Page 40 of The Omega's Secret Baby
“You?” Eli's eyebrows shot up.
“Don't look so surprised. I'm...” I lowered my voice. “I'm his parent too, right? Maybe I can help with this.”
“You really think so?”
I shrugged. “I'm an alpha. I think I know how he feels.”
“Alright. If you really think you can help.”
“I do.” At least, I hoped I could help. When I was being honest, I still had no idea whether I could be a parent. But I was about to find out. Taking a deep breath, I took a step toward the stairs when Eli stopped me.
“Just...”
I turned to him. “Just what?”
“Nothing. Just...” He folded his arms in front of his chest. “Just don't scream at him or anything.”
“That's not what I was going to do.” He was only a seven year old boy after all. I didn't need to scream at children to assert dominance, even if some alpha stereotypes would have you believe so.
“I'm sorry.” Eli unfolded his arms and ran a hand through his hair. “I get overprotective. He's my baby.”
I gave him a smile. “It's nice to know omegas can get overprotective too.”
“Yeah, well.” He creased his brow in what I could only assume was supposed to be a defiant expression. “Try to hurt my baby and see what happens!”
I had to laugh. He looked so adorable when he tried to be threatening. “Okay, okay. I'll be careful.”
“Thank you.”
“Don't worry.” I gave him a quick kiss before I turned to the stairs again.Here goes nothing.
When I reached Jake's room, I tried knocking on the door. It took a moment, but then I heard his voice from inside.
“I don't want to talk to you.”
Eli really hadn't been kidding about the little one being stubborn. But I'd been a stubborn kid myself.
“Really?” I asked. “It's me, Matt.”
Jake's voice turned curious. “What are you doing here?”
“I wanted to have some fun with you and your daddy.”
“Daddy won't let me play.”
“Yeah, I heard about that. Hey, would you mind if I come in so we could talk about that? Then maybe I can convince your daddy to let you play. How's that sound?” I caught myself thinking that this really wasn't too different from being in a business negotiation. If my business partners were children who could be tempted with an offer of play time.
“Okay,” Jake said, opening the door.
So far so good.
I stepped into his room and made a show of looking around while he closed the door behind me. “Really nice room you have here. Did you do all these drawings yourself?”
“I did. Well, except for that one.” He pointed to a drawing of a dinosaur that hung by the door. “Daddy did that one and gave it to me. Because I gave him so many drawings.”
“That's nice.” I studied the image. If Jake hadn't told me, I'd never have guessed that an adult had drawn it. It was a good thing Eli had other qualities.
I sat on Jake's bed and he settled next to me.
