“I don’t think you’ll make it up to the third floor.” Tane’s voice echoed as if from far away.
“No? I can do it. I think.” I fell against him, bumping my injured hand. “Ow.”
“Come on. This way. Into the den.”
We entered a beautiful room, which I was sure he’d shown me on the house tour. I’d forgotten how nice it was. My head was heavy, but I could still hold it up enough to see where I wasgoing. White tile gleamed. Before the fireplace lay a thick rug and a large couch. The walls were a restful blue. A rock hearth framed the fireplace.
Tane sat me on the couch which was soft and comforting. I immediately fell to my side, curling my legs up. I watched as Tane turned on the fire. It was electric, not real wood, but still perfect.
He came back to me, grabbing a blanket from the couch-back along with a pillow and basically set about putting me to bed. It was the last thing I expected, but my head was spinning and everything felt so nice and peaceful that it seemed all right.
“I spend a lot of time in this room,” he said. “It’s cozy and peaceful. No one will bother you.”
I nodded, my eyelids slowly sliding closed. That was the last thing I remembered before nodding off.
10
Tane
Maybe I stared at Kirion lying on my couch a little too long. I wasn’t sure I cared about my manners just now. I couldn’t stop thinking how beautiful he was. And injured. And technically mine.
He closed his eyes and brought his knees closer to his chest, his injured hand at the edge of the blanket.
I didn’t want to leave the room, leave him alone. The urge to watch him as he slept off the pain and the Scotch felt like a dozen chains anchoring me to the floor. Yes, I’d signed a contract saying he was my responsibility. Yes, I felt protective now that Malin had returned and we’d had an argument. But the rest of my feelings made no sense. Such as my tight muscles and hitched breathing. Nerves, I told myself. That was all. But that didn’t entirely explain why I felt the need to move closer, brush his soft-looking sunlight hair back from his cheek or wait until those beautiful blue eyes opened once again.
I had nothing to excuse those thoughts.
I shook my head to clear it.
Kirion was a person. Maybe he didn’t have rights but in my household I was the boss and lawmaker. I could decide.
I wasn’t the type of guy who thought of omegas, including sets, as servants. Or slaves. I’d bought Kirion hoping Malin would see him and want him. Even fall in love. How could I be so naïve?
For day, I hadn’t been thinking right. Malin giving me grandchildren, filling the house with love again, was a fantasy I’d had for over a year. The dream had few details. I simply knew I wanted that. I wanted a house that was warm again. Happy. Like my garden. Filled with wonderful scents and good times at every holiday. Going to wolf country had been my last ditch eager and thoughtless grab at making a place of belonging again.
If I’d been an omega, some might say my mood this past year was some sort of nesting mode. But I was an alpha so that didn’t make much sense. Not that alphas didn’t like comfort and love, but the household and home parts were more omega-formed.
It had been a long time since losing Rupert. My grief had gone from an all-encompassing shock and dissipation of self for that first year to, now, a cinder. Sometimes I forgot his face. The bond we shared had become a numb scar deep inside me, something I got used to and didn’t think about every day anymore.
But maybe I was missing him more lately? I had to ask myself hard questions because my behavior, when I looked at myself carefully, was odd.
I had thrown money at the idea of getting an omega into the house. It didn’t matter how. I didn’t question if he was for me because Malin was a factor. And an excuse for buying him. I’d made a sort of pact with myself that I would grow old alone. I didn’t want a new partner. I was totally okay with myself. Wasn’t I?
I’d convinced myself going to Rohan’s castle was like another business trip. I had everything planned. Now I saw clearer. I hadn’t planned enough.
Finally, I forced myself to leave the den. Kirion was fine. He knew his way around. He didn’t need a babysitter and his injury had been treated.
But it was so hard to physically walk out of that room. Guilt coursed through me. What if Kirion woke and forgot where he was and got scared? What if he got sick from the alcohol, or had an allergy to the stuff Elias and I had put on his hand? What if Malin found him and gave him the third degree again and made him want to bolt?
Kirion had nowhere to go. I had to make sure he was comfortable, safe. And not terrorized by my unruly son.
When I forced myself to walk away, I went straight to my home office. There I could bury myself in contracts and numbers. Things that made sense to me. Problems that could be solved with the right assistants and the right amount of money.
This was the easier part of my life. Work. Like gardening, I lost hours to it without ever looking up. I may have grieved a mate thirteen years ago, but I was one of the lucky ones. I not only survived, eventually I flourished.
A knock on my door nearly made me jump.
I quickly checked the time. Three hours had passed. “Come in.”
