That made me laugh, and I decided that maybe I should be a little less suspicious. “Okay, so how can we scratch this itch of Laine’s, then?”
He frowned and watched Abel flop on the ground with the kids still on his back. “Family pictures. At least one romantic one. And I’ll want to hear more about how you met.”
“Fine. I think we can manage that.” I set Noah on the ground to wobble over to Abel. “Might as well start now.”
CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
I was neck deep in planning for my mating ceremony when the reporter called again.
“Hey, who do you have doing pictures for the ceremony?” he asked.
“Pictures?” More pictures? He’d done two stories on us so far—I had copies of the magazines they’d appeared in. What did we need with more?
“Don’t shifters do photos for their weddings, uh, matings?”
“Think about what you just asked, Thom.”
He laughed. “Okay. So you don’t do pictures.”
“Not many. Why?”
“I want to document the ceremony.”
Ugh. Documentation of my complete lack of personhood. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
“Why?”
“It’s…personal.”
“You don’t have to have sex in front of the whole pack, do you?”
“No!” Not anymore. Though some of the stuff that Garrick had been digging up at the university had suggested that, at least for Alphas, that had been part of the ceremony, the last thing before the entire pack changed and ran under the moon. Abel had raised his eyebrows at me when that little tidbit had come up, laughter seething just below the surface of his bland expression, but I’d called him out on it and the idea died a pathetic death right there.
“Then why?”
I sighed, and set aside my list of pack gifts. “I don’t have much to do with it. It’s a contract between Abel and the Alpha of Buffalo Gap. I show my acceptance of the mating by being there and behaving.”
The other end of the line was silent for long enough I wondered if the call had dropped, then Thom came back on. “That’s fucking bizarre.”
“That’s the way it is.”
“How does Alpha Mercy Hills feel about that?”
“He works within the system.”
“And it’s always been like that?”
“I don’t know. No one knows. When the shifters were gathered up and shoved into the enclaves, a lot of stuff got lost. All that matters is the way it is now, and in today’s society, omegas are not people. They belong to their family and to their pack and to their mate, but never to themselves.”
“Welcome to Mercy Hills, set your clock back a hundred years?”
“No.” My tone was cool, and I had to remind myself that he didn’t know. “In some ways, Mercy Hills toes the line with the other packs. I’m aware that I lose all right to have an opinion or make my own decisions once I step outside the gate, and that other packs think Abel is crazy for giving me a job and letting me earn my own credits. But everyone at Mercy Hills has a job. Even the omegas. And here, we get to keep what money we earn; it doesn’t go to our guardian.”
“Interesting.” The sound of tapping came through the phone—Thom tapping the pen he never actually used against his desk. “Would the Alpha mind if I made a bit of a thing of that?”
“I can’t speak for him, but I can ask. I’ll talk to him tonight.”
“Great. So, can I come document the ceremony? I’ll bring a real photographer, not just me. I can get a good one—they’re all slavering to take pictures of you two.”
“Why?”
“You look good together. And you can’t convince me that you aren’t aware of just how attractive you are.”
I lost all power of speech, but my omega training saved me. “Hardly that much.”
He hmphed. “Well, I’m not going to argue with you. We can come?”
“I’ll have invitations sent. You have to do your own paperwork, though.”
Thom laughed. “Yeah, I know. I’ll bring a gift too. You guys do that, right? Give the couple gifts?”
“Close friends will. And the Alphas of the other packs. We give gifts out to our pack members, and Abel will gift something to my birth pack.”
“Is that like a bride price?”
“I’m not sure I know what you mean by that.”
“You know, a gift given to the bride’s family to compensate for her loss, and to show how rich the husband is.”
I chuckled. “I don’t know so much about the first part, but the second one is right on.”
“So what rich gift is your future husband giving on your behalf?”
I didn’t bother correcting him on the terminology. “We’ve agreed to host some of the young shifters from Buffalo Gap for a year, to see if they can find mates here.”
