3. Chapter Three
Chapter Three
Robert
I wouldn’t say I was intentionally avoiding Jackson Sobek, but I wasn’t going out of my way to run into the sexy alpha either. It wasn’t my fault that when he picked up Aiden the first day–the day we realized we were fated!–that I already left work. Since I usually worked the early morning shifts, oftentimes opening the daycare, that meant I usually got off work in the early afternoons.
And it wasn’t my fault that the next morning I had a doctor appointment, and hadn’t made it to work until well after Jackson had dropped Aiden off. It also wasn’t my fault that when Jackson had picked Aiden up that evening I had been in Wyatt’s office, ordering needed supplies, since I had stayed later due to my appointment .
Okay, I had totally been hiding from Jackson, but the supplies had needed to be ordered. Sure, Wyatt or Ryan could have taken care of it, but I had volunteered. Wyatt had given me a bit of side eye, but he hadn’t questioned me too much about my eagerness to order crayons.
It also wasn’t my fault that the next morning I had been busy back in the break room, making a much-needed pot of coffee when Jackson had arrived with Aiden. Was I watching for his car to pull into the parking lot? Possibly. Had I scurried away to the break room to start a fresh pot of coffee as soon as he had pulled in? Maybe.
Somehow, I had managed to avoid the man the rest of the week, but I wasn’t foolish enough to think I was going to be so lucky next week. Avoiding him wasn’t a viable option, and eventually, I knew, we were going to have to talk about what we had discovered.
Sipping my hot mug of coffee from the rocking chair on the porch of my cozy cabin, I sighed loudly into the quiet of the morning, relishing the peacefulness surrounding me. The cabin was a far cry from the penthouse apartment Jane and I had shared in the upper east side of New York city. I actually preferred my warm and inviting cabin, something our marital home would never have been described as.
No, that place had been cold, sterile, lacking in any kind of warmth. Everything had gleamed, all the surfaces shiny and sparkling, but it had never felt like a true home .
Turning my thoughts away from my ex-wife and my old life, I frowned, thinking about the latest problem in my life.
Lying awake the past few nights, I had stared up at my bedroom ceiling, trying to figure out what to do about the problem that was Jackson Sobek.
I was still trying to come to terms from the shock of us touching. Of instantly knowing who this man was to me. My soul had cried out for him, then settled into a sort of calm, pleasant peace that I honestly couldn’t remember ever feeling before. Like I had been missing something for my entire life and hadn’t even known I was missing it. Until it–he, Jackson –was standing in front of me, my hand enveloped in his larger, slightly cold one. The same shock I felt reflected in his greenish brown eyes.
Despite the evidence to the contrary, I was positive Fate must have gotten it wrong. The man–
His name is Jackson , my gazelle told me primly. You should address our fated by his first name.
I won’t be addressing him as anything other than Mr. Sobek, father to one of my charges.
But–
No. We can’t keep him.
My gazelle huffed in annoyance at me but lapsed into blessed silence.
Sighing once more–because today was a day for all the sighs–I pushed with one foot to start the rocking chair in motion. The motion of the chair always soothed me, and I did my best thinking in it, enjoying the quiet.
What was I going to say to Jackson on Monday morning? A relationship between us couldn’t possibly work. The alpha was a good ten years younger than me, but if I was being honest, he was probably closer to fifteen years my junior. And while my son and his mate had a larger age gap than that, it was different when it was an older alpha and a younger omega.
Old fashioned , my gazelle snickered.
Shaking my head, I ignored him. It wasn’t old fashioned thinking on my part, but one steeped in simple biology. An alpha Jackson’s age would likely want another child, maybe more than one. He was young to be a widower, and he was in the prime of his life. The prime of my life had passed me by, and I sometimes feared I had missed the best parts.
My doctor appointment earlier in the week had confirmed what I had already begun to suspect. I had been absolutely fine when Dr. Finn Sinclair, my OB/GYN, had gently informed me that all my tests pointed to me beginning the early stages of the omega change.
He hadn’t told me anything I hadn’t already suspected. My heats had always been like clockwork, one every three months. But this last year I only had one heat. When I had missed the first heat I had assumed it was due to stress. I had just walked out of an over twenty-five-year marriage. I had upended my entire life, moved across the country with whatever I could pack in a couple of suitcases. I was trying to be a part of my son’s life while starting a brand new life of my own. It had been stressful, especially when our divorce had turned into one large, contentious fight, Jane arguing about every little thing.
