Page 63 of The Omega's Alpha
“Curfew?” Martin waved off our attempt at explanation. “Just be at the studio at one tomorrow. I’ll text you the address.” He grabbed Freddy’s phone out of his pocket and looked up my phone number, then sent me the information I’d need the next day. Then he stood up and looked at Freddy. “Come on. I want to see Angelia’s hair before she melts again tonight. She really does need to find a better hairdresser.” He nodded to us and disappeared out the door of the bar.
I started to laugh, first a few low chuckles then, as Mac joined in, full on, head-on-the-table roaring.
When I could breathe again, I stood up. “We should go. Do we want anything to take up to the room? Now I could use a drink.”
“I’ll get something,” Mac said and stepped away to the bar. I waved Edmond to his feet and we followed him.
“Are humans always that strange?” Edmond whispered while we waited.
“Some,” I said, pretending to more knowledge than I actually had.
“Wow,” was his entire response, which made my lips twitch again.
Then Mac turned around with bottle of wine and a couple of bottles of beer in his hands. “Okay, let’s go.”
Chapter Fifty-Three
With a whole morningto myself and Mac offering to drive me around, I decided to do a little shopping for the pups. The young woman at the front desk last night had been replaced by a middle-aged man, who seemed much more unnerved by us and kept a wary eye on our movements as we passed through the lobby.
“We should stop and see if Bram wants anything,” Mac said. “He’s probably run ragged with classes. And I want to make sure everything’s okay at the house.”
“Sure,” I said, determined to be agreeable. I didn’t really want to see Bram. He was pregnant again, which was so reckless after what had happened last time it made me froth at the mouth. And it poked at the spot I kept trying to forget about, that tender place where my own pups should have been, would have been if I hadn’t been defective. It was pure luck that I’d fallen in with a mate who loved me enough not to mind.
But I minded.
It was nothing to do with Agatha or Dorian—I adored my adopted pups. But my entire life I’d dreamed about that long stretch of time between conception and birth, of quiet moments with the baby moving inside, all the little firsts that were supposed to be the right of an omega. And now, of taking Quin’s hands and pressing them to my belly to let him feel the life inside.
Maybe I shouldn’t have mated him after all, because this was opening up old wounds that I couldn’t seem to patch shut, no matter how hard I tried. But didn’t regret him either, so I’d just have to deal, and try not to be a jealous prick while we were over at the house with Bram’s easy fertility jammed in my face.
We got into the car and Mac eased us smoothly out into the traffic. “We should teach you how to drive too. If Bram can do it, you can,” Mac said.
I suppressed a laugh, glad I wasn’t the only one who found Bram rather trying. “Would there be any point?”
“Skills are never wasted. And since you’re Alpha’s Mate now, it would be a good example to the rest of the pack. And the omegas.”
I gave him a sharp look. “What use does an omega have for a driver’s license?”
“You’re letting your Buffalo Gap upbringing show,” Mac said with a quirk of his lips.
I opened my mouth to argue, then shut it, because he was right. “So, when would these driving lessons start?”
He grinned. “Whenever you want.”
Lovely. Another thing to add into my schedule. Maybe Quin was right and I’d need to let Seosamh take over in the office. Well, if this modeling thing panned out. I still wasn’t sure how much time it would take and if it would pay well enough to make the disruption to our family worth it.
We pulled up in the driveway of a large house on a fenced lot. The silver at the top of the fence had tarnished a bit over the winter—not that that would keep it from hurting one of us if we touched it. But someone would have to get all covered up in silver-gear and go clean it or the humans would be down with their citations and their fines. As if a bit of tarnish would make the fence useless, but the humans didn’t understand that. Part of the job of security back in the enclave was to keep the silver shining bright so that the humans had no room to complain or give us problems. I nudged Mac, just in case he hadn’t noticed, and pointed at the top of the fence.
“Yeah, Duke asked if we could send a suit out for him, but I think we’ll send a couple of the young guys out during the summer and they can work on it. They’ll have had enough practice by then—I sent the first crew out today to work on Mercy Hills’ fence.”
“Good.”
We got out of the car, but before we could get to the front door, someone yelled down from an upstairs window, “They’re out back!”
I waved up at the young man sitting in the window and started around the side of the house, Mac right behind me. My ears caught the sounds of the pups before I saw them, yips and barks of excitement floating around the corner to tease my heart. Another two steps and Bram and Duke came into view. Duke had obviously just gotten to his feet, and Bram had reached out for the pups playing with a ball beside him, but relaxed when he saw it was us.
“Morning,” Mac called out from behind me. “We’re going for a run around the stores, were wondering if there was anything you wanted picked up?”
Duke looked at Bram and some silent struggle seemed to pass between them, then Duke shrugged and reached down to pick up a pup. “Don’t you chew on me,” he scolded gently, and turned her so he could hold her like a football. “Bram would like to go. He’s getting stir crazy cooped up here with nothing but his books and the pups.”
