Now I was sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee, while the pups played with their new toys and begged to open the wrapped gifts under the tree.
“Not until Abel is here,” I told them. “Why don’t we have breakfast?”
“Nooooooo,” they whined and climbed over me until I was afraid someone would get burned when I spilled my coffee.
“All right, all right!” It was nearly eight in the morning. Would Abel be up yet? I put my coffee on the table beside me. “I’ll go see if he’s up, shall I?”
“Me too, me too,” Fan shouted and raced for the door.
“Hold on!” I popped Noah into his fenced corner of the living room and got to the door just as Fan squirted out into the hallway. There hadn’t even been time to throw on a shirt or put my coffee down, so when Abel opened his door in response to Fan’s insistent hammering, I looked like a total slob.
Lucky for me, Abel didn’t seem to mind. In fact, if his expression was anything to go by, he greatly approved of my shirtless appearance, and the possibility of him having plans for me later in the day looked pretty good. “Good morning,” he said with a grin. “Is it breakfast time?”
“Come open presents,” Fan insisted, and began tugging on Abel’s hand. “Midwinter Wolf came! I got a race car!”
“Did you? I’ll have to come admire it.” Abel’s eyes met mine and I suppressed a laugh. His present was a matching one. Well, the present I could give him in front of the pups.
“Yes, come open presents,” I said.
Abel took a step back from the door. “Hang on, I have to get yours.”
“You got us presents?” Fan asked, amazed.
“I did. Do you want to help me carry them over?”
Fan nodded vigorously, puffing out his chest in pride, and followed Abel into his apartment. I watched from the door. Abel loaded Fan down with a lumpy-looking cloth bag and sent him back to me before following with several larger boxes.
He kissed my cheek as he brushed past me into the hall. I closed the door and followed them back to my apartment.
“Look what Abel brought!” I cried when we were through the door.
Teca dropped her stuffed wolf and ran over to us. Beatrice looked up, but her new blocks were obviously more interesting than people she saw every day. Noah giggled in his corner, lying on his back and trying his best to cram his new stuffed sheep into his mouth.
“I’m putting them under the tree,” Fan announced, and dumped the bag onto the floor. He picked them up one at a time and walked over to drop them haphazardly somewhere in the vicinity of the Christmas tree. “Time for presents!” He tried to take Beatrice’s blocks from her, shoving one of the packages into her hand in their place. Beatrice wanted her blocks, and a full-scale toddler meltdown looked imminent, except for Abel setting down his boxes and picking out one of the smaller packages. “Here this one is hers. And that one is Teca’s. And that’s Noah’s.” He gave them to Fan to pass around, then picked up the top box on the pile he had carried in. “This one is yours.”
Fan was immediately distracted, and I was able to retrieve Noah from his corner, then we all sat on the floor around the Christmas tree. I leaned my weight against Abel and he put an arm around my shoulders, probably the first really open sign of affection that the pups had ever seen outside the odd kiss. The three younger ones didn’t seem to notice, but Fan—my ever observant alpha and self-appointed helpmate—eyed Abel’s arm warily for a moment before turning back to his present. The paper flew as those old enough to know how to unwrap did their thing. I helped Noah and Beatrice open theirs—a huge bubble set for Noah, and a stack of coloring books with a box of toddler sized crayons for Beatrice. Teca squealed at her princess costume, complete with shoes, tiara, and fur trimmed cloak to drape around her shoulders. My gifts of clothing and books were almost completely ignored.
“Dabi, what’s this?” Fan asked, holding up his present.
I took the plastic bucket from him and frowned. “I don’t know,” I said, and looked up at Abel.
“It’s Lego,” he told me. “Like blocks, but they click together and stay, so you can build really amazing things with it. This is a starter kit. If you like, we can see about getting you more.”
“Oh,” was all Fan said, and I could tell he wasn’t entirely convinced.
“Are you sure this is a good present for a little boy?” I asked quietly.
“The tub of Lego in my storage bin says yes.” He squeezed me. “Give him a few minutes.”
