“Hello?” he mumbled.
His mother’s voice instantly bombarded him. “Stark, honey, what’s wrong? You sound tired. Did you just wake up? Goodness, it’s almost noon. Maybe all this time off isn’t good for you.”
Stark shut his eyes and forced down the snappy reply that was desperately crawling to the surface. He loved her to death but he was in no mood to talk to his mother, especially when the first thing out of her mouth was a criticism.
“What is it, mom?” he asked, trying to keep his tone neutral. The last thing he needed right now was a flurry of questions about what was wrong with him.
“Oh, well it’s been a while since I last called and I know you’re off and all, so…” She trailed off as if she was grinning. “How is the omega search?”
Stark changed his mind.Thatwas the last thing he needed right now.
“It’s… coming along,” he mumbled.
She gasped. “It is? How? Tell me everything, and for god’s sake, don’t leave anything out.”
Stark resisted the urge to leave everything out. “Well, we met through a friend - “
His mother let out a high pitched shriek. “Oh my god, I’m sorry. I’m just so excited. Continue.”
Stark pinched the bridge of his nose and tried to sigh as quietly as possible so she couldn’t hear. “His… his name is Chase. He’s an omega, obviously.”
“Chase…” his mother repeated. “That’s a nice name, I like it.”
He wondered what that had to do with anything, but he continued. “I don’t know. We only just met the other day at dinner.”
“Well? Do you like him?” his mother pressed.
Stark hated this question. It might as well have been a loaded gun pressed to his temple.
“I don’t know yet,” he repeated. “Like I said, I don’t know him very well. I mean, he’s nice enough, but - “
His mother sighed in a way that grated heavily on Stark’s nerves. “But what, Stark?”
He tried to keep his cool. “But Ijustmet him. I’m not going to just marry the first omega I see. It’s going to take some time.”
His mother’s tone came pinched now. “I see. Alright then. I’ll call again some other time.” She paused. “But if anything comes up with Chase, call me right away.”
“I will,” Stark said.
“Goodbye, honey.”
When the phone call finally ended Stark almost felt worse than he had the time he had been abducted by Silvercreek pack. Almost.
He put his phone on mute, dropped it on the floor and thought about passing out again, despite his mother’s complaints that he had “just woken up.” Whenever she got this way he almost certainly got fatigued after a single conversation with her.
But there was one person he could always count on to lift his spirits. He quickly sat up and reached over to pick up his phone again. Kyle’s number was already in his most favourite contacts section.
“Kyle? Are you busy?”
The omega’s surprised tone came from the other end. “Um, not really, no. What’s wrong?”
Stark wasn’t surprised his friend could hear the stress in his voice. “It’s fine, I just had a call from my mother.”
“Ouch.”
Stark couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, that about sums it up.”
Kyle had never met his mother before, but this wasn’t the first time he had complained about her… special ways.
