Page 118 of Curvy Quirky Omega

Oh.

Melinda slipped by Frankie to grab one of the desserts, her pregnant stomach still hidden thanks to the flowing skirts of her dress.

I glanced over at the Valor table to see Nicolette and her pack members watching us like hawks. She gave me a nod and I turned back to Melinda, wondering why she was allowing the omega to come over here on her own.

Normally, alphas fell all over themselves catering to a pregnant omega, but she was here by herself. Not even Frankie moved to help her, and I felt kind of bad for her.

“You shouldn’t eat that one,” I told her, taking the pastry from her and handing it to River. “It has licorice in it.”

Melinda studied me out of the corner of her eye and then flipped her hair over her shoulder. “Could I speak with you in private for a moment?”

I nodded and raised my eyebrow at Frankie.

“Fine, but stay right here where we can all see you.” Frankie glared at Melinda one last time before offering River her hand. “Let’s dance at least once before we leave.”

The other omega quietly agreed and placed her hand in Frankie’s. She was such a weirdo, but she seemed to be stabilizing Frankie which was all I cared about.

Once they were gone, I offered Melinda a different dessert, and surprisingly, she took it.

“You know…this is where I met Gideon,” she admitted as she studied the flower-shaped chocolate. “The debutante ball that year was held here.”

Debutante balls like the one she was talking about weren't the same as the one River had. Every year the Acheron legacy packs held a debutante ball for anyone in the city who wanted to participate in that kind of thing, but the tickets and the dresses were expensive so it wasn’t something anyone could attend.

Just people with money and power.

Frankie had explained once that alliances were made and broken all the time. Not only that, but legacies outside of the four main packs could be born at any time and they had to take turns making claims on them.

They wanted to strengthen the gene pool with outsiders, and new legacies were one way to do that, but marriage with a wealthy pack was another way, otherwise there would be inbreeding between the four main packs.

Although, Cas had admitted that the Grimm pack was almost entirely made up of outsiders instead of blood relations.

“Thanks to you, I’m no longer on house arrest.” Melinda still wouldn’t look at me and stared down at the dessert instead. “My punishment is lighter than I expected too. Nicolette put me on probation and I’ve only lost six months of my allowance…why did you ask her to do that?”

I cleared my throat and studied the desserts, feeling weird all over again.

How was I supposed to explain that I didn’t hate her and never had, but that I still didn’t like her? She didn’t seem to get it no matter how many times I tried to explain it. My personal feelings had nothing to do with how I operated.

At least, they didn’t used to. Cas and Liam were the only exceptions.

I just…didn’t want her to be punished more than necessary. Things between her, Gideon, and Dane were too complicated and messy for it to be so straightforward.

So, I’d made a suggestion in my last report to let Dane and Melinda off with the same punishment only because neither of them did anything truly wrong. Yeah, they’d had an affair, but that was it.

Was it really fair to make them suffer more than that? It wouldn’t be long until they would have a baby to take care of, and I didn’t want to ruin any chance that baby would get to have a happy childhood with all her parents.

It wasn’t going to be easy since they weren’t together anymore, but Francisco had helped them draw up a legal document regarding the child and Nicolette that would make sure that child wasn’t abandoned or neglected.

“I just…” I sighed, suddenly feeling tired. “I guess I wanted to give you the chance to do better for your child. It’s not your fault you and Gideon weren’t compatible.”

Melinda opened her mouth to say something and then shut it, her eyes darting to something, or someone, behind me.

I didn’t want to talk to whoever it was so I grabbed Melinda’s arm, ready to take her back to the Valor table until the person behind me cleared their throat. It was soft and sweet enough I turned around, raising my eyebrow at the stranger.

Whoever it was, I didn’t recognize them, but they had the scent of an omega as well. I was shocked enough that they weren’t wearing their scent blockers that I had no idea what to say. Melinda was the one who asked, surprising me again.

“Can we help you?”

This new omega’s hair was blonde, but not quite as light as Nicolette’s and her grey eyes were the same color as the clouds in a thunderstorm. I had no idea why she didn’t say anything or why she tilted her head with that sweet smile, staring down at the pastry in Melinda’s hands.

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