Page 48 of The Omega's Alpha
“No, I’ll be fine. I’ll get you dropped off and then I’m going home to grab a nap before it’s time to pick the pups up from daycare. I have coursework to get done too—thank Lysoonka that midterms were over when this happened.”
It was only then that I noticed the shadows under his eyes. It wasn’t only those of us that had gone to Green Moon who’d been working long hours. “If you want, I can take the babies this evening so you can study.”
He glanced up at me. “Why?”
“You need help? You’re trying to do something for the pack—twice over—and we’re all too busy to help you?”
“I didn’t think you liked me that much.”
“You’re a spoiled brat. And you made Bax worry about you.”
His eyes half closed, then opened again, as if acknowledging my commentary. “Yeah. I’m trying not to do that anymore.” I squinted at him, and he laughed. “You know that half your problem with me is that you were raised someplace where omegas lived in their little towers, guarded by their dragons, and never came out until their prince came to rescue them.”
He wasn’t wrong about that. “I don’t think running around chasing dragons was the smartest thing you’ve ever done.”
Bram shook his head. “No, but it turned out all right in the end.” He smiled and his gaze turned inward. “It really was the most romantic thing ever, when you think about it.”
I snorted.
Bram focused on me again. “Just remember, you can’t criticize me anymore, Mr I’m-moving-in-with-the-Alpha-before-we’re-mated.”
That made me laugh and a little of the resentment I’d held toward him slipped away. “Another step toward omega independence.” I help up a hand in a high-five and he slapped it and grinned. Maybe we wouldn’t be friends, but we could be friendly. And it seemed as if we both had the same ideas about making it possible and safe for an omega to be considered with the same respect as an alpha. And if I was going to be Alpha’s Mate, I needed to put a muzzle on myself.Shame. I was just starting to enjoy being able to say what I thought.
Voices sounded outside the apartment. Bram craned his neck to look over my shoulder. “That’s them.” He grabbed one of my bags and threw it over his shoulder. “Come on, let’s go say hi.”
I picked up my other two bags, but before we could get to the door, I stopped and put a hand on his shoulder. “I mean it. If you need a break, I’ll come look after the pups for you for a bit.”
He smiled and patted my hand. “Thanks. But they go to bed pretty early and I’m only here for another couple of days before I have to be back to school, so I think I’ll be all right. Besides, you’ve got your own pups to worry about now. But maybe over Christmas break?”
“Sure.” By then, everyone would be settled in and the business of the pack would be winding down for the holidays.
“All right.”
Fumbling at the door caught our attention and I reached out to open it. “Welcome,” I said brightly to the tired family standing on what used to be my porch.
Chapter Forty-One
It wasthree days until Midwinter Wolf and I was barricaded in my and Quin’s bedroom trying to wrap presents and find someplace to hide Quin’s until I had a chance to get to them. I wasn’t sure where my time went, but I wasn’t getting anything done. And there was still the guest list for the mating ceremony, to be held in June of this year. Quin had wanted to do it at the spring full moon, but I’d put my foot down. Not only would there be packmembers going through heats at that point in the year—Jason being an excellent example—but how was I supposed to run his office, do my part in looking after the pups, and then there were the reporters who kept calling. And wasn’t that just a monster rabbit coming back to haunt us?
Once Thom and his friend started spreading the word, we started getting calls. First sporadic, then there wasn’t a day that went by when I wasn’t fending off someone. Quin didn’t have time to deal with them, Mac was on the edge of overwhelmed from the tensions and fights as unfamiliar alphas worked off their stress on each other’s faces. Abel picked up some of the slack, but he couldn’t take all of it.
All of this, while trying to get ready for Midwinter Wolf.
And that didn’t include today’s upcoming events. Bax was taking some time off to help in the office so I could finish getting ready for the pups’ first holiday with us. Which needed to be done soon, because that photographer friend of Thom’s was coming to take some test pictures and decide if I had the right ‘look’ for a model. I’d straight out refused to leave the enclave this close to Midwinter to go to him, so he’d said he’d fly in and meet us here, which was just as big a stress as well.
At least he didn’t expect a room, but had found himself a bed and breakfast about twenty minutes’ drive from the enclave. So there was that off my plate.
I finished taping up the last little box for Agatha just as I heard Quin yell, “Holland, you ready?”
“I’ll be out in a minute,” I yelled back and quickly shoved all the wrapping paper and other random things back into the closet. I gathered up the presents and took them with me out to the living room, where Quin was waiting with a trio of unfamiliar humans. “Hi,” I said. “I’ll just be a minute.” Yeah, nerves. Repeating myself.
Quin came over to peer at the boxes as I arranged them beneath the Christmas tree. “Anything interesting there?” he whispered.
I smacked him discreetly in the middle of his chest with the back of my hand. “They’re for the pups.”
“So mine are still around here somewhere?” he crooned and winked at me, and I had to suppress a laugh even though I wasn’t in a laughing mood. I was stressed and grumpy and nervous about this whole modeling thing now that life had settled down a bit. But I knew it was also my responsibility. I might not be Alpha’s Mate yet, but I was living with him, sleeping with him, and raising what were hopefully going to be his pups come spring. Might as well take on the rest of the mantle of responsibility.
Which, first of all, meant that if I had an opportunity to bring money into the pack, I’d damn well better take it. Which also meant I couldn’t muddle around here on the floor in front of the tree any longer.
