Page 43 of Abel's Omega
Lord of Wolves, please let this crazy idea of Laine’s work.
They arrived back at the park at the end of their circuit, sweating and breathing hard, but not done yet. Jason was seated on a blanket on the grass, leaning back on his elbows. His father sat beside him, rocking Macy gently, and Noah chewed on something at his feet.
Mac grinned and moved to the side of the group closest to Jason. Abel laughed and followed him, thinking that the situation was ripe for a bit of teasing. They dropped to the ground for sit-ups, while Duke kept count. A sharp whistle blasted across the grunts and exhalations of the men, and Mac chuckled in between repetitions. “Bax is a bad influence.”
“What do you mean?” Abel asked. He scanned the park on his next ‘up’, wondering if the gorgeous new omega was around, but there was no sign of him. “Is he causing problems?”
Mac snorted. “Only teaching Jason to whistle at me like I was the omega and he was the alpha.” His words died away as he sat up again, his breath leaving him a puff.
Too funny.“And how does it feel to be the unwilling object of someone’s lust, MacKenzie Mercy Hills?”
Mac sat up, ignoring Duke’s glare. “Who says I’m unwilling? I’m totally willing.” He winked at Jason, who looked entirely pleased with the situation. “And, by the way, since you asked, Bax is fine. More than fine.” He nodded his head toward a clear area between Jason’s blanket and the playground, where a bunch of pups and their parents were playing in wolf form. Abel squinted, trying to find Bax around the edges of the group, until he noticed a wolf he didn’t recognize in the middle of the puppy play.
“Holy shit,” he breathed, and forgot completely about sit-ups. “Is that him?” Snow white fur, with shapely haunches and an elegant muzzle, he looked as good in wolf form as he did in human.
Mac nodded, with an air of superiority that might have prodded Abel to take revenge at any other time. But not today. “You better grab that while you can. I’ve seen a few of the guys sniffing around and Bax always puts them off, but that’ll only last so long.” He dropped his voice and his expression when he turned back to Abel was serious, in that big brother giving you advice way. “Interesting thing—he’ll discuss every shifter in the pack with Jason. Except you.” His tone implied that Abel should take some extra meaning from his words.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Just that Jason thinks Bax might have a small crush on you, if you wanted to encourage that. And you’ve only got a week left.”
He did. “I’m working on it.” Abel watched for a moment as Bax played tug-of-war with a pup that Abel now identified as Teca. Looking around, he spotted Fan playing a game of King with a handful of other pups. While Abel watched, Fan helped one of the clumsier pups capture the ball and then played guard so the pup could carry it triumphantly to their team’s den. It seemed he was taking their talk yesterday to heart, and Abel stretched his Alpha power out to give the pup a pat of congratulations. Fan started and looked all around himself for the source of the phantom touch, then zeroed in on Abel. He yipped and abandoned the game to start running toward the workout crew.
Mac nodded. “You want help, let us know. Though Jason’s doing everything he can right now to point Bax your direction.”
Abel gave a wry look. “Am I that obvious?”
“To me, anyway. But I know the whole story.”
Abel grunted, then held out his arms so Fan could barrel into him. “Hey, that was a good job you did during the game.”
Fan yipped again and grabbed Abel’s wrist in his teeth, trying to drag him back over to the field.
Abel extricated himself, but not without some difficulty. Fan was tricky and he kept changing his grip, his eyes alight with excitement at beating the Alpha at something. “Fan, I have push-ups to do. After, okay? I’ll come play with you.” He ignored Mac’s hastily muffled crack of laughter and flipped over onto his stomach with Mac and the rest of the group.
Fan barked and jumped on Abel’s back, and Mac lost it. He lay flat down on the ground and laughed out loud, soon joined by the rest of the onlookers. Fan barked again, then lifted his muzzle in a puppy howl.
Screw it.“Hang on,” Abel called, then started his push-ups. He could feel Fan wobbling, his weight shifting from paw to paw as he tried to keep his balance on the rapidly moving planes of Abel’s back. Abel slowed his pace, though it put him out of sync with everyone else. Other pups saw what was going on and soon they had a crowd. Some of the other security shifters ended up with pups on their shoulders as well, and then a few more, until every single one of them carried an extra ten or twenty pounds in juvenile shifter on their shoulders. Duke laughed and kept counting.
A sharp, admonishing whine from Abel’s left got his attention. Bax fidgeted next to him, the sun turning his white ruff into a halo around his head. Two pups—Teca and Beatrice, obviously—leaped and tumbled beside him.
Bax put his nose out to Fan and whined, then turned apologetic eyes on Abel.
“He’s fine. I don’t mind.” Abel let his chest come in contact with the ground and rested there. “The extra weight is good for me. Relax. Fan and I are going to finish working out and then we’re all going to play. Like Louise has been telling me for the past five years, it’s about time I took a day off.”
Bax paused with his head cocked to one side, then lay down with his muzzle between his paws. His ears were canted in a way that Abel read as uncertain amusement.I can live with that. Abel grinned at him and said, “You ready, Fan?”
Fan barked, and Abel got back to his push-ups.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
I waited until Abel had changed his shape and left to play with the pups before I changed my shape again. This shyness was out of character for me, but the way I felt about him was also out of character, so the shyness felt like safety. It also helped hide the rush of blood to my cheeks when he stripped out of his clothes and stood before me, naked and sweaty in all his irresistible alphaness. I caught a whine of helpless want before it could escape, and breathed a sigh of relief as fur flowed over his skin and he dropped to all fours. Not that he was any less overwhelming in wolf form, but he left soon after, trailing a pack of pups behind him like a lupine version of the Pied Piper.
Immediately after, I shifted my form and dressed, avoiding the interested glances of several nearby unattached shifters, both male and female. The reminder of my rapidly ticking clock was unwelcome and I turned to Jason with relief. “Do they always run like that in the morning?”
“Oh, yes.” The corner of Jason’s mouth quirked up in satisfaction. “There’s usually an audience too. Mostly young and unmated.” The smile widened into a grin far too lascivious for an omega. “Sometimes, I wish I’d had some unmated time here. And then I remember that I mated the best-looking of the bunch, and I have to think awful thoughts to keep from floating away on my bloated ego.” His smile faded slightly and his eyes drooped. “Of course, my body doesn’t notice them anymore.” He rolled over onto his belly and the grin he shot me was bright and mischievous. “I can still appreciate the scenery though.”
I couldn’t help a laugh. He followed Jason’s example and stretched out on the blanket to watch the goings-on. It was an oddly warm day for November, and the entire pack seemed to be out taking advantage of it.