So that’s what I did. We blew bubbles with Noah, though I knew it was going to cost me time later cleaning up all the sticky soap, and Abel colored with Beatrice while I got Teca into her gown. Fan sat to one side, slowly clicking the little colored blocks together, his brows drawn together in a frown that suddenly made him look like his father. I started at a touch on my arm, but it was only Abel, holding out a box to me too.
“You forgot about your present.”
“I didn’t expect—”
He put a finger to my lips. “You’re worth it.”
Well. When a man looked at another like that, and said something so simple and direct, what was an omega to do? I smiled and ripped my own wrapping paper off, which made Abel laugh.
“Now I see where the pups get it from.”
I leaned impulsively across and kissed him. “Presents were a big deal where I come from.” I looked down and flipped open the flaps of the cardboard box the torn paper had revealed. “Oh, Abel!” Books. At least half a dozen. I picked them up and fanned them out, looking at the titles. All new, and all new to me. “How did you know?”
“I have my sources.” But he looked like the wolf that had caught the biggest buck.
“You’re sneaky, but since it was sneaky to my advantage, I won’t complain.” I turned the first book over to read the description, then put it down. “Thank you. Though I suppose I don’t really need them any more.”
“No? I’ll take them back then.”
“Not a chance!” I grabbed the box and held it out of reach, frowning ferociously at him while he laughed. “But honestly, I feel like I already have my own romantic hero.” I put the box down and reached out to rest my palm against his cheek. “None of them compare to you.”
He blushed, something I’d never seen him do before. It made an answering warmth creep through my body, the urge to hold and comfort and care for. I’d never really minded being an omega, aside from the annoying restrictions. With a man like this, I thought it was maybe the best thing I could be.
He looked down and coughed. “There’s another one.” He handed me a second one, smaller, but just as heavy, if not more so. “Open it.”
“You haven’t opened any of yours.”
“I will. I want to see you open this first.”
I grinned at him, and Teca wobbled over on her little high heels to watch.
“Oh.” It was another book, but not a novel. “Algebra and Trigonometry.” I looked up at him. “Why?” Teca poked at the book with one of her little fingers, and plunked down on her princessy bum while she puzzled over my delight in something that couldn’t be played with.
“You said you thought you could do it. I thought you might like to try. Jason’s tutor will schedule you in for a couple of hours a week if you want.”
The green and gold of the cover blurred as unexpected tears filled my eyes. “Thank you,” I whispered and had to cover my mouth with my hands to keep the sobs inside. I didn’t know why I was crying, because I was happier today than I’d ever been, and happy tears had always seemed one of those things that only happened in novels. But here I was, bawling, with Abel getting up to get me a facecloth to wipe my face and the pups gathering around to see what was wrong with me, and, damn, I was so happy I never wanted this day to end.
Plastic blocks rattled to the floor, and then Fan’s blurry face appeared in front of me. “Dabi?”
“It’s okay, baby,” I said, and pulled him into a hug. “I’m just happy.” M
aybe this would be a good time to tell the pups. I reached out for Abel’s hand. “Guys, Abel and I have something to tell you.”
“What?” Teca asked. Fan merely stared at me intently.
Best to get it over with. I was starting to get the feeling that Fan might not be as enthusiastic as I’d hoped. “Abel and I really like each other and I think you guys all like him, right?” Teco nodded, but Fan looked between the two of us, and if he wasn’t just shy of four years old, I’d have been convinced he knew already what I was going to say. “So, anyway,” I continued. “We’ve decided that we want to spend more time together, so we’re going to mate in the spring. Mercy Hills will be our home for good, and we’ll all be a happy family here.”
Teca tilted her head to one side, and didn’t seem to have an opinion one way or another. Fan, however, was another case entirely.
“No!” He yelled and squirmed off my lap. “I don’t want you!” And he ran off down the hall, sobbing like his little heart was breaking.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
We watched him storm off down the hall in stunned silence.
“Do you want me to talk to him?” Abel asked.
