Page 10 of The Omega's Secret Baby

Eli bit his lower lip. For some reason, the question seemed to make him even more uncomfortable than he already was.

“I'm seven!” the child announced proudly. “I'm in second grade already.”

“Really?” I'd expected him to be a little younger. If this kid was seven already, Eli must have gotten himself pregnant very quickly after I'd left, and I wasn't sure what to think of that. Not that I had any right to thinkanythingof that. I'd gotten married, after all.

It didn't matter that I'd still secretly thought of Eli on my wedding night.

“It was very nice seeing you, Matt,” Eli said. “But we have to go home now. It's nearly Jake's bed time.”

So his name was Jake, huh?

“I don't want to go to bed yet,” Jake protested. “What about our snowball fight?”

“Only boys who behave in school get to stay up longer.”

“I'll be good!”

“Good,” Eli said, taking his son's small hand in his own. “Then we can have a snowball fight tomorrow.”

Jake eyed him suspiciously. “Promise?”

“Promise.”

Jake huffed, but didn't say anymore after that.

“We'll be on our way.” Eli looked at me. “You probably shouldn't stay out too long either,” he advised me in a soft tone and I couldn't help but feel reminded of the time we'd hidden away in one of my parents' cabins in the woods and he'd used this same tone of voice to remind me that 'we probably shouldn't be here.' But he’d surrendered just as soon as I’d run my hand into his soft hair and touched my lips to his.

The memory sent a shiver down my spine. I’d never felt as strongly about anyone as I felt about this omega. But I couldn’t hang on to that. I’d left him, and he was a mated man now, even if my senses didn't want to believe it.

“Goodbye, Eli. Jake.”

“Goodbye, Matt.”

“Bye, Matt!” Jake echoed.

Fiona sniffed on my leg. I crouched to pet her head. “Goodbye, old girl.”

Eli had to tug on her leash to get her away from me, and it was like he tugged on my heartstrings at the same time. A part of me wanted to jump up and stop Eli from leaving, but that was ridiculous. What more could I say to him?

Nothing.

5

Elias

Iwentdown into the living room after I'd tucked Jake in bed and found my brother sitting on the couch with his laptop. He was probably busy with some sort of work, but I couldn't worry about that now. I needed to talk to someone. And since Griff was the only one I'd ever told about Matt, he was the only one I could talkto.

“Matthew Lowell is back in town,” I announced, grabbing his attention. He turned away from the laptop’s screen and looked at me.

“I hadn’t heard.”

“Me neither.” I chewed my bottom lip. A nervous habit I’dthoughtI’d quit. Apparently not. “I ran into him in the park. Well, actually, Jake ran into him. Literally.”

Griff raised an eyebrow at me. I couldn’t blame him. My life was officially weird. “You mean you met him while you were out on your walk?”

“Yes!”

Griff put the laptop aside now. “Tell me more.”