Page 21 of Ondine: Vol. 2

She needs me more than I even thought. I’d been teasing her and egging her on to get her to show that omega side of hers, the one that’s all animalistic and stunning, but I didn’t realize until this morning she’s been purposefully repressing it. I’m the king of managing my nature, if I can tame mine, I can certainly help her unleash hers. It’s probably the same fucking method.

My mom is still begging me. Guilting me.

“Freddie, your family needs you. Your father needs you. You cannot abandon us.”Again. She wants to say it so badly. I can feel the word floating unsaid in the air. “Please come. Stay the night. Is it a money thing? I can get you money.”

“Mom, it’s not a money thing.” It’s never been a money thing.

We will go over there, but we aren’t staying for long. I need to talk to my father about Man-ho.

“Ok, I’ll be coming over soon. And we will talk then.” She gushes how happy she is and it bothers me as much as her guilting me. She’s happy because she thinks I just agreed to stay longer.

Ondine sent Sebastian on another errand after he returned with her prescriptions, and he’s already giving her the bags of clothes she had him pick up. He’s now sitting uncomfortablyon one couch, pretending not to be listening to the phone conversation.

“Sabbies,” I say, acknowledging him.

“Freddie.”

“I appreciate you sticking around and helping out. We’re going to the Wong house. You don’t need to wait around for us. I’m sure you have things you need to do.”

He doesn’t reply for the longest time.

“Respectfully, Freddie, I don’t want to be separated from her. If I leave now, will this be it?” And in a quiet voice, he says, “I can’t say goodbye.”

The realization dawns on me and hurts to even consider. This isn’t it! We are all supposed to be together. Aren’t we? But I can understand his fear. There’s nothing tying the two of them. The contract is void. There’s no official declaration of courting on record. I’m very much within my rights to keep her all to myself. And any alpha with good sense would take her away, make sure she is well bonded to me and only me. I have no pack. I have no affiliations. The Meier Pack has never given me an offer.

I haven’t even registered us, but my claim is strong. She’s my scent match. Though, Dr. Chen is a mandated reporter and will most likely start our registration as soon as she can. I’ll have to go in and finish it out.

Killer hops in Sebastian’s lap.

“I understand,” I say, planning on saying more, but nothing comes out.

“Promise me you’ll ask her about me. I want…Freddie, I want to stay with you. But I understand I’m a third wheel here. Since you bonded, neither of you have invited me to the nest. And I may have misread Ondine’s possessiveness when she told me not to touch Boone…”

I cut him off. “No. I don’t think you misread that. She claimed you, right?”

He gives me a look. He’s right though. Ondine didn’t ask for him to come into the nest. And neither did I. We’ve only been using him as a butler.

“Maybe until you guys know what’s going on, I should keep my distance. But just know, I won’t let this be a separation.”

I stay quiet. I feel like I’ll say something stupid.

He stands and sets Killer down on the seat next to him. She’s very upset he moved.

“I didn’t realize you were her scent match until the doctor said. I’ve been such a fool.”

Fuck.

Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

He heads down the hallway just as Ondine emerges all ready. She’s wearing a short pink linen dress. It’s a delicate light pink and has a bow on the front. She has a white cardigan in her hands. God, she looks beautiful. She and Sabbies stand together in the hallway.

“Sabbies, are you leaving? We will be back later,” she says.

“I’m going to go to the peninsula.”

“You’re leaving?”

“Yes,” he says, like he wasn’t just telling me how desperately he wanted to stay.