Page 14 of Abel's Omega
“I like it.” He was close enough that I could feel the heat from his body against my arms, and my own reaction confused me. I was here for sanctuary, not scouting for another high-status mate. But he was handsome, and his voice vibrated pleasantly against my skin. What would it have been like to have been mated to him instead of Patrick? The thought made tears start in my eyes, and I looked down so he wouldn’t see.
He must have sensed something, because he stepped away and turned back to Mac. “Why don’t we load everyone up and go someplace warm? The pups for certain shouldn’t be out without jackets.”
And now I looked like a neglectful parent on top of a dumb omega. Fantastic start to my time here.
But the Alpha scooped up Fan and Beatrice and dumped them in the van, blocking Fan’s escape attempt with a well-placed knee. “Wow, you have another one. That must keep you busy.”
“A bit.” I didn’t know quite how to handle that comment. Did I laugh it off and say no? Or did I talk about having no time at all to myself? Neither of them felt right, so I stood there in mute idiocy.
The Alpha turned to Jason’s mate. “Mac, are we taking them back to your place, or over to mine?”
Mac handed the baby back to Jason. “Probably mine. We’ve got baby stuff.”
“Right. I’ll ride shotgun here with Bax, make sure he doesn’t get lost.”
Oh, dear.What did I say to that? Nothing. He was the Alpha and this was his pack. I would have liked the time to collect myself, though.
We got into the car and I nervously put it in gear. Fan crawled between the seats to stand with his hind paws on the Alpha’s lap and his front ones on the dash, tongue lolling in excitement. I was about to tell him to get down, but the Alpha laughed and rubbed his fur, apparently amused by my pushy pup.
Mac and Jason drove off and I followed their taillights into the night.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Turn right at this corner,” Abel said, pointing Bax to the correct street. The young omega still held his baby close to his chest, driving with one hand on the steering wheel.
He was stunning. That was the only word Abel could come up with for it, mostly because he felt like he’d been hit with a two by four. Gorgeous, but halfway to being broken too. Abel could see it in his eyes, and after listening to Mac talk about Jason for the past half a year, he knew there were aspects of an omega’s life he’d never imagined. Like this, whatever it was, that would drive an omega to pack up his pups and show up on the doorstep of a stranger. Who did that?
Then again, Jason had done something similar, hadn’t he? “Take a left here.” Abel put a hand on the pup’s shoulders and held him steady against the turn, and glanced into the back seat, where the other pup had packed herself away into their car seat again, back in human form. “You’ve got them well trained.”
Bax checked the rear view mirror and smiled lovingly. “They’re good pups. I don’t know what I would have done without them.” He turned his gaze back to the road and Abel hoped for something more, but the young omega was silent.
Abel guided him automatically through the increasingly crowded streets. The mystery of this omega showing up here, claiming to be Jason’s cousin—and Abel was nearly a hundred percent sure that that was a total fabrication—made him want to dig deeper into the situation.
He reminded Abel a bit of Jason—nurturing, but not weak. What Abel liked most was that he didn’t cower. Oh, he presented the appearance of it—he’d obviously been taught to behave in a certain way in the presence of alphas, and the wary manner in which he watched Mac and Abel told Abel that he’d suffered when he’d failed to meet expectations. But there was an inner strength to him, in the way he held himself, how he stayed focused on his pups despite the strangeness of his circumstances, that spoke of a spirit that wouldn’t be broken.
That was attractive.
The silence in the car was awkward. “So, where were you born?” He might as well find out a little about the newcomer.
Bax started and turned wide eyes on him. “I was born in Buffalo Gap, but I was mated in Jackson-Jellystone.”
“That would explain the accent.” He could listen to that Texas twang all day, the slow way of speaking with its nasal vowels.
The corners of Bax’s mouth turned up. “Patrick hated it. He said it sounded like a back country yokel.”
“That’s funny, coming from a Mississippi native.”
“I know.” Bax’s shoulders relaxed a little, and he rubbed his thumb over his baby’s back. “I didn’t make much effort to lose it.” He bit his lower lip and cast a quick, assessing glance at Abel.
Taking my temperature.“That’s a silly thing to complain about; I think your accent is charming.” He watched a slight flush rise in Bax’s cheeks and was surprised—or perhaps not—at his own satisfaction. “You drove here all by yourself?”
“Just me and the pups. It was fun.” He reached over to ruffle the fur on the head of the pup Abel held. “It’s a wonder we weren’t sick, after all the junk we ate on the road, right Fan?”
So this one was Fan. The pup didn’t pay any attention to his bearer, too busy trying to see everything to be bothered with anyone else in the car. “He’s your oldest then?”
“Yes. The next one is Teca, then Beatrice, and finally Noah.” Bax pressed a kiss to the baby’s head, and Abel could hear the pride in the other shifter’s voice as he talked about his pups.
Something niggled at the back of Abel’s mind, and he fell silent for a few blocks, scrounging through his memory. For an instant, he thought he’d never figure it out, and then he had it. “We’ve met already, haven’t we?”
