Page 41 of Abel's Omega
I was happily ensconced in tracking down information on an entrepreneurial program I thought might apply to a couple of pack businesses, when Louise called out to me.
“Bax! It’s the daycare again.”
Fuck it all to hell. I shoved the mouse away and stood up. “Tell her I’ll be right there,” I said.
I came back half an hour later with an angry little alpha gripped firmly by the hand. “Fan’s going to spend the rest of the morning with me, Louise. Again. We’ll try to keep the noise down.” I was near tears. This was the sixth time this week the daycare had called. Fan had spent almost as much time sitting with me in the office as he had in the daycare, and I was at my wits end. Nothing I could do or say seemed enough to convince him that he couldn’t just barge in and take what he wanted, no matter what his father had taught him. And every time, it was the same story—other pups were playing with something, and he would either steal their toys or break something they’d built, and then start bossing them around. There’d been a shoving match yesterday when one of the other pups decided to stand up to him. I was afraid they were going to tell me he couldn’t come anymore, and then what would I do? If I couldn’t contribute to the pack, why would they keep me? And because I’d found this job so rewarding, I’d put looking for a mate on the back burner, so I had no backup plan at all.
I was screwed.
Fan kicked and squirmed on my lap, but I wasn’t letting go over a few bruises. He whined, both in words and wolf, and banged his heels against my shins.
“No. You sit there,” I said, holding tightly to keep some control over him. “If you can’t behave like a civilized shifter, you can’t be around other pups. You’re not Alpha’s child here and even if you were, you shouldn’t act like that.”
“I want down!” he howled, and flailed his arms.
His fist caught me in the eye and I lost my grip on him. He was already halfway to the door when I rounded the desk, my eye streaming tears down my cheek. Louise was out of her seat and heading for Fan too, but I waved her back. This wasn’t her problem.
Fan hit the door, and damn those lever-style handles, because it made it easy for him to open the latch and take off into the hallway on me.
And run straight into Abel.
Abel grabbed Fan and swung him up, still kicking and yelling, then looked at me. “More problems?”
I wanted to sink through the floor, but that wasn’t an option. Instead, I lowered my eyes and nodded.
Abel put his fingers under my chin and lifted my face up so he could see it. “It’s okay. He’s been through a tough time.” He completely ignored the wailing banshee in his arms.
“He knows better.”
“I’m sure he does.” He shifted his grip on my wild animal and looked at him. “Maybe it’s time Fan had a chat with his new Alpha.” He took a step back down the hallway. “Tell Louise I’ll be back in half an hour or so?” He looked at Fan and said, “You can quiet down. It’s not getting you anywhere.” And Fan shut up.
Why the hell wouldn’t he do that for me? He was good for Jason, too. I watched the two of them walk back down to the elevator with real tears blurring my vision, then brushed them away with the back of my hand and went back to work. I really needed to prove myself useful now.
Abel and Fan came back just in time for lunch. Awkward, because I didn’t have a lunch for Fan—the daycare fed them. Fan was quiet, and when Abel put him down, he shuffled around my desk to stand beside me. “I’m sorry, Dabi. I won’t be bad anymore.”
I hugged him and buried my face in his hair. “It’s okay, baby. We’ll work on it, hmm?” He nodded and I let go of him.
He put his little hand in mine and bounced in place. “Abel says I can have lunch here. Can I, Dabi? Please?”
“I don’t know…” I looked up at Abel.
He perched himself on the edge of my desk. “I called Becca, and she’s sending his lunch over.”
Oh. “Thank you.” I made myself smile at him, but I was so dismayed over the way this week had gone, I could hardly look him in the eye.
“Hey, it’s fine,” he said in what I suspected was supposed to be a reassuring tone.
I couldn’t tell any more—ghosts of Patrick’s ‘stupid omega. Smarten up!’ twisted the meaning I should have gotten out of it, and I was losing the knack of translating. But his comment called for some response. “No it’s not,” I said in a small voice. “Look, I’ll fix it, just—he needs time.”
“I talked to Becca yesterday about him; she filled me in. And Fan and I had a long talk and we agreed that there’s better ways to be an Alpha, and I’m going to help him.”
Fan nodded excitedly. “He’s going to be my mendor.”
“You mean mentor?”
Fan nodded again, and grinned up at Abel. He seemed proud of the new word, and even prouder of his new relationship with the Alpha.
I couldn’t let this happen. Abel was busy enough as it was. “The Alpha’s pretty busy. Maybe we should work on things first, and then he can mentor you later.”
