Page 18 of His Innocent Omega
He hesitated a second longer than he should have, and I saw the truth.
“Yes.” One word. One tiny word that heldso much implication.
My chest hurt, my lungs felt like they were working overtime. Staring down at the beautiful baby in my arms, that this man had been partially responsible for creating, I ran a finger along her tiny hand. Her skin that was incredibly soft. Watched as her finger curled around mine, holding tightly, with complete trust.
“You knew and you didn’t say anything to me.” It wasn’t a question, just a statement of fact.
“Yes.” His voice was quiet, deep, raw.
“You left me in that hotel room, and you didn’t say one word to me about what was happening? What we are to each other?” The words spilling from my mouth seemed foreign to my ears, and my brain.
His broad shoulders were tight with tension, and he briefly glanced away from me. Looking at my I.V. stand, the wall, the empty bassinet. Anywhere but at me. He finally met my gaze, his cold and unblinking.
“Yes.”
In that instant I was sure my brain short circuited with an emotional overload. Looking away from him, I blinked away the prickling heat welling behind my lids. Hormones. Nothing more. It absolutely wasn’t the pain of knowing this alpha had rejected me. Had walked away, without even a goodbye or his fucking name, knowing we were fated mates. Without saying one word. Without even telling me.
Fated mates weren’t something I even believed in. It was fantasy, fiction, folklore. Nothing more. It wasn’t supported by any scientific facts. I didn’t even believe in fated mates. And I certainly didn’t want, or need, a mate. I had an entire life planned that didn’t include this alpha in it.
But seeing him now, being this close to him, hearing him say the words…I somehow knew he was telling the truth. Fatedmates were real. They existed. And this alpha was mine.
Something inside me shifted, my giraffe calmed, and I knew this man was supposed to be my future. My destiny. The missing half of my soul.
And he’d known and he’d walked away. Left me alone in that hotel room that he had paid for. He hadn’t even stayed the entire night with me.
It hurt. Incredibly so.
It shouldn’t have, but it did.
Coldness washed over me, followed by the burn of anger.
He must have seen it on my face, because he started to speak. To say something I had no desire to listen to. Nothing he could say would make any of this okay. “Wyatt–”
“Get out.”
Turning back to glare at him, I instinctively held Julianna’s tiny body closer to me, my grip onmydaughter tight. “Get. Out. You didn’t want me then, and you’re not going to have either of us now. You made the choice for both of us, and I’m good with it. We don’t need you. You’re off the hook, don’t worry. I won’t bother you with anything she might need. I’m perfectly capable of taking care ofmychild, on my own.” I sniffed haughtily, channeling my mother in a move she’d probably be proud of, my chin raised in the air. “I don’t want or need a mate, and if I did, it wouldn’t be you.”
Our eyes held, neither of us backing down, for the absolutely longest minute of my life. I could see the flash of anger in his dark orbs, the slight raise of one brow and the crinkle between his eyes, at my words. Then Grayson gave the slightest nod of his head, his shoulders drooping just a bit in his new clean, crisp tan uniform shirt that he had changed into before invading my hospital room.
“This isn’t over, Wyatt,” he warned. He looked fierce and imposing, his face unsmiling, intense, and a bit scary. His dimples were nowhere in sight today. “I’ll be back for what’s mine.”
I had no idea if he was talking about me, Julianna, or the both of us.
Chapter Nine
Becks
I had put the one-night stand, six months ago, out of my head as soon as I had left him sleeping alone in the bed. At least that was the lie I told myself. If username 187 still invaded my dreams on a weekly basis there was nothing to be done about that. It had been a sexually pleasing night, one I didn’t mind visiting over and over when I shut my eyes to fall asleep.
It didn’t mean anything more than enjoying a good memory. It didn’t mean that any sort of bond had started forming between us that night. The more time that passed, the more his memory would fade. Eventually.
But opening that car door, seeing him sittingthere in living color, hands tightened on the steering wheel, panting in pain? That had been a shock. His huge, pregnant belly had been another one.
My mind had already been doing some quick calculations, but when he’d said the baby–Julianna–was a month early, that had told me everything I needed to know.
She was my baby. I was sure of it. Something inside me had just known on some level.
Seeing her in the crook of Wyatt’s arm, there was no doubt. Looking at her was like looking at a tiny, female version of myself. It was a little startling, to be honest.
