11
Silas
“Thaddeus, I need to askyou a huge favor.”
Thaddeus snorted. As he did, Silas fiddled with the position of his phone against his ear. He’d been pressing it so tightly that the shell of his ear had started to ache. It had been close to fifteen minutes since Silas had walked back from Stonecrest for what could very well be the last time, and since then, he’d been struggling to figure out the correct steps forward.
“Not like you to ask for something, Silas. Must be important. What’s happening?”
“When you met Seth—” how many times had he rehearsed this on the walk home? No matter how he put it, it still sounded crazy. “—did you feel something? Something insane? Attraction impossible to resist, and impulses to… you know.”
“And now you’re talking about sex. Is this the end times?” Thaddeus huffed a laugh. “Yeah, I did. I think the better question is, why are you asking? I have a feeling, but I’m hoping it’s wrong.”
“I made a… well, it’s not a mistake.” Silas scrubbed at the bridge of his nose and sank into one of his mother’s antique Victorian chairs. “I did something that many people would regret, but that I’m not regretting at all. Now I’m not sure what the best way forward is, and I need to reason it out with you. I figured you would understand.”
“You met someone,” Thaddeus accused. “At Stonecrest?”
“I’m not proud of it, but it… it happened. I’ve seen hundreds of omegas over the last two years, some who I worked with, and some who I didn’t, but nothing like this has happened to me before. I’m going to lose my job over this. What am I supposed to do?”
“First of all, take a deep breath, because things are going to work out fine. You’re freaked out now, but you’re still too close to the details to see the big picture.”
Fine wasn’t a good word to describe the situation. Silas had let his emotions cloud his professional judgment. He’d taken an omega he was attracted to out on the town, and then he’d let himself bring that omega back to his condo—while he was in heat, no less. Sometimes heat faded away on its own after knotting without a resulting pregnancy, but those times were rare. Silas didn’t doubt that he’d impregnated Elijah that afternoon.
Fine didn’t begin to cover the situation.
It wasn’t that he regretted taking Elijah to bed, or that he regretted the life they’d likely created together, but that he’d put himself in a situation where he’d be unable to care for neither Elijah or the baby in the way they deserved to be cared for.
He was going to be an unemployed father responsible for sheltering an omega who’d been deprived of his education. What was he supposed to do to make things better?
“Thaddeus,you’renot seeing the bigger picture.” Silas stood up again, too wired to sit still for long. He’d gone through training specifically so he could avoid situations like these—but no one had warned him that an omega could turn his life around so quickly. Elijah had pursued him relentlessly, and Silas had fallen just as fast.
“Then tell me what I’m missing.”
“He went into heat.”
The connection crackled. Silas pinched the bridge of his nose and paced into the kitchen, only to turn around and leave it.
“Oh god, Silas.”
“I knotted him five times this afternoon.”
“I—five times?” Thaddeus laughed. “Five times in an afternoon? Are you trying to set a record?”
“This isn’t a joke,” Silas grumbled. “I need to figure out what to do. I’m going to lose my job. How am I supposed to provide for him when I’m unemployed?”
“Mom and dad can take care of you until you’re back on your feet.” Thaddeus reasoned.
“I’ll be blacklisted from the industry.”
“So, go back to school and get involved with something else. Four years? Six years max?”
Six years was a long time to be a student when he had a child on the way. There was no doubt that the Rutledge family had enough money to support them, but Silas didn’t want handouts. He’d been on his own since he’d gone to college, and he wasn’t interested in falling back on his parents for support now.
“I won’t.”
“Then there’s only one option left,” Thaddeus said. “If the industry isn’t going to accept you, then you need to fund a start-up of your own. Get a loan from dad, get some real estate, and put your skills to use.”
“I—” Something hit the window. Silas jumped, heart racing. The noise repeated itself, and he turned in time to see a third object strike the panes and rattle them. “Thaddeus, hold on.”
