Page 54 of Duke's Baby Deal
Oh, wait. Maybe Bax…“You’re True Omega. Can you do something? Anything? Make it better?” He looked up hopefully, only to see Bax’s moon-white face. “No? I thought you guys had magic.”
“No.” Bax’s first response was breathy and anxious, but his second, “No,” held all the firmness Duke expected of Abel, though Duke smelled hints of fear and worry in the air. “I can’t. I don’t even know what it is. I can’t do things like that.” He backed away, then appeared to catch himself and his voice softened. “I’m sorry, I can’t fix that. I wish I could.” He glanced over at the bedroom door. “I wish I knew what we were good for.”
“It’s okay.” Duke nodded and glanced toward the door as well. “We’ll just have to do the best we can. At least he’ll have time to study.”
Bax’s eyes widened. “He will, at that. But, I think I know a way to keep him busy, and let him earn credits.” He frowned, his brain obviously working furiously, then cracked a huge grin. “Come with me. We need to talk to Abel.”
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
When I woke up that evening, the apartment was empty and I felt lonelier than I ever had in my life. Being the only omega in the pack, that had been pretty lonely at times. Honestly, still was. I was so far behind the new omegas in what I knew about being one that I’d started actively avoiding some of them because the teasing just never stopped. But now, in my quiet bedroom all by myself, I would have even taken their company to not be alone in my nightmare.
Silly. You have Duke.
I almost got up. In fact, I was sitting up and had my legs over the side of the bed when I realized what I was doing. “Dammit.” Then I decided I was being ridiculous and I went to the bathroom, and instead of going back to bed, I laid down on the couch.
Except, like ninety-nine percent of the pack, we had no internet at our home, and of course no cable or satellite or any of the other ways the humans got television shows into their house. So turning on the television was a bust, unless I wanted to watch whatever was still in the little DVD player because I’d laid down before I thought about putting anything in the machine. “Dammit,” I said again, and just…sprawled there in despair.This sucks.
But then I felt a tiny bump against the side of my belly, one of the babies reminding me that they were there, and that made it okay.
Well, almost. I was still bored as snot. No, wait! I had my phone! Oh, crap. Nope. I was almost at the limit of my data. I could listen to music, I supposed.
When Duke got home, I was halfway through my housework playlist and starting to get antsy again. And tired, if I was being honest. All the pushing to get through the day that I’d been doing was coming home to haunt me. But hearing Duke come through the door made me want to sit up and look cheerful for him. “Hi, you’re back!” I made the effort to put as much happy care-for-nothing in my voice as I could, fighting against the fatigue weighing my bones down like concrete.
“Hey,” he said. “I’ve got a surprise for you.” He was grinning like a loon.
“What?” I debated getting up, but the baby kicked or punched or whatever, so I listened to the little bosses inside me and stayed put.
“You’ll see. You slept through supper. Do you want any?”
“I can make it.”
He frowned at me. “No, you can’t. You have to convince the ankle-biters to stay inside where they belong.”
I was disappointed, because he was right and now I really wasn’t pulling my weight, but his comment about ankle-biters was pretty funny and I let the silliness chase away my depression. Jason had told me stories about Mac’s first encounters with Fan and warned me jokingly to be careful not to let Duke get overwhelmed. Or eaten. “I’m blaming it all on you.”
“My mother would agree with you.” He came over to sit on the couch, lifting my legs to rest them on his thighs. “So, I hope you don’t mind, but I invited Abel and Bax over to visit tonight. Thought you could use some company.”
It would be good to have a distraction. “Are they bringing the pups?”
“Probably just Taden. I don’t think Bax goes anywhere without him.”
“Okay, sure.” I wiggled my toes at him. “Are they coming for supper, or just to visit?”
“Visit. I’m not brave enough to let Bax eat my cooking yet.”
“But you’ll let your pregnant mate eat it?”
“My pregnant mate knows I’m just a rough cook. Would you like some chicken and rice and maybe some string beans?”
My stomach rolled once, then settled. A promising sign. “That sounds good. Thank you.” I let him move my legs back onto the couch and watched as he rustled around in the kitchen. Soon, the apartment smelled of chicken and herbs and the starchy smell of rice cooking. Iwashungry, and I couldn’t wait for it to be done. Maybe, now that I was bedridden, my stomach would give me a break? Wouldn’t that be nice?
I did manage a decent meal—nothing huge, but we took our time over the food, me still stretched out on the couch, with Duke sitting on the floor next me, and I managed to eat pretty much all of it without setting my stomach off.
Duke carried our dishes off to be washed, leaving me to rest on the couch.
I was bored. “Do you think we could borrow a movie from Bax? I’m going nuts.”
“I can ask,” he said absently. Water splashed and dishes clinked.
