Jace’s dark gaze flashed before me.
I pushed him to the back of my mind. It was impossible to push him out, but once I stepped through the shelter doors, I needed to be 100% here.
Trevor was waiting for me outside my office, reading, his backpack still slung over his shoulder. “Naheed!” He threw his still too-thin arms around me and I hoisted him up onto my hip. I couldn’t wait until he weighed too much to do this. “You’re late,” he told me matter-of-factly.
“Is that so?” I asked, unlocking my office and swinging him into my second-hand overstuffed recliner. “What am I late for?”
“It’s pizza day,” Trevor said.
“Oh man,” I clutched my stomach. “I’m sooo hungry, too! How could I miss pizza day?”
The little imp grinned slyly at me before pulling out a slice of cheap, cafeteria pizza. “I saved you a slice.”
My heart swelled. This kid made me feel like the Grinch with a two-sizes-too-small heart compared to him. “You, T-man, are the best.” I took the slice and chomped a huge bite out of it, prompting an even bigger grin. “All I had for lunch was coffee.”
Trevor made a face.
“Just wait,” I warned, “In about ten, no, give it twelve years, you’ll be addicted, just like every other adult.”
“I’m never going to grow up,” Trevor declared, bouncing on the chair.
I laughed. “Okay, Peter Pan. Do you have homework tonight?”
Trevor made another face.
“None of that. You work on your homework, and I’ll work on mine.”
“When I’m adult, I’m never going to have homework,” Trevor declared. “No one’s going to tell me what to do.”
What a change from the terrified, broken child I’d first met. I ruffled his hair before stepping behind my desk. “Best of luck with that, T-man.”
We settled into our work, but I was distracted. With the kid gripping the pencil tightly in his left hand, his tongue sticking out of the corner of his mouth, I couldn’t help but imagine a different setting for the same scene. Not my apartment, but a house. Maybe a fireplace. Another recliner with Jace in it, reading, his belly swollen with our child…
I came to reality with tears in my eyes. It felt so real, and I wanted it so badly. Would it be out of place to go down to Café Om tomorrow and beg Jace to marry me? Yes, yes it would. Was he one of those omegas who was so intimidated by alphas he’d say yes because he didn’t know he could say no? That wasn’t what I wanted at all. Courting first. Then mating. If he wanted. If he wanted me.
Trevor had fallen asleep mid-homework before I was able to reign in the burning fear in my gut and focus on my work again.
5
Jace
The “delivery” was in a part of town I rarely ventured. Some people stayed away because of the high crime. Others flocked to it because of the same exact reason. Drugs and prostitution either drew people in or repelled them.
That wasn’t why I didn’t like to be here, though. I stayed away because to me, the area epitomized everything wrong with our society. Rejected omegas, single parent omegas, heck, prostitute omegas all ended up here to fend for themselves. When I was first tested, my fathers hugged me, supported me, loved me. So many weren’t so lucky.
I pulled up to the street number Abrar had given me. It had to be a mistake. Omega House. Why had he sent me to an omega shelter? My alpha was in no way close to being an omega. He exuded his gene status even before someone could scent it. He was large, muscular, confident. All the things society revered in their alphas.
I pulled out my phone and texted my boss. It took but moments for him to tell me to get my butt inside and deliver the package. This was the right place. Could my day get any stranger?
I pulled into the visitor parking spot and crossed my fingers that the security camera was not for show. My car was a piece of garbage, a clunker for sure, but it was all I had, and in this neighborhood it wasn’t uncommon to come back and find your tires were missing.
Walking up to the main entrance, I gave myself the best pep talk I could. Normally, when I faced a situation that intimidated me, I could bolster myself with reminders of things my dad told me over the years. Today, I was already planning my escape. This could not be happening. Yet it was. I could turn around now. Tell Abrar to send someone, anyone else. If only I had called in sick today or left early with how slow we were, especially knowing I was going to work the night shift as well. But no, fate had plans and forgot to mention them to me.
One step in and his scent pounded into me. It wasn’t as strong as when we had been in the same room, but it was layered in intensity. This was a place he frequented often. I pressed the buzzer at the inner security door and after stating why I was there, I was immediately buzzed into the main lobby.
The room was bustling with people, all of who were staring at me. I gave a smile and nod and hoped it would encourage them enough to get back to whatever it was they were doing. Thankfully, it worked.
Some people were doing puzzles, others chatting with coffee or tea in their hands, yet others were reading books or playing on their phones. Every last one of them an omega, if my nose was accurate. It usually was.
Sorrow hit me. This was an omega shelter. That meant every one of the men and women here was in need, and most likely due to their gene status. Being an omega was never something I desired to be, but my life as an omega was a dream compared to the lives of any of the people in this room. It was a reality check I didn’t realize I needed.
A sign labeled Mr. Naheed Shah, Director of Fundraising hung over the door to my right and I scampered over, like a little kid looking for candy. I needed to get a grip and fast.
I braced myself as I knocked on the door and was startled as a young boy pulled open the door from the inside. He looked young, possibly seven. But taking into consideration where we were, he could be quite a bit older. He was malnourished, his eyes sunken in and his arms looking like they would snap in two if he lifted more than a chair. None of that caught my eye as much as his tooth filled smile.
