“I’m not hungry,” I yelled, and pulled the sheets over me. I heard her feet on the stairs and panicked. “Leave me alone!” I couldn’t have her come in here—even I could smell Justin and his…stuff…on me and I was probably halfway nose-blind after sleeping a whole night covered in his scent.
She paused outside my room. “I’m going over to the park to help with the clean-up. Do you want me to just leave it on the kitchen table?”
I sniffed and nodded, then realized she couldn’t see me. “Yes, please.”
“All right, honey. I’ll see you again in a bit.” She went back downstairs, and a few moments later I heard the door close behind her.
That sent me into a flurry of activity. Faster than I’d ever done in my life, I stripped the sheets off my bed and ran downstairs to throw them in a bag so I could go wash them before Mom found out.
Yeah? And how are you going to explain washing your sheets two days after you just washed them?
Dammit. And Dad’s security shift would be over in half an hour.
The plate of french toast and the bottle of syrup on the table caught my eye. Yes! I crammed the french toast dry into my mouth, grabbed the bottle, and poured a bunch on the sheets, getting them nice and sticky. The fork and plate went into a sink full of soapy water and now the only thing left was to get the smell of that bastard off me.
I left the bag of sugary-smelling sheets in the living room and pelted up the stairs.
A quick shower was all I had time for. I almost hated touching myself between my legs—I could still feel him there. At the same time, just thinking about him made my body react, and I missed his touch as much as I hated him.
What was I going to do?
I ran into Dad in the doorway. “Where are you going?” he asked.
“I got syrup on my sheets. I’m going to wash them.” Please don’t stop me.
“You can’t go out while you’re in heat.” He turned me around and shoved me back into the house. “What are you thinking? Your mom has spares somewhere. Get back in.”
And that was how I managed to break two mugs slamming them into the sink, and ended up with a huge bleach stain on my good jeans, because I was terrified something had changed in my scent and I didn’t want dad to be able to notice it. Bleaching the shit out of the bathroom and the kitchen made it impossible to smell anything but the bleach. And just in case, I drank mint tea like it was going out of style, hoping it would mask any difference in my scent long enough for me to lie my way out of this.
At least, for now.
When I ran out of things to clean, I locked myself back up in my room and dug though my old school notes. The pack had made me take a Sex Ed for Omegas course, which was pretty much just me reading stuff and answering questions, most of whose answers came down to—No Sex Before Mating. But part of it talked about the stages of pregnancy, and what I could expect, and I flipped through all the other garbage until I found the pages I wanted.
Well, it was good news, and bad news. I had about two months before it became noticeable, which meant I had two months to find some way to find a solution before it ruined my life completely.
Two months wasn’t a lot of time. And I didn’t have a clue where to start. I stared at that damning timeline, and wondered who it was safe to confess to. Adelaide was out—she was required by stupid pack law to tell my parents everything, like having a womb and balls somehow meant there wasn’t room in my body for a brain or common sense too.
Not that I’d showed that much common sense last night.
This isn’t getting me anywhere.
But who could I ask?
There was only one person I could think of that might know, and that I thought could be convinced not to tell anyone.
Bax.
This was going to be awful.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Dad lay down for a nap—he’d been up all night, between the Harvest Moon party and a short shift at one of the security buildings. We couldn’t ever be without security, especially during full moons, but Mac was pretty good about making sure no one entirely missed special celebrations.
Mom came home, exclaimed over my sudden burst of housekeeping, and told me she was off to do her rounds checking up on the senior citizens.
As soon as she was gone, I stuffed my hair up in a hat to reduce the chances of being recognized and dragged into a chat that I absolutely didn’t want. Everyone in Mercy Hills knew who I was, though I couldn’t say it went the other way, and I absolutely couldn’t take the chance of someone getting close enough to notice any change in scent before I had an opportunity to beg Bax for help. I grabbed my laundry, and headed out. Dad had probably been right earlier, though not for the reason he thought. My scent had weakened all day, and now, close to suppertime, it was almost a normal not-in-heat type of scent. I was probably safe from being molested physically, though my reputation hung by a thread.
