Page 17 of Abel's Omega
Then the Alpha straightened in his chair and cleared his throat. “So, what’s the story?” My papers sat on the table in front of him, face down. Evidently, he wanted the explanation from me, not my paperwork.
I stared down at my mug and played with it, running my finger around the rim, feeling the slight irregularities of the pottery. “You already know that my mate, Patrick, was killed in a car accident. Because he was Alpha, we lived in a pack-owned house instead of owning our own. But when he died, I lost my home. Being omega, I couldn’t rent or buy on my own, even if there’d been housing available.”
Abel shifted in his chair. “He had no will?”
I shook my head. “He was young, for an Alpha.” Though not as young as the Alpha sitting next me at this table. “I’m sure he would have gotten around to it sometime.” There. That covered the respect due to my deceased mate, I hoped. I didn’t want them to know how resentful I was—omegas were supposed to be cheerful and comforting, not angry and frustrated.
“He should have done something about it as soon as he mated. That’s hardly the sign of a responsible Alpha.” Abel tapped his fingers against the table as if he were making the point to Patrick himself.
My throat was tight with the memory, and I took a sip of coffee to loosen it. It wasn’t proper for me to comment on the Alpha’s words, so I continued with my story. “I hoped they’d put me in temporary housing under someone else’s guardianship while they looked for a new mate for me. I don’t think I would have had much of a problem with a quick mating—it’s how things are done, and I meant to make the best of it. But I didn’t have a chance. Two weeks after he passed, they came and told me they had no home for me to go to with my pups, and while they could find shifters that would mate me, none of them wanted my babies. The pack wanted to foster them out.” I blinked, trying unsuccessfully to stop the tears. Angrily, I rubbed them away with the back of my hand. “I’ll admit, I didn’t take it well. In the end, the new Alpha said I could stay there until Noah was weaned and I’d finished mourning Patrick.” The snort escaped me before I could stop it, and I buried my nose in my mug in search of enough time to shove my anger and resentment back down where it came from.
“That would be hard,” Jason said and put a hand on my shoulder.
I glanced around the table, trying to gauge how my story was being received, whether the alphas believed me or not. So much depended on this, but I was finding it harder than I’d expected to remember all the most important parts of the story. Mac looked upset, a good sign. The Alpha had a gleam in his eye that I couldn’t read.
I took a deep, shuddering breath and nodded. “Then, early this week, they brought a pack-trained doctor to visit, trying to convince him to move to Jackson-Jellystone.” My stomach clenched and for a moment I thought I might be sick. Even the smell of the coffee made my guts churn, so I pushed the mug away from me. “They offered me as part of the deal.” I looked up and met the Alpha’s eyes. “Even that, I would have agreed to. It was a good mating, and fairy tale romance would be nice, but I know better than that. I would have made him the best home I could, born his pups, whatever he wanted.” I choked on a sob and had to bite the inside of my cheek to stay in control long enough to choke out the next sentence. “Except he didn’t want my babies either.”
The Alpha’s sober expression blurred in front of me and this time, I didn’t bother trying to hide the tears. I doubt I could have stopped them anyway. I clasped my hands together in my lap, squeezing until it hurt. “It’s not fair. They’re good babies, and they don’t deserve this. So I told Roland I wanted to come visit my cousin before I mated the doctor, packed everything I could that wouldn’t look suspicious, and came here.” I reached up and touched Jason’s hand, turning toward him. “If I can’t take refuge here, will you tell me how you hid in the human world for so long? Help me keep my babies?” Tears poured down my face, racing past the last scraps of my self-control.
“Oh, fuck,” Jason murmured, and pulled my head down to his shoulder, his arms around me like a best friend. I hid my face against his neck and took the comfort he offered, which was almost as upsetting to my fragile emotional state as telling my story had been. I was going to be a wreck by the end of the night.
Someone put a hand on my back. It could only have been the Alpha. He rubbed up and down my spine, soothing me with his warmth and his obvious strength. It was more than just a physical strength, but something that all the Alphas I’d met had to some degree or another. It was the power that had roused my body for Patrick, even though my heart despised him. But in this Alpha it was something different, something that warmed me without overwhelming me.
That thought jerked me out of Jason’s arms, and my sudden movement startled the Alpha into pulling his hand away. I wiped my eyes carefully and sniffed as delicately as I could manage. “I’m sorry. It’s been a long day.”
“A long few years.” The Alpha turned my travel papers over on the table and looked across at Jason. “I know you’ve told me before about early matings.” He passed the papers across the table and I held my breath, not knowing why. But it felt like a make-or-break moment, as if the next words spoken would determine the course of the rest of my life, and that of my pups.
Jason picked up the papers, wearing an expression I found hard to read. He read them and glanced up at me, then something changed about him. About me, too. All of a sudden, I knew it would be all right. That these people would help me. I saw Mac catch Jason’s gaze, and some unspoken message passed between them. Then Jason turned back to me.
“I’m so sorry, Bax. We’ll do everything we can.”
And I fainted.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
I came back to myself, swimming up through layers of sound and strange, wobbly shapes, to find they’d moved me to the couch in the living room. Jason was gently dabbing at my face with a cool cloth and when I turned my head to the side, I saw the Alpha fanning me with—ironically—my travel papers. Fan and Teca were nowhere to be seen. “Where are my babies?” I croaked.
Jason’s eyes crinkled. “Mac took them outside to see the back yard and do a little scent marking.”
That made me laugh and I tried to sit up. “I’m fine. It’s too cold for them to be outside.”
The Alpha spoke reassuringly. “We dressed them before he took them out. They’re okay. You need a few more minutes horizontal, though. Your face is still white as chalk.”
“It’s been a long day,” I repeated.
“And,” Jason said, with a martial look in his eye. “You’re seriously underfed. Even I know that four babies in four years is too much, and I missed all the serious child-bearing lessons. What was your mate thinking?”
“I have no idea.” I winced and wished I could take the words back.
Jason sniffed. “Your scent is better. What have you eaten today?”
“Uh.” I couldn’t really remember. “Fan and I shared a bag of potato chips on the way here. Some fruit. A muffin, when I stopped for gas. Oatmeal for breakfast.”
“Not enough. I’ll make you a plate, and something for the babies too.”
“Really, there’s no need—” I tried to sit up, but the room whirled around me, like that one time in Buffalo Gap when I and my fellow omegas had stolen a gallon of raw whiskey and gotten drunk on it. Now that I thought about it, maybe Uncle Mitchel had had good reason to want to mate me off—the liquor had been my idea. “I’m fine. Really.”
The Alpha put his hand in the center of my chest and pushed me back down into the cushions. “Enough. You just went three shades whiter. You’re not ready to get up yet.”
