Page 40 of Broken Alpha (Unwanted #1)

Aidyn

I slammed the condo door harder than intended, stripping off my jacket and tossing my backpack by the front door.

I was livid. Angrier than I have ever been in my damn life, and I needed fucking answers.

The apartment was dark and silent; a thick layer of spiced tea hung in the air, letting me know that Luke was still here and he was just as unhappy as I was.

I followed the scent of his pheromones until I found him in his office, the curtain drawn to darken the room as he lay on the couch in his office.

He looked even paler than this morning, dampening my rage to a smolder.

I approached him slowly, placing the skin of my wrist against his forehead and groaning when I realized he had a fever.

I knew bonding sickness was terrible, but I didn’t realize it was this bad, and I couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt as he continued to suffer through the phenomenon.

He was stubborn, refusing to let me return the mark to make him feel better, but I understood his reasoning.

He slowly opened his eyes and took a moment to focus on me before he gave a weak smile, removing my wrist from his forehead and kissing it.

“I can tell from your scent that you’re upset. What’s wrong?”

I shook my head; we could discuss what fucking James Forester told me later.

In the hallway bathroom, I ran a washcloth under cold water.

I dug through the drawers, looking for a fever reducer and growling when I couldn’t find anything.

I moved to the bathroom in the bedroom and still couldn’t find anything.

I’ll have to go out later to pick some up.

I brought the cloth to Luke’s forehead and dipped it around his temples and down his face, neck, and chest. Luke sighed softly, closing his eyes again before wrapping his hot fingers around my forearm.

“You’re upset too, Alpha,” I said softly. “And you’re burning up. You don’t have any medication.”

“I’m fine, just a headache.”

“No, it’s a fever. Your pheromones are out of control, and you’re upset. What happened while I was at school?”

Luke groaned, shaking his head and stopping immediately.

He sighed and opened his eyes to look at me.

“I have been reported for violating several of the university's codes of conduct, and my employment with the university ends in June. They kindly gave me another semester so current students can enroll in my class as they begin looking for my replacement.”

“What the actual fuck! They can’t do that! You did nothing wrong!”

“But I did.” He lifted my wrist and kissed it again. “I slept with a student, impregnated him, marked him, and attacked another student. Not to mention, my pheromones are out of whack until this illness is over. We’re lucky they’re allowing me to stay on until the end of spring.”

“So that asshole was right.” Anger surged through me, and I looked at Luke, who looked at me confused.

“I ran into our good friend, James Forester, while waiting for my ride. He was so proud of himself, stating he got you fired and that it was my fault for sleeping with you in the first place. Called me another Omega, ruining the lives of Alphas. You only attacked him to protect your mate, who is in a delicate condition.”

“There is nothing delicate about you, Aidyn. But that kid needs some serious help. The way he talks is borderline designationist. He thinks so lowly of Omegas and that they live merely to serve him simply because he got lucky and was born an Alpha.”

“Most Alphas think that way, Luke, it’s nothing new.”

“Forester doesn’t know it yet, but he will be placed on academic probation for pushing a pregnant Omega, regardless of my part in it. It’s not your fault; you know that, right?”

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes.

Some metaphysical craziness was at play when we met.

We were destined to be together, but we couldn’t fight that.

Luke tried to fight that until I came onto him in his office, and that’s why my insecurities latched onto the idea that maybe this was all my fault.

If I hadn’t made the first move, he would still have a job, but we would be strangers, and I wouldn’t be carrying his pup.

I couldn’t help but pull my arm from his hold, wrapping them around my middle.

It didn’t hit me until this moment that I wanted it.

I want our pup. I want a life where we were tired from the pup screaming at all hours of the night.

A life of Luke holding our little one, whispering to it softly as I slept on the couch, exhausted after a chest feed while he lulls our pup to sleep.

I want to chase a naked child through the hallways of our apartment, trying to dress them after a bath.

The scent of a new pup that is a slight mixture of us and the floral scent all pups had until they reached puberty.

The universe worked hard so we could be together.

