Raleigh and I left Vitale to watch over the pups and make sure they didn’t drown each other while we went back into the house to make the food.
Earlier, I’d set a couple of jugs of water mixed with fresh mint leaves out in the sunshine, before I came out with the pups, and the heat of the sun’s rays had turned it into beautiful golden mint tea. I brought it inside with us and strained out the mint leaves. Two of them, I sweetened with honey and put in the refrigerator to chill for the men. The other, I set aside to take out for the pups and us.
Raleigh was cutting the block of cheese into nearly paper thin slices.
“You can cut them thicker,” I told him.
“I don’t want to get you in trouble,” he said with real worry.
I gently took the hand that held the knife and moved it a fraction of an inch farther along the block. “It’s fine. If he complains, I’ll tell Abel.”
“And he won’t mind?”
“No.” I rubbed my hand over my belly, feeling the thumbs and kicks of my little acrobat inside. “He thinks I don’t eat enough.”
“Oh.”
I caught Raleigh trying to get a look at my belly without being noticed, but he was too flustered to do a good job, so I took pity on him. “You can ask,” I said.
He looked up at me with scared eyes. “How did that happen?”
I shrugged casually, though I was as unnerved as he was whenever I put any thought into it. “We’re not sure, except we know that some omegas used to have spring and fall heats. Maybe getting more food made the difference.” It was a lie—we knew exactly why I had gone into heat, or thought we did. Jason and I had a great-great grandfather in common, from a mating over a hundred years ago. Before the Enclosure. I just wasn’t ready to admit to True Omega status, and I freely admitted—to Jason at least—that the idea terrified me.
“Is that all?” Raleigh looked both scared and hopeful. “I don’t think I want to have heats twice a year.”
Dammit. “I don’t think everyone can do it. Abel had someone start reading the histories and talking to the old ones. Even Before, there were only certain omegas who could do it.” I wasn’t going to have him starving himself even further just because I’d been careless in my lie. Fuck, this trip was such a bad idea. Except it wasn’t, because if the packs thought Abel was trying to hide the baby, everything would be that much worse when it finally came. But it was a strange turn of events that I suddenly felt responsible for the Jackson-Jellystone omegas.
You really are Alpha’s Mate, aren’t you? Over achiever. I had to fight to keep a smile off my face, because there was no way I could explain that. “Cut it thicker and I’ll get some strawberries—I’m sure I saw some earlier.”
I might as well have made the sun shine at midnight, he looked so impressed. “I love strawberries. We hardly ever get them.”
“Does your mate not feed you?”
“Oh, yes, he does, but you know how expensive strawberries are.”
I did, or I used to. “Don’t worry about it. I’ll take care of it.”
We had just finished our snack when the first of the men showed up, looking for something to drink. Abel was bright red, and I worried about heatstroke. “You’re not used to this heat. I’m not used to it, and I used to live here.” I soaked a cloth in cold water and laid it on the back of his neck, making him wince. “Drink.” I set a tall glass of the mint tea in front of him. “Slowly.” I did the same for Mac, who was just as red, and for Justin, though it burned my ass to do anything for him. He had Bram on a line and was reeling him in and I didn’t like the way he talked about it.
Vitale had apparently been roped into helping with lunch. I supposed his mate had volunteered him, but I was glad of the help all the same. Raleigh stuck around too, at first, but his increasing edginess made me send him home to his mate, with a secret helping of what we were making for the Alpha and the rest of the workers to soften his mate’s irritation.
We brought out plates of cold meat and potato salad, fried green tomatoes from the pack garden, cornbread that I’d made as soon as the men set out that morning, coleslaw, also made fresh that morning, and biscuits with butter and jam. Vitale poured the tea for the men while I ran back and forth, making sure they had everything they wanted, then Vitale took a seat out of the way, ready to fetch anything the men wanted, while I retreated to the kitchen to start water for washing up and get plates out and ready for the cobbler Holland had taught me to make before we left.
