Page 5 of Single Omega Dad
Both boys nodded solemnly.
“I’m sorry, Daddy,” said Tybor.
“I’m sorry, too,” said Luke.
I got up, swinging them both in my arms before setting them to the floor.
“Okay, kiddos, let’s go see if we can fix it.”
Their faces instantly lit up and from one minute to the next it was as if nothing bad had ever happened.
*
Drayden, my Alpha, died on the same day I found out I was almost three months pregnant.
He was hardly ever home except for his Burns, an airline pilot always on the go. When he was home, he stayed to himself and barely tolerated our twin sons. Over the past two years, except for his Burns, we had taken to sleeping in separate rooms.
Our bond had been quick and formal, but I was smitten at first. I thought Drayden loved me when what he had really needed was a child-bearer and a maid and a convenient hole for his Burns.
Our mate-bond, what I felt of it, was weak when I compared it to what I had learned about bondmates. Raised on a chattel farm, I’d met Drayden when he’d rented me for one of his Burns. He’d knotted me into total ecstasy and he decided right after that I would be a good partner and give him healthy children.
He dated me for about two weeks before I said yes to his offer of marriage.
I was naïve. I thought the bond, when we formed it, would make me fall in love with him. It didn’t. I cared about him, but I didn’t ever feel that surge some people talked about when they could actually feel their mate inside their mind and know if they were happy, sad, hurt or… dead.
When Drayden died I never felt a twinge of it through our weak bond. No pain. No fear. No shock or dread. Just over three months ago, his plane went down in the ocean with fifty-seven passengers, all lost, and the investigation into why the accident happened with all the safety regs in place was still ongoing.
Drayden was an experienced pilot with awards and over eleven thousand hours in the cockpit of many different kinds of planes.
I remember thinking at the time that it was impossible that Drayden was dead. There must have been some mistake. He was expert at what he did. He’d never lost a passenger even in the worst weather conditions. He never lost his cool. He was a rational, meticulous thinker. If the plane went down with Drayden at the controls, then it had to be for a reason he couldn’t control, like a bomb or a flock of birds, or human error on the maintenance level.
I remembered that day very clearly, the phone call to notify me, the chill I’d felt all over my skin at the news, a chill that took over all except for a tiny flame in my belly where twin fetuses were starting to grow. I didn’t know they were twins yet—a second set to match my beautiful Luke and Tybor—it had been too early, and of course I couldn’t really feel them. But the heat there, and knowing I carried new life conceived of Drayden’s blood, his DNA, made me begin to tremble so hard I had to sit down.
I never shed a tear for Drayden, but that didn’t mean I didn’t grieve him in my own way. I lost sleep over my inability to have felt his death. I worried about being an Omega left alone to care for our growing family. I dreamed every night for a month that it had all been a clerical error, and it wasn’t really Drayden on that flight. In my dreams, he walked through the front door in his usual manner, quiet and reserved, hanging his pilot coat in the closet, removing his shoes, and going straight to his office with barely a hello in greeting.
Our sons cried at the news, confused and upset. But young as they were, they adapted quickly to Drayden’s absence, since they barely knew their Alpha father and had bonded mainly to me. For the first few weeks, they’d ask me questions like if I was sure their Alpha daddy was never coming home, and where did I think people went after they died.
But after a while, their behavior normalized.
For me, my grief might have been minimal but my worry wasn’t.
Drayden had left behind a large life insurance policy and some decent bank accounts. They were in my name as well, but as a newly single Omega, I wasn’t allowed to have financial accounts without an Alpha signatory. I was allowed access for the first few weeks, the same as it had been when Drayden was alive, but now the bank was sending me notices. My withdrawals would be suspended and my funds put on hold if I didn’t hire an Alpha financial guardian to help me with my affairs.
The bank’s letters were oh so polite, telling me their policies were for my own protection, my own good, and to make sure my money was safe. There was wording like:You need not worry about things you are unequipped to handle, and if you cannot find a financial guardian on your own, we can provide this service for a monthly fee that is commensurate with your spending.
Every letter I got like that, I ripped to shreds. They were there to protect my money, they said. Except from themselves, since they were quite willing to take it in order to provide me with their guardian service.
Drayden had kept me away from all his Alpha friends. We rarely socialized. I never knew my parents or any siblings I might have had. And I didn’t want my in-laws bothered with any of it. They saw their grandkids once in a while, but that was the extent of our relationship. I had no one who could help me outside of the bank itself. They had me between a rock and a hard place.
So when the bank called me to set up a meeting, I was a bit curt. Maybe even rude. A financial guardianship from them meant every monetary expenditure I had from now on would be monitored and scrutinized and could actually be denied if found to be frivolous or excessive.
“I’ll have you know, my Alpha was barely ever home,” I said. “I handled all the household duties, including finances and all the bills myself. I don’t need the help.”
“Yes, very well, I’m sure you’re right,” said the Alpha on the other end of the line. “But our bank policy is there to insure the safety of all our customers. We want you to have the best experience, and not have to worry your pretty little head about--”
“Excuse me?” I interrupted. “Maybe yourpretty little headneeds to stop worrying about whether or not I am pretty and listen. I’ve been doing this for years. My bondmate traveled for his job.”
I heard the Alpha clear his throat. “Still, your husband was the main signatory, as deemed by law. All these facts can be discussed at the meeting. And now,” he continued without taking a breath. “Would morning or afternoon be better for you?”
