Page 52 of A Baby for the Beast
I huff out a laugh, drawing Phil's attention. "You finally talking?"
"No," Remus growls before ducking our head and returning our thoughts to just our breathing.
If we can banter with one another, it helps to kill some time, but if we look or sound like we're willing to offer anything, we're going to be stuck in front of some reporter who's going to ask us stupid ass questions we don't want to answer. I'll just keep letting Remus act a little feral, and we'll get out of this easy peasy.
"They're going to want interviews afterwards," Phil tells us, standing in front of us with his hands on his hips.
He has the look of disappointment in us down pat, but what's keeping it from hitting is that we don't care about disappointing anyone except for our mate now. Sure, we care about Phil, and we'll always love him. He helped us to become who we are, helped us get this far, and made us feel like there wasn't something wrong with us just because we liked to fight more than the average beast. We wouldn't be who we are today without him, and he damn well knows it. But, if it comes down to disappointing him by not doing interviews and disappointing Hayley by being gone even longer because we're in interviews, well, that's an easy choice.
"We're done after tonight. Done for good. I'll teach the kids, but I'm done fighting."
Phil stares at us, his bushy brows shooting up his forehead. "And when were you going to make this announcement?"
"When I won tonight," Remus shrugs, his lips pulling up into a smug smile. "Knock out Kyle, take his title, and retire."
"Was this always your plan?" Phil asks, shaking his head.
He can shake his head all he wants. He knows we haven't been in the fight mentally since we first smelled Hayley. We might've trained harder to get our mind off of her when we didn't know who she was yet, but we were already pulling away from the fight. Most evenings, we were perusing omega stores for things we thought our omega might like and reading up on how to be a good alpha, since we never really saw our father with anyone long-term.
Our father had an arrangement with mine and Henry's mother to give him children, and she managed to fulfill her end of the bargain, giving birth to two in one pregnancy. Our father wasn't a bad man, but he only wanted children to pass on his legacy. Sucks for him that Henry and I didn't have any interest in running the clubs he owned. He wasn't a bad father, but he wasn't really a father at all.
I wanted to be a good mate when I found my omega, and now that I know she's also allowing me the honor of raising her child? I'm not going to settle for being not a bad father. After I found out about Hayley and her baby, I also began learning about omega pregnancy and how to raise a child. I read various parenting books, and I'm sure I didn't retain nearly enough information.
All that to say, my head hasn't been in the game for a long time. Phil's noticed it. There's no way he hasn't. Pretending now won't change the fact that we both knew this was coming to an end sooner rather than later.
"I thought fighting was the only thing I enjoyed," Remus says, his voice softer than I'm used to hearing it. "Now I have a mate and, soon, a baby. I'll enjoy those much more than any fight."
Phil shakes his head again, but it's not one of disappointment but rather someone who's still a little in disbelief that everything we've done with one another is coming to a close.
"I'm not training Jace," Phil says, his voice too serious for the way he's trying to fight the laughter trying to tug at his lips. "That boy isn't a fighter. It's like watching Henry try to fight."
"You sure? Maybe he's just growing into it."
"That alpha and his beast enjoy watching any and everyone fight more than they enjoy the fight itself," Phil says, his words very pointed, but we aren't picking up what he's saying. Phil frowns, rubs at his eyes, and lets out an exasperated sigh. "I thought that omega of yours would get you up to date on having intimate feelings."
Remus growls, the sound forcing our mentor to bow his head in submission. He relents almost immediately, the action making us feel terrible since we don't like making those we care about, besides Hayley in the bedroom, submit just because we can. Remus won't apologize, though. The idiot thinks he's too good for it.
"What I meant was, Jace and his beast would probably be able to blow off some steam better if they were doing something like what your brother-in-law does," Phil says, holding his hands up to make sure Remus doesn't think he's a threat. Even if we thought he was, his words have us throwing up a little in our mouth.
"Ew." Our lips curl back, our nose crinkles.
Phil, realizing Remus isn't upset with him anymore, drops his hands and laughs. "I'm just saying, he's not the best in the ring. He should find something he actually enjoys, and if it's his beast that needs something to do, well…" He lets his voice trail off.
"He'll train until he tells us he doesn't want to anymore," Remus says, putting an end to the other half of the conversation. The half that we'll never mention to anyone ever. We're not about to be the ones to give Jace the idea that he might enjoy working at a heat clinic or a strip club catered to omegas oranything like that. If it's what he wants, he can do that, but not on my advice.
"Fine, but maybe let him be under your training," Phil says, his lip quirking.
He knows damn well he needs something to do in his spare time and will be the one training Jace. He'll probably be at the gym when I'm teaching classes, too, because the man has nothing better to do and his omega told him he needed a hobby after retiring.
"Yeah, sure," Remus shakes his head.
Phil checks his wristwatch just as someone comes barging through the locker room doors. The beta looks frazzled as he looks from the phone in his hand up to Phil and me. He drops his gaze when he sees Remus is out, not needing to submit, but knowing it makes most beasts happier if he does. Remus doesn't care. He knows he's strong. It's easier not to say anything about it, though, and just let them do their jobs.
"Time for you to walk out. Kyle is making his walk now," the beta says.
Remus takes a deep breath, pushing against his knees as he stands. Phil claps him on the back, and Remus has to bite his growl back. He doesn't like being unnecessarily touched by anyone, which is something Phil likes to get away with because we've known him our entire adult life.
I like it when Hayley touches me.
