“Baxter, he says.”
Jason shook his head, and the tension in the room began to grow.
Duke’s voice rumbled indistinctly out of the speaker, and Mac added, “Duke says he’s an omega. He brought pups.”
The three of them looked at each other.
“We have to go see,” Jason said.
“I’ll go. You stay here,” Mac told him.
Abel stood. “I’ll go too.” He reached for his jacket against the chilly late October air.
“How are you going to know if he really is family?” Jason shook his head. “Let me get some heavier clothes on Macy and we can all go.” He was already moving toward the stairs.
“Jason—”
“Mac.” Jason’s tone was flat, leaving no doubt that he intended to go. “If he’s an omega, it would take something huge for him to arrive unannounced at a strange pack. I’m going.”
Mac nodded reluctantly. “But he doesn’t get near Macy until we know what’s going on.”
“Agreed.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
I waited by the gates as the daylight disappeared. I might have gotten past the human guards, but I thought the shifter ones knew something was up. A huge dark-haired man with a cast on one hand had called someone, his eyes fixed on me as if my deception were written all over my face in neon letters. And now we were waiting, trapped in the harsh light cast by the floodlights like so many bugs.
The human guards hadn’t yet closed the gate, and they watched us intently. Maybe they didn’t entirely believe me either, or maybe some sixth sense had warned them that the shifter guards were suspicious. My heart pounded; I was so close I could taste safety.
Beatrice had fallen asleep while we waited. Fan and Teca chased each other around the van, both of them in wolf form. I got Noah out of his car seat and held him against my chest for comfort. Together we walked around the on the grass beside the road, and I pointed to things and named them for him, while Fan and Teca growled at each other over a stick they found on the ground.
“Ba, ba, ba, ba,” he said, and I kissed his head for good luck.
The sound of a motor broke the stillness, and then a truck drove up and parked to one side of the gate. A man got out, tall, broad. As he got closer to the light, I saw that he had red hair. I remembered him from the TV show—this was the alpha who had mated Jason Mercy Hills. And then behind him I saw a smaller, darker-haired man, carrying a baby.
Jason.
I started forward, ignoring the mate and the hulking security team, and zeroed in on the other omega. “Jason!” I cried, as if we’d once known each other.
He paused and cast a glance at his mate, then handed the baby over. “Hi,” he said and we met in the gap between the humans at the gate, and the pack’s security.
I stepped close and lowered my voice. “I’m Bax. Please, help me. They’re going to give my babies away and force me to mate again.” I blinked away the tears forming at the words. “I can’t…” My throat closed with emotion and I bent my head and pretended to adjust something in Noah’s clothing.
The silence felt like it went on for minutes, though it was probably only a few seconds. But my life, and my pups’ happiness, rested on the next words to come out of a stranger’s mouth, and every heartbeat stretched into forever.
Then Jason stepped forward and bent over little Noah. “Is this your newest?” He reached in to tickle Noah’s cheek? “What did you name him? Or is it a her?”
“He’s a boy. I called him Noah.” Then, because Jason looked at me funny, I explained, “He was born after my mate died.”
“Ah.” Jason turned his gaze back to my baby. “He’s adorable.”
A voice rumbled out of the dark. “Jason?”
Jason looked up and I followed the line of his gaze to the red-headed shifter standing a bit more than arm’s-length behind him, the baby resting peacefully against his shoulder.
“Mac, this is my cousin Bax.” He grinned. “That’s going to get old. I’ll yell for one of you, and you’ll both come running.”
I looked at him oddly—his words didn’t make sense.
He turned the grin on me. “I didn’t realize when I mated how similar your names sound. Mac said you brought more pups?”
“Yes. I have four.” It was only then that I realized that I hadn’t heard anything from either Fan or Teca for several minutes now. “Shit! Where are they?”
“These yours?” A dark-haired man with a neatly-trimmed beard and a row of stitches above one eyebrow walked out of the shadow of some bushes about fifteen feet away. He had a squirming pup under each arm and he laughed as he carried them over. “I found them digging in the dirt underneath the currants.” He lifted Fan up so the light shone on his filthy coat. Dark streaks showed on the man’s T-shirt where the pups’ paws had left their mark. “Someone needs a bath.”
