteenth birthday. Oh, and the summer the girls and I were trying to form a rock band without any instruments. We were going to hire musicians after we got our songs down, but we spent so many hours practicing we got sick of our songs and stopped.
The songs kind of sucked, anyway.
And okay, there might have been a few other incidents as well, but really, a guy couldn’t be absolutely silent twenty-four-seven, could he?
I settled down on my bed with my old shirt, one of the first really elaborate things I’d ever made. It had taken me months to piece it together and, life being how it was, I almost immediately grew out of it. I’d never been able to bring myself to pass it down, though, so it had been hanging in the corner of my closet for almost three years now, waiting for me to figure out something to do with it. I stroked the embroidery, black silk floss on black cotton, for a moment, then bent to my work.
Of course, as I began picking out stitches in my old shirt and drawing out patterns on the blue cloth, my mind started to drift away in the direction it usually wandered off in when I wasn’t paying attention—Duke.
With Rosie’s advice in mind, I went back over the encounter today—the parts that went okay, and the disaster at the end. Until today, I didn’t think I took my crush on Duke seriously. I didn’t think there was any future in it, when I really looked at what I felt about him. But what if there was a possibility? Immediately, I realized that I didn’t care a hoot for Justin, except for being able to lord him over the other omegas. I liked Duke’s careful calmness, how capable he was, how he never seemed to do anything without thinking it through first.
Carefully, I pulled apart my old shirt and cut out the pieces I would need, then matched them to the ones I’d drawn on the turquoise material and made sure that everything would go together properly. It was going to be stunning. I thought about staying up late to finish it, but it would be quicker to use the machine tomorrow and I didn’t want to be tired tomorrow night. My heart sped up, thinking about it.
Maybe I was going about this the wrong way. Maybe what I needed to do was lay off on the other guys and the whole ‘make him jealous enough to back me up against a wall’ and start flirting with him exclusively. He was a pretty quiet guy—maybe he was as socially illiterate as Rosie’s man. And that whole thing about being raised in the Big Alphas’ shadows kind of hit home. I could see how that would make a guy with a quieter personality feel invisible.
There was a thought.
I mulled the idea over for a bit while I pinned the pieces together and decided it couldn’t hurt to try being a bit more focused on Duke. And of course, once Duke was on my mind, it didn’t take much before I started daydreaming and I indulged in a little fantasy where Duke came and saved me from Justin being inappropriate, just carried me away and then kissed me and then… I squirmed and gave up on the sewing.
“I’m going to grab a shower!” I yelled out my bedroom door.
“Bram, you’re going to wake your father!” my mother scolded from the bottom of the stairs. “Keep your voice down!”
“Yeah, yeah, sorry,” I said, ignoring her tutting. I grabbed some pajama bottoms and locked myself in the bathroom.
Like all the homes in the enclave, the walls were paper thin, so my more personal activities had to wait until I was in the shower, where the sounds the water was making would hide any sounds I was making. I turned the taps on full blast and stripped so fast I gave myself a friction burn on one arm, but as soon as I was safe under the shower I forgot completely about it.
I pressed my back against the wall and put one hand on my chest, pretending it was Duke’s. The other went straight to my cock and I took a long, shaky breath as I imagined my hand to be his. I could almost feel his lips on mine, and I rubbed my other hand over my chest, touching myself in my favorite ways, because somehow I knew that Duke would do that. He was a real gentleman, even when he was wrestling some overexcited alpha out of a fight.
A thought occurred to me and my hands paused, as if this idea was too big for my brain to keep both my thoughts and my hands going at once. Duke was a gentleman. That was it! That was what was going on with him. How the hell had I never figured that out before?
Well, even gentlemen had their weak points. I’d just have to find them and use them against him.
What would he do if he knew I was using him to jerk off to? I stifled a giggle and went back to my fantasy, imagining how it would be once Duke and I got down to business. My breath came short and I caught my lower lip between my teeth, something I’d read about in one of Bax’s novels. Hopefully, it looked as sexy as it sounded—I’d have to try it out in front of a mirror and see. I ran my hand over my chest, imagining Duke’s deep voice in my ear, his breath hot against my skin.
