25. Roman
Chapter 25
Roman
“ D uchess! Time to call my mother!” I declared excitedly as I bounded into her room.
Her head poked out from the nest, a grimace on her face. “Really?”
“Yes, really. She’s going to love you. We need to call now, otherwise she won’t have time to prepare for Christmas. You don’t want her to have to scramble to accommodate us, do you?”
Hazel glowered at me. She was such a sweet omega, I knew the idea of putting anyone out would distress her. Usually, I wouldn’t have resorted to such measures, but she had been pointedly avoiding calling my mother for several days.
“I suppose.” She sighed, sitting up and giving me a pained expression.
With a happy grin, I jumped into the nest next to her, wriggling my ass to get comfortable in the many pillows. Hazel’s nest was getting better by the day. Not only did it smell like her, but somehow, the pillows seemed to be multiplying.
Pulling out my phone, I pressed call on my mother’s contact, putting it on speaker, so Hazel could hear us.
My mom answered after the first ring. “Roman! How are you? How are Cormac and Phillip? Did you guys get the new skate covers I sent?”
“Hi, Ma.” I laughed as she barrelled on, excited to speak. “We did get them. Thank you!”
“Oh, good! I noticed Phillip’s were a little worn down last time I visited. Now, I hope you’re calling about Christmas?”
“I am,” I confirmed.
“Perfect! Oh, your dad and I will be so happy to see you boys. I’ll get your rooms made up in case you want to spend the night.”
“That’s good, but could you possibly make up a few extra beds? Just in case?” As I spoke, I turned to Hazel with a smile. She was biting her lip and looked utterly terrified.
“Are you bringing friends?”
“Well, I’ve got some news for you. I want you to stay calm and to keep this just between the family for now.”
She was silent for a moment. “Are you okay, darling?”
“I’m better than okay. I’m going to be a dad!”
There was a spluttering noise from the other end of the phone as my mother tried to find the right words to express her excitement. At one point, she let out a very undignified squeal that made me burst into laughter, and even Hazel couldn’t resist cracking a smile.
“A grandbaby? Tell me everything right now, Roman! Who’s the mother? Is she a beta? Have you guys found a nice omega to settle down with? Why is your father at golf? He needs to be here. He needs to hear this news!”
“Mom, calm down, I’ll tell you everything.”
“I’m listening!”
“Her name is Hazel?—”
“—are you bonded? Or planning to bond! Oh my word!” She let out another squeal of excitement. Hazel had to physically cover her mouth to stop her giggling.
“Mom! Let me talk!” I raised my voice slightly, but I was still laughing.
“Oh, fine. Hurry up and talk, young man!”
“We met at a party and were really hitting it off when her suppressants failed, and she went into heat. We spent a heat together, then went our separate ways. A few weeks after that, she got in touch with us when she found out she was pregnant. She’s been finding the pregnancy somewhat difficult, so she’s been staying with us—not that she particularly wanted to, I will add. We had to very strongly convince her. We aren’t bonded, but if things get to where I want, we will be in the future. You’ll love her. She’s studying English at Hawking University.”
“Oh, Roman, she sounds like a lovely girl.”
“She is. If I’m honest, I’m already madly in love. I’m just waiting for her to come to her senses. She is?—”
My words were cut off by a pillow hitting me at full force. “Duchess!” I laughed.
“Stop telling your mother that you love me!” she hissed quietly, but she was loud enough for my mother, with her bat-like hearing, to pick up on.
“Is she with you?” she exclaimed excitedly.
“She hasn’t told her parents about the pregnancy yet. They’re not exactly supportive. I think you’ve met her parents a few times?”
“What are their names?”
“The Giltbrook family?”
“Oh.” Roman’s mother sounded disappointed. “They aren’t the most pleasant pair. They love trying to insert themselves into society events, even though they have some very odd ideas about alpha-omega pairings.”
“I can assure you that she doesn’t believe a single thing that her parents believe. She is the complete opposite of them.”
“That’s good. Not that I want to talk ill of the parents of the woman carrying my grandbaby.”
Hazel snorted lightly as I chuckled. “Talk bad about them all you want. Hazel is pointedly avoiding them. She made an excuse that she was sick, so she wouldn’t have to visit them over Christmas and tell them about her situation.”
“And you want to bring her here?” she asked with so much excitement, her voice rose an entire octave. “Oh, please do. You guys are more than welcome here anytime. Are you taking good care of her, Roman? You said she hasn’t been well. Has she been seeing a doctor?”
“I took her to our doctor recently.”
“That is why we had a random charge from the OBGYN department! I thought I’d had an appointment and completely forgot about it. No worries, take her there whenever she needs it. Everything is covered by the family plan. Even if you guys aren’t bonded, because the baby is part of your pack!”