Fan barked, and everyone except me laughed. I was horrified. We hadn’t be here ten minutes and Fan was already destroying stuff.
“Let me take him.” I shuffled Noah onto one hip and reached for my pup, but the man holding him fended me off.
“That’s fine. I’m already dirty. So, you’re Jason’s cousin?” There was a slight emphasis on the last word, enough to force me to look him in the eye.
Oh shit. He was more handsome than he had been on the television, and my heart sped up, though whether it was fear, or my omega hormones kicking in even though I was still nursing, I didn’t have time to figure out. “You’re the Alpha.”
“I am.” He smiled, and I noticed a dimple that the cameras hadn’t caught. “You can call me Abel.”
“Oh, I couldn’t—” My tongue tripped over itself and I tried again to take Fan from him. “Really, he’ll get you dirty.”
“And I said I already am.” But he let go, and I promptly dropped my oldest boy on the ground.
“Fuck,” I muttered, on the verge of tears. He was going to think I was an idiot. Not that I wasn’t used to that, but I didn’t want him to. Stupid hormones. “Fan, baby, are you okay?”
He barked and ran in a circle around the Alpha, obviously unshaken by his unexpected high-speed descent. Teca yipped and squirmed, so the Alpha set her down too, and she took off after her brother, who was now running excitedly back and forth between us and the security team.
The Alpha stepped up to my side and looked down at Noah. “How old is he?”
“Five months.” My mouth was dry. I licked my lips and added, “His name is Noah.” If my heart had been beating fast while I waited for them to show up, now it was trying to leap out of my chest. Oh, he was handsome, but what got me the most was that he had kind eyes. They were warm and, I thought, a dark brown like the chocolate Patrick had brought home for the pups once. But kind was most important, because it could mean the difference between help and hindrance when I begged for their aid.
The Alpha glanced up at my two crazed pups, then turned his gaze back on me. “And what’s your name?”
It took me two tries to get it out. “Bax. Baxter, really, but I was always called Bax at home.”
“I like it.” He was close enough that I could feel the heat from his body against my arms, and my own reaction confused me. I was here for sanctuary, not scouting for another high-status mate. But he was handsome, and his voice vibrated pleasantly against my skin. What would it have been like to have been mated to him instead of Patrick? The thought made tears start in my eyes, and I looked down so he wouldn’t see.
He must have sensed something, because he stepped away and turned back to Mac. “Why don’t we load everyone up and go someplace warm? The pups for certain shouldn’t be out without jackets.”
And now I looked like a neglectful parent on top of a dumb omega. Fantastic start to my time here.
But the Alpha scooped up Fan and Beatrice and dumped them in the van, blocking Fan’s escape attempt with a well-placed knee. “Wow, you have another one. That must keep you busy.”
“A bit.” I didn’t kno
w quite how to handle that comment. Did I laugh it off and say no? Or did I talk about having no time at all to myself? Neither of them felt right, so I stood there in mute idiocy.
The Alpha turned to Jason’s mate. “Mac, are we taking them back to your place, or over to mine?”
Mac handed the baby back to Jason. “Probably mine. We’ve got baby stuff.”
“Right. I’ll ride shotgun here with Bax, make sure he doesn’t get lost.”
Oh, dear. What did I say to that? Nothing. He was the Alpha and this was his pack. I would have liked the time to collect myself, though.
We got into the car and I nervously put it in gear. Fan crawled between the seats to stand with his hind paws on the Alpha’s lap and his front ones on the dash, tongue lolling in excitement. I was about to tell him to get down, but the Alpha laughed and rubbed his fur, apparently amused by my pushy pup.
Mac and Jason drove off and I followed their taillights into the night.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Turn right at this corner,” Abel said, pointing Bax to the correct street. The young omega still held his baby close to his chest, driving with one hand on the steering wheel.
