Page 32 of Mating the Omega
“If it’s anything like the throwing up I did in bachelor’s quarters, no wonder. I’ll call the tutor and cancel this afternoon, and let them know at the garden you won’t be there.”
“No, really, I’m fine, I just need a few—” I bent over the toilet again, retching up stuff I didn’t even remember eating, and it kept going after, even when it had gone from vomiting to dry heaves. Mac tried giving me water, which I only threw up again. By the time my stomach had settled, nearly half an hour after the Alpha left, I was sobbing with frustration and exhausted.
“Okay?” Mac asked when my stomach had been quiet for a good ten minutes.
“I think I’ll go to bed.”
“That sounds like a good idea.” He helped me down the hall to our bedroom and tucked me in under the covers. The last thing I remember him doing before I fell asleep was putting a glass of water on the bedside table, and an empty garbage can on the floor at the head of the bed.
It wasn’t romantic at all, but I loved him all the more for it. And then I was asleep.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Mac started letting Jason sleep in, and began doing some of the housework himself—despite Jason’s protests—so that Jason could rest. It hadn’t been nerves, but morning sickness, that had made Jason so sick the day they learned about the lawsuit. But with that shadow hanging over them, there was little happiness to offset the discomfort of a month of near-constant nausea and vomiting. Jason grew thinner, and his humor took on a sharper edge, symptom of his fatigue and the anxiety he thought he was hiding from Mac.
Today they were meeting with the lawyer Garrick had found. Mac gathered together an assortment of the things that Jason had so far proven he could keep down—water, crackers, fruit, and the last of the candied ginger Abel had bought during one of his trips outside walls to meet with clients. Adelaide was trying to source something to help with the sickness, but werewolf physiology was different from human, and apparently omega physiology was even more different. What they had helped, but not enough. After their last visit, she had quietly told Mac that he needed to reduce Jason’s stress.
Problem was, how to do that?
He called up to the bedroom. “You dressed yet?”
“Coming.” Slow steps on the stairs, and then Jason shambled around the corner into the kitchen. He looked tired, with dark shadows under his eyes and pale cheeks. Mac knew he wasn’t sleeping well, though whether it was worrying about the lawsuit, or just his body adjusting to the demands of their growing pup, Mac wasn’t sure.
“Do you think you could eat something?”
“I don’t know.” Jason pulled out a chair and kind of fell into it. “I think I’m done puking for the day.”
“Tea?”
“Yeah.” Jason put an elbow on the table and propped his head on his fist, watching dreamily as Mac boiled water and got down Jason’s favorite mug. “Thank you.”
Mac twisted around to regard him in surprise. “For what?”
“For all this. Being around.” His hand went to his stomach, still flat, though Mac hoped not for much longer. “I can’t be a lot of fun right now.”
“You’re fine.” Mac poured the water into the mug and left it to steep. He leaned against the counter. “This will be over soon. And once you’re eating again, I imagine you’ll have me running all over day and night, looking for food for you.ThenI’ll complain.”
Jason laughed weakly. “Can’t wait to hear it.” He smiled and Mac loved him even more for refusing to let this all get him down.
Once the tea had steeped, Mac sugared it heavily and set it in front of Jason, then went back upstairs to get Jason’s mother’s blanket.
“What are you bringing that down for?” Jason asked when he reappeared with it.
“We’re going to have this meeting here, save you the trip out. And if you need to lie down, you can rest on the couch, or go upstairs.” Mac set it on the chair next to Jason’s.
Jason opened his mouth, and Mac was certain he was going to argue, but instead he laid a hand on Mac’s arm and said, “Thank you.”
Mac kissed him on the forehead. “Drink your tea and then we’ll see if the little monster will let you eat something.”
“Brat. Takes after his dad.”
“You’re not a brat.”
Jason smiled and sipped carefully from the mug. He put it down on the table and Mac could see him waiting for the nausea to strike. Just when Mac’s nerves couldn’t stand it anymore, Jason picked up the mug again. “So far, so good.”
“Don’t rush it.”
“No. Why don’t you sit down?”
