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“You said you wanted to talk to Ricky,” said Frederick, now back in human form. “You talked and he gave you his answer.” He walked past his brother and put his hand on Morgan’s shoulder. “Don’t make this worse than it already is.” His voice was gentler than it had been earlier, his expression almost remorseful. He squeezed Morgan’s shoulder. “Go home, Alpha Peters. There’s nothing for you in Blue Mountain.”
As he stared at the closed window, Morgan thought of Keith Iredell’s bottomless rage and sorrow when he fought in defense of the dead mate he had barely known. He thought of his brother, full of life and energy one day and gone the next. He thought of his sister, ambitious and smart and taken from this earth before she could realize her full potential. He thought of his father, insightful and dedicated to his pack and ripped away from them in his prime. He thought of his mother, gentle and kind to every person they met and losing her life in a violent inferno.
Yes, fate could be that cruel. And Morgan no longer had the willpower or desire to fight against it.
Chapter 7
Head tilted to the side, Ricky considered his son’s eyes as he changed his diaper. “Darker than yesterday.” They had been a deep blue when The Baby was born, but now they were definitely brown.
If he had a phone, he could take pictures and then compare them day by day to see if he was right about those eyes changing colors. But he didn’t have a job so he couldn’t pay for a phone and he refused to take anything from the Blue Mountain pack; or at least, he refused to take anything other than food and board and baby supplies and medical care, so basically, everything he needed. Even if he accepted the phone they’d offered him, the only people who would call him on it would be his parents, who believed he was away on pack business, which was what Brian had told them to protect him. Because his parents had no idea why he had left town or that he had met his mate or that he had manipulated his mate or that he had gotten pregnant as a result of said manipulation or that they were grandparents, he couldn’t ask for their help, which meant that he had nobody to turn to except Brian Berger, who Ricky resented for basically doing the very thing Ricky had asked for when he ran from his mate. He was a mess.
Irritated, he pressed the heels of his hands against his eyes and wiped away wetness. “I don’t need to talk to anyone,” he said to nobody. “No reason for me to be upset about not having a phone.” Not that the lack of phone was the source of his stress. “Even if I had one for pictures, The Baby wouldn’t like the flash, so this is better.”
The Baby probably wouldn’t mind him opening the blinds and letting in some sunlight, maybe even opening the window to get fresh air into the room. His brain helpfully supplied a reminder of the last time he had opened that window to see his mate surrounded by threatening Alphas, demoralizing himself in front of them, all because of his him.
“I’m not going to throw up.” He closed his eyes and took in deep breaths as he fastened the diaper by memory. Four weeks of parenthood had given him the ability to perform this task blind, a useful skill when his eyes were swollen and burning, which was nearly all the time. Newborns were supposed to cry a lot, or so he had heard, but The Baby was quiet, other than the occasional gurgles. Ricky, on the other hand, couldn’t stop blubbering. “I’m not going to throw up and I’m not going to cry.”
“Ricky?” A light tap sounded on the bedroom door.
“I’m in here,” he announced unnecessarily. He hadn’t left the room since The Baby’s birth. He didn’t have to brush his hair or get dressed or field very carefully worded questions about how he was feeling. “I’m in here and I’m not having an anxiety attack,” he mumbled under his breath.
“Can I come in?” Simon asked.
“Of course.”
This was the Blue Mountain Alpha’s house and Simon was the Blue Mountain Alpha’s brother-in-law. They both knew Ricky didn’t have any right to keep him out, or really, any rights at all. But Simon was big on Ricky feeling empowered, whatever that meant, so he always knocked and asked permission for things and sought his opinion. It was exhausting, frankly, and Ricky would have expected another Omega to understand that, but he had come to realize that Simon didn’t appreciate the value in their roles. At least that was his assumption based on Simon’s tone when he spoke about Alphas. Well, Alphas other than his own. The man was moony when he uttered Mitchell’s name.
