Aelius could hardly believe this at all, but he had to nod his head. Just the idea of seeing Kyle again, after what they’d done together, put his guts into all kinds of nervous twists. He’d never had that happen before. Not even when he was getting ready to have sex for the first time in his life. “Yeah. I guess I can’t argue with that,” he said.
“Good. You’ll be leaving in an hour, so hurry up and get back home so you can get ready. Mason will be waiting for you, and so will Kyle.”
Chapter Three
“What do you mean he’s coming here?” Kyle asked, and the worst sort of panic rose up inside of him.
Mason didn’t quite glare at him, but it wasn’t exactly a nice look that was on his face either. “He’s the father. He has a right to know, and I’m tired of you moping around the pack.”
Kyle wouldn’t be swayed, however, and the greatest anger he’d ever felt toward his alpha bubbled up inside of him. “This wasn’t any of your business!” he snapped. “What happened between me and Aelius wasn’t your business, and my attitude wasn’t affecting the pack!”
Now Mason was glaring at him, and the man rose up from his place behind his desk where he’d been working on arranging tax papers and receipts for the campaigns he’d recently started to fund.
Some of Kyle’s anger immediately left him when his alpha walked toward him, not stopping until he was right in Kyle’s personal space. Hell, his baby bump was damn near touching the other man.
“You want to say that to me again?” Mason asked, and his eyes glowed.
Mason had never hit him, or any of the omegas, as far as Kyle had seen, but that didn’t mean he wanted to push it or be the first. Pregnant or not, a wolf simply didn’t speak that way to his alpha.
Kyle lowered his eyes and shook his head.
“Let me hear you say it,” Mason said.
“I’m sorry, alpha, for speaking to you in that tone,” Kyle said.
Mason sighed. “Kyle, look up at me.”
Kyle did as he was told, and the glow was out of Mason’s eyes. “I’m not going to hit you, or put you on your back. You’re pregnant, for God’s sake. I’m fully aware that I can’t be rough with you like I would to an unruly omega, or even an alpha. Relax.”
It was the command that made Kyle do it. It was always easy to just obey an alpha.
Well, for the most part.
“Did you have to invite him over?” Kyle said. He was whining, but he couldn’t help himself. The same way he couldn’t help crossing his arms over his swollen belly, as if he was protecting the pup inside.
“Yes, I did,” Mason said. “I’m friends with Conner, you know that. If I’m going to keep the friendship between our packs from going sour, then I can’t be an accomplice to hiding something this important from one of his alphas. That could create a strain between Conner’s alphas and himself, which would put a strain between Conner and me. I’m not going to accept that, and you should know better than to assume I would keep this quiet forever. I gave you more than enough time, your scent is driving the unmated alphas insane, and I can’t have you dragging your feet anymore.”
It was true. Jasper, Stan, and Roy were practically treating Kyle like he had the plague. Omegas who were mated—or in Kyle’s case, so lovesick that his body thought it was mated—but not being claimed by their mates gave off a pheromone that called alphas to them. It was supposed to entice the mated alpha into claiming what was his, or attract another alpha. Jasper and Roy didn’t want to be anywhere near Kyle because of that damned smell, and Stan definitely felt the same way because Kyle hadn’t seen hide nor hair of the man in weeks.
“But Aelius doesn’t want me,” Kyle said, and he hated how just saying those words was enough to make his eyes burn and his throat ache. “This isn’t going to make things any easier on him. He’s got to hate me now.”
Mason shook his head. “I didn’t tell him about the pregnancy. Conner knows, but I asked him to keep it quiet so that you could at least tell the man yourself. He deserves to hear it from you and no one else.”
Now Kyle was staring at his alpha in horror. It was almost funny. Literally two seconds ago he’d just complained about Mason telling Aelius about the pup, but now that Kyle realized he had to do it himself, he wished that his alpha had spared him and just told the man.
His ears twitched, and even though the windows and doors were all shut, thanks to the recently fallen snow, Kyle could clearly make out the sound of tires crunching on snow and gravel outside.