I prayed that the laundromat closest to our house would be empty, but it wasn’t, so I kept going with my bag of guilty sheets and tried the next one. This one was still unoccupied, shockingly enough, and I snagged a washer right by the door. I waved at the young man minding the accounts and yelled, “It’s Bram,” so my account—my parents’ account—would be debited.
The guy marked my name down for using a washer and tossed me a bag of soap without me having to come close enough that he could smell me. Though he probably didn’t know I was supposed to be in heat, but I wasn’t taking any chances. And now that I was out here, sprinkling soap powder over the evidence, I realized that just being out of the house was suspicious. Maybe. After all, I was the only omega born in Mercy Hills, male or female, in forty years. No one had a clue how my biology worked except the foreign omegas, and they seemed to enjoy playing off their omega mystery, so I was probably safe there. Hopefully the crowd last night meant no one had noticed that I hadn’t been to the party.
With the sheets chugging away, I headed back out, east this time, toward the former Alpha’s new house. He’d had it built by the wall, near where they were planning to smash an opening over to the new land as soon as the wall extension was finished. I could see other plots being prepared for more houses, two of them with skeletal frameworks reaching for the sky, and wondered who’d get them. They were all single, or just two houses smushed together. Not like home, which was a line of twenty houses sharing walls and roofs, packed full of shifters.
I knocked on the front door and bounced anxiously on my toes while I waited for Bax. He was walking slower now, what with the baby due. My hand went automatically to my belly at the thought, and I snatched it away. I didn’t want this baby.
I didn’t.
It seemed to be taking forever. I wondered if I’d won my bet that he’d go on full moon after all, and if anyone would even answer the door. Maybe something had happened? Maybe no one was home? Where would I go for help? My stomach began to churn and I wrapped my arms around my ribs and squeezed so tight it got hard to breathe.
Eventually the door opened, but instead of Bax, Holland stood in the opening. Like usual, I couldn’t decide if he was prettier than Bax, or if it was the other way around. No matter—I’d have given my top fangs to look like either of them. Even now, when I should have been thinking about other things.
Holland looked me up and down in surprise. “Bram, what are you doing here?” He sniffed and his eyes narrowed. “That was a short heat.” Suspicion began to grow in his eyes.
I started to shake. “Is Bax around? I really need Bax.” And to my horror, tears started to roll down my cheeks.
Holland’s eyes went wide. “Oh, Bram, what have you done?” He pulled me into the house and stared at me a moment. His body was stiff and I could tell he was angry.
“I swear,” I told him frantically. “He just showed up and then…”
“Who?”
I didn’t want to tell him, I didn’t, I didn’t. But he was Bax’s cousin. And he had that sketchy past; he couldn’t throw stones, right?
“Justin,” I mumbled, staring down at the floor.
“Fuck, you are an idiot.”
I jerked, and raised my head. “I didn’t go looking for him. I was home. Where I was supposed to be.” I shuddered, and the sick churning of my stomach got even worse. “I asked him to leave, and he wouldn’t, and then I—I—” I curled over my arms, still wrapped around me, and took deep, noisy breaths, determined that I wouldn’t puke on Holland’s feet.
Holland made a sound and pulled me into a hug. “Shh, you don’t have to describe it to me. I know what it’s like.” He stroked my hair for a moment, the tension leaking out of his body, then pushed me away from him and tugged at my jacket until I took it off and gave it to him. He hung it up on one of the row of hooks on the wall beside us, then began to lead me down the hall with an arm around my shoulders. “Come on. You’re not to tire him though—he had the baby last night.”
“And I missed that too!” I wailed, appalled at the unfairness of life.
Holland made a noise, his attitude back again to disapproval, but before I could yell at him for being an unfeeling prick, we turned through the door to Bax’s bedroom.
