Page 84 of The Omega's Alpha
“You all right?” Abel asked from the back door.
Quin nodded and bent to pick up Holland’s sneakers. “I owe you an apology.”
“You’re Alpha. It’s your right.”
“Yeah, but I need to think more before I do that sort of stuff.” He squinted up at Abel, silhouetted against the lights in the kitchen. “We should have tackled this tomorrow.”
“I don’t know. I’m not sure it would have been any better after you’d stewed on it.” Abel walked down the back steps, the door swinging shut behind him and dimming the yard again. “It’s funny. You think you know your mate, and then they go off and do something like this.” He shook his head. “We forget, I think, as alphas that there’s more to these men in our lives. We think that the doors we’ve opened for them, because they would have been closed elsewhere, are enough. Then they reach for something we never even considered giving them. Andweflounder, because it doesn’t fit with our own self-image.”
Quin snorted an ironic laugh. “My brother, the philosopher.”
“I had a good older brother who taught me how to think.” Abel put an arm around Quin’s shoulders. “You’re doing a fantastic job here, under circumstances that I think are probably the worst we’ve experienced since the Enclosure. And you’re still trying to point us toward a future that doesn’t have us eating our own kin.” Abel shook him gently, then let go. “We can try to have this conversation again later. Doesn’t Holland go to California for that television thing soon?”
“Yes. And Bram’s doctor found a surgeon out there who will see if he can fix the problem with Holland’s womb.”
“Well, there’s some extra stress that I’d bet, being Bax’s cousin, he’s been stuffing down and trying not to drop on you.” Abel heaved a long sigh. “Damn stubborn omegas. I should go back inside and remind mine how much I love him.”
“I’ll come and apologize first. Maybe we can try again tomorrow or the day after.” He followed Abel into the house, made his apologies to Bax, whose hurt expression never quite disappeared but who regardless accepted them gracefully, and headed to Mac’s. He apologized there as well to both Mac and Jason, then backtracked to do the same for Duke and Bram. By the time he was done humbling himself to his pack members, it was dark and his ego had taken a solid bruising.
The apartment was empty and he had a moment’s panic wondering where the pups were before he remembered they’d gone to a friend’s house for supper. He glanced around the empty living room, everything in its place, the surfaces shining despite the two young pups that lived there, and the loneliness hit him as if Holland had taken the pups and left him. He knew that was crazy thinking—Holland wouldn’t do that without talking to him first—but the place felt like a tomb now.
He decided to go pick up the pups.
“Quin!” Agatha shouted when she saw him come through the door. “We had cheesy macaroni and the noodles were all funny shapes!”
“Was it good?” he asked.
“Yes! Can we have funny noodles too?”
He glanced up at the mom, patiently encouraging the boys to put the toys back in the toy box in the corner of the living room. She smiled and pointed her little boy toward a tiny plastic truck peeking out from underneath a chair. “It’s just bowties. Nothing fancy.”
“Bowties. I’ll keep that in mind.” He moved out of the way so Agatha could put her shoes on, and then had to kneel to tie Dorian’s laces. “Ready to go, pups?” he asked.
“Can I have bubbles in my bath tonight?” Dorian asked, grabbing for Quin’s hand.
“I suppose so,” Quin said. “We’ll have to see if there’s any left.” He looked up at Brandon’s mom. “Thank you for having them.”
“Always happy to have them, they’re great pups.” She ruffled her son’s hair. “And anytime you need someone to take them, Alpha, we’re always happy to help.” She smiled and bent to pick the little boy up.
Danielle came running from the kitchen, blond curls flying. “I brought cookies for Alpha Quin!” she shouted gleefully and crammed a couple of broken chocolate chip cookies into his surprised hand. “We made them, me and Agatha.”
“Well, thank you.” He made a show of trying one. “They’re excellent.”
She giggled and Agatha hopped in place. “I have some for us all for later,” she advised him importantly. “Can we go give some to Holland now?”
“Sure. But Holland might not be home for a while.”
“Oh,” she said, crushed.
Quin crouched down beside her and whispered, “If you promise not to tell the other omegas, maybe he can have them for breakfast.”
She giggled at the idea of Holland eating cookies for breakfast, with his usual insistence on something ‘good for growing’. “Okay.”
Quin nodded goodbye to the family and took the pups home.
Holland wasn’t home for the pups’ baths, or for bedtime stories. Quin moved through the evening routine, the pups filling in gaps he didn’t remember because he was called away so often now. Eventually, they were in bed, and he was left to contemplate the silence of the little apartment.
Maybe he’s not planning to come home tonight.No, not Holland. He’d be home.