All in all, it went smoothly, and I blessed those last frantic days, getting clothes made, getting the pups organized, and long evenings of intense cooking lessons from Holland, who wasn’t going to let me set foot outside walls while my cooking still ranked with that of the local pre-teens. I was beginning to think that my problem with cooking had been my attitude, not any lack of ability on my part, and I thoroughly regretted it, because Abel was the one paying the price for my stubbornness by eating boring food.
The men left and Vitale and I cleaned up, then he left, but Raleigh came back with all three of his pups, and we went for a walk down to the stream to let the pups play. When the sun started to slant into the west, we came back to start supper. Raleigh disappeared into the bathroom to try to clean a stain off his shirt, and came back a few minutes later wearing a troubled look.
“It won’t come out?” I said in sympathy.
He nodded. “I don’t have many company shirts. And I can’t wear this in front of the Alphas.” He stared down at the mottled green and brown patch spoiling his pale blue shirt, the unspoken knowledge that his mate Degan wouldn’t be pleased rising like the smell of rotting meat between us.
“Come with me,” I said. I glanced out the window to see the pups playing happily in the back yard, Fan watching over everyone like the alpha he was. They were good, so I took Raleigh down to the guest rooms and opened the drawer with my clothes in it. “We’re about the same size. I bet this one would look good on you.” He had dark hair and fair skin, though not as fair as mine, and the pale yellow would look good on him. It was a fine cotton, nicer than the blue one he was wearing, but I could get another one with my pack credits, and Raleigh needed it more than I did. “Here, you can have this one. It’s not really as good a color on me as I thought it would be.” I handed it to him. “You’ll have to wear an apron—everything will show on that.”
“Oh, I can’t, that’s yours!” But his eyes caressed the fabric in open longing.
“Phht,” I said in casual dismissal. “Abel will buy me another one. Besides, he thinks this one makes me look sallow.” He’d said no such thing, but it was something he might have said if he were that type of Alpha. “Take it.” I held it up against him. “Yes, that suits you much better than me.” I left him to get changed and went back out to the kitchen to put the pups’ suppers together.
A few minutes later, Raleigh crept around the corner into the kitchen and smiled at me, and I realized I’d finally made a friend here.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-ONE
And now we were on our way to Montana Border, a three day trip just getting there. The Jackson-Jellystone shifters were staying, and we were down to just Abel and I and the pups, plus Justin and Mac, and a man named Bert, who was there for something to do with the plumbing. I was both excited for Jason, and nervous. Maybe things would go right this time—he was about due some good luck. I hoped.
Everything was packed into the van and the truck. Mac, Bert—a plumber—and Justin got into the truck and Abel was saying a last few words to Roland about looking after the panels when a commotion down the road got our attention.
It was Degan, dragging Raleigh down the road by his hair. Raleigh stumbled and cried as they came. To my horror, I noticed the flap of pale yellow cloth in Degan’s other hand. “Oh, fuck,” I whispered, and quickly shut the van door in hopes that the pups at least wouldn’t be able to hear this.
I hadn’t thought what Raleigh’s mate might believe when I’d given in to that impulse of generos
ity last night. And now my stomach sank as I saw it all go so wrong, like things always did for me when I tried to overreach my position as omega. I should know better by now—I wasn’t stupid.
“Alpha Mercy Hills,” Degan called when they were within earshot. “I have to apologize for my mate. He’s not the brightest shifter in the world.” He held out the crumpled cloth. “More fool me, I believed him that the food yesterday was a gift in thanks for his help. I’ve beaten him for that, but I’ll bow to your wishes if you think he needs to be punished more. Obviously, his success yesterday led him to believe I wouldn’t notice clothing he didn’t earn, or that you wouldn’t notice the absence of your possessions.” He threw Raleigh weeping to the ground.
“Bax?” Abel said, his voice tight with strain. He sounded angry, but I heard the real emotions in his voice: frustration, disbelief, sadness, guilt.
I stepped quickly to his side, my heart racing with fear for Raleigh. “I gave it to him. We had an accident down by the creek and he needed something else to wear. It’s never been a good color for me, so I gave it to him, to say thank you for his help with the pups yesterday.”
