Page 28 of Omega Hunted

“I know.” I didn’t try to soften it. “It’s not. I’m not good at dealing with people anymore. I’ve been alone a long time, and I’m bad at it.”

Soren sat back slowly, shifting his weight, resettling himself. Still on the floor. Still in my hallway. I took off my jacket, balled it into a pillow shape to show him, and then tossed it over. It sat between us until he finally picked it up, made the same shape of it, and pressed it between the base of his spine and the wall.

I’d spent three years alone here, knowing what I needed to do and doing it—running the property, and working on the to-do list for the safe place this was supposed to be. But Soren had a baby due soon, and the mountain was closed, and I’d called Brec, and there was silence from Ronan, and my wolf was still.

Also, what the hell did I know about pregnant omegas? ORT had taught us enough to keep one alive until the professionals arrived, which mostly meant don’t make things worse and get them to the paramedics or someone like Brec as fast as possible. I’d spoken to Brec, but after that I was working with a whole lot of nothing.

I’d held one baby in my life—the daughter of a friend, a few weeks old, pressed against my chest at a team barbecue while her dad ate with two free hands and Raff laughed at my expression. I’d been terrified of dropping her. She’d yawned and gone to sleep.

He’d said one day maybe we’d be lucky enough to have a child.

My chest pulled hard at the memory, and I pushed through it.

“I don’t know anything about this,” I said. The words came out flat. “I don’t know what you need, medically. I don’t know what’s normal for a cat shifter. I don’t know what changes to watch for or what—” I stopped. “I have a contact I called who gave me some advice. His name is Brec, and he’s a medic.”

“Another alpha?” Soren asked in a dead tone.

“If you talked to him⁠—”

“I’m not talking to another alpha.”

“He’s not—he’s not anyone who’d—” I didn’t know how to finish that sentence in a way Soren would believe. He had no reason to believe any version of it. “He’s trustworthy. I know that doesn’t mean anything coming from me. But he is, and you need to think about your baby.”

“That’s all I think about,” he snapped, and then recoiled as if the anger had shocked the hell out of him. “She’s everything to me.”

The silence stretched, and something about Soren on the floor of my hallway, breathing steadily, hand on his belly, broke it in a way I hadn’t expected.

“And you named her already,” I said. I didn’t know why I said it, but birthing was a dangerous time for an omega, their bodies changing so much that sometimes nothing could save father or baby. “What if…”

He glanced up. “Nothing will go wrong.” His expression was fierce, chin tilted again.

My wolf pressed forward, and I sat very still and let him, even though Soren had nothing to do with me.

But my wolf had already decided. This has everything to do with us, he said, and I sighed.

“You have to stay,” I said. “You don’t have to trust me. You don’t have to do anything except stay in the warm and let me get you what you need. Then…” Inspiration hit me. “Then, as soon as the bridge is open, you can take my car and go wherever you want if that is what you need.”

He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t move for the door either. After a long pause, he pushed carefully off the floor, one hand braced on the wall, getting himself upright with the practiced effort of someone who’d been doing it alone for months. I stood too, keeping my distance. He straightened, and his hand went back to the curve of his belly.

“I can leave as soon as the roads are clear,” he said, not looking at me.

“As soon as you’re able, if that is what you want.”

“I don’t want anyone knowing I’m here.”

“Only Brec knows.”

“And Ronan.”

“Yeah, and Ronan.” Then before he could ask any more questions, I added, “I’m going to call Brec; he’s a trained medic. Will you talk to him?”

He turned and walked back toward the kitchen, swaying a little, and I stayed where I was until I heard the chair scrape and the quiet that meant he’d sat down. “Will you talk to Brec?” I asked again, waiting in the doorway. “For Asha?”

He paused, his eyes glassy with emotion, his hand on his belly, protecting his daughter. “Yes.”

Then I went to find my phone and call Brec.

Chapter Eleven