11. Chapter 11

Chapter 11

BLAKE

" W hy don't you go out today?" Dad suggested, handing me a cup of tea as I walked into the kitchen. "Enjoy your day off. Frey wants to spend the day with me, don't you, Frey?"

"No," she replied, not looking up from her colouring. "I want Uncle Blake to ask his friend, Inika, to come over and play restaurant with me."

"She's not really my friend, Frey," I replied, immediately regretting it as my niece looked up, giving me a sharp-eyed look.

"What is she, then?"

Dad coughed awkwardly, busying himself making toast.

"My… client. I'm doing some work on her house."

"Can't she be your friend, too?"

I took a long sip of my tea, delaying my answer. "I guess so."

Freya nodded, satisfied. "That's good. You don't really have any friends, do you?"

"That's a bit harsh, Frey," Dad laughed.

"He doesn't though," she insisted. "Uncle Blake, you should try being nice to people so they'll be your friend. I ask people to sit with me at lunch and then we play together. Have you tried that?"

I smiled in spite of myself. "I'll give it a go."

"Okay. Ask Inika if she'll come over and then she can sit with you at lunch."

Dad snorted. "You walked right into that one, son."

Apparently so. My phone dinged, and I pulled it out of my pocket as an excuse to get out of the conversation, expecting to find a marketing email.

Inika: I don't suppose you and Freya would like to join me for afternoon tea at The Alinac? I made a booking weeks ago that I'd forgotten all about it.

After a few seconds, another message came through.

Inika: To be clear, I know you this is not your thing and that you'll probably hate it. I just thought Freya might enjoy herself.

It sounded fucking awful, but Freya would love it. And she never got the chance to do things like that—the concept of a fancy afternoon tea at an expensive hotel had never occurred to me.

Shit, the concept of a regular afternoon tea had never occurred to me.

Blake: Freya would love that. Are you sure? Wouldn't you rather go with friends?

I assumed Inika had those, though she never mentioned them. Maybe it was just because the subject had never come up? I didn't talk about my friends either.

As Freya had astutely pointed out, I didn't have any.

Inika: I'm positive.

She sent me through the details and I exhaled heavily, looking up at Freya who was now decorating her unicorn picture with rainbow stickers.

"You're in luck, Frey. Inika asked if we want to go and have afternoon tea with her today at a nice hotel. You got a pretty dress or something to wear?"

Freya shrieked, tossing the stickers aside and jumping down from the table. "Yes! I'm going to go find it right now. Thank you, Uncle Blake!"

She leaped at me and I caught her with ease, swinging her up so she could wrap her arms around my neck and give me a squeeze before grumbling about my scratchy beard and demanding to be put down again.

The moment she'd vanished into the hall, I was forced to make eye contact with my dad, who was watching me with interest.

"This Inika sounds like a generous client."

I grunted in agreement, suddenly feeling like a guilty schoolboy all over again.

"Anything we need to talk about, son?"

"Not really."

Dad laughed. "Suit yourself. You never did tell me anything. Just be smart. Especially with Freya involved. You know she can be a bit funny around women."

I gave Dad a pointed look. "The kid just wants someone to talk to. And Inika is an omega, and she feels for Freya's situation." I shifted uncomfortably. "She wants to help. She's… nice."

"Thought she was a posh bird?"

"She is. And she's nice." Saying the words out loud made me confront the fact that I'd assumed she wasn't. I'd made a lot of assumptions about Inika, and they'd all been wrong. I'd been rude to her right from the moment I'd met her. And for some reason, Inika never seemed to hold it against me.

An odd feeling that may have been guilt settled in the pit of my stomach. I had to do better where Inika was concerned. Not because we were ever going to have any kind of relationship beyond what we had now, but because…

Well, just because she deserved better.

Dad shrugged, looking away at the uncomfortable reminder that Freya didn't have any omegas in her life anymore. "I trust that you know what you're doing. And it'll be a nice treat for Frey. Leo has been… well, he hasn't made much of an effort this week."

That was probably the closest Dad would ever get to criticising my idiot brother, so I made sure to savour it even if it didn't make me feel any better.

Hearing that Leo was acting like a prick didn't make him any less of one. It just reminded me that we were all still suffering for his choices.

A few hours later, we met Inika in the foyer of an expensive-looking hotel that had me wanting to crawl out of my own skin. Freya skipped across the marble floor in her purple party dress and rainbow fairy wings, throwing her arms around Inika's waist like they were old friends.

It made my chest feel strange. Today was a day of strange physical reactions.

"I'm so glad you could make it," Inika said, beaming up at me. She looked ridiculously, effortlessly elegant, in a cream linen dress and dainty gold jewellery that probably cost more than my van. If she thought there was anything weird about Freya's fairy outfit, she didn't say it. In fact, she made a show of admiring her sparkly wings.