I shook my head. I’d been hopeful, but I’d also done my research. This wasn’t entirely unexpected, but I thought I knew what to do. “I’ll deal with it. If you don’t mind watching the rest of them?”
“No, I don’t mind.”
I leaned over and kissed him lightly on the lips. “It’ll be okay. He’s had a lot of change, and Patrick was very important to him.” I stood up and headed down the hallway, only pausing to add, “Don’t let the babies eat any of those little blocks, okay?”
“I won’t.”
Slowly, I pushed open the bedroom door. Fan was curled up on the bed, holding his battered old bear and sobbing fit to tear my heart out. I sat down beside him and combed his curls with my fingers. “Hey, baby.”
“Go ‘way!”
“I know you’re upset. You want to talk about it?”
Fan sobbed some more, then, his voice muffled by the teddy bear, said, “I want Pappuh.”
“I know how much you miss him, baby. I’m sure he misses you too. I know he would never have wanted to be taken away from you.”
“I want him to come back.”
And I was glad he was gone, but I wasn’t a three-year-old who’d just lost his moon and stars. “I know, baby, but you know he can’t. He’s up there in the Moonlands, watching over us. Making sure we’re safe.”
Fan rolled over and stared up at me, red eyed and teary. “Do you miss Pappuh, Dabi?”
How to answer that question without lying? “He was my mate for four years, sweetie, and he gave me you and Teca and Beatrice and Noah. I owe him a lot.” I picked him up and set him on my lap, rocking him gently with his head on my chest. It was almost like when he was a baby, and I smiled fondly at those memories.
“Do you think he knows that we aren’t home anymore? Do you think he’s mad ‘cause we left?”
Here was my chance. “You know what I think?”
“What?”
Abel peeked around the edge of the door, clearly wondering if there was anything he could do to help. I shook my head and waved him away, then turned my attention back to the little boy in my lap.
“I think that Pappuh sent us here, so that we’d be looked after. He wanted you to be happy and safe, and I think he sent us here to find Abel, because he wanted you to have another Alpha to teach you how to be a good one.” And Abel would sure as hell do a better job than Patrick would have.
Fan peered up at me. “Really?”
“I’m absolutely certain of it. He didn’t have time before the accident to set things up, so I think he had to do it from the Moonlands. And that’s why it took a while for us to figure out that we were supposed to be here. Because they don’t get mail there.”
Fan giggled at that, and snuggled back against my chest with a watery sniff. “Dabi, do you think he wants Abel to be my new Pappuh?”
“I think he wants you and Abel to be friends. Pappuh is Pappuh, but maybe Abel can be something else for you?”
“And he’ll look after you too?”
“Yes. He’s promised, he’ll look after me too. All of our family.”
Fan squirmed in my lap. His head thumped against my chest, but I knew he wasn’t fighting me now. He’d always needed to be moving in order to process anything, and the fact that he’d gotten this wiggly meant that he was doing some real thinking. “He’s not my Pappuh,” he blurted.
I rocked him and rubbed his back. “No, he’s not, and he doesn’t expect to be. But he does want to be your friend. And your mentor still. And you’ll grow up to be a big, strong alpha someday, and maybe you’ll have the chance to help someone else’s family too.”
That gave my little boy something to think about. He sat in my lap while I rocked him, swinging his feet and playing with my fingers while he figured out how all the change fit into his life.
Finally, his movements slowed. He tipped his head back to look up at me. “Do I have to call him Pappuh?”
“No!” I shook my head vigorously. “You can call him Abel. That’s who he is.”
“Oh.” Fan laid his head on my chest. “I like the blocks.”
“They look like good blocks.”
He nodded.
I rubbed his back. “You ready to come back out for a while? We’re going to have some breakfast and enjoy our presents, and then there’s a big dinner in the park. A ton of turkeys on a spit. And pie.”
“Pie?” Fan sat up.
“Pie,” I confirmed. “Come on, you can build something while I make breakfast.”
“Okay.”