I’d seen it before, while I was pupsitting on nights when Bax had too much work to do in one day, or if he and Abel wanted a night to themselves out of the house. I wasn’t sure why they didn’t have Holland look after them, since he lived in a little apartment attached to the side of their house, but I wasn’t going to complain. I liked Bax’s pups—they were smart, and made me laugh more than any of the other ones I’d dealt with. And the house…
I’d poked around after the pups were in bed, wondering if I’d ever have something that nice once I mated. You could tell Abel was head over heels in love with Bax, because he’d built such a wonderful place for him to live. Sure, most of the walls weren’t painted yet, and the floor was just plain boards, but it was bright and sunny, the furniture was nice and, best of all, it was their home. I couldn’t wait to have my own home.
Assuming anyone would even mate me now.
Bax was nestled into a pile of pillows big enough to be a bed themselves. His eyes were closed, and the new baby lay on his naked chest, swaddled in a beautifully crocheted blanket. At the sound of our footsteps, he opened his eyes, and I had a momentary flash of jealousy—for his beauty, for his home, for his mate and his baby—before I remembered that I had bigger fish to catch.
“What happened?” Bax asked, and I thought he might have already guessed just looking at me, because his mouth tightened and the peaceful expression disappeared from his face. Thankfully, he didn’t start right in on what an irresponsible child I was like I suspected Holland wanted to. I don't know what I would have done if he had.
Bax pushed himself up in the bed, ignoring Holland’s concerned cry, and beckoned me over. “Come sit.” He patted the empty spot beside him. “Holland, I’m fine. This isn’t my first. My omega line is pretty much sealed, I just need to take it easy for a bit so it doesn’t tear.”
Holland bit his lip and nodded, but he didn’t leave the room, coming to sit on the bed at Bax’s feet. “It hasn’t even been twenty-four hours.”
“I know. I’ll be fine; I won’t overdo it.” Bax turned to me. “Sit.” He held out a hand and pulled me onto the bed. “I’m sorry you missed Taden’s arrival, but you can be around for the next one.”
“He’ll be around for his own before that,” Holland said dryly, but pressed his lips together and looked away when Bax shot him a severe glance.
Rumors had flown when Holland had shown up and hadn’t shown any interest in looking for a mate. I wondered if he really was already mated, and his mate wouldn’t touch him, or couldn’t. Or maybe his mate was dead, like some of the other rumors? Or had put him aside because he couldn’t have pups? Or maybe he’d had one, and the mate didn’t like it? Or some of the other, nastier stories. So sad. Well, he could say what he liked then—I wouldn’t complain. Not like I was lily pure and innocent now, anyway. But the comment had hurt and I pressed my lips together to keep them from trembling. I was afraid that if I let anything start, I’d just turn into a blubbering mess.
A tap on the back of my hand brought my attention back to Bax.
He gestured at the baby. “Do you want to hold him?”
Did I? Of course I did. Mutely, I held out my arms and Bax carefully picked him up and put him in them.
He was adorable. Bigger than I’d expected, and his eyes still didn’t focus on anything. “Hello, Taden,” I cooed, and rocked him a little, and I found that my own crazy emotional state started to calm as I watched the baby in my arms. I think that’s why Bax did it—I always forgot how smart he was, until he did something like this.
Bax reached out and tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. “You ready to tell me what happened now? And then we’ll work out a way to fix it.”
“There’s no fixing this.” That was the fear talking, though. I hoped there was a way out of this, that one of them would know something. “I was going crazy cooped up in the house last night, so I went outside to toss a ball around, and Justin found me.”
“That was foolish. You’re almost eighteen now, Bram. You should know better,” Holland snapped.
Bax gave him a look that should have set his hair on fire. “Go. Now.”
Holland slammed a pillow down on the bed and stormed out of the room.
Bax patted my leg. “He’s a little stressed. Don’t mind him—he’ll apologize later.”