“I tried telling her that, but she is rather stubborn.”
“You need a stubborn woman, Roman.” My mother laughed.
“We were thinking about just coming for Christmas Day for the meal. Would that be all right? We would stay the night, but the last thing I want to do is take Hazel away from her nest.”
“Smart man. When I was pregnant with you boys, I hated the idea of leaving my nest. I became so overprotective of it. Of course, you can just come for the meal and some presents, obviously!”
“Thank you, Ma. We’ll also be bringing a friend, Sebastian.” I smiled at Hazel as I spoke.
“Don’t thank me. I should be thanking you. I’m finally getting a grandbaby! Who’s this friend? I’m excited to meet him.”
“You talk like I’m an old man. Sebastian is Hazel’s best friend.”
“Well, sometimes, you act like it. Go look after your omega, and I will talk to you soon, my sweet boy.”
She hung up the phone, and I turned to Hazel, who was giving me a peculiar look.
“She took that alarmingly well.”
“My mother is a terrifying and unique creature, and I love her dearly. You are aware you are going to receive a million baby items for Christmas?”
Hazel laughed, resting her forehead in her palm. “I mean, it’s not like we don’t need the stuff!”
After the phone call, Hazel shoved me out of the nest, insisting she needed to study, and I would just be a distraction.
While that was true, I still thought she should have let me distract her. Why should she study poems when I could be studying her?
Sebastian was sitting at the kitchen island. I nodded at him as I strode over to the cabinet where we kept our protein bars, digging around until I found the cherry chocolate bar I had been addicted to as of late.
“How are you feeling after your fire junk situation?” I asked, closing the door and taking a seat opposite him.
Sebastian snorted. “After several very intensive showers, the itching has just about stopped. My poor junk will heal… my reputation, not so much.”
I winced. The social media posts about Sebastian had been rather hilarious, albeit brutal.
“Yeah… that’s going to take a while.”
“As far as hazing goes, it could have been worse. Cormac has been downright nice to me ever since.”
“Oh, yeah. He feels guilty. He did it before realizing you were a useful ally when it came to Hazel.”
“At least he got it out of his system. I’m just hoping some of the rash will go down before my next practice, because I will be ridiculed if the guys see it.”
“When’s that?”
“A few days away. I told the coach I had a virus to get out of a few sessions. I figured I could relax a bit, study. Maybe, if I have time, I’ll take Hazel to that new bookstore in town—she couldn’t stop talking about the place when it opened a few months ago.”
I took a bite of my protein bar as I studied Seb. The poor fuck looked exhausted. We hadn’t been the nicest to him, and he’d been sleeping on the floor, so his body probably ached.
Still, he took everything we threw at him without complaint.
All for Hazel.
“When are you going to admit to Hazel that you have feelings for her?” I asked.
His head shot up, wide eyes meeting mine, like I had caught him doing something he shouldn’t have been doing.
“I mean… uh… I,” he stammered.
“No guy would go through all the hell we are putting you through if they weren’t in love.”
Seb sighed, closing his mouth, a look of defeat on his face. “It’s not important. She’s got you guys now, and it’s pretty clear you guys are crazy about her.”
“We are,” I agreed. “But that doesn’t mean you and she can’t be a thing.”
His face morphed into anger. “Are you saying you’re okay with Hazel dating other guys?”
“Whoa there, grumpy!” I threw my half-eaten protein bar, which landed directly in the center of his chest. “I said you and Hazel could possibly be a thing, not her and a random fucking dude,” I said around a mouthful.
The look of confusion he gave me was almost enough to drive me to anger. Swallowing, I put down the empty wrapper and spoke. “It’s clear you two have a connection, and despite everything, we don’t hate you. Your choice of hockey team is somewhat abysmal, though.” I took a deep breath. “What I’m trying to say is that we wouldn’t be totally opposed to the idea of you being part of this pack one day. Is that something you would even want? We’ve discussed it. ”
Seb’s eyebrows rose so high, I was afraid they would get lost in his hairline. I was laying my cards on the table here, and it could royally backfire on me.
“I… I’ve always wanted a pack,” he admitted. “I never met anyone I got along with well enough to form a pack. Hazel always spoke about settling down with a single person, like her parents wanted, so I assumed we would never happen…”
“Well, then, it sounds like this is something worth exploring.” I shrugged. “If you’re open to it.”
He nodded. “I am… thank you.”
Smiling, I grabbed another protein bar to replace the one I had thrown at him. If he was part of the pack, I knew Duchess would be happier overall.
I would do anything for her.
It helped that Seb wasn’t half bad.