Page 14 of Duke's Baby Deal
I bit my lip and glanced at Bax, hoping he could do something. Weren’t mates supposed to listen to each other?
Abel looked at Bax. “He’s pregnant, right?”
Bax’s expression was blandly neutral. “Why do you think that?”
“Because he was in heat yesterday.”
“It could be medical.”
Abel raised an eyebrow and gave Bax a “Really?” kind of look.
Bax opened his mouth, and suddenly I was convinced that there was going to be a fight, and Bax’s history came rushing back to me, reminding me that he expected to get in trouble for covering for me. “I am,” I said. Before he could risk making Abel angry. Not that I thought he would, but he was an alpha, and they were touchy. Weirdly, where I’d been upset telling Holland and Bax, I was as calm as still water telling Abel. “Justin found me last night in the back yard.”
I felt the brush of his power and huddled a little in place until I felt it fade away again.
Abel was angry. He handed the baby off to Bax, who quietly took Taden, and just as quietly put a calming hand on Abel’s arm. Abel patted him and sent him a strained smile.
“Did he hurt you?”
How to explain that? I looked to Bax again.
“He wouldn’t have needed to,” Bax said, picking up on my silent plea. “You remember the spring.” A flush of pink colored his cheeks, turning deep rose when Abel shot him a loving glance. Bax looked down at the baby, though he never moved his hand from Abel’s arm. “It could have been anyone. What bothers me is that Justin went looking for him.”
“Well, I don’t want him in Mercy Hills,” was Abel’s response, then he caught himself. “I doubt Quin would want him in Mercy Hills either.” He turned back to me. “If you want him, I’ll ask Quin to negotiate for you. Montana Border isn’t Mercy Hills, but we can make sure you’re comfortable.”
“I don’t want him!” What a horrible, horrible thought! Tears began to run down my face as I pleaded, “Please don’t make me mate him! I only flirted with him because I wanted…” I sucked in my breath, pulling that name back inside before it could escape and shame me further. I buried my face in my hands and slumped into the rocking chair, because the possibility of being mated to Justin suddenly became real to me in way it hadn’t before, and it scared me.
Abel’s voice broke through my panicked thoughts. “Then you won’t mate him. We’ll have to talk to your parents and see about getting a bigger house if you’re going to stay with them…” His voice trailed off and he glanced back and forth between myself and Bax. I had raised my head in protest when he mentioned my parents, but the rest of his sentence made Bax and I stare at him, mouths open in bafflement.
Finally, Bax said, “Love, he can’t just have the baby. He’d be a scandal, and he and the baby would be made fun of for the rest of their lives. They’d be looked down on, the pup would be bullied. They become unpaid help to their families for their entire lives because no one will agree to mate them.”
“What? No! Not here. Why would you think…?” He glanced between the two of us again, then looked back at Bax. “This isn’t Buffalo Gap. Or Jackson-Jellystone.”
“Test it,” Bax told him. “Go find a random pack member, and drop a story about some omega in another pack, pregnant and unmated. See what happens.”
“Do you really… No, we’re better than that here.”
“Try it.” Bax leaned back, his face drawn and exhausted looking. “I’m not willing to risk his future.”
From the door, Holland said, “He’s not lying to you, Abel. My mated pack threw me out, repudiated me, because I couldn’t have pups. Things that would be forgivable, even in a delta wolf, are a life sentence for us. I’ll never have a mate, never have my own home. I’ll always have to come to you and Bax for what I need. Would you wish that on him?”
At any other time, I would have been ecstatic to finally know Holland’s secret. But his words cut deep, leaving behind a sharp, icy fear as they painted a picture of my future with this pup.
Abel stared at me for a long moment, his expression going from frustration, to sadness, to uncomfortable realization. “Then he’ll have to mate Justin.” He didn’t sound any happier about it than I was.
I held my breath, my chest hurting with fear, waiting and hoping that Bax would put a stop to that.
Bax stared at Abel for a moment, then patted his arm and pulled him close for a kiss. “Would you really do that to him? How would they treat him in Montana Border, coming from here?”
“We can work it into the contract.” But the tone of Abel’s voice told me that, thankfully, he was starting to see the problems with his idea. “Okay, so what do we do then? Should I start looking around to find someone willing to mate him quickly? Can a heat be faked?” Then, in a low, frustrated tone, “Ihatedoing that to someone.”
That would be hard. Maybe one of the younger ones? I tried to think who I might be able to get along with for the rest of my life, but none of the ones that I thought might jump at the chance to have their own omega were ones I wanted to spend more than the duration of a dance with.
“There are things that can be done. Will you trust me to handle this?” Bax looked somber, and I watched as understanding dawned in Abel’s eyes.
I thought for a moment he was going to forbid it, and he would have been within his rights, because an omega’s mate was his guardian, and he could have his brother Quin, Alpha of Mercy Hills, stand in for my parents for me. But instead, he drew in a long breath, shaky and painful sounding. “All right. I trust you.” Then he turned to me. “I’m sorry, Bram. I’d have thrown him out if I’d guessed he’d care that little about the rules.”
I nodded, and sniffed—my nose always ran when I cried.
