CHAPTER THIRTEEN - Ozias
“Jason.” I snapped, my muscles tense. “She asked you to give her some space. Let her be.”
My best friend stood naked in front of the bathroom door and shot me a hard look. “I just want to see if she’s okay. Maybe offer to wash her back for her.”
“You’re going to smother her. Let her have her time alone.
” I stood rigidly in the doorway with my arms crossed.
I wasn’t trying to be threatening, but Jason had a tendency to be too much.
Years ago, I never really noticed, but when it came to his ex, Aurora, I worried he might become one of those Alphas you heard about in the news.
Controlling, never letting his Omega out of his sight or out of the house, jealous of even male relatives, and finally driving him to become abusive or even killing his Omega in a fit of rage.
Thankfully Aurora had seen the red flags and broke up with him. Jason was a mess for weeks, but when he came out of it, we made a deal. I’d keep him from being too smothering if he met another Omega, and he’d have my back if my parents tried to push me into marrying a woman I didn’t love.
The second he met Lyla, I could see the look in his eyes. We’d just met her, and already he was saying she’s the one. That Alpha instinct in him to take care of his Omega was going overboard, and it was my duty as his packmate to keep him from destroying something he wanted and from losing himself.
Jason laid a hand on the door and heaved a sigh. He murmured something and shook his head before walking back into the room to find his boxers and pull them on.
“There’s a bathroom in every suite. You can wash up.” I let my arms drop and rubbed a hand over my head. “I also have breakfast staying warm in the kitchen. We should get Lyla to eat and drink some more. I’m worried that she had dehydrated herself yesterday.”
“Now who’s the one fussing over her?” Jason smirked as he picked up the rest of his clothes and strode over to the door.
I moved to the side to let him through. “I’m not fussing. Just making certain she’s okay. She wasn’t taking care of herself properly, but now we’re here.”
“We’re here.” Jason nodded and headed downstairs. He stopped and peered around the immaculate living room before snorting. “I’m the one bedding her and you’re sneaking in giving her drinks and food, taking her temperature and, like one time, I think you took her blood pressure. And cleaning. Dude.”
I did take her blood pressure. Her temperature had been consistently running a little high.
I was only being smart about it. In no way whatsoever did I want to go in and touch her, caress her creamy skin and hold her hand.
Her alluring musky Omega scent had me hurrying off to jerk off in one of the downstairs bathrooms too.
But all I could do was the little things. Lyla was the Omega Jason wanted. I’d meet my potential mate on New Year’s Day. I couldn’t give in to how badly I needed to kiss Lyla’s supple lips and knead her perk tits.
Bury myself in her tight pussy and knot her.
Not happening. If I did that, I wouldn’t want to let go, and my family would never approve. I’d be disowned and disappoint everyone. Yaya wouldn’t have someone to go with her to the art galleries.
“I’m good at cleaning.” I shrugged as if it were no big deal. There was no way I was going to tell him it took me hours to thoroughly clean the living room and kitchen. “It will take some of her stress away and allow her to focus on her heat.”
“I don’t remember you ever cleaning for any of the Omegas you dated before.” Jason chuckled and walked into the kitchen, making a noise again at how much I cleaned up. He picked up a sausage and stuffed it in his mouth. “Mm. I’ll be back for the rest of those once I shower.”
“I didn’t have to clean for those Omegas because they had maids to do that for them.” I raised my brows and debated whether to cook more sausage if he was going to eat it all. I had no idea what Lyla would like to eat, but protein was essential when an Omega was in heat.
“Sure, man.” Jason laughed and took another sausage as he walked off down the hall to where Eloise’s suite was located.
I hunted down vitamins while he showered, and he stuffed his face when he came back. We waited in the kitchen for Lyla to join us, but after a half hour went by, the caged lion stopped pacing and headed toward the stairs.
“I’m going to see how she’s doing.”
“Don’t.” I made him stop in his tracks. “Give her space. Let her come down here to us.”
Jason grunted. “But—”
“No. It hasn’t been that long. Lyla’s a woman who probably likes to take her time in the bathroom and getting ready.
Plus, a lot has happened. Not only is she dealing with the stress of Eloise’s stroke, she’s in heat and there are two Alphas standing in her kitchen.
” I motioned to us and patted his back. “She could be frightened.”
“What does she have to be scared about?” Jason turned and scoffed. His energy was sparking as his ego ruffled. “We won’t hurt her. We’re here to help her. She has to know that by now. She needs to accept—”
I cut him off before he said something stupid.
“She doesn’t need to do anything. If you push her to do otherwise, you’re bridging on Alphahole territory.
” I knew he wasn’t a bastard, but when he wanted to take care of someone, he could get to be too much and not even realize it.
“We’re here because she allowed us to be.
We must respect that. We might think we know what she needs, but only Lyla knows what she needs. ”
Jason let out a long exhale and rolled his shoulders. He turned and gave me a hug. “You’re right, man. Fuck. I don’t want to mess this up. I really like her. I can absolutely see a future for us.”
“I’ve got your back. Her heat is making the physical part go fast, but take it slow with everything else.”
“Thanks, Oz.” Jason gave me one more squeeze and let go. “I need to work off some of this energy. Calm the beast down. I could go to the store and get some supplies.”
“We aren’t going anywhere.” I gestured to the windows. It had snowed hard the previous night, and with the strong winds, the drifts were twelve feet high in some spots. “I did a little shoveling this morning, but it seemed pointless with the wind still gusting.”
“Fuck, man. What time did you wake up?” Jason shook his head and looked out the side of the house and then went to the living room to peer out front.
