Page 75 of Duke's Baby Deal
“Oh.” Well, that spoiled things. “Do you want to go to a clinic?” Isolde had stopped crying, but now she was super clingy and didn’t want to go into her seat. “It’s only for a moment, baby girl.” I soothed her into it with our little song, but her eyes stayed focused on me, as if she was afraid to let me out of her sight.
Cas smiled darkly from his seat behind the wheel. “The only one that will see us is closed. I have some super-bond glue. Abel can put me back together, kind of like a broken dish.”
Ouch. “I’m sorry. I really didn’t think it would be that bad.”
He chuckled. “That was about normal for that store. Don’t take it personal—they hate everyone. Except the white humans.”
I covered Isolde’s ears and nodded for Duke to do the same for Jedrick. “Shitheads,” I said, then uncovered the pups ears again. That made the alphas laugh and the mood lightened enough that a funny thought was finally able to break through the worry and shock as we pulled out of the parking lot. I began to laugh.
“What’s so funny?” Duke asked.
“When I grabbed my bag, one of the pups’ dirty diapers fell out into the cart. I hope they have fun putting that back on the shelf.”
We laughed all the way back to the house.
CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
The day after our shopping adventure was spent holed up in the house. I made a fantastic breakfast for everyone with what I had on hand, including the blueberries Cas had bought the day before in pancakes, before Cas took me for my tour and another shot at a grocery store. The side of his face was black and blue and swollen, but he didn’t seem to hold it against me. “It’s just what they do.”
I wasn’t sure I could live with that.
After we’d seen him and Abel off, and Abel had given me my fifty millionth lecture on being safe in human territory, Duke and I took the pups out into the back yard to play again. I wouldn’t say it to Duke, but it turned out that last night had scared me, and I’d been really nervous heading back out into human territory. In fact, I was beginning to rethink this whole education thing after all. Maybe Mom and Dad were right, and my place was in the home, having pups and cooking. It put a damper on the day, and it only took a half hour of outdoor fun with the pups before Duke called me out on it.
“They aren’t all like that. We primed the trap by going there. Donotlet this get in the way of your plans.”
I decided to play it cool. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” I bounced a ball to Jedrick, one of the ones Cas had bought. He grabbed for it, missed completely, then fell over. I laughed and helped him sit up again, then held out used-to-be-stuffed-but-no-longer-was bunny for Isolde to grab and chew and tear at. I was having trouble figuring out what Jedrick was, but there was no doubt that Isolde was going to be an alpha. Duke’s influence coming out, I supposed.
“Do you think I can’t tell by now when you’re scared? I’ll admit, there isn’t much that scares you, but to me, it’s obvious that last night was a bigger thing for you than you’ve admitted.”
I sighed. “Maybe. Yes. I don’t know. If it’s always like this, I don’t want to do this. I can’t just think about myself.” I gave him a sidelong glance, then turned back to Isolde, who was fussing now and pulling at her clothes. I picked her up and began to feel around to see if there was something poking her or rubbing against her skin. “What’s wrong, sweetie?” I couldn’t find anything, so I started pulling her t-shirt off over her head. “I mean, it was awkward enough in the hospital. But this…” I shook my head, and stripped Isolde’s little flowered pants off her, so she was crawling around in her diaper alone. “I don’t want them hurt. Or you. If that had been you last night—” I crawled next to him and leaned into him so he could put an arm around me. “I think I would have done something we all would have regretted.”
“It’s okay. There are places that are safer than that. I won’t let you go out with the pups alone.”
“I should be able to go out with the pups alone, though. That’s the problem. I’m omega, they’re babies. We aren’t a threat.”
“They don’t see it like that.”
I sighed and watched Isolde pick at her diaper, trying to get it off. “What iswrongwith her?” I leaned forward and picked her up so I could lay her down in front of me and check her diaper. “I just changed you, you can’t be completely filthy already.” I pulled the diaper off and set it aside, then started to check her over for any marks or anything. She squirmed and yelled at me, batting at my hands as I moved her around so I could see all of her.
Then, she bit me.
With her fangs. Like, real fangs. Wolf fangs. Quickly, I flipped her over on her belly and grabbed Duke’s hand. “I think she’s trying for her first shift,” I whispered. We watched anxiously, Duke absently tossing the ball in Jedrick’s direction, reaching out to pull him closer if he tried to crawl away.
She grunted and squirmed. Her fingers shortened, and her ears got longer. Scattered bits of fur appeared, along her spine and over her shoulders, only to disappear as if her body was sucking them back in.
And then, it was over. She was still human looking, and she’d apparently given up on changing her form in favor of watching a butterfly flutter past.
Duke and I watched her in silence, then he said, “Well, that was underwhelming.”
I laughed and hugged him. “She’ll get there eventually.” I got to my feet. “I’ll make supper. I got some ground beef at the store this afternoon. Bax’s meatballs sound good to you?”
“Sounds fantastic.” He grabbed my hand before I could disappear into the house and pulled me down for a quick kiss. “I’m thinking it might be good if the pups had an early night. And if we did too.” The way he said it, I didn’t think we’d be getting any extra sleep on our ‘early night’.
“Make sure you eat all your supper,” I told him, with as serious an expression as I could manage. “You’ll need your energy.”
His face lit up and he laughed. “Get cooking then, while I wrangle the wild things.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