“That’s not cheap.”
“No.” And every time I thought about it, it made a shiver of desire and happiness run through me. The more a shifter gifted in exchange for their mate, the greater the value of that mate. To have Abel host six omegas for a year was a huge gift, and made my value correspondingly higher. To know he thought so much of me meant even more. “Is that all you wanted?” Because I still had more than half the packs to find gifts for, and Abel was only so much help, with the plans to expand Mercy Hills once more moving forward.
“Yeah, just needed to make sure there’d be space for us.”
“I’m putting you on the list right now,” I said, suiting actions to words. We said our goodbyes, and I went back to cruising the internet to find something for the Los Padros Alpha that he didn’t already have.
CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
As the mating grew closer, I got antsier about everything. Two days beforehand, I woke in such a nervous, irritable mood, I had to think out everything that came out of my mouth before I said it, because I knew it would be bad. Worst of all, with everything going on and still so much to do, all I wanted to do was hide away in a cave in the woods with Abel, and have my mating the old-fashioned way—sex. Shifters used to be so laid back about this stuff—decide you wanted to mate, have sex, give a couple of presents out—done! Not now. And especially not if you were mating the Alpha.
All the pack business I used to handle had been given to someone else to do while I dealt with last minute emergencies and the setting up of temporary dormitories for the visiting Alphas and their entourages. Abel was making this a big thing, though I didn’t know why, and he wouldn’t explain it.
This morning had been a prime example of why I was so short-tempered. I had three of the pups lined up at the door, ready to go to daycare, but where was Beatrice? “Bea, get out here! Now!” I glanced back at the other three, crossed my fingers, and went on the hunt.
She was in her closet, undressed and trying to get into her mating dress.
“No, sweetie, day after tomorrow you can wear that. But not yet.”
“Pretty!” she wailed, and it took me far more time to get it off of her than I really had to spare. Eventually, I got her into other clothes—not the ones I’d set out this morning, but I took my victories where I found them—and led her out to the door.
Where the rest of the pups weren’t.
I almost swore, but little puppy ears were listening. I found Fan behind the couch, playing with the Lego city he and Abel were building. Noah was in the bathroom—he’d recently become fascinated with the toilet, and I’d forgotten to close the door this morning. Teca was the easiest to find, twirling in front of the window with her tiara on her head. “Come on, pups, let’s go! Daycare!” I pasted a cheerful smile on my face and hurried them out the door.
There must have been something on my face as we walked across Central Park to the daycare building. I kept getting odd looks from passing shifters. Casually, I swiped my hand over my face and ran my tongue over my teeth, but it didn’t help. I even checked my zipper, just in case I’d missed that in the furor this morning. Damn, it must be
something good. When could it have happened, though? I didn’t think I’d done anything that would get dirt on me. The daycare had a bathroom; I’d check as soon as I got there. Hopefully it was something easily fixed.
I dropped the pups off to the same sort of reaction and had started for the bathroom when Becca called me into her office.
“What’s up?” I asked. Was Fan having problems again? Or one of the other pups? Everything seemed to be smooth sailing at home, but pups were different with different people.
For the first time ever, I saw her look uncomfortable. “I’m not sure how to put this. Did you buy a new cologne or start using a bought soap recently?”
“What? No. Why?”
Her cheeks went ever so slightly pink, but her eyes never left mine. “You should know, whatever you changed about yourself, it makes you smell like you’re coming into heat.”
Makes me…what? I sniffed my wrist, then my underarm, but all I smelled was me. Maybe a little stronger than usual, a little more acid, but stress could make you…
Oh, hell. Fear gripped me. There were other things that could make your hormones go out of whack, terrible things. I didn’t want to lose my womb—I so desperately wanted to have Abel’s babies. Strange how much had changed since I came to Mercy Hills. “I think I’d better go to the clinic.”
“I’ll call Abel to escort you.”
