Page 44 of Broken Alpha

“Aidyn Keller?”

“Do I know you?”

His eyes narrowed at my response as he stood up, buttoning his suit jacket at his waist and extending his hand towards me while he introduced him. “I am Jason Ellis, Luke’s father. I assume I am in the presence of his…..lover?”

I fought not to smirk at how he struggled to say that last word. I pulled my shoulders back, straightening my spine and lifting my head. “Hismate. Yes, you are. How can I assist you?”

I ignored his hand while I fished out my phone, dialing Luke before slipping it back into my pocket. Even if Luke didn’t pick up, the answering service would record part of our conversation. I didn’t think Luke’s father would hurt me in any way; after all, it was considered bad manners to hurt a pregnant Omega, but I didn’t want to take my chances. Mr. Ellis lowered his hand, a look of disgust and offense etched onto his face, but his gaze darted to my neck, no doubt looking for a mark.

“I wish to discuss a business proposition with you.”

“I’m not interested.”

“With all due respect, Mr. Keller —”

“No, you’ve come here without any respect at all,” I interrupted, staring him in the eye. “Not once have you shown me or your son an ounce of respect. Luke told you he was having a baby, and you told him the best thing for him to do was to have it terminated and leave me to marry someone you decided was worthy. You act like he doesn’t talk to me about such things, that we’re not partners. I know everything. ”

“Then you know —”

“I know that you don’t understand your son in the slightest. You honestly don’t care about his happiness or what he wants forhis life. You couldn’t care less. You thought that by coming here, I would what? Take some money, terminate this pregnancy, and walk away from him so you can continue to use him as a pawn? Not happening. I won’t abandon my mate.”

“You’re not his mate,” Mr. Ellis practically growled. “He is broken and will never be able to bond with you completely. You’re wasting your potential. I could help you find a suitable match, like I have for him.”

“Iam his suitable match. You don’t get to dictate who we should love based on archaic views that you refuse to let go of for the sake of your family. Luke isn’t broken, and I’m sorry you can’t see past that. Even if he couldn’t bond with me, he is still who I want.”

“That pup inside you will be just as defective —”

“Even if this pup has whatever Luke does, this pup will have a loving and understanding father, something Luke clearly never had. I’d be so proud if they grew up to be even half the person Luke is. He is not defective. It’s hilarious that you keep referring to him as broken and defective, yet you still want to marry him off to make pups with someone else, knowing his condition could be hereditary. You just don’t want him to have a pup with someone you didn’t authorize.”

The scent of burnt coffee grew stronger, choking me as Mr. Ellis crowded my space. I stood my ground, refusing to let him intimidate me, but I couldn’t help placing a protective arm around my bump. I will protect her, and I’ll defend Luke.

“You need to learn your place, Omega.”

I have had enough. I was tired of his family trying to interfere and take Luke away from me. While I hated what Luke had done during my heat, I understood it, especially now after meeting his family. They would stop at nothing to separate us. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, letting the anger be the core of my pheromones, releasing them in force, pushing back againstthe tidal wave of burnt coffee. When I opened my eyes, Mr. Ellis stared at me with wide eyes, struggling against my assault as I revealed that I was far more worthy of his son than anyone he had imagined. I found it interesting that, technically, Luke outranked his father by being a dominant Alpha, but family hierarchy kept him subservient to him—a limitation I did not have. My scent surrounded him, and I prayed to whatever higher being existed that my pheromones were some of the most rancid things on the planet and that I was suffocating him while he struggled for air.

“Aidyn.”

My gaze left Mr. Ellis's pale face as I glanced at Luke, his face emotionless as he watched the scene before him. I reined in my pheromones, my body shaking with the overexertion, and I momentarily panicked that the power behind my pheromones could harm the pup, but nothing felt wrong. Looking at Luke, who only had eyes for me, I began to calm down. I wasn’t aware my feet had moved until Luke wrapped me in his embrace, his citrus honey scent drowning out the burnt coffee. He didn’t look at his father; he just herded me toward the car.

“Let’s go home.”

Aidyn

Ilay in the lukewarm bath, absentmindedly running my hands over my little bump. The interaction between Mr. Ellis and myself was still very fresh in my mind. The apartment was quiet since Luke had left, though not without protest, to pick up this fantastic eggplant rollatini that was served at a little mom-and-pop Italian restaurant near my old apartment. Luke was hesitant to leave me alone long enough to drive across town, but I assured him several times that I would be fine. I used the tracking app on my phone to monitor his location, which notified me that he was stuck in traffic on his way back to the apartment. Thesilence bred unsavory thoughts about the recent encounter, but simultaneously, a choice had been made.

I had looked into bonding and inquired if it was safe to do so while pregnant. I had even asked the nurse as I got dressed during my last ultrasound to ensure that knotting wouldn’t result in a miscarriage. As long as we weren’t rough in our sex, we would be fine. My body was designed to take a knot, regardless of pregnancy. She also confirmed that for some, bonding and having my mate perform a pheromone shower could ease the stress of the pregnancy and make the side effects less aggressive.

By the time the front door beeped open, the bath had cooled and I dried off, curling up on the couch to wait while I scrolled through my phone. I was instantly hit with the scent of herbs, tomato sauce, and vegetables. My stomach rumbled, and I scampered out of the tub, rushing to dry myself off. I pulled on a clean pair of Luke’s underwear and a t-shirt, surrounding myself and our pup in his scent as he pulled down the dishes from the cupboard.

“Doing okay?” he asked hesitantly, his face concerned.

It was as if Luke wanted me to be more traumatized by the encounter with his father than I actually was. I was shaken up when it happened, but hours had passed, and right now, my concern was not impacting stress upon our pup and instead on how many garlic breadsticks I could steal. His phone vibrated on the table, and the screen lit up, revealing at least a hundred missed calls from his mother, thirty from his father, about five from his sister, and a mixture of text messages he was ignoring. Now that he was home, he reached for his phone and pressed the two buttons on the sides of his phone to turn it off completely. He said nothing as he sat down and began to tear apart the paper bags that housed our food.

“I’m fine, just starving,” I responded, stealing a breadstick and nibbling on it.

“That’s good news then,” Luke grinned, putting my meal on a plate first and handing it to me.

Usually, I was a meat eater, but sometimes I enjoy a good vegetable lasagna or veggie burger. That’s how I discovered this rollatini, and my mouth watered as the scents of seasonings and vegetables reached my nose. I eagerly picked up my fork, cut into the baked vegetable smothered in cheese, and popped it into my mouth. The flavor exploded against my tongue, and I moaned, unable to stop the little happy dance I did in my chair while chewing. I reached for another bite when my current one reached my stomach, and instantly, nausea hit me. Bile threatened to bring forth the bite I had just swallowed as I dropped my fork, letting it clatter against the plate. I dashed off to the hallway bathroom, Luke close behind, and emptied the contents of my stomach into the bowl.

---