Page 15 of Loving My Omega (The Perfect Designation Trilogy #2)

Chapter

Fifteen

I stared at my Dad for a moment. “But…that can’t be right. I mean, I have proof. Colton is the living proof.”

Dad shook his head as he flipped through a couple of pages. “That’s the thing. There is a common cancer that runs through Omegas, at least female Omegas. There is no data on males since we haven’t had one in hundreds of years. Anyways, the cancer attacks specific parts of their body. The ovaries are usually the first sign and then it will spread quick to the uterus and beyond.”

“I don’t understand.” He was throwing statistics out at me like I was supposed to follow his train of thought.

Grabbing the book, the chair appeared again and he sat down with it in his lap. “The last Omega that was born is twenty-eight years old.”

“Well, nineteen, with Colton.”

He looked at me. “That’s what I’m getting at, son. That’s the last one there should be… ever . All four of the leadership Omegas can’t have anymore children. All four of them are well beyond their years. The youngest one is a panther shifter out of Brazil. She turned eighty-six. Her youngest, and last child before she had her ovaries and uterus removed after their birth is now twenty-eight.”

I fell back in the seat and tried to wrap my head around what he was saying. The problem is that he didn’t give me any time. He was mulling through his own thoughts out loud now.

“Either Colton’s family or pack know of a secret leadership Omega hiding somewhere or there is something else going on here.” He rubbed his chin. “Are you sure he’s an Omega?”

“I’m sure.”

Dad narrowed his eyes. “Son, this is really big. If he somehow is able to make himself come off as an Omega…or if he’s lying…just to get you to pay attention to him…”

Growling, it echoed loudly through the huge hall. “He’s pregnant, Dad!”

The silence was deafening. Smacking my palm against my forehead, I rubbed my eyes for a moment to collect myself. It was honestly a valid question without knowing Colton. There was so much more to him than that, but that was the easiest way to stop my dad.

“He’s…pregnant…”

I nodded. “Yes. He’s twenty weeks as of Thursday.”

Dad’s eyebrows disappeared again. “Twenty…how long have you been courting him?”

“Officially? Three weeks.”

“You are…courting a pregnant Omega. Do you…do you know who the father is?”

Nodding, I chuckled. “I do.”

“Then…why…why would you…?”

“It’s me, Dad. I’m the father. I’d actually ran into Colton at one of our clubs last August. Do you remember when I asked you about trying to find someone? After you gave me another lecture about drinking too much and getting into trouble?”

Another long silence followed. Dad wasn’t look at me, but up at the ceiling. I’d shocked him only maybe once or twice in my life. Once was when I put my foot down that I was going straight into college after high school and the second was when I decided to break from the pack. There had been other moments but those two he was well and truly flabbergasted. I could add this one to the list.

He opened his mouth but then shut. His stare shifted back to me but he didn’t say anything. Finally, his hand fell to the book as he stroked the pages of the old book.

“I’m getting another grandchild?”

Chuckling, I nodded. “That’s what I wanted to surprise everyone with. Though, I guess I’m grateful I didn’t now. But that’s how I know. That and more. Colton may act like a Beta and try to force himself to be a Beta but he isn’t. No matter what he is the sweetest and kindest shifter. Even with all the things he’s gone through. He’s soft and delicate in personality. Though he is stubborn and will fight me tooth and nail sometimes.”

Dad tapped his nose and shook his head. “Then where did he come from? How was he born? Do you know what level he is?”

I shook my head. “He’s never been tested. In everything, he’s a Beta-1.” Pausing, I narrowed my eyes. “I think there might be something his pack knows though, now that I think about it. It would make sense.”

“Do they know he’s an Omega?”

“No. Only three other people know that Colton is an Omega. His two best friends and Raine Cardiff.”

My dad cocked his head to the side. “Raine? Why would she know?”

“She runs a clinic out of the city. Out of the back she helps Omegas. Colton has been going to her for his checkups.” I continued my previous thought. “His pack basically wanted nothing to do with him. A few months ago though, he broke the pack connection. Since then, they have been hounding him to come back. Sending his siblings, warriors, and even his father. It doesn’t make sense how much they are pushing to get him back if they never wanted him in the first place.”

“Unless they know something.”

Nodding, I laced my fingers together. “Exactly. If they knew he was an Omega, he would have never seen the light of day. But if they knew something else…something that had to do with him or however he was born an Omega…”

“I’ll try digging around. These things tend to leave paper trails.” He smirked. “And you know how much I love a paper trail to sniff out.”

Chuckling, I nodded. “Is there any information about the last male Omega? Colton has been…wasting away. He said it’s morning sickness but I think he’s jumped past that and gotten into the Hyperemesis Gravidarum. His weight has dropped so much and I’m so worried.”

“Let’s see.”

Dad stood up and the chair, desk, books, and even whatever he was drinking disappeared. He walked further down the bookshelves. Getting up, the chair under me disappeared as I followed him. This place really was never ending. We came to another break in the bookshelves and a taller table with stools appeared. Dad disappeared down one of the aisles and I sat at the stool, looking at the book that had appeared on the desk.

“I’ve got…a few journals. There might be medical journals as well but those will take longer to go through. Plus, there is a lot about Rafael.”

My brow furrowed. “The Dragon Savior?”

He chuckled. “Is that how they teach it these days? I wouldn’t quite call him that. While he did help repopulate the dragon race and bring them back from extinction…I wouldn’t quite call him a savior. He was an Omega. A perfect Omega.”

“An Omega-10?”

“Yes, in today’s terms. He was alive over two thousand or so years ago. Not to mention he was a spiritual, celestial and void dragon.”

I looked up from the book. “Spiritual and void? Do those even exist anymore?”