“Is it really that bad? I don’t want to worry him until I know…”
“Trust me.”
And at that moment, I was made very aware how close a beta could be to being alpha.
Becca picked up her phone, her lips compressed so the skin around them turned white.
“Hey, what’s up?” Jason asked from the door.
A wave of relief washed over me. “Jason, what are you doing here?”
“I came to sign Macy up for daycare.” He bounced his little girl, her hair flaming in the sunshine streaming in the window. “Is something up with Fan again?”
“No. Could you do me a favor?”
“Sure. What do you need?”
“An escort to the clinic?”
“Are you sick?” Jason took a step into the room, then stopped, frowning. “Are you…? Oh, shit.” And he started to laugh. “Maybe we are related.”
“It’s not funny, Jason,” Becca snapped. “There are other explanations.”
Jason sobered instantly. “Sure. Okay, I’ll go with you. You should call Abel, though.”
I stood. “Not until I know what’s going on.”
At the clinic, I got the same strange looks until I was ushered into a separate room. Luckily, Adelaide was a gamma wolf, not nearly as likely to get excited over this aberration in my scent as an alpha could be. She came through the door shortly after her assistant ushered me into the exam room. “Hi, Bax, how are you?” She stopped dead about three feet away from me and sniffed. “That’s interesting. Are you two related?”
“No,” I said shortly.
“Did you check your ancestries?”
Jason and I stared at each other for a moment.
“No,” he said slowly. “It was a ruse.”
“You should,” she said, then turned to me. “Bax, I’ll take a blood sample and do a physical exam, but I have to send the blood out. It could be a couple of weeks before I know anything.”
And my mating was only two days away. “Do it anyway. Maybe you’ll notice something.”
“All right. If you could lie down and undo your shirt and pants.”
I grimaced and did so, then stared blankly at the ceiling while she prodded at my belly.
Jason was on his phone, talking to someone. I didn’t pay much attention to his chatter, more concerned with what Adelaide was doing. At the end of the exam, I sat up and put my clothes back together while she tidied away her equipment. “So, what do you think?”
“I don’t feel anything that shouldn’t be there, but I’d like to send you for an ultrasound, just in case. It’s a bit of a drive and we’ll have to think about who we can send with you if this hormonal issue is still going on.”
I nodded. “I’ll think about it.”
“We can ask my dad,” Jason said. “I’ll go too.”
She nodded. “In the meantime, call Abel and tell him you have to work from home. And let him know you’re going to need to postpone the mating. You can’t go out in public like that. I’m tempted to give you some birth control to try to control it, but if it is some sort of growth, the hormones can make it worse. And, the pills are designed for regular shifter females—I don’t know what the hormone levels would do to a male omega.”
I nodded. We were kind of left out of most things, us omegas. I slid off the table, feeling numb and uncertain.
Jason touched my shoulder. “Come on. I’ll take you home.”
“Okay.”
I had only just barely gotten in the front door of the apartment, and Jason hadn’t even left yet, when a knock sounded. Jason looked at me for permission to answer it, and I shrugged, my mood settling down into something close to depression.
It was Abel, and right after him, Mac. Now I knew who Jason had called while I was at the clinic, and I shot him a look that did all but shout, “Traitor!” He shrugged, and dragged me off to the bathroom.
“Do you have menthol rub?”
“I’m not sick. Not that way.”
“No, but you’ve got the two most alpha alphas in the pack out there, and you smell like Harvest Moon dinner come calling. Put it on all your pulse points—all of them. Then you can come out and we can try to sort this out.”
“There’s nothing to sort.” But I kind of wondered. Or hoped. “Jason, where did your family come from?”
He paused in the doorway. “I don’t know. But I can ask. Or you can get Abel to check the database.” He left, and I turned to the medicine cabinet in search of something to hide my scent.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
When I came out of the bathroom, smelling like a eucalyptus forest, all three of them were sitting in my living room wearing tense expressions. Abel had drawn up his favorite chair, and was sitting with his elbows propped on his knees, saying something low-voiced to Mac. I stood behind the couch and braced my hands on the back of it.
