“Yes,” I said, my voice gruff. “I need your help.”
Thankfully, he didn’t seem angry to see me, like I was afraid of. He was just intensely confused.
“What’s going on? Whose baby is this?”
I shifted back to continue the conversation in human form.
“That’s the problem. I don’t know. Someone left her on my bar’s doorstep,” I explained.
A wave of sympathy and sadness washed over Ryu. “Oh no…”
“I checked everywhere nearby, but I couldn’t see or smell anyone,” I continued. “There was a single faint scent trail leading away from her carrier but it just disappeared. She’s alone.”
Ryu kneeled down, his brows furrowed in concern. “She’s so small. Too small to be abandoned.” He caught sight of the embroidery and murmured, “Angel…”
The baby continued to snooze.
“What are you going to do?” Ryu asked.
“Well, I couldn’t just leave her at the bar,” I said. “But what am I supposed to do with her? I don’t know how to raise a kid.” I paused, mustering up the courage to say what I really meant. “I… I need your help, Ryu.”
He blinked in surprise. “Me?”
“Please,” I added sincerely. “I’m sorry I yelled at you earlier. I was just being a piece of shit. You didn’t deserve that.”
Ryu still seemed totally confused. “Thank you, but, what did you say about needing my help? You mean toraiseher?”
I couldn’t read his tone, and that frightened me. Did he notwantto help raise Angel? Suddenly my mind flooded with doubt. Of course he wouldn’t want to help raise some random baby I found on the street—he was a young alpha in his prime. He probably had some other omega he wanted to knock up and have arealfamily with, like that guy Henry. What the hell was I thinking? I shouldn’t have even bothered.
“I—I don’t know,” I muttered, glancing away in shame and regret. “I thought maybe you knew where I could drop her off or something, like a shelter.”
“Scar, what are you saying?” Ryu cried. His eyes flashed fiercely and his hands gripped the sides of the carrier in a protective way. “We can’t leave her at a shelter!”
“We can’t?” I echoed, waiting for him to reveal his intentions.
“No! Scar, don’t you see?” he asked.
“...See what?”
“You said she was left on your bar’s doorstep, right?”
“Yeah.”
He stared at me seriously. “That means it was meant to be. SomeonewantedAngel to be with you.”
“What?” I cried. “Who wouldwantto leave a baby withme? There’s probably tons of omegas out there who are young and ready to be parents—hell, probably some of them that are infertile and can’t have kids of their own who would take care of this baby better than I could! What kind of idiot would seemeand think, hey, I’ll just drop my kid off right in front of his alcoholic beverage business!”
My panicked outburst roused Angel from her sleep. Her eyes screwed up together and she grumbled. My heart stopped and I didn’t dare breathe. I didn’t want her to cry. I didn’t want her first interaction with me to be a negative one.
But when her eyes opened, all she did was look at us with her big golden eyes.
Golden eyes… She must not be human. Is she a shifter?
“She’s not crying,” Ryu said quietly.
Angel blinked. Her expression was one of calm wonder and curiosity, like she was wise beyond her years.
“She’s not scared?” I asked.
“I suppose not.”
Angel continued to look back and forth between the two of us.
Anxious, I turned to Ryu. “So if we’re not going to take her to a shelter or anything, what’s going to happen to her?”
“Simple.” Ryu faced me. “We’re going to raise her ourselves.”
