Page 20 of Lone Wolf
And still, I’d done it. For him, because he was lonely and I felt sorry for him.
"Salem!"
The slap, when it came, stung like fire, but not as much as her disappointment hurt my heart. I put a hand to my cheek, but I couldn't meet her eyes.
"You silly, foolish boy! What were you thinking?"
"I know. I'm sorry." My eyes began to water, but I wasn't going to cry. I wasn't. I was twenty-two and almost ready to move out on my own. Crying wasn't something I did anymore.
A tear streaked down my unslapped cheek.
“Not a word of this to anyone if you want to keep your position,” Ma said in a tired voice. "Get up, go wash your face. I'll clean up and then we'll go up and see your father and the Alpha. They might have some other ideas on how to find your rogue alpha.”
"Are you going to tell them?" I asked.
She sighed. "I don't know. No.” She held out her hand, making a ‘stand up’ motion with her fingers. “Go, please.”
I went. My cheek had stopped stinging by the time I got up the stairs, but a bright red patch shone on that side of my face. I wet one of the facecloths from the cold water tap and held it to my cheek, staring wide-eyed at my reflection.
Stupid. Stupid, stupidomega. I’d ruined everything, all my plans, my future. Everything.
And worst of all, I knew it had to have been David, because even drowning in the midst of this disaster, my first thought was to throw myself in his arms and have him make everything okay.
Exactly like a mated omega would do.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
It was true—I was pregnant. The clinic even printed a picture of my little boy or girl to take home with me.
What was I going to do?
Ma was grim-faced all the way home. Probably thinking of all the ways I’d derailed my future. I was too far along to even think about an abortion, which meant I was committed to this for at least the next four months. And probably longer.
We shifters had a saying for someone who was absolutely determined to keep something—that they were trying to hang onto it like an omega with a baby. I didn’t think that had kicked in for me yet, but at the same time, I kept sneaking peeks at the ultrasound and wondering what this little blob would be like when it finally came out. And if I didn’t keep a firm grip on my thoughts, they seemed to drift to this idyllic picture of me in the sunshine streaming through an open window, rocking a sleeping baby.
But babies were expensive—there was no way I was moving out into my own apartment now. My earning potential was ruined until this stupid omega bond wore off. If it ever did—I’d never known anyone where it had. Though, I’d never known an omega who hadn’t gone right ahead and mated the sire of their pup.
And even if the bond did fade, my schedule wasn’t going to make it easy to find someone to look after the baby. I’d be stuck working all the shitty, low-earning shifts.
Oh, Lysoonka, couldn’t you have just hit me with a bolt of lighting or something instead?It would have been kinder. I guessed I should have petitioned the Lady of Wolves at the right time of the moon.
Da met us outside the Alpha’s office. He kissed my mom on the cheek and hugged me, then stood back and shook his head. “He’s waiting for us,” was all he said though.
I swallowed hard, feeling thirteen again and about to get scolded for swimming in the lake with the alphas too close to my season.
The Alpha’s office was cool and a little dim. The windows had shades on them that let you see out but kept most of the light from coming in and heating the place up. A big wooden desk sat with its back to a wall of bookcases filled with ledgers and I wasn’t sure what all.
And behind the desk sat the Alpha. I’d met him a few times—he usually welcomed the new blood to the public houses on their first night, before they would even be allowed to meet clients. I remembered him talking about humans and shifters and the ways we were the same and how we were different. How important our jobs would be to the pack—if it wasn’t for the public houses, Nevada Ashes would have been just ashes in the end. We’d barely survived being Rogue’s Hollow, and that was something that we could never forget. I’d been proud to have been chosen from that year’s crop of young shifters who’d applied to work the front of house.
I wasn’t so proud now.
The Alpha stood up, all six-foot-four of him. He was lanky but his bones were all well-covered in muscle, visible even in the shirt and tie he always wore. “Sit down everyone,” he said, then pressed a button on his phone. “Could you call Verena and ask her to drop by when she has a minute?”
His assistant’s voice came back through the speaker. “Right away, Alpha.”
He grunted and looked over at us all, still standing frozen in front of the desk. “I don’t bite,” he said mildly and raised his eyebrows.
“Funny,” Da commented, but they were old friends.