He was stunning. That was the only word Abel could come up with for it, mostly because he felt like he’d been hit with a two by four. Gorgeous, but halfway to being broken too. Abel could see it in his eyes, and after listening to Mac talk about Jason for the past half a year, he knew there were aspects of an omega’s life he’d never imagined. Like this, whatever it was, that would drive an omega to pack up his pups and show up on the doorstep of a stranger. Who did that?
Then again, Jason had done something similar, hadn’t he? “Take a left here.” Abel put a hand on the pup’s shoulders and held him steady against the turn, and glanced into the back seat, where the other pup had packed herself away into their car seat again, back in human form. “You’ve got them well trained.”
Bax checked the rear view mirror and smiled lovingly. “They’re good pups. I don’t know what I would have done without them.” He turned his gaze back to the road and Abel hoped for something more, but the young omega was silent.
Abel guided him automatically through the increasingly crowded streets. The mystery of this omega showing up here, claiming to be Jason’s cousin—and Abel was nearly a hundred percent sure that that was a total fabrication—made him want to dig deeper into the situation.
He reminded Abel a bit of Jason—nurturing, but not weak. What Abel liked most was that he didn’t cower. Oh, he presented the appearance of it—he’d obviously been taught to behave in a certain way in the presence of alphas, and the wary manner in which he watched Mac and Abel told Abel that he’d suffered when he’d failed to meet expectations. But there was an inner strength to him, in the way he held himself, how he stayed focused on his pups despite the strangeness of his circumstances, that spoke of a spirit that wouldn’t be broken.
That was attractive.
The silence in the car was awkward. “So, where were you born?” He might as well find out a little about the newcomer.
Bax started and turned wide eyes on him. “I was born in Buffalo Gap, but I was mated in Jackson-Jellystone.”
“That would explain the accent.” He could listen to that Texas twang all day, the slow way of speaking with its nasal vowels.
The corners of Bax’s mouth turned up. “Patrick hated it. He said it sounded like a back country yokel.”
“That’s funny, coming from a Mississippi native.”
“I know.” Bax’s shoulders relaxed a little, and he rubbed his thumb over his baby’s back. “I didn’t make much effort to lose it.” He bit his lower lip and cast a quick, assessing glance at Abel.
Taking my temperature. “That’s a silly thing to complain about; I think your accent is charming.” He watched a slight flush rise in Bax’s cheeks and was surprised—or perhaps not—at his own satisfaction. “You drove here all by yourself?”
“Just me and the pups. It was fun.” He reached over to ruffle the fur on the head of the pup Abel held. “It’s a wonder we weren’t sick, after all the junk we ate on the road, right Fan?”
So this one was Fan. The pup didn’t pay any attention to his bearer, too busy trying to see everything to be bothered with anyone else in the car. “He’s your oldest then?”
“Yes. The next one is Teca, then Beatrice, and finally Noah.” Bax pressed a kiss to the baby’s head, and Abel could hear the pride in the other shifter’s voice as he talked about his pups.
Something niggled at the back of Abel’s mind, and he fell silent for a few blocks, scrounging through his memory. For an instant, he thought he’d never figure it out, and then he had it. “We’ve met already, haven’t we?”
Bax paused, then nodded. “Just after Patrick and I were mated.”
Yes, now Abel remembered him. He also remembered thinking that Patrick didn’t deserve the calm, elegant creature that waited on them hand-and-foot during his visit. “Turn right here. It’s at the third cross street.” He considered not asking, but he wondered how it was that Bax was so friendless, when he’d been mated to the Alpha of his pack. “It was a car accident, wasn’t it?”
“Yes.” The light of a streetlamp glanced across Bax’s carefully neutral expression. “They’d been outside walls for something to do with welfare for the pack, and decided to have a few drinks on the way home. Which made them late, and they hit a turn too hard just outside the city.” His lips tightened.
“I’m sorry.”
Bax said nothing, but his hand began to move again on the baby’s back. Fan barked and jumped to look out the passenger window at a family playing in front of an apartment building.