“And the food?” he asked gently. We were on the same page now and I could see in his face that he’d guessed the whole of it.
“We kept him late making lunch. It was meant to be an apology.” I bowed my head and leaned into Abel for support. My hands shook with both anger and fear, so I balled them in the hem of his t-shirt.
“I see,” Abel said, and kissed my head, then put me away from him. He stepped forward and helped Raleigh to his feet, whispering to him as he did so. Raleigh looked startled, then doubtful, and looked to me for some confirmation of whatever Abel had said. I didn’t know what it was, but I trusted my mate, so I nodded assurance to him.
Then Abel turned to Degan and held out his hand for the shirt. “Bax has my permission to be kind where he sees need. I have always found his judgments to be sound.” He held the shirt out to Raleigh. I heard him murmur, “Remember,” and then he was coming back to me. “We need to get going or we won’t get to the hotel in time to eat before curfew.”
I ducked my head in shame and hurried to the van, crawling into the back with the pups to sit with my eyes down and hands clasped in my lap. The pups were silent, perhaps sensing my own tension. They could be shockingly adult sometimes, a trait I wasn’t sure whether to be worried about or grateful for.
Abel spoke again to Roland, and then, to my surprise, pulled out his wallet and gave Roland some human money out of it. With a final handshake, he got into the passenger side seat and nodded to Edmond, who we’d brought with us to have a chance to get used to how different other packs could be.
“Let’s go,” he said grimly.
I kept my composure until we were outside the gates, and then lost myself in tears. I tried to hide it from the pups, but Fan was seated beside me and you couldn’t hide anything from him.
“Don’t cry, Dabi. Do you want a hug?” He reached for me and I let him hug me and pretended it made everything better.
“Bax,” Abel said, and I flinched out of old instinct.
“I’m sorry, Abel. He just looked so needy, and I remember how that felt.”
“I know. You’ve got a heart as big as the sky.” His voice was soothing and when I looked up, he didn’t seem angry. “I told him that if Degan repudiates him, to call us, and we’ll give him a home.”
“Oh.” This time, I leaned forward, my head in my hands as the world spun around me. “I love you, Abel.”
“Love you too.” His palm was warm against the back of my hand. “Don’t worry, it’s okay. I told Roland I didn’t appreciate seeing abuse in his pack and gave him something to think about. I might have said that if his pack was so poor they couldn’t afford kindness, I’d pay for the food. So, cheer up. I have a surprise for you tonight.”
I laughed at his ‘might have’ comment, but then my brain caught up with the rest of his sentence. “A surprise?” I lifted my head and wiped the tears away from my cheeks. “What is it?”
Fan answered me. “You can’t know, silly. Then it wouldn’t be a surprise.” He giggled and he and Abel exchanged conspiratorial glances.
“I’m being ganged up on, am I?” I demanded in mock anger. “We’ll see about that!” And I tickled Fan until he had the hiccups, then we calmed down and read a storybook to pass the time until our next stop.
CHAPTER SEVENTY-TWO
We drove all day, with occasional stops to eat or stretch our legs, and finally pulled in at a tall human hotel in Kansas City at about seven in the evening.
“Abel, this is a human hotel.” I stopped short, and realized just how much I’d changed. Before Abel, I would have thought twice about saying something like that.
He laughed. “Happy honeymoon. They have a couple of rooms dedicated to shifters. And I’m taking you out for dinner.” The news left me absolutely speechless and he knew it, and laughed some more. “Come on. Let’s get in and get the pups fed so I can take you out and spoil you.”
I was going to faint; this was far too much. But he seemed so excited about it himself, and I realized that he hardly ever took time to do something fun and new, except now where it concerned my pups, so I decided to throw my cares to the wind and live in the moment with him.
We got in with little difficulty, though the woman manning the desk was stiff, and we got some hard stares from people hanging around in the lobby once they noticed the tabs on the collars of our jackets. This was the first time Fan was old enough to wear them, and I kept a wary eye on him in case he started to play with them, but after a brief first inspection, he seemed to understand that they weren’t toys and left them alone.