I found myself smiling back and an urge to protect him. I hadn’t ever felt the omega nurturing instincts before, but this boy brought it out of me. I reached out to shake his hand, hoping my newly awakened nurturing vibes would add some comfort to his day. Not that his face showed he needed it, but his body sure did.
“Hello, I’m Jace. I’m here to see—” I was immediately cut off by him. Naheed. His scent nearly bowled me over. I was so distracted by the young omega I let it sneak up on me and now it was all I could do to stay standing.
“Me.” His rich voice enveloped me like a hug. I was in trouble with a capital T.
“Yes, you.” I stumbled over my words like an idiot. “How did you… Of course. Abrar sent these for you.” I held them out at arm’s length instead of stepping into his space like my body begged.
“Come in and have a seat while I look them over.” He stepped into the office as if it were a done deal and, quite frankly, it was. How could it not be? I was in worse trouble than I thought.
“I don’t mean to interrupt,” I offered, following him like a little puppy dog. A drooling puppy dog.
“Oh, you’re not at all interrupting, Mr. Jace.” The young omega grabbed my hand, pulling me to an empty seat beside the recliner had clearly claimed as his own. It was heartwarming to see my big, strong alpha welcoming him into his space like this. So... nurturing. So unlike the vision I had of alphas. Of what I how I had envisioned myself as an alpha. “We were just working. I already have my spelling and math done so I need an excuse for a break.”
“Trevor, you are hardly overworked in the academy, let’s not give Jace the wrong impression.” Naheed winked at the boy, who rolled his eyes in return. He must be older than I first thought. Either that or he had developed the teen eye roll far too young. Dude had it mastered, and I let a brief chuckle escape me.
“Yes, Naheed.” He saluted my alpha, I mean, the alpha in jest. I’d
never wanted an alpha before. Did he expect me to wait for him to make the first move? Deign to pay attention to me? No. I looked at the boy. Naheed wasn’t like that. But just because I was an omega and he was an alpha, an extremely hot alpha, didn’t mean I needed to let myself be sucked into something just because of my darn hormones. I was stronger than that.
“I just like making friends and he’s an omega like me. Not like me because I’m small, but one day I am going to be big and strong and look like an alpha, just like him.”
It bolstered my confidence to see the impression I made on him in the short time since we met. I did look like an alpha, I felt like an alpha. My body just happened to disagree. Most people gave me crap about that, whether it was the looks or outright comments. The fact that it gave Trevor hope warmed me, especially since if he were here at the shelter, hope had probably been pretty limited so far in his life.
“That you will,” I reassured him before changing to my boss voice. “Now get back to your homework so he can check the files.”
“I need to go get my science book,” he confessed, looking down. Part of me wondered if he were being honest. The other part of me liked him even more thinking he saw the need for grown up privacy in the matter at hand. “I forgot it. You’ll be here when I get back, right, Mr. Jace?”
I wasn’t planning on staying a second longer than needed, but I couldn’t disappoint the imploring look in his eyes.
“If you hurry.” I would be there even if he dawdled. The young boy had already stolen my heart. If a single omega could foster a child, I would be down at human services filing paperwork before the night was over. Sadly, society wasn’t ready for that yet. I ruffled his hair before he ran off to get his science book, or at least pretend to get his book.
“Why did you do that?” Naheed asked, looking perplexed. I had no idea what he was referring to. Surely he didn’t know of my original plan to drop the folder and book and run?
“Do what?”
“Ruffle his hair like that?”
Had I crossed a line I didn’t know about? Leave it to me to eff up my first omega nurturing instincts.
“I don’t know, honestly. It felt right.” I was looking at my feet, something I tried to never do with an alpha, but I was unable to pull my eyes up. Fear of disappointing the man far surpassed any level of sanity.
“I do it too is all.” My head snapped up to see him shrugging. That was not the answer I had been expecting. Not. At. All. “I’m very fond of him.”
He loved the young boy. My alpha felt like a father, or maybe a brother, to the abused—or at the very least neglected—omega. Now it was my heart filling with some hope. Maybe this alpha was worth the risk. It wasn’t just genetics and scent calling me to him. It was him and his kind heart. Kind, at least, for the boy who had already stolen mine.
“I see why. His smile is infectious.”
“He needs parents.” His tone changed on a dime. Pride and affection were replaced by sadness and an undercurrent of hostility. “His weren’t worth the dirt I would use to bury them if I ever run into them.”
I had zero doubt he meant it. He would kill the boy’s parents if given the chance. Part of me wanted to offer to help dig if that were to occur. No omega should be treated poorly. None. To suffer from your parents… that a level of evil I prayed I would never understand.
“I can see how weak he is.”
“Not weak, just in need of physical nourishment.”
Naheed was right. If the boy had been weak, his eyes would be vacant. I had seen it before. No, he was strong. Stronger than me. My life had taken a turn I didn’t like and I held a three-year pity party for one. His life had been filled with evil, yet he wore a smile that could melt a glacier.
