Chapter XXIV
As I ease into conversation with my father across the dinner table, Ari gets up to help my mom grab the final dishes.
“Oh, honey, you don’t need to do that. You stay right where you are,” Mom stops him, setting a hot bowl of mashed potatoes on the table. “It’s not good for Omegas to be…running around while pregnant.”
That’s the second jab tonight. My parents don’t like that Ari is choosing to work through his pregnancy.
Half of the media doesn’t like it either.
They think he’s harming the baby by simply walking around and sitting in meetings all day at Comet XI.
Do they think he’s doing jumping jacks and front flips or something?
The most exercise he gets is when we have sex. Even then, he just kind of lies there, too swollen to move. I’m the one who gets a workout.
“Actually, Dr. Raul said he needs more exercise,” I grin at my mate, pinching his chubby cheeks. “Pacing the executive hallways isn’t cutting it.”
“Well, I’m sure he has his work cut out for him assembling a nursery at your house,” Mom takes her seat, eyeing us with a hint of a question in her words.
“We’ve both been working on it in our free time.
It’s coming together nicely,” Ari responds as I glare at my mother.
I thought when they invited us to dinner, it was because they approved of us finally sealing the deal.
Who knew an Alpha and an Omega getting happily mated would become everyone else’s worst nightmare?
“I’m surprised Knox has any time to be involved with that,” my dad snorts. “Just wait until he installs a shelf too high for you to reach. Then you won’t want him in there, right Hun?” he nudges Mom who chuckles at the memories.
Neither Ari nor I join their forced humor. We let their degrading chuckles fall to an awkward silence. Under the table, I reach for my mate's thigh only to clash hands with his reaching for mine. It’s a challenge not to smile wide as we intertwine our fingers.
“We’re exactly where we’ve always dreamed of being and that’s all that matters,” I remind my parents while gazing deeply into Ari’s eyes.
Finally understanding that we’re not following anyone’s lifestyle other than our own, they concede and focus on the food.
Dad eases into small talk about some house renovations he has planned.
I can tell the baby is giving Ari hell when he settles his fork and remains politely quiet.
Rubbing his back while Dad talks my ear off, I try to tell him through our bond that he doesn’t need to suffer in silence.
He doubles down, picking up his utensils to try and clear his plate.
“You feeling alright?” I pat his back with worry, making him pause with the fork raised.
“Of course! The food is wonderful by the way. I’ve always appreciated meals here when I was a kid.” He smiles kindly at my mom.
Mom beams, but I can see the sweat dripping across Ari’s forehead.
“Come with me for a minute,” I demand, unable to keep an edge of dominance out of my voice.
Sensing my agitation, my parents don’t intervene as we excuse ourselves and I guide Ari upstairs.
“Knox, I’m fine,” he whispers at my back while I tug him up the steps to the bathroom.
I usher him in and close the door before leaning against it with my arms crossed over my chest. Defiant and in denial Ari faces me with a glare. I raise an eyebrow. He stares me down, but before he can utter a word of argument, his eyes bug and he dives down to hurl up his meal.
I knew it.
“You don’t need to prove anything to anyone.” I step forward and kneel down to comfort him through it.
“I do, though!” Arius argues between heaves, “I need to prove that I deserve a place by your side!”
He stands, and I acquire a damp cloth to clean him up with.
“You prove that every day, Ari,” I tilt his chin to dab at his mouth with the rag, “You’ll show them all what Omegas are capable of but take it easy before you stress yourself into an early labor.”
Shoulders dropping, he lets his eyes flutter closed with a deep breath of relaxation.
“I love you,” he whispers.
Tossing the cloth aside, I peck his lips.
“I love you, too. Come on.” I reach for his hand, guiding us back to the hallway.
A few steps out, Ari pauses. I glance over my shoulder, finding a reminiscent expression on his face as he peers into the ajar door of my childhood bedroom.
My expression changes too as memories flood my mind.
I grin tenderly at the square sign on the door that says, “Alphas Only” but right below it, the scribble of permanent marker reads, “+ Mom” and “+ Arius.”