“No. They don’t. I’ll grab what I know of. There isn’t going to be a lot. At least not specific to male Omegas. Even when there were more of them they were maybe ten percent of all Omegas out there. Colton would be an outlier in more ways than one.”

Nodding, I skimmed the pages of the book in front of me. It was an account from an Omega shifter after getting out of the Auctions. Colton had mentioned them but I didn’t know too much about them. Dad put another three books on the table and leaned against it, looking at me.

“So…do you know the gender of my new grandbaby?”

Looking up, I raised my eyebrow. “ Grandbaby ? You have three already with a fourth coming from Keith.”

“Yeah, but this is your first. Your mother is going to be ecstatic, and then simultaneously kill you.”

Letting out a big sigh, I shook my head. “We don’t know the gender yet. He can’t have any blood tests done because it would go through the system. I think he said next appointment, through the ultrasound, we will find out.”

Dad hummed and sat up on the stool. “You’ll need to tell Keith.”

“I don’t want to talk to him. Not for a while. Not until he can get his head pulled out of his own ass.”

Chortling, my dad shook his head. “That might be asking a bit much out of your brother.”

My eyes widened and my head whipped to him. “Dad!”

“What? You said it!”

“You’re not supposed to agree!”

He threw his head back and laughed. “I think you two are old enough to handle the truth. I’m too old to be sugar coating everything.”

“Dad, you’re not that old.”

“Son, I’m turning a hundred and sixty-five next year. I am old. Your mother found a grey hair on my head.”

Rolling my eyes, I shook my head. “I could tell you what Colt told me.”

He smiled. “What was that?”

“He said that according to my life span, I am an eighth into life.”

“And?”

I smirked. “An eighth into his lifetime he would be fifteen years old.”

Dad roared as he laughed. “I like him already! What is he studying?”

“Ancient History.”

My dad leaned in, looking at me skeptically. “You’re lying.”

“I’m not. He might even know Ancient Draconic. I haven’t asked.”

“You’re not…he…you know…he would be the first but…”

Glaring at my dad, I shook my head. “Can we not think that far into the future, please ? I need get him to agree to move out of his stupid apartment that has no heat and no room to even walk around. Then I somehow need to get him from fleeing the country because the entire world is against him. Not to mention somehow to get him to gain twenty pounds by yesterday to be even be in the safe zone for his pregnancy.”

I slipped off my glasses, knowing with my dad at least my crystals would be enough. “I don’t even know what to do. It was hard enough, just trying to get him to accept me, accept help. Now, he has and I don’t know how to do that.”

“Marcus, no matter who you mate, there will always be something. Yes, Colton is complicated but those are all factors that don’t matter. Only one factor does matter. Because if you have that, then it will make everything else a lot easier.”

“What? Communication?”

He laughed but shook his head. “While important, no. Love, son. If you actually love each other, want to be together, there will always be a way. That’s half the battle. A battle that right now, two of your brothers are losing. Everything else…might not seem as complicated but it’s far worse because they don’t have that simple foundation.”

Looking back down at book in front of me, I turned the page. “I’m worried that his feelings aren’t as strong as mine. I love him, Dad. I know I do. He’s…” I tried to form it into words but I couldn’t. “Everything. I think I understand why poets were so revered when they talk about love. Words fail to grasp the magnitude of the feeling itself.”

“Spoken like a man in love.” Dad smiled at me. “I am so happy for you. I know you were struggling but neither your mom or I wanted to step in because we knew that you needed to find yourself. I’d rather you take the time and do a bit of spiraling before settling down than after.”

“I haven’t taken a drink…since the 6 th of November. I just…I can’t. Colton makes me want to be better. He deserves me at my best,. He’s already seen me at my worst and he didn’t run. So, I can’t do that again.”

My dad placed his hand on my arm. “That’s what means to love. Welcome to club. It’s terrifying sometimes. Because that person means more to you than life itself. It’s all worth it though. Every pain and tear and worry and frustration is outweighed by the happiness and excitement and laughter and the love. Your mother has given me so much, given my life so much more worth than I ever thought possible.”

“And frustration.”

He laughed. “That too. She’s stubborn, neurotic, cold, and I swear every time she shoves her icy hands up my shirt and puts them on my back…I want to scream.”

There was a smile the graced his face though. It softened all his features as he thought about Mom. The two of them were fated and it hadn’t started out as love at first sight. Dad was mated to someone else and they had to work out their feeling but now, over sixty years later, the two of them continued to love each other unconditionally. That was the look he had on his face now. The look of loving someone unconditionally.

“But I don’t think I would survive without her. She completes me. It was the only thing I wanted for you kids. I wish I could help Peter and Keith more. They will need to find their way on their own though. At least Beatrice got it. Lauren and her I know have what your mother and I have. Something I hope you will have too.”

“I need a way to get Colton to at least talk to me. Open up to me. Communicate with me. I don’t…I don’t even know if it’s all just me. There are moments I know it’s not but…”

My dad sighed. “From what it sounds like, he’s been hiding himself away for a long time.”

“Well, yeah…”

“Why would you think that doesn’t apply to his feelings too?”

I stared at him and he gave me a soft smile.

“Son, not to ruffle feathers, but how many times has the poor boy tried to love someone? How many times has he wanted to love but knows that it was too much of a risk? You said he has two friends but I bet their biggest complaint is that he doesn’t open up enough to them. Even though they have known him for longer than you have.”

Chuckling, I nodded. “His best friend was just complaining about that.”

“Exactly. He’s had to hid away. At some point, that fear takes over and you lose everything you are. You losing the ability to feel love because you think it is unattainable.”

“Right but how to I help him see that it’s okay. That I’m safe.”

Dad smiled brightly. “By loving him, Marcus. Lead by example. Show him and he can follow your lead.”