Page 46 of Abel's Omega
Jason reached up to wipe away a smear of sauce at the corner of Mac’s mouth. “Is this Duke’s?”
Mac nodded. “Old family recipe. You can’t even beat it out of him. I know. Abel and I tried.”
I choked on a laugh. It was hard to imagine the Alpha ganging up on a pack member over a recipe. Or any alpha, capitalized or not. I took a second bite of my food and let the taste coat the inside of my mouth. It was sad that an alpha cooked better than I did, but I had other skills that this pack seemed to value, so it didn’t sting as much as it would have before I came here.
Bram wandered up, his chin shiny with grease and sauce.
“Wipe your mouth, for crying out loud,” Jason said, then did it for him.
“Hard to eat this stuff without getting messy.”
“Maybe, but you’ll end up with it all over your clothes.”
Bram shrugged and I bit back an acerbic comment that had no place in tonight’s celebration. Besides, he wasn’t my responsibility, but I pitied the alpha that took him on. He’d been the only omega in Mercy Hills his entire life, and the attention had made him spoiled, though seeing him with the pups I knew there was sweetness underneath it. I watched as he wandered away to tease some of the alphas. Mac and Jason exchanged a glance, then Mac sauntered casually in the same direction, as if he were only after another skewer of meat.
Watching the young omega, I couldn’t shake the sense of foreboding I felt.
“Jason, have they decided on a mate for him?”
“What?” Jason mumbled, holding a hand in front of his mouth to hide his chewing. He swallowed, and said, “No, not yet. He’s only sixteen. And he’s not ready to be mated, even if he could settle on someone.”
A tension I hadn’t realized was there drained out of my shoulders. “That’s good.” I took another bite of my meal and let my eyes drift around the park.
Jason was quiet for a moment, then he said, “Why are you asking?”
“No reason.” Huge reason. I wiggled the little finger on my right hand in memory. I went to my mating night with that finger broken and roughly splinted—they’d had to drag me out the door the day they gave me to Patrick. It didn’t matter that I didn’t know him, that I wasn’t ready to be mated, even that I hadn’t had my first heat yet. I was glad that Mercy Hills didn’t think Bram was ready either.
Jason was still watching me with those eyes that saw through my stories.
I shrugged. “We got pushed out the door kind of early in Buffalo Gap. There were a ton of omegas born in the community around the time my mother had me, and it was creating havoc.” There’d been fights over me, something I’d been ridiculously proud of at the time, but eventually the Buffalo Gap Alpha had had enough of dealing with the constant spikes of testosterone in the unmated alphas. And when Patrick had come looking for a mate, he’d been delighted to pass me on to him.
“Oh,” was all Jason said, and I was glad enough to drop the subject.
I hadn’t seen Abel at all this evening, and was surprised to realize that I missed him.
Mac came back. “I sicced Duke on him.”
Jason looked up at him in surprise. “You sure that’s a good idea?”
Mac shrugged. “Why don’t you two go sit and I’ll bring you more food?”
“You just want more for yourself.” But Jason rubbed his cheek against Mac’s shoulder. “Meet us over by where the dancing’s going to be?”
“Be right there.” He kissed the top of Jason’s head and strolled off again.
“What was that about Duke?” I asked as I followed Jason down the edge of the clearing.
Jason rolled his eyes. “You done with that plate? We’ll drop it on the washing up table.” He took my plate from me and handed it off to someone I didn’t know—which was about ninety percent of the pack still—and looped his arm through mine. “Mac is convinced Duke is more than half in love with Bram, bratty behavior or not. And Bram’s really enjoying being king of the hill here. Personally, I think he’s got a bit of a thing for Duke himself, but it’s pretty addictive, being able to crook your finger and have half the young alphas in the place come running.”
It had been. “He’ll probably grow out of it.”
“Like you did?” Jason said casually, startling me, though after nearly two weeks here, I should have expected it.
I drank another mouthful of cider. “How’d you know?” It wasn’t a part of my past I was particularly proud of anymore, though at the time I’d been falsely modest about it.
“Well, a guy could hardly look like you and not have it happen at least a little. Add in omega, and I can’t see it going any other way.” He tugged me to the right, and we found an empty spot underneath a cherry tree. I was starting to be able to identify them now, and it made the place feel more like home. But I only had a couple more days left on my visitor’s pass, and I needed to find a mate who would take my pups in that time, or this would never get to really be home.
With that thought, I started to really look around the crowd. I saw Duke, lines of strain on his face as Bram flirted wildly with a blond alpha whose name might have been Rick, or Ron, or…Roane? I thought that was it. I’d only met him once, briefly, when I’d gone chasing Abel down through the floor assigned to the software company for a signature. There was another dark-haired alpha, and two more who I judged to be betas, though I’d need a good sniff to be certain. Well, they were all too young for me anyway.
