Page 77 of Duke's Baby Deal
“And you’re sure you can trust them?”
He had me there. I tried another tack. “What if we ask if Bax or Jason or Holland can come over to look after the pups that day?” Duke still looked mutinous, so I moved over to sit on his knee. “I know it’s not entirely safe, but I’d rather something happened to me, than something happen to them in twenty years.” I nodded toward the pups, squabbling over the bunny on the floor in front of us. “It’s not logical, but Bax said not everything to do with parenting is. And I want a safer world for them. Which, I suppose, means taking some of that danger on myself, so it’s not there when they’re my age.”
His jaw worked, a sign that he was truly upset and trying not to be. I kissed him gently and added, “If you really want to forbid it, you can. I won’t go against you. But I never knew how much I would worry about them until I had them.”
Duke sighed and buried his face in my neck, his arms finally moving around me. “All right. I’m not happy about this. But I see your logic. Just promise me that if the risk goes up even a little bit, you’ll drop it, okay?” He pulled me tight against him, until I had to beg for space to breathe. I had to pay a fine in kisses for the privilege, but I didn’t mind those kinds of payments.
We called Laine back in and I let Duke lay out our agreement while I guarded the slices of cake and the glasses of wine from curious puppy fingers and noses. Laine wore an expression I pegged as mildly pleasant, and I suspected he wasn’t happy with the arrangement.
I was right.
Once Duke finished, Laine turned to me. “Is this your decision too?”
Of course. “I’m not your ordinary omega,” I told him. “But I’m also not going to force my mate to worry about me for no reason.” I ate a mouthful of cake. “Oh, this is good. What kind is it?”
“Skor,” he said absently, and watched me closely while I took another bite. “All right,” he said suddenly. “I don’t think you’ll need to worry about violence, not out in the open. I’m glad you have these walls. You might want to think about keeping the gate closed during the day as well, and clearing anything flammable away from the walls. I know it’s brick, but not all of it is.”
Duke opened his mouth to protest, but I held up a finger. “We have an agreement. And I’m still trying to get rid of the baby paunch. I need the exercise.” I nodded and pointed at his cake. “Eat. It really is delicious.”
He sighed and picked up his fork. “Bossy omega.”
“Damn straight,” I murmured, quiet enough I hoped the pups couldn’t make it out. And when I looked up at the lawyer, I saw the light of comprehension in his eyes, and more than a little amusement. Good. I felt like a sorcerer from one of the old tales.Do my omega bidding.I stifled a snort of laughter, and shook my head at the two men when they gave me curious looks. “Watch your plate,” I told Laine. “You’re got a stalker.” We spent the rest of the afternoon talking about school and our plans for the future. And guarding our plates from the pups.
CHAPTER SIXTY
School was great. No, school was fantastic! Thanks to Cas’s tour, I never got lost trying to find my classes. It was a standard first year program, so not that interesting, but Duke kept me from slacking off, so my marks were all good. The only disappointment was that the grocery store backed down as soon as Laine and I went in to talk to them. I was kind of looking forward to setting the precedent, as Laine called it. They did cough up a bunch of money, enough to pay for tuition this year for me, and for Cas to put away against whatever he might need in the future. So, all’s well that ends well?
After some uncomfortable glances and a few weeks where any seat I took in class ended up with a wide empty halo around it, my classmates began to relax around me and by the time November came around, I’d made a few human friends. Not friends like I would spend time with them out of class, but they’d chat with me before class and ask about the pups. It was okay. Better than I’d feared, not as good as I’d hoped. But I was still new here. I’d keep working at them, and eventually they’d forget that I had another form I could take. That, or they’d decide they just didn’t care.
I was sitting in my Anatomy and Physiology class in mid-November, listening to a lecture about the circulatory system, when I realized I was coming into heat. Normally, this and Pre-Calculus were the only ones I wasn’t bored to tears in, but today I just couldn’t keep my brain focused on what we were learning about. Instead, everything seemed to lead my thoughts back to Duke. Funny how long it took me to figure it out, but once I did, it seemed obvious. After all, it wasn’t like I was nursing the pups, so it was bound to happen. Strange—I’d been waiting so impatiently for it to happen, I hadn’t noticed it.
And… it was Friday.
Class finally ended and I packed up my stuff and took off for home. All I had was History of Film and my English Writing course—not missing anything important there.
Duke was in the back yard when I walked in the door, putting the finishing touches on a set of shelves for Laine while the pups crawled around on the grass beside him. The shelves were gorgeous, but not as gorgeous as my mate.
“Can we ask Sylva to watch the pups for a while?”
He sat back, brushing away the curls of wood where he’d been carving the edges. “Why, what’s up?”
I grinned at him. “I am.” I dropped my books to the side and pushed him over onto his back so I could straddle him. “Hope you didn’t have plans for the weekend.”
Duke drew in a breath to say something, who knew what, but he got a good whiff of my scent and his pupils dilated, the words dying before they could be spoken. He curled his upper lip and sniffed again, drawing the air up into that spot on the roof of his mouth. “Fuck, you smell good.”
A shiver ran over my body at those words, and I lay myself on top of him. “Come on. Let’s go have some adult time.” I raised my voice. “Sylva?”
Her reply drifted faintly down from her window. “What?”
“Can you watch the pups?”
“For how long?”
“A day?”
“A day?” Her head popped out of her window and she stared down at us. “Can’t you take them with you wherever you’re going?”
“We’re going to bed! I swear, I’ll do your share of the chores for a week after,” I yelled up at her.
