Page 112 of The Omega's Alpha
I said a polite goodbye to my conversational companion, and took hold of Quin’s arm as he led me away. “You don’t dance,” I reminded him severely.
“You looked desperate. I hope you appreciate my sacrifice,” he said solemnly, then I pinched him. “Ouch! Fine way to treat your devoted mate. And your Alpha.”
“My devoted mate will get much worse if he doesn’t stop picking on his heavily pregnant mate.” My belly tightened again, and I huffed a breath, leaning on Quin.
“Is the baby coming?” The anxiety in Quin’s voice comforted me, reminding me that though the rest of the pack saw him as Alpha, as a soldier and a leader, he willingly gave me the tender core of him.
“No, not yet. He’s still practicing.” My womb decided to take pity on me and loosened its grip. It still didn’t hurt, but it was incredibly inconvenient.Hurry up, you.“But maybe we can skip the dance?”
“We absolutely can. You’re the best mate ever.”
“You’re right. You lucky bastard.”
He laughed out loud at that, startling some nearby packmembers, and put his arm around me to give me some more support. “Let’s go find you a chair to sit in, then.”
“Ihadthat back there,” I reminded him.
“Yeah, but you had Clothilda and you didn’t have me.”
“You’re right. Thank you.”
“Now that’s what a properly raised omega should sound like,” he said. His tone was casual but there was a wicked gleam in his eye.
Two can play that game, there, Alpha-mate.“Mmm,” I said and stepped in front of him, pulling his head down to mine to kiss him properly. And in public. His eyes widened briefly, but I wasn’t letting go and he let me have my way with him, to the applause and howls of the pack around us.
When I let him come up for air, his cheeks showed pink in the clear moonlight. I like how it looked on him. “My chair?” I reminded him.
He snapped me off a salute, which made me laugh, then led me unerringly to an empty chair, placed conspicuously near the food tables. It was like he was expecting he’d have to keep bringing me food all night or something. “I’ll have a few more brought over,” he said as he helped me aim my oversized body at it. Once I was seated, he looked around, pointed at a couple of youngsters filling plates at the far end of the table, and sent them off to find more chairs with little more than a glance and a gesture in their direction.
“How do you do that?” I asked him, curious.
“Years in the naval command structure,” he said and crouched beside me, eyeing my belly critically. “Isn’t he overdue?”
“Don’t remind me,” I snapped, then immediately regretted my tone. First babies were often late, but I’d had such an easy pregnancy according to everyone else, I kept waiting for it all to go to pieces. “I’m sorry. I’m just nervous.”
“You’re going to be a fine parent,” he assured me and laid his hand over the twitching curve of my womb.
“That’s not what I mean.” I was distracted a moment by one of those annoying bouts where all the muscles in my stomach and back tightened up, but I breathed through it and smiled up at Quin to reassure him. Still, after an entire day of this, my back was starting to hurt. “According to everyone else, I’ve had it pretty easy. Which makes me wonder what’s going to happen to balance things out.”
“Nothing,” he said firmly. “You paid for this already, when you thought you couldn’t have one at all.”
The youngsters came back with a half-dozen chairs and Quin had them set the seats up in a half-circle, with me in the middle. He thanked them, and let himself fall into the chair next to me, his arm draped casually over the back of mine. “So, best mate ever. Before the pups go, is there anything you want?”
“No, I’m fine,” I said primly, and gave him a look.
He grinned and waved off the youngsters, who didn’t look at all enthusiastic about leaving now that the work was done.Alphas. Who understands them?
The youngsters moved off, but I could hear them settling themselves in the space behind us. For a moment, I wondered why, then I heard Cale’s name.
Quin must have heard it too, because the corner of his mouth twitched. “Poor fellows,” he whispered in my ear. “Should I tell them?”
“You’re an evil, evil man,” I said, and wiggled so I could lean against his shoulder. “Oh, look, is that Cas?” I pointed across the clearing to where a slim, dark-haired alpha was making his way through the crowd, three tall glasses of something braced in his hands.
“It is.” Quin showed no sign of getting up to help his brother, but Cas didn’t seem to need it. He made it to us without spilling anything and offered the glasses to Quin.
“Here, take one. No, not that one, that’s for Holland.” He held that one out to me. “Something mom used to make, milk and fruit and some other stuff. It’s good.”
I accepted it, though I didn’t really feel like anything heavy. “Thank you.” I let it rest on my thigh and watched the crowd around us while Cas and Quin started talking pack business. Just once, I wished they’d talk about something else, but the topic always seem inevitable when the two of them got together.And Bax used to complain about Abel being a workaholic.Speaking of, I saw Bax and Abel dropping their dishes off at the dirty table and waved them over, patting the chair beside me so I’d have someone to talk to as well.
