Page 5 of The Omega's Alpha
I wouldn’t be going. Someone had to look after the pups, and he couldn’t take them with him. I understood completely.
But I was getting really restless and I didn’t know what to do about it.
The first of the pancakes were done. I slipped one onto a little plate for Beatrice, and three more of the tiny circles onto a larger plate for Bax. The coffee gurgled away in the background as I quickly washed the sticky off the bottle of syrup and put it on the table in front of them. Taden chewed happily on his teething rag, his lack of appetite telling me Bax had stopped to nurse him before coming out to the kitchen. I opened the freezer and spilled a few frozen raspberries into a bowl for him to gnaw on as well. He grinned, showing off his front teeth and—was that a tiny sliver of white peeking out of his gums on the top? Bax was right, hewasteething. And the raspberries were soon a bright red mess all over his face. It was adorable and my heart panged for want of one of my own.
No point in thinking about that, or about the things my former mate had said in the moments before he officially tore up our mating contract and dismissed me from his sight.
Puppy wails sounded faintly from the other side of the door that led into Duke’s apartment. Immediately after they began, I heard the low murmur of Bram soothing one of the twins, then the rumble of Duke doing the same for the other. Who ever heard of an alpha getting up with the pups? Although around here, the alphas were more involved with their pups. Some mornings, Abel had looked as tired as Bax because he was getting up with the baby as well.
I probably shouldn’t be surprised that Duke helped out; it seemed to be in his nature, as well as being a Mercy Hills thing. And after all, Bram hadn’t been able to make enough milk to feed them, so they’d started feeding formula and I’d seen Duke more than once with a baby in one hand and a bottle in the other while Bram worked on filling out more paperwork so he could go to school outside walls. Guess I wasn’t the only un-omega omega in the place.
Ow. That was nasty.I needed to watch out for those ugly comments inside my head. It didn’t do anyone any good, me included. Just made me more and more frustrated with my lack of future. What was an omega that couldn’t…omega?
Ugh. Mornings were the worst. It was like I wasn’t awake enough to get ahead of these nasty comments my own brain threw at me.
I started more tiny pancakes, poured a mug of coffee for Bax and set it in front of him, then filled the kettle and put it on the stove. Just in time, too, because Abel came around the corner with Teca in his arms, Noah in his wolf form on Abel’s heels.
“Breakfast,” he declared in satisfaction. “Thank you, Holland.” He set Teca on a chair and went to the cupboard to find his mug. “Bax, if those brochure samples don’t arrive today, can you call and find out what the delay is? And the labels for the panels, though I don’t know what we’re supposed to do without the logo.”
“Of course,” Bax said, then, in a slightly ironic tone. “May I finish breakfast first?”
“What?” Abel looked baffled a moment, then blushed. “Sorry. I’m just—this isn’t a product that’s specialized to one small group. Kind of like Alpha Hunt, you know? It should have a wider market than the accounting software.” He crouched down beside Bax and laid his head against Bax’s arm, then kissed where his cheek had just been. “It’s frivolous, but I was thinking it would be nice to have a movie theater.”
Bax’s eyebrows went up; keeping mine company, I supposed. “You don’t think more housing is a better idea?”
“I do. I want that too. And more skilled trades and professionals. But do we always have to be practical?”
Bax gave him one of thoseoh, aren’t you just such an alpha?looks, and smiled. “True enough. What’s your brother going to think when you take your old job back?”
I had to turn away to hide my smile at the former Alpha’s expression. Even now, nearly a year after he’d been stripped of his position by the other Alphas—entirely planned by Abel and Quin, which was the funny part—he still had a finger in most of the pies in Mercy Hills.
I filled a small plate for Teca and set it on the table, and another for Noah and placed it on the floor, out of the way of everyone’s feet. The rest of the pancakes went onto a larger plate for Abel. I had just enough time to start a few more before the kettle began to make noises and I grabbed it before it could scream for attention and wake Fan or upset the baby.
Abel’s mug still sat empty on the counter. I found one for myself and made his tea straight in the mug, then poured out coffee for myself. My one luxury, and one I hoped never to take for granted.
My stomach grumbled, finally as awake as the rest of me. The pancakes were almost ready, but Bax’s plate was empty and Teca was eyeing the frying pan hopefully.Next batch.A sip of coffee placated my stomach, and I brought the frying pan over to the table to dole out pancakes again, then back to the stove to scrape the last of the batter out of the bowl.
Fan wandered into the kitchen, sleepily rubbing his eyes.
“Good morning,” Abel said to him.
Fan looked at him as if Abel had just squashed his favorite ball. Abel grinned. “Holland made pancakes.”
“Don’ wan’ any,” Fan grumbled and meandered around the table to grab at Bax’s sleeve and tug. “Up.”
Bax lifted him up into his lap, though at six I thought Fan should have been old enough to sit in his own chair, even early in the morning. But Bax hugged him, and offered him some of his remaining pancake, slathered with a thick layer of peach jam. Fan ate and sighed, his head falling back against Bax’s chest with a thump. Noah barked and wagged his tail at his bearer, accepting his own portion of Bax’s breakfast.
“Hey, you guys. Let Dabi eat,” Abel scolded. “If you’re that hungry, you can have some toast.” He looked up at Holland. “Make sure you get breakfast this morning. I saw what happened yesterday.”
“I ate. After you all left, though.” It was true. I’d had some toast, buttered, and allotted myself the luxury of a slice of cheese melted on top.
“Don’t short yourself, Holland.”
I glanced at Bax. His expression was blank, but we had a long history of reading each others’ minds. He knew a lot more than he talked about when it came to what was going on in my head, just like I understood him better than Abel did sometimes.
“We can afford it,” Bax said softly. His expression said,I don’t need someone else to look after.
Right. Well, full breakfast it was then. “If I get fat I’m blaming you.”
