Page 93 of Abel's Omega
“I only plan on getting mated once.” He tugged Bax gently toward him and kissed his cheek. “I should go.”
Bax smiled at him and patted the center of his chest. “Go. I’ll be fine.” He tucked himself briefly under Abel’s chin and hugged him, then let him go. “I’m going to make myself at home.” He looked around the apartment in contentment, then looked back at Abel. “Don’t be long?”
“I’ll do my best.” He couldn’t resist a last kiss, one that almost turned into quite a bit more except for the nagging guilt of leaving Mac and Duke and Quin to deal with the disturbers of the peace. Shit, and he hadn’t even asked how Jason was doing. “I have to go.” He tore himself away and practically backed out the door, not willing to relinquish one more moment than he had to of seeing Bax’s happy face.
You are a love-struck teenager.And damned happy about it too.
CHAPTER SIXTY-SEVEN
Abel got back less than an hour later. They had the two shifters in the cells beneath the Security building, and they’d left Duke to keep watch over them. The most surprising event of the night was the conversation he’d had with Orvin. The stories matched, of two young shifters frustrated at the loss of the promised windfall and all the plans they’d made to use it. Abel might not have believed them, but Orvin had sounded pissed at the two shifters, and his anger and frustration had seemed sincere enough that Abel felt obliged to take his word for it. There had been one thing that Orvin had been right about though—they had physical possession of Jason, and he’d had a pup with Mac, but Montana Border had never signed a mating contract for him. Technically, he wasn’t theirs, except by the old adage that possession was nine-tenths of the law, which was troubling.
He’d left Duke to keep watch over the prisoners, and had come back to the apartment to crawl into bed beside his mate and fall into a deep and peaceful sleep.
He woke near noon with the unaccustomed knowledge that he had nowhere to go and nothing pressing to do. Bax lay curled up against him, his cheek pressed to Abel’s shoulder and their legs tangled together. The rest of the apartment was quiet—the pups were still asleep too. Abel rested there, savoring the moment. Bax’s stomach was pressed against Abel’s side and Abel fancied he could feel the heat of the pup growing inside already. In the tiniest whisper he could manage, he said, “Good morning, pup.”
Bax twitched, breathed out something between a sigh and a moan, and opened his eyes. “What time is it?”
“That’s your first question?”
“Are the pups up?”
“No, just us.”
“Oh.” Bax inhaled deeply and smiled. “Who were you talking to?”
“Him. Or her.” Abel put his hand as close to Bax’s belly as he could.
“Ah.” Bax twisted to make room for Abel’s palm to reach. “I don’t think he or she has ears yet.”
“Ha. I bow to your greater wisdom in this.” He dropped a kiss in the middle of the dark curls.
Bax muffled a laugh in Abel’s chest. “I like the sound of that.” His hand came up to play in the hair on Abel’s chest. “How did last night go?”
Abel took Bax’s hand and brought it to his mouth while he thought about how to explain it. “It wasn’t what I was expecting. I think Orvin really didn’t know what they were planning. We’re going to talk today and see if we can find some sort of solution. I don’t want to have bad blood between us if I don’t have to.”
A moment of silence followed. Bax went still, a small frown creasing the space between his eyebrows. A thinking frown.
“I can see why they might be angry enough to do something crazy,” Bax said in a low voice. “I don’t know what it was like there, but I do know what Buffalo Gap was like. I grew up with outhouses and boiling our water and buying cheap oil to make soap, with lye we made ourselves from ashes. Leaky roofs and having to wait forever because even if you know how to fix something, you didn’t always have the supplies to do it. Wearing hand-me-downs that were hand-me-downs already twice over, patched and mended. Even the Alpha didn’t have a television. We had one computer for the entire pack, and they shut off the electricity at ten at night the year I was thirteen because we couldn’t afford it.” His fingers flexed within Abel’s grasp. “I know that money would have been hard for you to come up with, would have set you back by years, but to them, it was the promise of all those things that make life just a little easier to live, and when you’re that poor, even little things become huge.”
“You think I shouldn’t have fought them?” That hurt. He’d thought Bax was on his side here.
“No! No, oh no, I don’t!” Bax sat up, his legs still tangled with Abel’s. “Absolutely not.” He leaned forward, both hands resting on Abel’s chest, desperate pleading in his face and eyes. “But, you’re so rich here…” His voice trailed off and he looked away, as if he couldn’t bear to meet Abel’s eyes. “I know you understand it, but I feel it, if that makes any sense at all? Maybe there’s something you can do? It’s not a good life, and it’s no one’s fault. Not the pack’s anyway.” He raised his eyes again, though Abel could tell he found it difficult. That strange power shivered around him, though Abel only felt it where Bax touched him. “Is there something, anything, I can do to help? Do paperwork, apply for some grants for them?”
Abel covered Bax’s hands with his own and absently stroked the fingers with his thumb. “No, this is my problem. It’s not your responsibility.” He squeezed and smiled at Bax, and was gratified by the decrease in tension around Bax’s eyes.
“We’re mated now.” Bax disentangled himself and stretched out on top of him, resting his chin on his folded hands. “Your problems are my problems. I’d like to help. I feel so lucky to be able to live here.” He smiled crookedly and dropped his eyes again to stare moodily at some point under Abel’s chin. “I don’t know why the packs are fighting each other, when we should be fighting to have the humans see us as equals.” He snorted and looked Abel in the eye again. “Mighty big thoughts from a silly omega, hm?”
“Mighty smart thoughts,” Abel said, gently imitating Bax’s twang. “I think you might be right. I wonder if I can soothe hurt feelings if we offer him something?” What could he offer, though? Maybe talk to Orvin and feel out what the man needed or wanted.
“How many of the solar panels do you have left?” Bax asked. “Power was one of our biggest expenses, after food.
“A couple dozen? Enough to run a house. Why? Oh.” He didn’t need Bax to tell him why. “You think I should negotiate for Jason?”
“I think it would sooth a lot of hard feelings. And I can guess how happy it made Uncle Mitchel to trade me away for the ones you offered him.”
Abel sighed. “I was planning to put those on our new house.”
“You can make more. I wouldn’t have let you anyway.”
