Page 48 of His Rejected Alpha Mate
“Have you been close to them?”
“No. Blake didn’t let me go meet —“ There was some swearing at the other side of the line. “Was that why I didn’t get to meet them? Was he worried they might have it? Did he keep Melody away as well?”
I motioned for Dakota to hand me the phone. “Kade, an omega lost her baby because of this sickness. I don’t know if Blake knew, but it doesn’t matter. He probably only wanted to save you the stress. Stay away from that house. From any beta.” My voice broke. “Angel has it. Trey and Grady too.” The sob broke free. “It’s my fault. They must have brought it to the pack!”
Dakota pulled me into his chest and switched the phone to speaker so Kade could hear us both. “Hey, you don’t know that,” he told me. To us both, he said, “it could have been the new betas. There’s no way of knowing. Probably why Blake has been keeping Kade away from most betas.” He had a point, but guilt still ate at me. “It could have been one on a supply run. We don’t know how it got here, just that it is here and you two can’t be near anyone, just in case.”
“Kade, we need to go to your house. It’s the best place for us. No shifters nearby. Blake can come stay with us.” I suggested.
“Deke or Roan too. For security.” Kade added.
Dakota nodded at the phone, despite Kade not being able to see him. “Good idea. Deke is the better fighter, though.”
Kade made a noise of distress. Likely at the idea of being separated from Roan. The papa in me rushed to soothe him. “Roan does so much in the office, he’ll be vital in the mansion to keep on top of things until the sickness runs its course.”
“Good point, Papa. What about you, Dad?” My heart still gave a little jump every time that Kade called Dakota dad. It wasn’t all the time. He used a nickname more often than not, but I loved hearing it. Each use erased years of damage from my ex.
“Your Papa is worried about Grady and Trey and your sister. There’s no way they can look after her as well as themselves, so I’m going to go take care of them all. We’ll head back to the compound after we get a few things for him. Give us an hour, okay?”
“No problem.”
He hung up the phone, holding me close for a minute. “It’ll be fine, Jasper. I believe The Luna has a plan, and this is the path to something big. We just have to have faith.” His sigh told me that this was as hard on him as it was on me. “Deke and Blake will look after you both. I hate the idea of being apart for who knows how long, but we have to do this for our family.”
Unfortunately, he was right.
The drive to our house was tense. Dakota kept a hand on me as much as possible, as if soaking in my presence for the time that we would be parted. My heart felt like it would break. We’d only just properly mated. Our bond was fragile and here we were, separating for an unknown length of time. While it was the right thing to do, it still hurt. There was no way that I would settle, knowing that two ill men were trying to take care of our sick daughter.
My mate’s kindness couldn’t be measured. Even after a week of judgment from those men, my friends, he was still willing to put aside his feelings and nurse them. Was there a better person on this earth? I didn’t think so. He was all mine, too. I laid my head on his shoulder, trying to get my fix of his paper and cotton scent. Our scents had mixed, so there was a touch of caramel in there. I wondered what I’d gotten from him.
Cotton,he supplied down the bond. There was a trace of amusement. Apparently, I was broadcasting a lot of thoughts. In fairness, I’d forgotten how to use a mate bond. The pack link had taken time too. I tried to shake it off, but it was torture to be parted this soon after making it official. “It’s hard on me, too. How am I going to sleep without you draped over me? I don’t want to miss anything with the baby. But Angel needs me more just now.”
This whole thing sucks.
Dakota chuckled and the mood in the truck lightened a fraction.
We were soon at the house.Stay in the car,Dakota reminded me needlessly. I wished so badly that I could go into the house and give my little girl a hug.
I watched him enter the house, and then my phone rang with a video call from Dakota. “You can’t come in, but you can still see her.” He said when I answered.
His steps were quick on the stairs, and he entered her room, knocking lightly. “Daddy, I don’t feel well. Where’s Papa?” My heart tore clean in half. The life I was growing was important. Too important to risk their life with this unknown illness. Yet, I wanted to be there for my baby girl. Her whole life she’d only really had me, and was just getting used to another parent. While she loved Trey and Grady, they were like brothers, not parents, and Silas had never taken a step-parent role. Part of that was me, but he had held back, too.
“Papa is here on the screen, little kit. We can’t let the baby get sick, so Papa has to stay away, okay? I’ll stay with you while Papa goes to stay with your brother. You hold my phone and speak to him and I’ll get him some clothes.” Dakota helped her sit. There was a fine sheen of sweat over her brow, her normally rosy skin wan. Her amber eyes, the same as mine and Kade’s, were dull and listless.
“Papa, will you be okay?” I couldn’t help her smile at her thoughtfulness.
“It’ll be hard because I’ll miss you and Daddy, but Kade will be there.”
“Will you take my bear stuffie to cuddle so you don’t miss Daddy too much?”
“Sure thing, my Angel, tell Daddy to pack it.” I willed myself not to cry. “What do I do when I’m missing you a lot?”
She thought about this, and tears welled in her eyes. “I don’t know! I want you to look after me, Papa.”
“I know, baby girl. I can’t and I hate it, but we have to look after the baby, don’t we?”
“He has to grow big and strong. Not get sick. When I miss you, I’ll think of my brother being safe in your tummy.”
“Brother, eh? What if she’s a girl?”
