Page 8 of Omega Dragon Manny
I chose to leave.
Leaving didn’t mean we couldn’t see our families, but it did cut us out of the community support and employment opportunities.
Flight life wasn’t for me, and I’d never turned back, although I was sure the Alpha would have allowed me to if I’d wanted.
He’d tried to negotiate with my father a couple of times to have me as a mate. It was a thousand percent the reason why I’d immediately chosen to go to the human world when the timecame. He wasn’t an alphahole or anything. He just wasn’t a match for me, even if he was considered a prize by most, being powerful, rich, and gorgeous. On paper, he was the trifecta of alphas.
“Hey, I didn’t know you were in this town.”
“Yeah. I’m getting a coffee.” I didn’t want to admit that I lived here, or worked here, or anything. I left that life and didn’t want to become their afternoon tea.
“You know Alpha Jason has been looking for you.”
“Well, he can keep looking. I left, according to our customs. I’ve got a new life. And if I had wanted to accept his offers, I would have.” I was far more snappy than I needed to be, but I couldn’t help it. The thought of leaving these three little ones and Clark stirred up my dragon.
I’d been lucky about the negotiations with my father. Historically, a lot of dragons would have been promised behind their backs, but my parents weren’t like that. They always believed we should have the right to choose how we lived our lives.
This was where I belonged. Even if I wanted to leave, I didn’t think I could. My life was better because Clark and the triplets were in it. No way was I giving up that until I had no choice.
“It was nice to see you,” I said, needing to go because my dragon was feeling cornered.
I backed the rest of the way out of the shop and walked to the park, where a couple of nannies I often saw there were waiting.
“It’s been days.” Sally waved. “I was beginning to think we were going to need to build a boat.”
“Wait, was that a crack at me?” Noah, the manny to a family of a six-, five-, four-, and three-year-old, said.
“It wasn’t, but I suppose it could be.” Sally chuckled.
And just like that, the conversation about my past was over and I was back where I belonged.
8
CLARK
I don’t know what I would have done if Beau hadn’t come into our lives. I’d been barely making it through the day and work had been slow then. Now? Now that wasn’t the case.
Work had been over-the-top busy. From the time I stepped into the office to the time I was able to break away for the day, usually after the sun was long down. I was working nonstop and multitasking the entire time. I hadn’t had a lunch break all week, and bathroom breaks…yeah, they only came when there was absolutely no choice. It was getting to the point of being unsustainable.
I kept reminding myself it wasn’t permanent. I had a really big meeting coming up for a project I’d been working on for months, on top of all the new stuff that kept piling in. I made this project my priority. I had to if I was going to achieve my goals of becoming partner within the next millennium at this rate.
But as much as I told myself this was temporary, the truth was that the second this project got done, another would be in its place, and then another and another and another. The second we no longer had that next big project, we were cooked. Ourbusiness model relied on it. It was time I came to terms with that.
It was nearly dark out, and from the looks of what I still had left to do, I was going to be going home late again. Beau had been great about my schedule; not a single complaint came from his lips. He even left dinner for me every night, something I told him repeatedly he didn’t need to do. He wasn’t our personal servant. He was there to help take care of the kids. And when I tried to get him to record extra hours so I could pay him more, he adamantly refused.
I did my best to track them, but with him waking up while I was still asleep to care for the kids, I wasn’t sure how accurate I was. It was safe to say he was getting a huge bonus come Christmas time.
My phone was buzzing nonstop, but I had to finish the document I was on. When I finally looked, there were messages from people at work. Those were to be expected. But then there was one that made my stomach drop.
It was an automated message from the pediatrician saying that I missed the triplets’ wellness check. It would be easy to blame it on Beau. He was their caregiver during the day and he kept track of all their comings and goings. But truth was, I didn’t remember telling him about it. And even if I had, I was still their guardian, not him. He didn’t deserve being the scapegoat.
I’d completely spaced on the appointment, and I felt like shit about it. The triplets had been let down enough in their short lives. I needed to be better than that. Maybe this wellness visit wouldn’t prove that important. They’d go in and the doctor would say everything was perfect. But the thing with wellness visits was that they often caught the things people who sawthe child daily might miss. So while the kids seemed perfect to me, missing the visits was kinda a big deal. At least to me, as someone new to this parenting thing, it was.
I picked up my desk phone and called Leroy in the next office over. I could’ve walked over there, but I didn’t want to waste the time.
“Yeah, boss?” He always called me that, and it was annoying.
I wasn’t his boss. Yes, I guess technically I was a level above him, but I wasn’t his direct supervisor. Both of us had our evaluations done by the same person. At first I thought he was being passive aggressive when I got my promotions, but now I suspected it was his way of praising my accomplishments, and I’d long stopped telling him to just call me Clark.
