Page 78 of Glitterati Omega

Winston had made it home from the office before he returned from the hospital. The alpha rushed to greet him at the door, drawing him into an embrace. “Is everything okay?” he asked when he pulled back. “Charli said you went to the hospital.”

“I’m all right.” He tried to avoid the alpha’s gaze, knowing full well that Winston wasn’t going to like to hear that Rupert had been so sick he needed fluids. He wondered if the lawyer would try to call everything off. “I … um, needed aniv.”

Winston’s grip on his shoulders intensified.

“Just for fluids,” Rupert clarified. “Because …”

Winston searched his face, clearly distraught. Rupert huffed and looked away. “Because the procedure worked. I’m pregnant now, and the morning sickness is a little—”

“It made youthatsick?” Winston shook his head.

“It’s not that bad!”

“You couldn’t keep water down!” Charli called from the kitchen.

“Couldn’t …” Winston turned back to him, a determined frown on his face.

“You can’t call it off now,” Rupert protested, although it was more of a whine than he wanted.

Winston’s eyes narrowed. “We could,” he said.

“No!” Rupert cried and wrested free. “You can’t do that to me.”

“It’s making you sick!” Winston retorted. “You didn’t tell me it would make you sick, so sick you’d have to go to the hospital!”

“I didn’t know it would!”

“This is exactly why I say omegas shouldn’t bother with this. It isrisky, it is making you sick—what if you die?”

“I’m not going to die,” Rupert scoffed.

Winston paused in his pacing, hands on his head. “My mother did,” he said, his tone low and dangerous.

Rupert blinked. “But we visited your mothers. They’re both fine.”

“Mama Thandiwe is my mother,” Winston said, “although our people do not think of our relations quite the same way. She is Mother’s second wife, so Mama Thandiwe is still my mother but not the omega who gave birth to me.”

“Oh,” Rupert said simply, then wrung his hands. “I didn’t know.”

Winston shook his head. “My brother,” he said. Then he looked at Rupert. “He died too.”

“Oh,” Rupert said again.

Winston pressed his lips together, then looked away. “Let’s go sit,” he said at length. “You should be resting.”

He took Rupert gently by the hand and led him into one of the smaller sitting rooms. Rupert perched on one of the sofas, staring blankly ahead.

“Is that why you’re so up in arms about omegas getting pregnant?” he asked at last.

Winston sighed and sat down opposite of him. “In simple terms, yes. It is a scary, dangerous thing. Even when omegas live, sometimes they are not well for a very long time after. Sometimes, it does permanent damage.”

“Like Mandisa.”

“Like Mandisa. She has nearly died with all her children. She has pain so often. She walks with a limp because of the damage. Joni, another cousin, she had to use a diaper for months after her second child, because she was ripped open.”

Rupert swallowed. Winston gazed steadily at him. “Mama Thandiwe is a midwife, remember. I have seen many,manythings. Not just death.”

The alpha sighed and looked away then. “But—you know. It is everywhere.tv. Movies. Books. Even other omegas. They all talk about having babies. But nobody talks about how dangerous it is. Nobody talks about maybe dying or never walking without pain again. I hate that. I hate that so many omegas think that they must have babies, to put themselves through this, to be complete.”