It made an almost painful shiver of excitement run down my body to settle heavily in my balls. “Ngggh.” I pushed my hips forward and squeezed my eyes tight shut. I pinched one of my nipples, because holy shit that felt good, and stroked faster down below.
My original intention to take a bit of time once I was in here was blown to pieces. As much as I tried to slow down and enjoy the moments, imagining Duke stroking me, pressing me against the wall while the water poured down around us—unh. Before I knew it, my whole body went tight and the world exploded in starbursts that left me both wrung out and still tense, which wasn’t normal. Then again, it had been a while—I didn’t ordinarily get the time to have this long a shower.
It did end up leaving me kind of grumpy, though. The whole thing was over way too soon and just wasn’t as satisfying as it usually was. I rested my head against the plastic liner and let the water curl down my body, tickling and raising the hairs on my neck as it went.
In the end, I was still grumpy and nerved up when I was finally forced out of the shower by Mom knocking and threatening to turn off the water, but I figured I’d been having epiphanies about Duke the whole time, so I was only logical that I’d still be a little worked up. Meh. I washed up quickly and got out of the shower, toweled off and put on my pajama pants. Tomorrow was full moon, and I needed to finish Rosie’s dress, and then maybe my shirt if I wanted to get lucky in any way with Duke. I needed to get to bed.
CHAPTER SIX
Aaaaaaand…I should have guessed. The reason I was so unsatisfied last night? That yearly torture that all omegas go through. So, here I was. Full moon night. Harvest Moon at that, like the universe was amusing itself, seeing how much worse it could make my life.
Because where was I?
Stuck home, because my stupid body thought this was a fantastic time to come into heat.
Mom and Dad had left close to an hour ago to go party it up at the festival in Central Park. Ordinarily, I’d love having the place to myself, but this whole can’t-be-around-anyone-who-isn’t-family thing stank like two week old carrion. I might have settled in on the couch with a chocolate bar and mint tea and watched a movie Jason had loaned me when he heard, but I was hyped up and needy and kind of pissed that I was missing out, so I’d come upstairs to sulk on my bed.
It was Justin’s last night in Mercy Hills, and my last chance to show Duke that I’d pick him over anyone. I kind of wondered if Justin would get pissed and try to take advantage of me in front of Duke—like, a whole damsel in distress thing, except for not actually being a damsel—and I hoped that if it happened, Duke would actually do something about it. Like, punch Justin in the face, then haul me off into a corner and tell me to smarten up, then kiss me silly. After all, I was going to be eighteen soon. He could at least stake his claim.
Right?
Unless I was dreaming this all up. Just because he was usually nice to me didn’t meant he wanted me. No matter what Rosie said.
Oh, for crying out loud. I hated this part of my heats, when I was all hormonal and everything had me on the point of tears. And this was important.
I’d hoped…I thought… Well, I didn’t know. I was holding tight to the idea that he was just being a gentleman, but with my hormones raging out of control like so many undisciplined pups, all the worst case scenarios kept haunting me. Maybe he was just being polite when I flirted with him? Maybe he thought I was too young and that was why all the funny looks? I didn’t care that he was eleven years older than me. I liked him. He was sexy—that dark hair, and the way it curled around his face… I wondered what it would do if he ever let it grow longer?
Just the thought of that… Ungh.
He was sweet too and when he smiled, something weird happened in my stomach, like I’d eaten a live bird and it was trying to get out.
For that matter, why the hell did everyone else get to run around having sex with whoever they wanted, as long as they didn’t get someone pregnant in the process? Why did omegas have to be as pure as the driven snow until they mated?
Stupid.
Just thinking about it made me squirm on my bed. I knew from long experience that taking a more personal approach to my problem wasn’t much relief. And thinking about it just made it worse, because I started wondering what would happen if I just turned up at Duke’s place in this state. But that would be a shitty thing to do, because I thought he was interested, I hoped he was interested, but I still didn’t know if he was interested interested.
And I’d been warned over and over again that once an alpha or a beta or really anyone who wasn’t omega caught a whiff of my scent in heat, it was game over, because they wouldn’t be able to think of anything else but having me. If I did that, I’d never know if he really wanted me, or if it was just my hormones that threw us together. Besides, I’d also been told over and over that any omega who didn’t wait until they were mated was a loose omega that no decent shifter would touch with a ten foot pole.
