Page 50 of The Dragon's Perfect Omega
My mother's eyes grew wide while my dad's expression didn't change at all. His hand went into his beard, though, which had grown almost comically long over the past few weeks. My mom and I liked to tease him about it, but he wouldn't hear any of it. He was proud.
Sometimes I wondered why I couldn't be a little more like my dad and care less what people thought about me. But I wasn't like him. These seconds of silence from my parents were killing me. Why wasn't anybody saying anything?
I looked at both of them in turn.
Finally, my mom spoke up.
"What do you mean?" she asked. "When did this happen? Why didn't you tell us? Are you sure this can't be fixed? You've been together for too long." The heartbreak on her face was almost too much for me to take.
"I didn't know how to tell you," I said, truthfully. "I knew you would be sad."
My mother shook her head. "Of course we're sad to hear this, but we're not the ones you should be worrying about, sweetheart. What about you? Aren't you sad? We know how much you love Kathy. Are you sure there's nothing to be done?"
"I'm pretty sure," I said, and then I bit my lower lip to keep from saying even more. This wasn't the time to be telling my parents that, while I loved Kathy, I'd never beeninlove with her. There was only one person who'd ever made me feel that way, and they weren't even human. Well, not fully, anyway.
"What happened?" my mother asked again, her tone of voice still full of concern.
"Nothing, we just realized we weren't compatible." That wasn't even a lie, was it? No one without a dick was ever going to be compatible with me, but I didn't have to phrase the problem in those exact words.
"There's not going to be a wedding?" my father asked, his hand still in his beard.
"No, there's not." I let my fork sink to my plate. At this point, I really didn't feel like eating anymore—and not only because of the queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach that never quite went away. "Dinner was really good, Mom, but I think I'm going to my room now."
"What? But—"
I stood and carried my plate into the kitchen before my mom could finish her sentence. Whatever she had to say, I wasn't in the mood to hear it. My parents did a lot for me, and I was grateful, but Lowen and Derick and everyone else was right; I had to stop letting them dictate my life.
Without another glance at my parents, I left the kitchen and went up to my room. They must be surprised; I'd never acted like this before, avoiding conversation. I'd always let them in on everything going on with me—not anymore. There was only one person I wanted to talk to just then.
Once I'd closed the door to my room behind me, I got out my smartphone and dialed my boyfriend's number. Myboyfriend. The word still felt odd to me. Who would have thought I'd ever have a boyfriend? But Lowen and I were definitely dating now, weren't we? He was going to be coming here in a week so we could meet again...
I kind of wanted him to take me away with him. I didn't even carewherewe would go. Just away from here and all the pressure.
Lowen picked up the phone after only a few rings. He was probably expecting the call. Over the last few nights, we'd sort of fallen into a routine. We were always on the phone with each other by 8pm at the latest. I knew he'd been spending his days in some sort of library, and even now I could hear him walk out of there as he answered the call.
"Still hitting the books?" I asked after hearing his greeting.
"Yeah." He chuckled, but it sounded tired. He reminded me of how I sounded when I spent whole days locked in my room studying for an upcoming exam because scoring less than a hundred percent was unacceptable.
"Any luck finding what you're looking for?" I asked, even though I wasn't sure what exactly he was looking for anyway. I knew that vision he'd had bothered him, but he wasn't saying more than that.
He sighed. "Not really. It's all so fucking vague. But let's forget about that for a moment. How are you doing?"
Sitting down on my bed, I let myself fall on my back. "I'd be doing better if you were here," I said without shame. It had been two weeks since I'd last seen him and I missed him. Ever since I'd come back home from my stay on the island, I'd realized just how much I was always walking on eggshells in my own home—always one misstep away from ruining the illusion of being the perfect son.
"One more week," Lowen said in a wistful tone of voice. I could tell he was looking forward to our next meeting as much as I was.
"And what then? How long will you stay? Will this always be a long distance relationship?" A thought I couldn't fathom. Being away from my dragon was too hard. So much so that I wondered if there could be something to that idea of soulmates after all. Surely missing someone this much after such a short period of time couldn't be normal.
"I'll stay for as long as I can," Lowen promised. "That's thirty days before I have to apply for prolonged residency or go back to the island for a bit, but maybe I can work something out through my dad's connection."
"What about the band?" I asked. He had to have practice and stuff.
"They understand," he assured me. "Besides, the guys are busy too. Zed and his mate have the baby to take care of and Finn's always happy to spend more time with his family too."
Family... that was something I couldn't give Lowen. Moments like this, I was almost sorry that I wasn't an omega. All his friends' mates were. Why not me?
And why did Lowen have a dream about me being pregnant?