I was different for Luke. I made him feel like a natural Alpha, not an imposter among his kind, and maybe the condom was forgotten that night for a reason.

I hate that things played out this way so soon, but I wouldn’t change it.

“I want it.”

Luke turned his gaze toward me, schooling his features to hide any emotion from me as he sat up slowly, the cloth falling from his forehead onto his lap. “What?”

I couldn’t stop the tears that fell down my cheeks at that moment, my arms tightening around my middle.

I couldn’t stop the inhuman sob that escaped from my throat as anxiety washed over me, mixing with fear and worry.

It was like my body was finally coming to terms with everything that had happened since my heat, and my life was changing far faster than I could keep up.

I had lost my best friend. I have a mate who is protective over me and the life we have created.

He wants me, he wants us, and I am moving in to be with him.

He wants to bond with me, and despite the fact that I want all of these things with him, it was a lot very quickly. But I want this. I want all of this.

Luke fell to his knees beside me on the floor, taking my face in his hands as he forced me to look into his concerned gaze.

“What do you want, little fawn?”

The sobs wouldn’t stop, and he pulled me against his chest as I released all the pain, fear, betrayal, and confusion over the past few days, my body shaking in his arms.

“I want this. I want us,” I practically cried out through my tears. “We have to rebuild, and I know we’ll be stronger for it, but this is the worst fucking time for this. I want our pup, but we can’t.”

“Why can’t we, baby?”

Luke’s voice rumbled through his chest, mingling with the purr that started low within him, working to soothe the anxiety that clung to me with the same ferocity as he did.

“I’m a student, and you’re about to be unemployed. How will we afford a pup?”

“Aidyn, my sweet darling boy.”

He shifted his body so that he sat on his ass, making more space for me to climb onto his lap as he reached over and grabbed his phone off the coffee table beside us.

As my sobs teetered off, he began tapping away at the screen, rocking me back and forth.

He tapped me lightly, showing me the screen.

It took my eyes a bit to adjust to the bright screen in such a dark room, but I was floored by what was on the screen. It was his bank app displaying his checking and savings accounts. It was cliche as fuck, but Luke was rich, and stupidly so.

“Did you forget that I have investment properties all over? This apartment tower being one of them. We’ll be fine.

Our pup, and any that may come after it, will want for nothing.

You will want for nothing. I taught at the university because I wanted to.

I lost a job I enjoyed. But at the same time, if I’m not teaching, I can watch over our pup while you start your career.

It’ll be okay. If you want this pup, then I’ll make sure you get what you want. ”

A fresh wave of tears flowed down my cheeks, but this time, it was for a different reason.

But before we could be truly happy, Luke steadily got worse as his bonding sickness progressed, despite his mark fading from my throat.

By the next day, he was bedridden, and his body was covered in sweat; the medication I had picked up from the pharmacy did little except curb the migraines he was having.

He struggled to keep food down, and the only thing I could get him to eat was soup.

He claimed it was easier on his stomach if it came back up.

He tried to sleep in the living room, refusing to sleep in our nest for fear of soiling it.

“Things can be washed, Luke, you need to stay here. I need you to stay here.”

He was too weak to fight me. I chose to call out of classes, emailing the professors that there was illness in the house.

They kindly sent me the homework that I needed to do to remain caught up with my missed classes.

One teacher even sent me the notes, which I was grateful for; it saved me from reaching out to the rest of the class.

I sat by Luke’s side, dipping a cool cloth in a bucket of water to wipe away the sweat from his body.

The fever eventually gave way to chills, and he struggled to remain warm while my heart hurt to see him in such distress.

I tried to coat him in our pheromones as he struggled through sleep, but it did little to help him.

But by the weekend, he seemed to be doing better, finally exiting the nest to shower.

I swear he stood under the spray for a solid hour while I loaded the nesting material into the washing machine.

He found me standing in the bedroom, staring at the bed, a thoughtful expression on my face.

“What’s wrong?”

I glanced at him and forced my eyes away from his towel-clad hips to greet his eyes.