“Fan, sit down,” Bax told him.
“I’ve got him. He seems ready to get out and play.”
“We’ve been in the car all day. He was really good, but you’re right. It’s too long for a little boy to be stuck in a car seat.”
“How old is he?” Abel was curious. Bax didn’t look that old, but with his clear skin and delicate bone structure, he could have been anywhere from eighteen to thirty.
“He’s three and a half. He was born eight months after Patrick and I were mated.”
And obviously an unhappy mating, from the clenched jaw and the white knuckles. Some days, Abel despaired of his people. He’d taken over Mercy Hills just over six years ago, the youngest Alpha the pack had ever had. Arranged matings were already on their way out in Mercy Hills long before he came to power—even Abel’s parents had been allowed to choose, subject to consanguinity. But most of the other packs were still stuck back in the days of the Enclosure, when there was no contact between the enclaves, and the elders of the pack had to worry about too close relations breeding. “So, how did you and Patrick meet?” He should stop now, but he couldn’t seem to help himself. Abel soothed the prickings of his conscience with the knowledge that he would need to know these things anyway. This was just a little earlier.
Bax threw him a strained glance, then focused on the road again. “He came to discuss matings with our Alpha. Jackson-Jellystone was alpha heavy and having bloodline problems. We were omega heavy and relatively unrelated. It made sense.”
“And he courted you?”
Bax said nothing.
Mac’s house was coming up, so Abel let the topic die.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
I was shaking by the time we arrived. The Alpha’s gentle questioning had shoved my heart up into my throat more than once, though he hadn’t seemed to be asking out of cruelty or uncaring. And, as much as I hated to think it, he was going to have to know all of it, in all its terrible glory, if I was going to get him on my side. I’d need him to make the application for me to stay, assuming he could be convinced.
The Alpha had me pull up in front of a long building that made me think of a row of houses squashed up next to each other, like a family with too many pups and too few beds. Ahead of us, Jason and Mac got out of their truck and walked back to m
y van.
I put the van in park, turned off the engine, and just sat there. I didn’t know what to do next. It was like, now that I was here, my brain was out of ideas.
The Alpha touched my arm, lightly, almost unfelt, as if he was worried he’d frighten me. Well, he wasn’t far wrong, but he wasn’t entirely right either. I’d never had an Alpha look at me like that—like I was someone he wanted to know, not something he wanted to own. Even I had never considered myself to be much more than a possession. I didn’t know how to handle it.
“Come on in,” he said. “We’ll get the kids settled, and then we can talk.” His face was pleasant, but his eyes were grim, and it seemed to me that he understood everything that had happened to me before I’d ever said a word. His attention was both exciting and unnerving; I’d have to think about it first before I’d have a chance to figure out my own responses to it.
I nodded and got out of the van.
Fan was wild, excited to be out of the vehicle and refusing to settle. He ran in circles, yipping and playing tug-of-war with the pantlegs of whoever stopped moving long enough for him to get his puppy teeth into them. Teca leaped for my arms, clinging like an exhausted limpet, and I was caught for a minute with my two babies while I tried to figure out how to get Beatrice into the house.
Jason appeared at my side. “I’ll take your other one. We’ll load the alphas up with your stuff. They might as well use all that testosterone for something.” He leaned in through the door and nipped Beatrice out of her seat, but stumbled backing out the car with his baby and Beatrice. “What the— You!” He shook his leg, dislodging Fan. “Into the house now, or no cookies.”
Fan stopped dead and looked up at me. “Don’t look at me,” I told him. “They’re not my cookies.” Fan turned his head and cocked his ears at Jason, then trotted toward the house.
“Thank you,” I said. “You don’t have to give him treats. He knows better.”
“It’s okay. I’m guessing a few treats for everyone wouldn’t go wrong.” He used his hip to slide the door of the van closed. “I know I desperately needed some when I arrived here. Come on, let’s get inside.”
Abel's Omega(Gay Paranomal MM Mpreg Romance) (Mercy Hills Pack Book 2) Page 6