“That’s what I meant.” My explanation couldn’t go any deeper. My eyes were burning with suppressed tears for Trevor and the past that could never be stripped away. Of all times for my omega sensitivities to finally kick in.
“I know.” He leaned back in his chair before continuing. “I just feel oddly protective over this one.”
“No harm, no foul. I can see why.” When he didn’t reply, I shot him a question. Not so much to know the answer as to hear him speak again. “How long has he been here?”
“Too long. He was in worse shape when he came, as hard as that is to believe.” The raw emotion in Naheed’s voice told me far more than his words.
“You do good work here.”
Omega House was considered one of the best shelters in the city. The fact that we needed multiple omega shelters told the sad truth of our society. Laws might say we were all equal, but the social structure of society had yet to hear the message.
“We try.” His eyes met mine and he held them, his stare holding me captive. I wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but I felt the moment he found it. He leaned forward, and less than half the desk separated us now. It might as well have been a mile the way I was feeling. For a moment, a brief moment I thought about getting up and opening a window. Yes, I was that pathetic. “Can I be honest for a moment?”
“My preferred mode of communication.” I found myself leaning forward as well and at that point, I no longer cared. I wanted Naheed. Sexy, delicious, kind, and compassionate alpha of mine.
“I find you irresistible.” He felt it too. I mean, I knew he had to, right? It was how pheromones worked, but to hear the words had me about to float away with giddiness. It was official. I was a hot mess of an omega. “You call to me. Will you do me the honor of going to dinner with me?”
Gulp. There was no way I could say no to that. Not that I got the chance because Trevor bound back in, his smile making it impossible for me to be angry.
6
Naheed
I tried to spend a few minutes meditating in my car before my dinner with Jace. I’d offered to pick him up for dinner, holding myself back from making it a demand. It was difficult, but when he declined, I held on to the fact that at least he’d agreed to dinner. He wouldn’t be paying for anything, though, no matter what he said.
My hands were empty and restless. I didn’t know Jace that well—yet—but flowers didn’t feel right for him. In my back pocket, though, I had a note for him from Trevor that I had crossed my heart not to read.
I’d arrived fifteen minutes early and parked with a view of the entry. I’d dashed in just to confirm my reservation, then retreated to the quiet of my car. Even meditating with an app did little to help me focus. My eyes kept flickering open to make sure I didn’t miss Jace.
Finally, he arrived. I’d chosen somewhere mid-upscale—a few steps above Olive Garden, but at least they had prices on the menu. I’d taken the occasion to dress up, suit, tie, the whole shebang and I was relieved to see he had as well. I’d spent entirely too much time worrying about what he would wear and making sure he didn’t feel out of place. I would have been happy if he’d been in holey jeans and a stained T-shirt, but I would do whatever it took to make him feel at ease.
We reached the entry at the same time. His slow smile lit a fire deep within me, making me both grateful I’d chosen somewhere public that would encourage me to not jump him right then and there, yet frustrated for the same reason.
We both reached for the door handle, but his hand landed first. My fingers tingled where they grazed his skin, and I pulled back to let him open the door. This was no coquettish, simpering omega. I’d never met anyone quite like him before.
“Tell me about the work you do with the Omega House,” he said after we ordered our drinks.
“Well, I’m the fundraising director there,” I started.
“Yeah, saw that on the title,” he interrupted. “Tell me something I don’t know. Something about the real Naheed.”
His words stopped me. The real me. How often did I give the sanitized public version of me? That’s not what I wanted to give Jace. I wanted to be completely real with him, show him the real me. But I didn’t want to chase him away. There was darkness in me. I wasn’t p
roud of it, but at the same time, it was part of what gave me the strength to stick it out at the Omega House for so long after colleague upon colleague quit, unable to handle the heartbreak anymore.
Jace’s smile faltered. “I’m sorry, that was too forward—“
“No, no—it’s not that,” I said. “You challenged me is all. In a good way. The real Naheed.” I shook my head with a sardonic smile. “Well, my parents are both omegas, for starters.” Facts were true. The building blocks of the true Naheed. The darker stuff… I’d have to share it, but it could come later.
Jace’s eyes widened in surprise. “That’s…unusual.”
I laughed. “To put it mildly. They chose a sperm donor for each of us. Me, my sister and my brother. I’m the oldest.”
“That’s not surprising.” Jace smiled. Was I imagining the touch of flirtation in that smile?
“Why do you say that?”
“Just, this.” He waved up and down at my body. “You just shout alpha, oldest, leader.”
My anxiety surged. I’d been trying to reel that very alphaness in. “Sorry. I try not to be overbearing.”
Jace looked confused. “Why are you apologizing? I don’t think you’re overbearing. In fact, you’re the least abrasive alpha I’ve ever met. That doesn’t make you any less alpha.”
“I may have got the habit of apologizing from my parents. They immigrated from Canada before I was born.”
“Oh come now,” he scoffed. “Leaning back on stereotypes?”
Embracing His Omega: M/M Non-Shifter Alpha/Omega MPREG (Cafe Om Book 1) Page 3