I carried Fan out to the living room. There, I found Noah in wolf form dragging his sheep around by one soggy leg, Beatrice drawing on the floor with her new crayons, and Abel teaching Teca what looked like the steps of Run the River, a children’s pack dance.
I stared at the lines of wax on my floor, then looked around at my happy pups. Fuck it. Abel obviously didn’t mind.
Abel left Teca to practice her steps and came over to Fan and I. “I wonder if I could borrow Fan to help me bring something up from downstairs?”
I checked out my little boy’s expression, but he’d hidden his face in the side of my neck. “Maybe not. I don’t know…”
“It’s my old Legos,” Abel explained.
Fan lifted his head. “You have Legos?”
Abel nodded. “They’re all in the basement here. Come with me to get them?”
Fan’s internal conflict was obvious—he really wanted to see the other Legos, but he was still a little angry with Abel for not being Pappuh.
“You can push the buttons in the elevator,” I suggested. He needed to see Abel in a positive light again, to do something fun and special with him. I didn’t think it would fix everything, but it would be a start.
“Okay,” he said, in that singsong voice pups use to indicate that they’re not doing it because they want to, but because it will make their parents happy. He squirmed to get down, but refused to take Abel’s hand, marching over to the door and waiting impatiently.
Abel squeezed my hand briefly and my two boys left.
They came back about fifteen minutes later, carting a large plastic tub between them. I was just piling the last of the pancakes—only slightly singed—onto plates, and setting out syrup and margarine and cutlery. They dumped the bin out by the tree, the bricks scattering over the floor with a thousand tiny clicks.
A collective “Oooh!” went up from the rest of the pups, and I hurried into the living room to keep Noah from grabbing any of them.
Fan was already chattering about what he wanted to build with all the Lego, Abel restricting his comments to agreeing with Fan’s plans.
“Pancakes, everyone,” I called.
“But I want to play!” Fan cried.
“We can play after,” Abel said, sweeping the tiny blocks into a pile. “You know, when I w
as planning this place, I built a model with these Legos?”
“Really?”
Abel nodded solemnly. “But let’s eat first. I’m starving and it smells yummy.”
I hid a smile—Abel was picking up my speech patterns with the pup.
“Dabi makes good pancakes. He puts berries in them.”
“Delicious!” Abel stood and held out his hand. “Let’s go eat.”
I held my breath. But after a moment’s hesitation, Fan reached up and took Abel’s hand.
CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
Abel pulled Bax’s old van up in front of Roland’s house. One more tie to Bax’s old life snapped, now that this clunker was back. He’d like to take a hatchet to them all, but the last ones would have to wait until April and their official mating ceremony. He put the van in Park and turned it off. “We’re here.” Duke pulled up behind him in the pack’s smaller van.
Bax looked pensively out the window. He’d been quiet during the drive, and Abel was well aware of his worries. They’d talked about it, but Abel hadn’t managed to convince him that there was no chance Jackson-Jellystone would keep him. Only time would convince him, Abel supposed. He reached across and patted Bax’s hand. “Come on. You can look down your nose at them.” Abel had given Bax a budget to spend on clothing for this trip. Bax had understood immediately, and he’d had an amused glint in his eyes when he took the credit card Abel offered him.
The two pups were asleep in the back seat. They’d only brought Noah and Fan with them this trip. Noah was still nursing, so he’d had to come, and at the last minute Fan had insisted on coming too. Teca had gone to stay with a friend from daycare, Beatrice to Jason and Mac. It had made organizing the trip easier for Abel, and had taken some of the stress of Bax’s shoulders as well. Even though his future mate wouldn’t come out and say it, the way he talked around the subject made it plain to Abel that he was worried about the pups being shoved out into the porch to sleep again, and what effect that would have on them. Better that they get the treat of visiting elsewhere. With only two, they could all cram themselves into one room with little difficulty.
Abel's Omega(Gay Paranomal MM Mpreg Romance) (Mercy Hills Pack Book 2) Page 22
