Page 2 of The Kingpin's Omega Lover
He could be Aleks, Junior. AJ for short.
He kind of liked that but wouldn’t bring it up until Malori and his son finally walked out of the Farm and into the free world. A free world that felt like a myth now, a story Malori had read about, not actually experienced for the first twenty years of his life. Captivity felt like all he’d ever known—until Aleks. Until Malori remembered what it felt like to be wanted.
Maybe even loved.
“I must take the newborn now,” Dr. Luther said as she pulled off her stained gloves.
Terror grabbed Malori by the throat, and he barely squeezed out a startled, “What? Why?”
“He must be bathed. I will also weigh and measure him.” She fixed Malori with a familiar, cold stare over her paper mask. “You do wish him to eventually have a legal birth certificate, yes? We need those measurements.”
“Right. Okay.” He loathed handing his baby over to Dr. Luther, but he also understood the necessity. Junior had just been squeezed out of Malori’s body via a passage that served a vastly different purpose for every human being who wasn’t omega. And his heart trilled with happiness at the mention of a birth certificate. That meant he truly did have a future outside the Farm, with Aleks and Junior.
It was going to happen.
Thankfully, Dr. Luther left the bedroom door open when she left, and moments later he heard the water turn on in the bathroom, as the apartment had no kitchen. Malori was exhausted, sweaty, sore, and strangely hungry, but those things dimmed beneath the weight of his anxiety. Anxiety that wouldn’t lessen until Junior was back in his arms.
“I wish you could stay here with us,” Malori said, the words slipping out without thought.
Behind him, Aleks tensed, the arms around Malori’s waist loosening and almost slipping away. “You know Master won’t allow that. We’ve discussed this.”
“I know, I’m sorry.” They’d talked about it multiple times as Malori’s due date grew nearer, and his desperation for his lover increased exponentially. He hated being alone in this apartment all the time, until Master inevitably came for him because it was time for Malori to work. To trade his omega body’s gift in exchange for being allowed to live.
It had to be enough now. His daughter had been taken. His time, his body, his ability to consent had all been taken from him by force. He’d worked while sick and in pain. He’d worked while heavily pregnant. He’d worked every time he’d been taken from this room. All those hours, countless tears, untold broken dreams.
It had to be enough. Aleks would pay the rest in cash, and then Malori would finally be free. He could survive a few moreweeks apart from Aleks, raising their baby on his own until Aleks came for them both. At least, Malori would have a reprieve from working until his body healed.
“I know you’re eager to get out of here,” Aleks whispered. “I’m eager to set you free, but you need to be patient. I’ve told you that.”
“I know. I’m sorry, Aleks, I swear.” He clasped Aleks’s right hand and pulled it up to kiss the knuckles. “I can be patient. Now that the baby is here, I’ll be so busy the time will fly by.”
“Good.” Aleks freed his hand and ran his fingers through Malori’s hair. “Remember, Master can rescind his buy-out offer at any time. We cannot press our luck.”
“You’re right.”
Aleks was always right. He was older, wiser, a businessman with investments that would support them for the rest of their lives. He had a home in Santa Barbara with an ocean view. Malori had never seen the ocean, never traveled outside of the Midwest, and he had no idea where the Farm was located. The scenery outside saw all four seasons, but it was as generic as a motel watercolor. And no one he’d met here, man or woman, had the same accent.
“It’s my hormones going crazy,” Malori said. “I’ll do better, I promise.” He stretched his legs out and allowed his thighs to dangle off the edge of the bed. This position was no longer comfortable now that the birthing process was over, but Dr. Luther had told him earlier not to move until she had him properly cleaned up.
Baby came first. From now on, baby always came first.
The water shut off, and a few more long minutes passed—marked by that precious clock that would probably disappear whenever Dr. Luther left for the day—before she returned with Junior wrapped up in a white cotton blanket, his head adornedwith a tiny white cap. Malori was eager to hold his son again, but she simply stood there.
“We need to get you cleaned up, Omega,” Dr. Luther said, her voice clearer now that she’d removed her mask. “Mr. Yovenko, if you will please excuse us? You can wait in the Omega’s bedroom, if you wish.”
“All right, thank you.” Aleks carefully climbed off the bed and then accepted Junior with gentle hands. “We’ll be fine, I’m sure. Thank you, Dr. Luther.”
“You’re welcome.”
Malori did his best to assist the doc in getting cleaned up with a combination of wet wipes and a few washcloths dipped in a basin of soapy water. It wasn’t as good as a shower, but he felt less sticky and gross, and then she helped him into incontinence underwear. “You know this process,” she said stiffly, “but I will leave a package of these garments in your bathroom. Change them as needed.”
“Right.”
“I’ll help you to your room now. Someone will be along to clean this room properly.”
“Thank you.”
Walking twenty feet from one side of the apartment to the other, roughly an hour post-partum, was one of the most difficult things Malori had ever done, but he managed without falling over or whining too much. He collapsed into his own bed, happy to see Aleks standing by the barred window, gently rocking Junior in his arms. Once Malori was settled comfortably, Aleks handed the newborn over.
