Page 59 of Excess

Papa had got so in my head that for a brief moment, I’d forgotten that Blake was still upstairs in the hallway. While soundproofing had been added to most of the house, the dining room had enormous archways on three sides, opening it up to the other rooms for entertainment purposes. There was no soundproofing that.

“Everything okay?” Blake asked, looking at me like he already knew the answer.

“Fine,” I replied quickly, following it up with my best attempt at an airy laugh. “Just my parents being… overbearing. I’m practically geriatric for an unmated omega. I’m sure I don’t have to explain to you how that goes.”

He probably hadn’t had quite the same pressure put on him, but mating and settling down was still very much seen as the only acceptable path for alphas and omegas, despite all the empowering self-determination talk we’d parroted at school.

Blake watched my expression closely. “Not really. Once Leo took a mate, my parents never really brought up the subject with me again. Apparently, so long as they got at least one grandkid, they were content to leave the subject alone. Though, maybe if Ella hadn’t died and then Mum shortly after, they’d have expected me to settle down.” He shrugged. “There’s no way of knowing now.”

Guilt churned uncomfortably in my stomach. Blake had real problems. Heavy problems, like grief and the challenges of raising a child who’d lost her mother. And I suspected that he didn’t whine half as much as I did.

“Well,” I began awkwardly, sidestepping him so I could return to the safety of my nest. “I’ll see you tomorrow, I guess. Sorry you had to hear… all of that.”

Blake scowled. “Don’t apologise for that. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Positive.”

Not even a little.

Chapter 17

BLAKE

“Can you walk me to school today, Uncle Blake?” Freya asked, wandering into the kitchen in her pyjamas as I sat at the table drinking my coffee.

I glanced at the time on the microwave. Usually, I struggled to do the school run with my work hours, but today was pack down day and the scaffolding crew wouldn’t be at Inika’s until ten. Probably eleven, knowing Jordy. He was always late.

“Sure, Frey.” I took my coffee with me as I headed over to the bench to make her breakfast.

“Good.” She climbed into the seat I’d just vacated. “Grandad got so tired yesterday that we had to stop lots on our walk, and then I was late.”

I paused, milk bottle hovering over the cereal bowl. “He was getting tired?”

“Mmhm, from walking. Grandad says he’s too old to be traipsing around town.”

That definitely sounded like something Dad would say. My stomach churned with guilt. He’d have had to walk home after dropping her off too. How many stops had he made out of exhaustion on the way back? Was he ever going to tell us about it? Probably not. It would be just like him to suffer in silence.

I set Freya up with her breakfast before heading upstairs, knocking on Dad’s door and quietly letting him know that he could sleep in and I’d get Freya off to school. I didn’t even bother letting Leo know. If he wanted to know where his daughter was, he could try fucking parent her for a change.

Freya went off to school easily, and I jogged back home before climbing in the van and heading straight to Inika’s house, stuck in traffic most of the way.

Graeme ignored me as I passed him in the corridor, heading upstairs.

Before Jordy and his crew arrived, I made sure the scaffolds were clear of my own stuff, before doing my initial clean of the floor, loading up the van with any big pieces of plaster and doing a round with the hoover.

I was done. The job was finished. In all honesty, it could have been done a couple of days ago, but I’d been dragging the process out.

Enough was enough, though. If we let this go on any longer, we were only going to end up hurting each other’s feelings. Inika’s approaching heat was a deadline we couldn’t negotiate with.

Not only that, but this morning had proven that I needed to be spending more time at home. Maybe I could bring on an apprentice. I’d put it off, assuming that Leo would eventually be less useless, but clearly that had been overly optimistic of me.

I stood aside as the scaffolding crew removed their gear, packing up my tools as I went, ready to load them in the van.

Where was Inika? While she used so much Om-Guard that it was impossible to track her scent around the house anyway, I usually had some vague idea of where she was, if only based on how the rest of the staff were acting. But everyone was quiet today, and I wondered if Inika had even emerged from her nest this morning.

Fuck, I wanted to check on her so bad. I wanted to crawl into that jewel-coloured nest with her, and tell her that her dad was a prick—the words I’d wanted to say yesterday, but had chickened out of saying.

He was, though.

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