Taking the sign’s permission, Ari steps in and I follow, flipping the light on which illuminates a flurry of stars painted across the ceiling.
“Hasn’t changed too much, has it,” I comment, glancing around at all my childhood keepsakes and a few patched dents in the walls from teenage tantrums.
“I don’t remember this.” Ari picks up a handmade wooden bowl from a shelf.
My heart thuds and my jaw tightens as he flips it over, reading the engraving from five years ago.
“Who is Juan?” Arius looks up at me for an explanation. I can’t help but chuckle at his immediate jealousy.
“An Omega I met a while back. Rumors were going around that I was an Alpha-lover, so I had to pick an Omega to crush on to prove them wrong,” I shrug my shoulder, plucking the misshapen bowl from his hands. Arts and crafts weren’t my strongest skill, and it shows.
“You never gave it to him?” Ari questions, less jealous and more inquisitive.
“I did. And he gave it back when we broke up.”
“Aw... Have you ever experimented with Alphas?” The question falls out of nowhere. Ari sounds genuine, but I snort, assuming he’s teasing.
“Hell no. Have you ever experimented with Omegas?” My question is rhetorical just to show how silly his was, but Ari answers honestly.
“Of course.”
I stare at my mate for a second, a little perplexed.
“Oh…”
He rolls his eyes and swats my chest.
“Stop picturing it, pervert!”
Grinning with guilt, I feign innocence. He did spend a lot of time cooped up with a ton of Omegas for years. Now I can’t not picture it. Ari shakes his head in amusement, scouring my bedroom for more things to reminisce about.
“What about other Alphas?” I ask, taking a seat on my old bed as he looks around. “Have you been with someone before me?”
“I’ve been with a Beta.”
“Brock?!” I growl his name.
“No, Knox! I meant, like, back in my boarding school days. He was sweet and always made me laugh when I left campus to get a sandwich from his family’s shop.
We weren’t dating, but we were both young and eager to explore.
” Ari fidgets with periodic table magnets on the wall, absentmindedly sticking them into place by memory.
“What’s with you and all these Betas?” I grumble.
Arius sighs.
“I guess I fell into the same old societal bullshit about purity and waiting to do it with the right Alpha.”
His shoulders slump as if he’s embarrassed of that, but the realization hits me like a jacuzzi jet. And it feels damn good. The words are merely a whisper on my lips.
“I’m the only Alpha you’ve been with…”
Ari lets the silence answer for him and my ego skyrockets. I like that. I like that a lot. Nobody has ever gotten their knot inside my Omega except for me.
“Proud of that?” he lifts an amused eyebrow, feeling my immense pride through our bond as I bask in it.
“Mine,” I mutter to myself, and Ari giggles.
Sneaking up on us, my mom knocks on the open door, shielding her eyes with her other hand.
“Do you two want leftovers to bring home?” she asks carefully.
“Mom, we’re not doing anything. You can open your eyes,” I sigh, sounding like my teenage self.
“Yeah, we’re decent. I’d love some of the mashed potatoes if there are any left,” Ari adds and my mom drops her hand, dramatically relieved to see us clothed and on opposite sides of the room.
She disappears back into the kitchen. While Ari finishes the periodic table, I relax on my old bed, dozing off a little. Dr. Raul warned us to take advantage of sleep while we still have it. Too comfortable, I let my lids close and my mind drift.
I ease into a weightless dreamland where everything is familiar, yet new, flashing quickly from scene to scene. I see Arius painting a wall. I see our daughter with a frog-shaped pacifier. And I see something about a meeting table.
Like some important thing had just been finalized, though I’m not sure what. I try to focus on the odd air about this meeting and figure out who it was with, but the strain causes me to wake up.
I blink and lift my head, worried that it’ll be morning.
But Ari is just finishing the final elements.
“Ta-da!” he steps aside, jazzing his fingers at the board. “Care to check my work?”
I snort, rising from the bed.
“No need. You’ve had it memorized since you were nine.”
“I could’ve gotten rusty since then.”
“I’ll believe it when I see it.”