Page 61 of Abel's Omega
That woke him up. “What about the pups?”
“Are we not getting mated at some point?”
Abel nodded. “We’ll have to do an official one for the pack. Maybe at Birth Moon? We can do something smaller for us beforehand, if you’d rather.”
“I’m happy with this. Patrick—”
He stopped me with a hand on my lips. “I’m not Patrick. I don’t really want to talk about him.”
I smiled and moved his hand. “Patrick never made me feel like this. And I never had a ceremony with him, just he and my uncle signing the papers.”
“So you’d like something traditional, then?” He took my hand and began kissing my fingers again.
I chewed the inside of my cheek. “Would you mind?” I asked in a small voice. I felt the stirrings of desire as he delicately mauled my fingers, and my mind drifted to other things I’d like him to use his mouth on.
“Never argue with an omega,” he said in the most bland of tones.
“Oh, you!” But I couldn’t help laughing. “I do love you.”
“I’ve been yours since the day you arrived. You just didn’t notice me drooling that first night.”
I sat up and gaped at him. “No! All I saw was Fan and Teca ruining your T-shirt.”
He chuckled and pulled me back down to him. “Like I was going to notice, with you standing there, beautiful and strong, and I was absolutely convinced that anyone who got in your way was going to be in more trouble than they’d ever dreamed. You could have had me that night if you’d wanted.”
Oh. “I’m not sure what I think of that.”
“That’s okay. It’s been a lot of new. For both of us.” He went silent for a moment, then, in a quieter tone, he said, “I never thought I’d mate for love. I expected I’d end up looking around for a good connection and someone whom I could respect. This—” He raised his head and the look of wonder in his eyes froze me in place. “It’s like having the world handed to me on a platter. I can do anything. I’ll make the pack more prosperous, I’ll fight with the humans to treat us fairly, I’ll do all the things that so badly need to be done. And I know I can, because you’re here.” He pressed his forehead to mine. “I’m better with you by my side.”
I cried; what else could I do when faced with that kind of faith? “I promise, I won’t let you down,” I said in a choked voice. He held me tight and rocked me against his body until my tears finally stopped.
His fingers under my chin urged me to lift my face up to his. Abel traced my lips with his thumb. “You should never cry.”
“I know.” I sniffed. “It makes me red and blotchy.” I rubbed at my cheeks in embarrassment.
He laughed at my words. “No. I was thinking you deserve better.” He kissed me, just a peck this time. “I think we should tell the pups first, before they find us moved in together.”
“Tomorrow.” I wasn’t waiting any longer than necessary.
“Tomorrow,” he agreed, and then all words were left behind as we stole another hour together.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
The pups were up early, and I was too excited myself to feel tired, despite my lack of sleep. After Abel had finally shoved me out the door, at something close to two in the morning, I’d had to wake Bram and send him home, then set out the pups’ Midwinter Wolf gifts under our little Christmas tree. Even then, I’d found it hard to go to sleep, and I’d ended up in the bath again, with a mug of cider and a romance novel that now fell a little short of reality. But eventually I’d gotten to sleep, only to be woken less than four hours later by two excited pups bouncing on my bed, and two others wailing to be let out of theirs.
Now I was sitting on the couch with a cup of coffee, while the pups played with their new toys and begged to open the wrapped gifts under the tree.
“Not until Abel is here,” I told them. “Why don’t we have breakfast?”
“Nooooooo,” they whined and climbed over me until I was afraid someone would get burned when I spilled my coffee.
“All right, all right!” It was nearly eight in the morning. Would Abel be up yet? I put my coffee on the table beside me. “I’ll go see if he’s up, shall I?”
“Me too, me too,” Fan shouted and raced for the door.
“Hold on!” I popped Noah into his fenced corner of the living room and got to the door just as Fan squirted out into the hallway. There hadn’t even been time to throw on a shirt or put my coffee down, so when Abel opened his door in response to Fan’s insistent hammering, I looked like a total slob.
Lucky for me, Abel didn’t seem to mind. In fact, if his expression was anything to go by, he greatly approved of my shirtless appearance, and the possibility of him having plans for me later in the day looked pretty good. “Good morning,” he said with a grin. “Is it breakfast time?”
