Page 105 of Sincerely, Pack Pucked
“Devin?” she asked sleepily, her voice pained.
“And Percy,” my pack mate said as he crawled into the nest behind her, wrapping his arm around her from behind.
“I’m so sorry.” She sniffed.
“You?” My chest pinched. “You have nothing to be sorry for. This was on us. We shouldn’t have left.”
Mable gripped her head, like even my voice was too much for her to hear right now. She nuzzled deeper into my chest, hiding her face in the fabric of my shirt. Percy smoothed his hand up and down her back, slow patterns that were light and soft.
“Just rest, princess.” I sucked in a shaky breath, nearly cracking right down to my core because of how our sweet Mable looked. “We’re not going anywhere.”
A tiny nod registered, and then Percy and I just lay there with her. I tried to force as much comforting energy toward her as I could, stroking the back of her head lightly, so as not to overwhelm her.
I’d done this to her. The pack lead didn’t bother with informing himself about what a pregnant omega needed, and now, I’d gotten Mable sick by slacking on my duties. I was going to get her through this…because I had to. I would never forgive myself for this oversight, and everything else was going to take a back seat to making sure Mable was okay.
Never again, princess. I’ll never leave you like that ever again.
Chapter 40
Saint
“You guys know you’re needed here!” the coach growled as he paced the conference room. “It's the start of the season. This is when shit gets serious, and you guys are some of our best players. Half of your appeal is that you are a unit. Why the hell would Devin and Percy need to run away in the middle of a game?”
I took a deep breath. It was already hard enough to keep myself from sprinting out of this damn room to be with Mable, and now the coach was having a fit.
“Look, it's personal, and we didn't really want to bring it up with the team because she wants her privacy right now, but we have an omega…”
The coach stopped his pacing and turned to us with a frown. “Oh. Well, that's easily sorted. She can come to the games, and if she doesn't want to be seen by the public, she can stay in one of the boxes. If you guys are freshly bonded, you can’t handle a few days apart. You really should have told us if you were going to bond, but I'm past expecting you guys to listen to us.”
Jasper grimaced. We didn't have that long to talk with the coach, considering Devin and Percy had dashed out of the arena like their asses were on fire, simply telling us the bare minimum.“It's not exactly that straightforward. We're not actually bonded yet.”
That was the crux of the problem. If we were officially bonded, then our contracts included some leniencies we could take advantage of to be with our newly bonded omega. But none of us had felt like pushing it on Mable, even if right now, I sort of wished we had. If only because then she wouldn’t be dealing with this. She’d be here.
With us.
The coach cocked his head to the side. “If you're not bonded, then what is the issue? Are you planning to bond soon? If so, I’d really appreciate it if you did so when it wouldn't impact your game schedule.”
“It's not that simple. Mable is pregnant. She’s shy and quite quiet, and we've been gradually building a relationship, but she’ll be giving birth in a couple of months.”
His eyes bugged out of his head. “If you guys are about to have a baby, then you're going to want to take paternity leave. Fuck! We're at the start of the season!”
Crap. Paternity leave. I hadn’t even considered that. We’d all assumed that we’d be there with Mable and the baby. Dammit.
“We haven't exactly thought about it, if I'm honest, but we just got news that Mable has fallen sick. That's why Percy and Devin had to go.”
Jensen was leaning against the far wall, his arms crossed as he watched us talk to the coach. “Mable's doctor called me. It sounded like she was in pretty bad condition because these guys had no idea what separation sickness was.”
The coach's face fell, and as he sat down and exhaled heavily. “Fuck. You should have spoken to us. We've dealt with these situations before. We can find a solution that works, but I can only do that if you guys talk to me!”
Jasper nodded, casting a quick glance in my direction that had my skin itching. “Look, we're all really sorry. We're trying to find our footing. The pregnancy was unplanned, and our relationship is really new. I think we all wanted to make things more official before approaching you. We love the Chargers, and we love playing for you guys.”
“We didn't want to disappoint you,” I admitted. They had given us our first big break. We owed them everything, and the thought of coming up short of their expectations made my chest sting. But not as much as the fact that Mable was back at the penthouse in pain.Because of us.
Taking a deep breath, he ran a hand over his face. “I swear, this team is going to put me in an early grave, but I do adore all you stupid fucks.”
“What can we do to make this easier? We're both here until the team leaves in the morning. Our pack mates will take care of everything else.”
“Good. Saint”—the coach shot me a look—“perhaps you could do a little more fan service. It might distract from the fact that two of your pack mates aren't here.”