We rode in an elevator, a much shorter trip than at home but with an escort from the front desk, a different young woman who chatted amiably with Fan and Teca and didn’t seem disturbed by our status at all. She led us down the hall to a single door at the end, smiled, and opened it for us. “The restaurant is open until ten, and the bar until midnight. Room service ends at ten as well. My name’s Amy and I’m here until midnight if there’s anything you need, just call down to the desk and let me know.” She waited a moment for Abel to thank her and pass her some small denomination of human money, though I didn’t know enough about what they looked like to tell what it was, and then she left.
It was…a palace. Or it seemed so to me. The door we’d passed through opened onto a large living room, with furniture that belonged in a millionaire romance. On the far side, there was an opening in the wall. I wandered in, my pups, my mate, all forgotten, and spun in the middle of the room trying to take it all in.
Whispers behind me got my attention. I turned to find Abel herding the pups inside the room, bent over with his head at their level, and making a noise in between the words he spoke that would have been a giggle in anyone smaller and less imposing. The pups only made it ten feet inside the door before they broke, running full speed toward the opening that led, presumably, to the bedroom, their laughter echoing off the walls. Mac, Edmond, and Justin came through the door with our luggage on its cart.
Mac burst out laughing and shook his head. “You won’t get any sleep tonight. They’ll be up jumping on the beds.”
“Oh, I’ll get them to sleep.” I reached for my bag, and the one we’d packed for the boys, and Abel picked up his and the one for the girls. Edmond started to wheel the luggage back out into the hall.
“Where are they going?” I asked. There was more than enough space for everyone.
As we carried them after the pups, Abel said in a low voice, “I got them a room across the hall. Mac’s going to babysit for us so we can go out to dinner.”
I stopped and stared at him, appalled. “That’s so much money!”
He nudged me into a bedroom. “It’s not that bad.” He put the suitcases down and took mine from me. “I’ve been earning double credits since I took over as Alpha, and no time to spend them. I used a lot for pack things, but
if we don’t have to pay out Montana Border anymore, I still have the equivalent of nearly sixty thousand human dollars.” He cupped my face in his hands. “Let me do this for you, to start making up for all the chances you never got.”
“Abel,” I breathed, and fell into his arms. I pressed my face against his chest and held him tight, my mind spinning.
“And I probably shouldn’t be planning to talk about business during a romantic dinner, but I want to do something about the way omegas are treated. I’m sorry, love, I never knew it was like that.”
“You’ve been sheltered,” I mumbled into his t-shirt.
His laugh rumbled. “I have. Will you teach me?”
I lifted my face so I could see him. “You’re my Alpha, and my mate. You only have to command.”
“I don’t want to command you.”
“I know.” I smiled at him. “And that’s why you can.” I reached up to touch his lips. “I want to please you. I want to help you. I want to see you have success, because it makes you happy, which makes me happy.”
“Is this really you, what you’re saying?”
I shook my head and moved away. “You can’t separate the omega from the man, because they’re both who I am. Parts of me are very omega, parts of me aren’t. But I’m still me.”
“Yes you are,” he said, and his voice had taken on that deep timbre that reminded me fiercely of late nights and early mornings in our bedroom in Mercy Hills. When I met his gaze again, his eyes had filled with a heat that melted me into puddle.
“Do we have to go out for supper?”
He laughed, and the fire banked itself, though I could still see it smoldering away in the background. “We might as well. Do you think the pups will go to sleep right now?”
“Dammit.” I frowned down at the suitcases.
“Look in mine. There’s a present there for you. I’ll get the pups’ pajamas set out. Mac’s going to get pizza for everyone while we get ready.” He bent to kiss my cheek. “I love all the parts of you. I just worry that sometimes you say yes because that’s what you think omegas are supposed to do.”
Abel's Omega(Gay Paranomal MM Mpreg Romance) (Mercy Hills Pack Book 2) Page 33