I had been exhausted, mentally, physically, deep down in my soul, so one missed heat hadn’t alarmed me. It likely helped that I knew there was no chance I was unexpectedly pregnant, so I hadn’t lost any sleep over that possibility. But by my third missed heat I knew something was up with my body. Add in other symptoms I had noticed, besides my age–trouble sleeping, producing less slick, occasional bloating–and I hadn’t been surprised by the diagnosis.
Since it seemed that one of the main reasons fated mates even existed was for procreation, there was no reason for Jackson to be stuck with a mate whose time for that had passed. Many fated mates found themselves expecting rather quickly, despite birth control measures. But there was no way I could give Jackson a child.
Thank the Goddess Fate had made it so fated mates could walk away from one another. They were commonly referred to as out clauses, but instant love was no longer a thing with most fated mates. Attraction, yes, but if fated mates found that they weren’t compatible, they were able to just go their separate ways. They could even find other mates and be with them, in long and healthy relationships .
Of course, many people argued that even though Fate said you could walk away from one another, fated mates always, always found their way back to one another.
Snorting at that, I silently wished Jackson well in my mind. He had obviously found a mate before me and he would have my blessing to do so again. The last thing an alpha like Jackson needed was an omega who couldn’t give him more children and had likely been a teenager when he’d been born.
I’d tell him just that the next time I saw him.
Oh, are you going to stop hiding from him like a frightened child? My gazelle inquired blandly. Because, you know, to let the man go, you need to actually speak to him.
I’ll tell him Monday morning when he drops Aiden off. I’ll just…tell him that this thing…whatever it is–
You mean the fated mates thing? That thing?
With an annoyed sound, I ignored my gazelle. Didn’t they think this decision was hard for me? Because it was. My mind had been running wild all week with all the implications and what ifs, since we had touched.
What would it be like to be fated to someone like Jackson?
I didn’t even know the man, but just from our first meeting I knew he was kind. That he loved his son. That he was a good father. That I liked the way the color of his eyes swirled with green and brown like they couldn’t decide what color to be, and his smile made my stomach do somersaults. Oh, and that he smelled divine . He looked like he had strong arms that would hold me tight at night…something that had been sadly lacking in my former life.
“Nope.” Draining the last dregs of my coffee, I slammed my empty mug on the porch railing with a loud thud. “Not going there.”
What I needed was a nice run in my gazelle form. It always helped clear my head, and I could just enjoy the cloudless morning and sunshine. Jogging to the edge of the property–okay, walking fast because I didn’t jog in my human form–where the woods ran right up to our property line, I quickly shed my clothes and left them in a heap on the grass.
Closing my eyes, I relaxed, feeling the effortless way my gazelle took form. My gazelle wasn’t large, only standing about three feet from shoulder to hoof. The two large horns on the top of my head were about ten inches in length and added an illusion of height and size.
Taking off on a run, I let my gazelle go. Despite my loathing of running in my human form, my gazelle was fast and enjoyed it. I could run up to sixty miles an hour without breaking a sweat. I could go for miles at a steady pace at about thirty miles an hour, if I wanted to. Not that I did that, ever. No one needed to run for hours on end. I much preferred walking and enjoying nature and all it offered .
This morning, I zipped along until I reached the well-worn, wide path that dissected the middle of the woods, before I slowed to a walk. A wolf family passed me, the intimidating alpha wolf nodding his head at me in acknowledgement. His omega mate, a smaller pure white wolf, yipped at two pups rolling around with each other behind them. One of the pups was as white as snow and smaller, while the other was a large, dark gray fluff of fur.
Since I knew this was Dr. Sinclair, as well as his mate, Wade, plus two of their three children, I felt no danger. Not that I ever really did here. These woods were safe, and all the shifters seemed to get along well with one another, regardless of species. Occasionally, I even spotted a couple of humans, some just out for a hike, while others walked beside their shifted mates.
My hooves plodded along the path, and I nibbled on some grass and leaves every so often. My ears picked up the sound of bubbling water, and I knew I was close to the large freshwater pond or lake. Honestly, I was never sure how to differentiate between the two. The water was good for drinking there though, and I was beginning to get thirsty. I’d get a quick drink, then head back home.