“Jesus. I don’t remember ever having this much snow in December.
Well, I’m going to clear off the drive and the Explorer.
At least we’ll have a vehicle ready for when the roads finally get plowed. ”
“I left the shovel just inside the front door, and there are lots of spare hats and gloves in the hall closet. I’ll hang out here and wait for Lyla to come down to make sure she eats.”
Jason went out, and I headed down the hall to tidy up the bathroom he used. I might have gone overboard and sanitized it, reasoning that Eloise would appreciate it when she came home from the hospital. It totally wasn’t my need to work off some of my own Alpha energy.
When I returned to the kitchen, Lyla was standing there staring at the abundant spread on the island.
She wore a blue sweater depicting presents spilled everywhere from Santa’s sack.
Her leggings matched the royal blue with elves dancing on them.
Her gorgeous long hair was loose and she wore light colored eye makeup that had glitter in it.
If someone described a woman like that to me, I would say she was totally not my type. But fuck, she was a real life Aphrodite. Wacky, yes. Beautiful, holy fucking God, yes.
I stood there, unable to speak, staring like a dork.
Lyla turned her head and smiled, bright and magical. “Good morning. Did you make all of this?”
I nodded and coughed a few times to try to find my voice. “Hi, yeah, good morning. Help yourself to whatever you want. Jason and I have already eaten.” I hurried into the kitchen and fetched a plate from the cupboard to hand to her. “How are you feeling this morning?”
“Thank you.” Lyla took the plate with a shy smile.
She perused the various foods in containers kept warm by the tinfoil I put over them.
“I’m doing much better. Almost like myself again.
Which is a good thing, because I’ve got a ton of things I need to do today.
After visiting Miss Eloise at the hospital, of course. ”
“Unfortunately we won’t be going anywhere today. The roads are impassable. Some of the main roads might be cleared by tomorrow, but more likely on Monday.” Stuck in Primrose House with this beauty. I swallowed and turned to fetch my coffee mug from the counter.
“What?” Lyla rushed over the windows, but didn’t groan or turn sad. She marched back to the island with more determination. “That’s a lot of snow, but Christmas still has to happen.”
She picked one of the spanakopita I made with feta and kale, since they didn’t have any spinach. Then she scooped some yogurt onto her plate, sprinkling it with nuts and honey. A healthy Greek breakfast.
Why did that please me so much?
“If you don’t think we can get to the hospital, I’ll call and check on Miss Eloise.
But the Big Sisters’ building is only five blocks away.
I have to get the presents for the girls there today, even if they can’t have their party tomorrow.
The post office is a block away from there.
Postal workers are supposed to be there no matter what kind of weather is going on.
But I can do the forms online and print them out, paying that way, and then put the orders in the drop box even if no one is there.
” Lyla paused to cut off a bite of spanakopita and chewed it.
She gave a soft moan as her eyes went wide.
“Oh my God! What is this? It’s so wonderfully cheesy! ”
I gripped my mug tighter. Did she even know how erotic that moan was? “I’m glad you like it. It’s spanakopita, a Greek breakfast food made with feta and spinach, but I improvised with the kale from the fridge. I added in a bit of ricotta for texture and sweetness too.”
“I want this every day.” She took another big bite and melted against the counter.
Every day. Check.
Just to have her react to something I made with such enthusiasm…
Nope. Lyla wasn’t for me. No matter how much she liked my cooking, and how much I liked that she liked it, she couldn’t be my mate.
“There’s enough to make again tomorrow.” Even if I couldn’t have her for life, I could make her that happy one more day. “I don’t know if we can drive even a block. The drifts are too big and the street is blocked by some really tall ones.”
Lyla shook her head as she chewed and swallowed.
She licked her lips and grinned. “I don’t need a car.
I’ll put the gifts into trash bags to keep them dry and tie them to a few sleds.
There are snowshoes in the garage I can use to walk to Big Sisters.
I’ll put on my snowmobile suit and twenty layers. It’ll be no problem.”
No problem? The Omega was insane. She could freeze. And what if she was hit by her heat out there all alone? My immediate reaction was to forbid her to leave the house. It was too dangerous.
But the light in her brilliant blue eyes, her raised chin, and the determination in her voice made a clear statement. If I told her no, I’d be falling into the same trap that I was trying to keep Jason out of.
Fuck. I hated it. I wanted to protect her and keep her inside where she’d be safe. The instinct was making it difficult to think of anything else.
Protect. Shelter. Claim.
Whoa, no! Shit, shit, shit.
“We’ll come with you. The more of us hauling the packages, the faster we can get it done.” It was idiotic to go out in this weather. I’ve had to rescue fools who didn’t want to stay inside when blizzards hit. Now I was the idiot about to go out to deliver presents.
“That’s so sweet. Thank you. We have enough snowshoes for all of us.
” Lyla cheered and dug into the rest of her breakfast, eating with gusto.
She shone so brightly. If there was any such thing as Christmas magic, it was contained in her.
“We might be surrounded by snow, but we won’t let it defeat us.
Together, we’ll have a Christmas adventure! ”
I went still.
Surrounded by snow.
Those were Yaya’s exact words.
And I was just marveling at how brightly Lyla shone. Her beauty, her personality, her heart.
No. My family would never approve.
Yet here I was ready to brave the winter storm to deliver presents with Lyla.
Just to keep her safe. It was my job to help people.
Ignoring my duty as the eldest son, my heart said it would do anything for her.
This was madness, but I couldn’t give in to it. There was too much to lose.