Page 16 of Duke's Baby Deal
“I don’t know what to do!” I wailed and really began to cry then. Bax made soothing noises and rocked me back and forth while I blubbered.
“Bax?” Abel’s voice, a deep rumble coming from the door, made me breath catch in my throat. I sat up with a start and began trying to wipe away the evidence of my disaster.
Abel was frowning when he entered the room. “What are you doing out of bed?” he asked Bax.
Bax held his arms up to him. “Give me a hand up?”
Abel’s mouth tightened and he bent and lifted Bax in his arms. “I’m taking you back to bed.”
“I can walk, you know.” But Bax sounded amused.
“You don’t need to, though. And you’re not supposed to.” They traded a kiss that gave me a pang of jealousy. I wondered if I’d ever have that, now that I’d made the decision to become a pariah.
Abel cast a glance at me as he sidled out the bathroom door, one full of curiosity and suspicion. I bowed my head and leaned against the wall again.
Dammit.
The door darkened again and I looked up to see Abel watching me with a much less sympathetic expression than Bax had worn. “What have you done, Bram?” he said in a low, sad voice.
I’d expected anger. Anger I could deal with—it was only what I deserved. But this sadness from the man who’d been my Alpha and who the entire pack still respected as one—I hid my head in my arms and let the tears flow.
I was so, so stupid.
“Come on, get up. I can’t help if I don’t know what’s going on and Bax is as stubborn a man as I’ve ever met.” His fingers on my shoulder weren’t entirely patient, and I could tell he was upset with me, because I’d upset Bax.
Well, might as well let the world know what an idiot I was.
I got to my feet and let Abel herd me out into the bedroom. Holland and Adelaide were gone. Bax was tucked back into the bed, and Abel must have gotten the baby for him, because Taden was sleeping soundly beside him. Bax looked exasperated and a little apprehensive. At a small gesture from him, I crawled into the bed beside him and let him enfold me in a protective arm.
Abel sat at the foot of the bed. “So, do you want to tell me what’s going on?”
Bax’s arm closed tighter around me. “He couldn’t do it.” Then, softer. “We’re going to have to find some other way.”
I watched the muscles in Abel’s jaw work as he digested that. Then he took a huge, shaky breath and said, “What do you need?” I marveled at the trust in his mate that those words showed. Not that I knew much, but talking to the omegas from the other packs, I’d learned that an omega’s opinion didn’t count for much.
Bax sighed, and his body loosened. “I need someplace he can go where no one knows him, where he can have the pup, and we can find a home for it. Maybe someone living outside walls.”
Abel raised his eyebrows. “You plan to keep him sequestered for the whole time? He won’t be able to go run on full moon with that belly—it’s going to get out. And he’ll be stuck inside all the time, or the humans will notice. They’ll have to. I trust myself and Quin and any other Alpha to protect him inside walls, but outside? There’d be nothing I could do.”
“Maybe he doesn’t have to let people see him? Jason didn’t. He stayed in the apartment most of the time.”
Abel looked thoughtful. “It’s an option. I can look into it. In the meantime,” he pinned me with a glare. “You stay inside. No work, no socializing. We don’t want people knowing what happened, you got it?”
I nodded dumbly. What else could I do?
Abel got to his feet. “Bram, I’m going to do my best to see that this doesn’t hurt you, but you know there’s probably going to be some unpleasantness, right?”
I nodded again. “I know. I’ll deal with it—it’s not your problem.”
“No,” Abel said wryly. “You’re right, it’s not. It’s Quin’s.” He looked over at Bax. “Can the rampaging monsters come in, or do you want to let him sleep a little longer?”
Bax shook his head. “Let them in. He’ll be waking up soon, anyway.” Then, as Abel opened the bedroom door, Bax said, “Thank you, love.”
Abel threw him an indecipherable look, and closed the door behind him.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Duke was playing dinosaurs in the living room with Fan while Beatrice rode on his back. Quin was on the couch with Teca and Noah, reading one of Teca’s princess books. Tension rode in the air, though the pups didn’t seem to have noticed it. The adults certainly had, and he and Quin had exchanged uneasy glances after Abel came back from visiting with Bax.