Surprisingly, there was no one else at the water’s edge this morning. Oftentimes there were other shifters getting drinks or just playing and cooling off in the water. One of Wyatt’s friends, Gabe, was a Kodiak bear shifter, and he loved to play in the water. I would often come across him, but this morning it was empty.
Picking my way over some smaller rocks to the waters edge, I bent down to get a drink, when all my senses prickled across my fur.
Danger! Danger! My gazelle cried, and my head shot up, looking around frantically for what had caused their distress.
I didn’t see anything out of the ordinary, but then the water rippled with the barest movement, disturbing the stillness. Taking a hesitant step back, I tracked the movement, trying to see what had caused it. It very well could be nothing more than a fish, and I was being silly. There was never any danger in these woods, and I was being ridiculously jumpy for no reason.
Just as I was telling my racing heart to calm down, a long, vee shaped grayish greenish snout rose to the surface in the middle of the pond. The wide jaws opened, sharp teeth gleaming in the sun. Before I had time to even blink, it sliced through the water, charging me. Water splashed in all directions as it neared the shoreline, large jaws opening and slapping shut as it came straight for me.
Croc!
There was a crocodile in the pond!
Run! Danger! My gazelle shouted.
We ran .
I could hear the croc coming after me, twigs and branches cracking as it tore through the brush in pursuit. Running faster than I ever had in my life, I didn’t stop until I had broken through the woods at the edge of our property and was halfway in the yard, before I shifted into my skin.
Bent over, panting and wheezing, I tried to catch my breath. Cold sweat covered me, my heart pounding so loud in my ears it drowned out all other sounds.
“Pops!” Wyatt cried in alarm from his porch.
“Robert, what’s happened?” Becks ran down the steps, hand poised on the gun still in the shoulder holster strapped across his chest. He was dressed for work, his shiny badge pinned to his chest, and I remembered he had a shift this morning.
Still huffing, I wheezed, “Croc!”
“What?” Becks sounded confused, even as he pushed me behind him, towards Wyatt, who held a wide-eyed Julianna in his arms.
“Crocodile,” gasping, I pointed in the direction of the woods. “In the pond. It charged me.” He seemed surprisingly unperturbed by this.
Wyatt blinked his hazel eyes, “There’s a crocodile in Sweet Alps? Huh. That’s new.”
Twigs snapped under swiftly running feet, and Becks drew his gun, aiming it towards the wildly moving limbs. A man broke through the tree line, panting, but at least he was dressed. I realized I was still standing stark naked in the yard! Thank the Goddess we didn’t have any close neighbors. Shifters were pretty used to being naked around each other, but I didn’t make a habit of wandering around with all my bits out for everyone to see.
Becks slid his gun back in his holster, and I realized the man was Jackson. Looking disheveled, sweaty, mildly frantic and wild eyed, and altogether too tempting for my own good.
He held up his hands in a sign of I don’t mean you any harm, his chest heaving. “Robert, I’m so, so sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. It’s just…your scent…it–” his voice trailed off, and he rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “It just made my croc go a bit...your scent…”
“You said that,” Wyatt smirked at Jackson, then at me.
“My scent?” I repeated the words sharply. “You attacked me because of my scent?”
“Hops!” Julianna yelled, covering her tiny ears with her hands. “Loud!”
Wyatt bent his head to hers. “You’re being too loud, little lady. Let’s leave Pops and Jackson to…talk.”
“I’m going to work,” Becks declared, now that the imminent danger had passed. Pointing a finger at Jackson, he ordered, “Don’t eat anyone on my watch, please, especially my father-in-law. I don’t like paperwork.” He and Wyatt walked to his police cruiser, leaving me to contend with Jackson. Silently I watched them say their good-byes, before Wyatt gave me a little wave, a knowing look in his eyes, and retreated to his own house.
Leaving me standing alone with Jackson. Naked.
Apparently neither my son nor his mate felt Jackson was a threat. They’d probably think differently if a big ass crocodile came charging out of the water at them, teeth snapping and long, powerful tail swinging. But apparently, since my scent had caused all this, they didn’t need to worry.
“We need to talk.” Jackson declared quietly, while also making a valiant effort of keeping his muddy greenish brown eyes on my face, and not any lower on my body. Which left me feeling slightly disappointed. I would analyze all my confusing feelings later. I had more pressing issues to deal with now.
“You might as well come in,” I sighed, turning and walking up my porch steps and inside my cabin. I absolutely did not put any extra wiggle in my hips as I went. None at all. That was how I always walked.