Page 17 of Duke's Baby Deal
When Abel came back this time, the emotion was rolling off in in waves so big even the pups noticed it. Fan stopped in the middle of ravaging Duke’s triceratops with his tyrannosaurus rex to stare at his Pap. Beatrice went tense and laid down flat on Duke’s back.
“Abel,” Duke said, in a tone meant to convey the message, “Tone it down.”
Abel let out a long breath, and the emotional tension faded, and then—and it must have taken a huge effort—happy, fun emotions filled the room. He had to be projecting them, because alphas didn’t often display that side of their power.
“Did you want to go see Taden?” Abel asked the pups.
Fan nodded and scrambled to his feet, the previous tension forgotten. “I want to show him my t-rex,” he said.
“I don’t know if he’s old enough to really appreciate it, but as long as you’re careful around him, I don’t see why not.” He paused, and then added, “Unless Dabi says to keep it away. Dabi’s the expert here.”
“Yep. Dabi knows everything,” Fan agreed and started off down the hall.
Abel shot a glance at Duke and mouthed, “How long will that last?”
Duke mouthed back, “Ask Dabi.”
As he ushered the rest of the pups out of the room, Abel put a hand behind his back and shot Duke the bird without looking.
Duke chuckled and got up to go sit by Quin. “What do you think’s going on?”
Quin shrugged. “We’ll find out, though.” And the way he said it, Duke could tell he was speaking as Alpha, not as Abel’s older brother.
They waited, drinking tea, and Duke thought about the whole ridiculous situation that had ended up with Abel as Alpha. It had never been supposed to be Abel, though he’d been just as well suited to it. No, Quin had been the one who was supposed to take over when the old Alpha gave up his position. But Quin had been away, in the army, and when he’d applied to come home to compete for the position, he’d been denied. He was too important. Too necessary.
Ha.
Duke thought they just liked screwing with the shifters, and maybe having someone in the squad that was both good at what they did, and—to human ways of thinking—expendable. Seven-tenths of a human, or whatever the phrase was. Quin never said anything about it one way or another, but he’d ended his enlistment the next chance he got and came home, despite not having a job to come home to at the time. Not that the pack would kick him out—pack was pack. But in all packs, everyone had to pull their weight.
So Abel’s plan to let the other packs think they’d punished him forstealingtheir True Omegas had worked out well—Abel was already pulling enough weight for two shifters, and maybe a bit more. It made sense to pass some of that on to Quin. And if it got them off the hook for Jason and Bax, all the better. Now everyone was happy. Well, except for Abel right now, it seemed.
A half hour later, Abel came back with the pups and Holland trailing behind with Noah on one hip. Quin dropped his novel and sat up, running a hand over his hair. Duke hid a smile. Quin had a crush on Holland that shone like the Wolf Star. Now, if only Holland would take him up on that.
Holland glanced at Quin, then turned just as swiftly away. “I’ll take Noah and put him to bed. Beatrice, it’s bath time. Do you want your fishies?”
“Fishies, fishies!” she chanted, hopping two-footed in a circle around him.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Holland said dryly, then exited with the two pups, though not before another subtle glance at Quin.
Yeah, time to give Quin a kick in the rear. If only Duke wasn’t just a little bit intimidated by him.
Quin was an unknown. Duke had never really known him, being quite a bit younger, but even now, Quin didn’t say much. And he took being Alpha seriously, even more seriously than Abel, and Duke thought Abel had been just a little obsessed with the job. So yeah, maybe better to let Abel be the one to poke that wolf. Duke was perfectly comfortable poking Abel, after all.
Abel sat Teca and Fan at the kitchen table to color, and retreated to the living room. “I have something to ask of you two.” He paused, and gave Quin a rueful look. “Damn. I keep forgetting.”
Quin grinned at him. “I won’t pound you this time.”
Abel shook his head. “You might want to. This was all set in motion during my watch.”
“Bram?”
“Yes.”
“What happened?”
“Justin caught up with him last night, while everyone was at the party.”
And Bram had been in heat.
