Page 16 of Mating the Omega
I shrugged. All I wanted to do was get clean and go to bed. “Sure.” A yawn caught me in the middle of the word and I would have fallen over if Mac hadn’t caught me.
“I’ll leave you two to settle in.” He set me on my feet, making sure I was steady before he let go completely. “Have a good night’s sleep.” He nodded to Dad and left, the click of the door closing behind him like a signal for us to drop our roles.
I sagged into one of the chairs at the round kitchen table.
Dad came over to sit beside me. He took my hand and squeezed until I looked up at him. “We’ve got two months to come up with a plan. You’re not bound to this. We can disappear, just like we did in Montana.”
“Can we talk about this tomorrow?” I wasn’t sure what I thought. Fatigue made everything seem hopeless and I felt as locked into this mating as if it had already happened. And I couldn’t shake the feel of Mac’s hand on my arm. “I really want to go to bed.”
He smiled and kissed the top of my head. “Yeah, me too. You go grab a shower, and I’ll get a start on unpacking.”
“Thanks.” I hugged him, and headed for the stairs, holding onto my blanket like a lifeline.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Mac pulled his truck up in front of his former house and parked. Ten o’clock on the dot. He wondered if Jason and his father had even woken up yet.
No point in sitting out here procrastinating. He got out of the truck and walked up to the house. It felt strange to be knocking on his own front door, but this was the omega’s home now, and Mac the guest.
He heard noises inside, shuffling and voices, and then the door opened. It was Jason’s father. William was his name, according to Abel’s search. Mac arranged his features into something he hoped looked like a friendly tour guide, and said, “Good morning. Ready to get the lay of the land?”
William turned his head and shouted back into the house. “Jason, he’s here.” He turned back to Mac. “Come in.”
“Thanks.” Mac followed William into the kitchen. “Here, I have the money Abel took out of your wallets. And we’ll set up an account with Central to keep track of your credits here.” He held the small stack of bills out.
William took the cash. “Thank you. You want a coffee? He might be a few minutes.” William chuckled lightly. “In some ways, you’d never guess he was omega. And then there’s ways where he’s entirely typical.”
“How?” Mac accepted the cup and took a sip.
“Cleaning. Himself, and the house.” William sat down at the table and waved Mac into a chair opposite. “By the time I got up this morning, he’d already wiped down all the floors, cleaned the bathroom, and made a shopping list. Now he’s having another shower.”
Mac winced internally, wondering how much of that the solar water heater was handling, and decided that the pack could afford the extra power. Especially if Abel’s new solar collectors worked in reality the way the testing said they should. “I can come back later if you want.”
“No, now that he’s had some sleep, it would be like trying to contain a firecracker. He wants to look around and get a feel for the place. And start a garden.” He drank from his own cup, then put it down and sighed. “Sometimes I wonder if we made the right choice.”
“Running, you mean?”
William nodded. “I didn’t want to see him change. He was afraid of it, afraid of the interest the alphas showed in him. When he started his spring heat…” His voice trailed off, but Mac nodded anyway.
The thud of feet on the stairs interrupted them. Mac looked up to see Jason walking down the hallway toward him, wet hair dripping onto a loose black tank, worn jeans stained at the knees, and bare feet making a soft hrush hrush noise as he padded over the tile. “I’m ready.” He opened the closet under the stairs and pulled out his jacket. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”
He looked much better today, brighter and not so hunted. Still tense, but the change in circumstances, and maybe thoughts of a future here, had made a huge difference in him. He met Mac’s gaze without yesterday’s resentment and suspicion, although he couldn’t hold it long. But then again, Mac could have been Alpha if he’d wanted it. He hadn’t, and Abel had been better suited anyway.
Mac raised his cup of coffee in a salute. “I’ve been well looked after.”
Jason gave him a small smile and turned to his father. “Did you add anything to the list?”
“A couple of things. You should decide what you absolutely have to have.”
“I wrote it all down in order.” Jason cast another submissive-omega glance at Mac. “Do you think the owner of this house would mind if I set up some planters?” He looked down again. “I miss my plants.”
“You’ll have to bring them in at night if you do—we still get the odd frost. But I don’t see any problem. Housing is all pack owned, anyway.”
“It is?”
Mac nodded. “It makes more sense to keep everything under one umbrella. With how crowded we are, we can’t afford to waste space, so all housing agreements include a clause about moving to more appropriate shelter when they don’t need the space anymore.” He didn’t add that it kept sub-packs from forming, and ensured that pack members learned to get along with everyone they met. But he did add, since he’d spent last night there, “The teenagers can’t wait to get into bachelor housing though, even though they have to share a bathroom and kitchen with about twenty other people. It can be hard to get a night’s sleep, with all the partying that goes on.” Not last night, though. The presence of the Alpha’s unofficial second-in-command had put a real damper on the goings-on. He might have to take Abel up on his last-minute offer of the spare room after all; some of his fondest memories were getting into trouble with Abel and watching the future Alpha talk them out of it. Be a shame to rob the current crop of near-adults of the same experience.
“I’m not much of a partier.” Jason picked up a piece of paper—Mac assumed it was his list—and looked it over. He gave off an uncomfortable vibe, but it took Mac a few seconds to realize that neither of the new wolves were going to make decisions about their timetable with an unfamiliar alpha in the room. He suppressed a sigh, and reminded himself to spend more time with Bram and familiarize himself again with an omega’s situation. “If you two are ready to go, we can head out. Otherwise, I’ll sit here and finish this excellent coffee.”
