Page 121 of Abel's Omega
Fan’s excited chatter came to an abrupt stop. “Pap, why aren’t you Alpha any more?”
Abel grinned and ruffled Fan’s curls. “Because your uncle is going to be, so I can have more time to spend with you guys. We’re going to move into the new house tonight, and you guys can sleep in your new beds.”
Fan looked doubtful, but when Abel picked him up and put him on his shoulders, he cheered up. “Can we stay up late?”
“I think we can manage that.” He looked at me and grinned. “So, let’s move!”
It took about an hour to get everything together and down to the lobby. We didn’t have much—just our clothes and personal items, but it took a while to ferret them out from all the corners they’d gotten hidden in. All the furniture and kitchen things stayed with the apartment. The new house would have new furniture, paid for out of pack funds, but ultimately coming from the money brought in by Alpha Hunt. Abel chased the pups out the door and into the van, then came back to pick up a couple of suitcase. “You go get in the car,” he told me. “You’re already carrying enough.” He grinned at me, as excited as the pups.
We drove across town, toward the east, near where Abel planned to knock down the wall into the expansion when the day came, and near the pond, something which had made Mac lay claim to the land on the other side of the pond with a gleam in his eye.
I hadn’t seen it since the frame had been put up, nothing more than a skeleton that hinted at what it might some day become. I knew the basic plan for it—two stories, four bedrooms, with a small apartment attached to one side for Holland, since he was moving with us. The lights shone out of every window, and pack members streamed in and out, their arms full of the last of the furniture that had been carefully chosen and purchased for this place. A roar went up as we arrived, and we had to make it through a gauntlet of welcome backs and congratulations before I could get a look at it.
“It’s beautiful.” I hung off Abel’s arm and gazed, stupified, at my new home. They’d painted it yellow, with white trim, and while I could see that the insides were still bare and gray, I could already picture it with paint, and puppy art in places it shouldn’t have been.
“There’s one last thing to do,” he said meditatively. “Come up here.”
He led me up onto the porch, right in front of the door. “Hold on.” Then he scooped me up in his arms, laughing like he was lunar.
“Abel! You’re going to hurt your back!” But I was laughing as he carried me through the door. “That’s ahumantradition.”
“Maybe I just wanted an excuse to pick you up.” He set me on my feet and led me through into the living room. “What do you think?”
It was bigger than I’d expected—the whole place was. “Oh, Abel, how could we afford this?” It had looked smaller as a skeleton.
He came up behind me and rested his head on top of mine, his hands curling around my waist. “Someday, all our people will be able to have houses like this. This is just a start.” He turned me around so I could look up into his face. “It’s only just beginning. Next year, we’ll have the fence completed and we can knock this part of the wall down. We can expand, have more space. Houses where we aren’t three pups to a bedroom. Room to run.” He rested his forehead against mine. “And then, maybe, no walls at all. That’s the goal.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and held him close, speechless.
Well, at least until the pups roared into the room. “Dabi, Pap, can we see our rooms?” And just like that, our tender moment was put on hold, but I was determined to finish it that evening, once the pups were in their new beds. In the meantime…
“Let’s go see!” I caroled and exchanged an ironic glance with Abel.
He grinned and patted my ass. “Race you up the stairs, Fan,” he said, and ran down the hall after our oldest.
CHAPTER EIGHTY-EIGHT
Harvest Moon. Jason’s gardens had outdone themselves, we’d gotten one small contract with a restaurant in the city for our cider, and Alpha Hunt was slowly gaining notice out in the human world. The foundation for the new enclave wall had been laid and next spring we’d be allowed to break an opening in the old one and start building houses there.
Abel and I were waiting for the final touches on our very own house to be completed. In the end, we’d made some changes to the design, adding in a small apartment at one end for Holland to live in. It hadn’t cost much more, and Holland was old enough we both thought he deserved a place he could call his own. Abel still stood guardian for him—that hadn’t changed.
As for me, I was well and truly ready for this pup to make his appearance. Iwaddled.
Grrr.
The only consolation was that the pups was finally so constrained inside me that he couldn’t continue with his campaign against my internal organs, being restricted to the occasional shove or stretch. And I’d been restless all day, which I hoped was a sign that he would soon be on his way.
“Soon, baby. Soon.” I stroked the curve of my belly and listened to my body tell me… no. I grunted and dragged my fat rear off the chair, thinking I’d hunt Abel down and make him as cranky as I was.
I found him over by the firepit, teasing Duke as Duke poked at long strips of meat stretched out over a grill borrowed from the barracks kitchen. The smell of roasting meat wafted past my nose and suddenly I was starving. “Is any of that ready?”
Abel laughed. “Soon. Hungry again?”
“Yes. It’s not like I can eat much at once.” I glared grumpily at him.
“I know.” He put a hand on my waist and pulled me close. “There should be something soon.”
“Good.” I rubbed at that itchy spot next to my bellybutton.
