Page 7 of Abel's Omega
“Laundry, and the pups are going to Story Time. Did you have anything you wanted washed?” I hated that she just walked through my space like I didn’t matter, hated that subtle confirmation of my lack of status, lack of personhood. It had made me much more careful about being dressed at all times. Not that shifters were particularly body shy, but I didn’t like the way she looked at me, either, those few times she’d caught me less than fully clothed.
“We have a guest coming Tuesday evening, a pack trained doctor from Maine. He’s considering setting up a practice here. We want to impress him, so you’ll need to make some nice finger foods to have on hand.” She eyed me greedily, and I had an uneasy suspicion there was more to this story than I’d yet been told. I was also reminded that it wasn’t just alpha males that could get a pup on an omega. Alpha females had been known to as well, though no one seemed to be able to explain how it happened, and rumors always floated around about the omega afterward.
I dropped my eyes to avoid that uncomfortable stare. “I can stop at the library on the way back to look up some recipes.” Everyone knew that my cooking skills were woefully underdeveloped for an omega, although Patrick had taught me pretty quickly to at least not burn things. I’d never been interested in it and I was just stubborn enough that they couldn’t make the lessons stick. The same with sewing—my seams were always crooked, and I never seemed to manage a proper fit for anything. And of course, I’d been either pregnant or nursing since I was sixteen. Who had time to learn anything when they were elbow deep in spit-up and diapers?
“Yes,” she said. “That would be a good idea. Don’t worry about supplies—whatever you need, I’ll make sure you have it.” She gave me another one of those uncomfortable looks. “Well, get going! You have to be back here for lunch.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
A doctor. The pack needed a doctor. We had someone who acted as a sort of nurse/medic, but they had no real training—just read a lot of books. There was a clinic that accepted shifters, but it was an hour’s drive away, and sometimes getting a permit to travel could be difficult. I’d been there shortly after Teca was born, when I’d developed an inflammation along my Omega line. But if someone was truly ill and needed immediate attention—well, they usually died.
Case in point: Patrick.
Though I still thought—despite everything—that was a blessing in disguise.
But damn, they were expecting fancy food from me? I bent over the stroller to hide my grimace. Maybe I’d get lucky and find one of those ‘Sophistication in 5 Ingredients’ books. “All right, pups, let’s go.” I herded them off out the door, keenly aware of Miranda’s gaze on my back. For once, the two oldest stuck close to me. Maybe they’d been weirded out by Miranda too.
I was lucky enough to get two machines at the pack laundromat. I signed for them, watching my few pack credits dwindle even further with a small inward sigh, then started unloading the diapers into the first. Even though I rinsed them at home—home, ha!—I usually ran them through a second rinse here, and then a wash. Then home to dry on the clothes line, because I had little enough income to keep four children clothed.
The second washer got all our light things—mine and the childrens’ combined. I didn’t bother keeping them separate any more—it wasn’t like any of us had anything that didn’t have at least one stain on it. I started the water and tossed some washing soda in with the soap, in the hopes of dealing with the worst of them. “Okay, who wants to sit on the washer?” The big excitement—hanging onto the vibrating washer during the spin cycle.
“Me, me!” Teca cried, holding her arms up.
“I’m the oldest!” Fan yelled, and pushed in front of her.
“Which is why,” I reached around him to pick Teca up. “You should let her go first.” I set her on top of the machine with the diapers in it.
Fan started to frown, and I could see the warning signs of the temper tantrum to follow, which would mean I’d have to punish him, something I absolutely didn’t have time for today. I swooped down on Fan, tickled him, and set him on the other washer, where the little alpha seemed content.
“Up, up!” Beatrice chanted, her only intelligible word, other than ‘milk’ and ‘Dabi’. It had been Fan’s name for me when he was first learning to speak and he’d never grown out of it, so of course they all called me that.
I was already too tired to deal with Fan’s meltdown if he had to share his machine, so I undid the clips holding Beatrice in the stroller and set her on Teca’s machine, keeping one hand on her to make sure she didn’t fall off. I bounced on my toes to keep the baby happy, and disappeared into my little fantasy world, the one where I wasn’t a poor widowed omega with no prospects. In this world, I was useful, and wanted for my skills, though I didn’t quite know what they were. I just knew I was important. And somewhere, in the far distance, was a shifter who liked me for me, not for my omega womb and my omega heats and the fact that I was prettier than most of the female shifters in the pack. A shifter who would love my children and take them as his own, and who wouldn’t care if I never wanted to have sex again as long as I lived.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Once the machines had finished, I escorted my family into the library—really, two rooms sectioned off inside Central, where all the pack’s supplies were kept and the offices that kept track of housing and who still had credit in their accounts were found. Mine was nearly empty—my attempts to supplement what had been left in Patrick’s account were pitiful.
I discreetly dumped the bags of still wet laundry in a corner where I could keep an eye on them. They were still setting up in the tiny room they used for story time, and meetings and whatever else they needed a room for, so I grabbed Teca and had Fan help me push the stroller up to the desk. “Hi, could I book a computer while they’re in for Story Time?”
The woman behind the desk knew who I was—everyone did. They also knew my situation. “Of course, Baxter. You can take number four.”
“Thank you.” I signed her clipboard, took the librarian’s nameplate from Teca and put it back on the desk, and hustled the pups off to the Story Time room. As soon as I got the two oldest settled, I hurried back to the little cluster of computers in the center of the room and logged in. While I waited for the computer to work its way through whatever computers did when they were starting up, I dug into the back of the stroller for the chewy-book, as I called it. It was plastic, and tough as nails, and had been gnawed on by both my eldest two before going to Beatrice to entertain her while she teethed. She took it with a squeal of glee and immediately put it in her mouth. “Yeah, you go to town on that, ravenous little creature.” I tickled her belly, then turned back to the computer.
Okay. What do I search for?I tried easy and sophisticated, then party food, then tried finger food. The baby burbled and waved his hands around, then spit up a tiny bit. Absently, I wiped a cloth over both of us as I read through the recipes, becoming more depressed with each one. I knew the Alpha would want what he called ‘a spread’. Good food, and lots of it. Why they had to pick on me, instead of getting one of the more talented shifters to do it, I couldn’t imagine. There was really only one reason that I could think of…
No. They wouldn’t. Noah wasn’t even five months old. Would they really mate me again so quickly? Sure, I’d been thinking that I needed too, but the sudden reality of it sent a chill down my spine. I shrugged that train of thought off, but found myself wandering away from the cooking websites.
Search: Mercy Hills Omega.
A list of websites came up, some of them news, some blogs, some of them those kinds of sites that I didn’t go to anymore. The kinds that thought all shifters should be just walled up and left to fend for themselves, and shot if they went outside walls. Or even just shot. Period.
I clicked on one of the good ones, meaning only to read one story before I got back to looking for food ideas, but then there was a link… and another link… Soon, my whole hour was gone and I had to pick the pups up, and I hadn’t accomplished anything.
Except to know that Mercy Hills had used tradition and human justice to fight the rule of pack law for this omega, and it seemed they’d done it because he was in love and it was the only way he could be happy.
Imagine that ever happening here.
I glanced at the clock and realized I’d gone over my time. If I didn’t move now, I was going to be late starting lunch. I gathered up my things in a panic, and wondered if I could sneak back down again tomorrow morning, early enough that Miranda could still get whatever supplies I would need.Probably not.I was going to be in so much trouble, and that familiar tight panic began to smother me.