And Duke was nothing if not decent.
I sighed and slammed the side of my fist into my pillow, then flopped over and stared at the ceiling. Technically, I wasn’t supposed to go wandering while I was like this, but I just needed to move. Or do something. But what?
I supposed I could toss a ball against the back of the house—technically, that wasn’t going anywhere.
Okay, it was splitting hairs, but it wasn’t like I was going to wander around the neighborhood, was it?
And it did help some, whipping the ball at the house and being incredibly careful not to hit the windows. I was still in trouble over the last one I broke, though it had been a complete accident. My parents had made me pay for the repairs out of the credits I earned from my one extra shift at the daycare. If I broke another one tonight, I wouldn’t have anything to spend for months.
I took some pot-shots at the posts that marked off the personal ‘territory’ allotted to each household too, but I was always a shitty shot and I got to do a lot of jogging after the ball when I missed. Still, I felt calmer while I was out there, less trapped by my biology. I think I read that line somewhere, or maybe it was something Jason had said, but it stuck because that’s just what it felt like. Like all my choices had been taken away because I’d been born with a stupid pink line across my stomach, advertising my special omega status to the world. And it wasn’t even that I didn’t want babies, or a home, or a mate to look after. It was all the other things, like tonight, that got taken away from me and made me angry. I just wanted to be like everyone else.
The ball went winging off into the dark, missing the post I’d aimed at by a mile. I jogged after it, like I had a couple dozen times already. Having something else to think about was way better than being stuck in the house with nothing to do but keep my hands off—or on—myself.
I was practicing bouncing the ball off the inside of my elbow and catching it again while I walked back and didn’t notice Justin standing just inside our territory until I almost ran into him.
“Oh, Justin! You shouldn’t be here.” I tried to edge around him, and he moved to block my path.
“I went looking for you,” he drawled. “You promised me a dance.” His nostrils flared and his upper lip curled away from his teeth. He sniffed, hard and through his mouth, scenting me. My heart began to pound—I could smell him too, and all I wanted to do was rub up against him until he cooled that fire inside me. All the stories I’d been told were true—an omega in heat would mate anything. But if I did that… I didn’t want him, not really. It had been fun lording it over the other omegas and the gammas and deltas that had set their sights on him, but he wasn’t the kind of guy I wanted to spend the rest of my life with. But if he touched me, what I wanted would be drowned in the flood of hormones his skin against mine would cause. My body would beg for him, because my body had no sense at all, while my mind was taken along for the ride.
I needed to escape. “I can’t—” I babbled and dodged the other way.
He laughed and followed me. I bolted
for the door, and then he was on me, and a raw, animal moan burst from my throat, frightening me with its intensity. He pulled me into a rough embrace and it felt so amazing that the little voice in the back of my brain was drowned out by all the rest of me shouting Yes, Yes, Yes!
Justin chuckled again as he ravaged my neck, making me whimper, while somewhere deep inside, I screamed. He whispered, “I knew you’d be a hot ride.” He jammed his hand down the back of my jeans and made the kind of noise a person makes when they’re about to have their favorite meal. “Yeah,” he said, and pulled my shirt off, then went after my jeans.
The next thing I knew, the grass was cold under my back, and that was the last coherent thought I had.
CHAPTER SEVEN
I woke up in a mess of sheets, the smell of sweat and—fuck, fuck, damn.
I’d had sex. Last night. With that asshole from Montana.
I’m so sorry Duke.
Oh shit, oh shit, oh shit.
I rolled over and buried my face in my pillow so Mom and Dad and couldn’t hear me crying. Brief thoughts of killing myself flitted through my head, which was stupid, because no one even knew yet.
They would in a few months though, and that made me sob even harder.
An omega doesn’t go out during their heat. Or something like this happens.
“Bram!” Mom called from downstairs. “Breakfast is ready. I made your favorite.”
She was trying to cheer me up because I’d missed Harvest Moon, but it only made me worse.
Duke's Baby Deal (MM Mpreg Shifter Romance) (Mercy Hills Pack Book 3) Page 3