“It’s okay,” I said, and looked down at the baby again. “I don’t mind. He’s right. I should have stayed inside.” I touched his cheek gently, and wondered what the future held for him. “It was silly. I was playing with fire, and the whole forest went up around me.” There’d be no future for mine, and I was surprised at the choked feeling in my chest. “I’ll do whatever’s best for the pack.”
“Well, I’m glad to hear that you recognize where you went wrong—I can’t say you didn’t have me worried, the way you carry on with the alphas.”
I snorted and rocked the baby some more. “I thought…” Yeah, I didn’t want to confess to my attempted manipulation of Duke.
Bax chuckled. “Did you? Think?” But he didn’t say it meanly and I actually found myself smiling in commiseration with him.
“I’m sorry, Bax. I should have paid more attention when you warned me about him.”
“So it was Justin?”
I nodded.
Bax took a deep breath and let it out slowly, then said, “You were spoiled. And I don’t mean spoiled by getting your own way all the time, though I think there was a bit of that too. But Mercy Hills was very careful with you, and you never learned to defend yourself from random alphas, because they all made sure you didn’t have to. It’s a nice way to grow up, but it doesn’t prepare you for the real world at all.”
“Yeah. Maybe.”
“No maybe. But we can talk more about this later. For now, let’s move on to what the problem is.”
“You haven’t guessed?”
“Let’s just say I’d like to hear what you have to say about it.”
I sighed. “It’s all Duke’s fault.”
“Is it, now?” He sounded amused and slightly exasperated.
The baby started to fuss, waving his arms and smacking his lips in between querulant cries. “I think he’s hungry.”
“Probably. He seems to like his schedule already. Every two hours like clockwork.” But his love for the baby was obvious despite the fatigue in his voice. “Pass him over, and then you can tell me why it’s Duke’s fault.” He put the baby to his nipple and made it look so easy. I wondered if I’d ever be able to do it like that. “Now,” Bax said, his eyes fixed on the movements of his baby’s mouth. “Why is it Duke’s fault?”
I looked down at my hands, lacing my fingers together, then pulling them apart again, over and over. “It’s just—the harder I flirted with him, the less—” This was more difficult to explain than I’d expected. “I kept trying
to get his attention, but he got—politer the harder I tried.”
“That’s promising.”
“Is it?” For a moment, I felt a rush of hope. Then the events of last night came rushing back. “It’s too late, anyway. I belong to Justin now.”
“If he hasn’t claimed you yet, he doesn’t plan to. And my understanding was that he was leaving as soon as curfew lifted this morning, so he’s already gone. The question is, what do you want to do? Do you want us to get him back?”
“No!” Oh, for the love of… no!
Bax seemed relieved by that, though he only smiled slightly and looked back down at the baby.
I tried a different pattern with my fingers. “Do you think he didn’t know what he was doing?” I kind of hoped that was it. How horrible would it be if he’d meant to leave me here, pregnant and unmated?
Bax glanced up at me, his expression sympathetic. “I suspect he knew exactly what he was doing—I never got the impression he was stupid, just an asshole. I’m sorry you got caught up in our issues.” He extended one hand, supporting the baby with the other, and took mine. “The question now is, what do you want to do?”
CHAPTER NINE
If circumstances had been different… If it had been Duke’s… For Duke’s baby, I’d deal with the jeers and the name-calling. Although, if it was Duke’s, we’d already have been mated, because that’s what Duke was like, even if I’d wished he come looking for me with lust on his mind. But it was Justin who had come looking for me, and he hadn’t even bothered to try not to take advantage of me. Bax was right—he was an asshole. And, seriously, what alpha would have me with someone else’s pup in my belly?
“I don’t have to have it, do I? We can do something?” Why did that thought make me sick to my stomach?
Bax shook his head sadly. “There are ways. You have to understand that they aren’t particularly safe in male omegas, because of the way our bodies are put together. And this isn’t Buffalo Gap--I don’t know what we could find here. But Adelaide will know what can be done, and what’s best to use.”
Duke's Baby Deal (MM Mpreg Shifter Romance) (Mercy Hills Pack Book 3) Page 4