Page 38 of Excess

“That was smart,” Inika said approvingly. “If not a little sneaky. Though, don’t actually punch her in the face because then you’ll get in trouble. Unless you really have to.”

She looked expectantly at me, daring me to contradict her words, but I shrugged. Omegas should use every tool in their arsenal as far as I was concerned—they had plenty of obstacles in their path already.

Though I was going to verify once we got home that Freya actually did know how to throw a punch, because I wouldn’t have put it past Leo not to teach her properly.

“Did you go to school?” Freya asked Inika. “In the olden days?”

Inika nodded, not missing a beat. “I did. I went to an omega boarding school back in the olden days. That’s where you live at school—you sleep there and everything.”

“How old were you?”

Inika glanced at me, probably wondering at the sharp tone of my question as she took a sip of her tea.

“I started boarding at Anworth Hall from age seven, and stayed there until I finished secondary school. Most of my childhood memories were made there.”

“Didn’t you miss home?” Freya asked, wide-eyed.

“I went home on weekends fairly often, and for school holidays. Though, when I did, I missed my friends and the House Parent a lot because I was so used to being around them.”

“It wasn’t difficult living with so many omegas?” I asked.

“They’re set up for it—everyone has their own private room. And while the school itself is ancient, the ventilation system is state-of-the art,” she added, the corners of her mouth tipping up. “I don’t think I’d be able to do it if I had children, but it wasn’t terrible. And my parents travelled so much back then that it made sense.”

I took a generous gulp of whatever disgusting flower tea was in my cup for my suddenly dry mouth. The idea of Inika having children with someone else made my skin feel too tight for my body. I didn’t even want kids of my own—helping with Freya was more than enough for me.

But apparently my alpha hindbrain heard “if I had children” and supplied “must breed her” in response.

Fuck my life.

Fortunately, I wasn’t expected to contribute much to the conversation because Freya had years’ worth of questions she wanted to ask. Inika ordered every flavour of tea Freya so much as hinted at wanting to try, and I didn’t even know how she paid for afternoon tea because I didn’t see her do it, but she casually mentioned that it was taken care of on our way out of the building. It must have been some kind of omega magic, because she managed to say it without triggering some idiotic alpha pride instinct.

Or my idiotic alpha instincts were still preoccupied with the idea of Inika meeting someone and settling down someday. Even though of course she was going to do that.

“Did your driver drop you here?” I asked Inika as we left the hotel.

She gave me a sidelong look. “It’s a fifteen minute walk, Blake. Even I’m not that pampered.”

I snorted. “My mistake. We’ll walk you home.”

“You don’t have to do that.”

I huffed impatiently and she tipped her chin down to hide her smile. Chivalry didn’t come naturally to me, but there was no way I was letting her walk home alone.

“Can we go to the playground?” Freya asked excitedly, looking wide-eyed at the elaborate setup across the road which was already crawling with children.

“I’m in no rush,” Inika volunteered. “I mean, I could just walk home alone, but I suspect you’re going to get all alpha about that. I don’t mind waiting while Freya has a play.”

“If you’re sure,” I said, grabbing Freya’s hand before she could sprint directly into traffic and leading her towards the crossing. “She has a radar for playgrounds.”

Inika laughed, buttoning her cream cardigan against the faint chill in the wind as we crossed the road. The moment we were safely on the other side, Freya shot ahead as if we didn’t exist.

“It’s probably not the worst idea to run off some energy. She sat so politely at afternoon tea,” Inika said, watching Freya fondly as her fairy wings flopped lopsidedly behind her.

“She did,” I agreed, proud of how well-behaved she’d been, considering she was being raised by wolves. “Thanks again for inviting us. I think this might be something Freya remembers for the rest of her life.”

I got the briefest hint of pure contentment from Inika’s scent before she pulled out a glass tube of Om-Guard from her purse and began rolling it on her pulse points. I irrationally wanted to snatch it out of her hand and throw it away.

Inika covering up her joy just seemed wrong.

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