“What about the fall? Just say we couldn’t organize it in time, something happened, whatever,” Jason said.
Abel looked thoughtful. “It’s a possibility. What would be a good enough reason?”
“Illness? Like, the flu running through the pack? Bax came home with it in January, what’s to say it hasn’t come up again?” Jason looked up at me. “What do you think?”
“But everything’s ready, except for the last of the gifts. I really don’t want to wait.” Especially if this turned out to be serious. And I didn’t want to wait until the tests came back and I could go for an ultrasound to find out. I turned to Abel. I don’t want to spend any longer not being yours and not having a real claim on you. Or you having a real claim on me. Especially if this turned out to be serious.
I think he understood the sentiment, if not my exact words. “I can’t risk taking you out in public like this.”
“You really want to put it off? We can’t find any other way around this?” I glanced around the room, a weird, crazy idea blooming in my mind. There was one way that I could think of to tell almost immediately if this was a heat or not. “No, I don’t want to give up. Jason and Mac, can I ask you to look after the pups tonight? If not, I’ll ask Duke if he and a couple of his friends can.”
“Bax,” Abel said, getting to his feet. “It’s okay. We’ll do it in the fall. Or maybe in the middle of the summer.”
I shook my head. “I’m going to tell you all something and you,” I pointed at Abel, “have to promise not to get mad. It’s the past, it’s over and done with, got it?”
He narrowed his eyes at me, but I just stared back and refused to say another word until he nodded reluctantly. Mac and Jason stared at me mutely, though Jason had a look on his fac
e like he was running through all the stories in his head, trying to figure out which one was likely mine. I felt a moment of—superiority, I guess. I’d heard all the stories you get told once your friends start going into heat and the really gruesome stuff comes out. I could shock your socks off with some of them. A few were even true.
Mine wasn’t so bad.
I held Abel’s gaze as I spoke. “You all know I was mated early. I was restless and troublesome, at least in part because I was late, really late, coming into heat.” I stared harder at Abel. “Really late. I hadn’t had my first heat yet when I was mated that summer—my first was that fall, and I got pregnant right away.” I looked down at the deep rust of the material bending under my fingers. “I never had a spring where I wasn’t giving birth, and never had a fall where I wasn’t getting pregnant.” My lips curled in frustration with Patrick, and then I let it go, and looked up at Abel. “Let’s try. Adelaide says I smell like Jason, and Jason has heats in the spring. If it is a heat, we’ll know in about a day.”
Abel jumped to his feet. “I didn’t want you to start out this mating pregnant. I thought, even if it happened, it would be in May, and I could move out for a couple of days at a time.”
I stared at him. “You knew?”
He nodded. “Suspected anyway. Like you said, your scent is similar to Jason’s, though a little more identifiable.” He reached for me, then froze and jerked his hand back as if he’d been burned. “Let’s just say it’s not a surprise to me, though I am sorry for it.”
“Why?” When he looked puzzled, I elaborated. “Why would you be sorry? I thought True Omega’s were special?”
He sighed and sat down again. “They are.” He smiled. “You are, certainly. But our history is so fragmented…Garrick’s been researching, and a lot of the stories contradict each other. You’ve been typing up the recordings—you didn’t realize that’s what they were about?”
Were they? They were, but I just thought they were old stories, myths, fairy tales. I came around the couch and sat on the arm, as far away from everyone as I could get, to think. “I…guess I wasn’t paying much attention. I was more interested in finding programs to access…” Suddenly, I looked up at Abel. “You mean you think those stories are real? That’s crazy. Even if it was real, there’s no way any living person could do the kinds of stuff they tell in the stories.”
Abel's Omega(Gay Paranomal MM Mpreg Romance) (Mercy Hills Pack Book 2) Page 26