"Thank you for inviting us," Freya said solemnly, suddenly remembering her manners.

"Yes. Thanks," I added gruffly because my niece was giving me an expectant look and I was trying to be less of an asshole.

Inika's smile turned coy for a moment, as though she had me all figured out, before we headed over to our table.

Fortunately, Inika seemed perfectly in control and knew how it all worked because I'd have been completely lost in a swanky joint like this. I was slightly jealous that Freya got to eat off the kids afternoon menu. The portions were still stupidly small, but they were less pretentious than the adult versions.

What the fuck did "macerated" even mean? I wasn't sophisticated enough for this.

"Are you enjoying your organic cucumber sandwich?" Inika asked me politely, somehow looking perfectly composed and on the verge of laughter all at once.

"It's my favourite," I deadpanned. "How did you know?"

Inika's smile widened, eyes sparkling mischievously. "One of my many talents. I looked at you and thought ‘ah. There's a man who appreciates a bite-sized organic cucumber sandwich,' and what do you know—I was right. I just know you'll adore the cauliflower tartlet."

"Sounds delicious," I replied drily, narrowing my gaze at Inika before eyeing Freya's cheddar cheese on white bread enviously, wondering if she'd would tell me off if we stopped for fish and chips on the way home. How was anyone meant to get full off food this small?

"How was school last week, Freya?" Inika asked, taking her attention off me, which was probably a good thing since I was trying to be on my best behaviour, and the challenging look in her eyes made it difficult.

"Good," Freya replied around a mouthful of bread. "Sierra, in my class, told me I shouldn't be allowed to go to school because omegas should stay home."

Inika frowned. "Well, that's rude. And wrong. What did you say?"

"I told her that I'd punch her in the face like my dad taught me."

I choked on my organic cucumber, spluttering for breath while Inika took an elegant sip of her tea, completely unruffled.

"And what did Sierra say to that?" Inika asked, leaning forwards in her seat.

"That she'd kick me in the face. So I told the teacher that Sierra said she'd kick me in the face but not that I said I'd punch her. And then Sierra got in trouble." My angelic little niece took another bite of her sandwich, looking incredibly proud of herself.

Her poor teacher.

Though, I can see how she'd got away with it. From my own memories of primary school, little omegas were able to get away with murder. Even as children, they knew exactly which heartstrings to pull.

"That was smart," Inika said approvingly. "If not a little sneaky. Though, don't actually punch her in the face because then you'll get in trouble. Unless you really have to."

She looked expectantly at me, daring me to contradict her words, but I shrugged. Omegas should use every tool in their arsenal as far as I was concerned—they had plenty of obstacles in their path already.

Though I was going to verify once we got home that Freya actually did know how to throw a punch, because I wouldn't have put it past Leo not to teach her properly.

"Did you go to school?" Freya asked Inika. "In the olden days?"

Inika nodded, not missing a beat. "I did. I went to an omega boarding school back in the olden days. That's where you live at school—you sleep there and everything."

"How old were you?"

Inika glanced at me, probably wondering at the sharp tone of my question as she took a sip of her tea.

"I started boarding at Anworth Hall from age seven, and stayed there until I finished secondary school. Most of my childhood memories were made there."

"Didn't you miss home?" Freya asked, wide-eyed.

"I went home on weekends fairly often, and for school holidays. Though, when I did, I missed my friends and the House Parent a lot because I was so used to being around them."

"It wasn't difficult living with so many omegas?" I asked.

"They're set up for it—everyone has their own private room. And while the school itself is ancient, the ventilation system is state-of-the art," she added, the corners of her mouth tipping up. "I don't think I'd be able to do it if I had children, but it wasn't terrible. And my parents travelled so much back then that it made sense."

I took a generous gulp of whatever disgusting flower tea was in my cup for my suddenly dry mouth. The idea of Inika having children with someone else made my skin feel too tight for my body. I didn't even want kids of my own—helping with Freya was more than enough for me.

But apparently my alpha hindbrain heard "if I had children" and supplied "must breed her" in response.

Fuck my life.

Fortunately, I wasn't expected to contribute much to the conversation because Freya had years' worth of questions she wanted to ask. Inika ordered every flavour of tea Freya so much as hinted at wanting to try, and I didn't even know how she paid for afternoon tea because I didn't see her do it, but she casually mentioned that it was taken care of on our way out of the building. It must have been some kind of omega magic, because she managed to say it without triggering some idiotic alpha pride instinct.

Or my idiotic alpha instincts were still preoccupied with the idea of Inika meeting someone and settling down someday. Even though of course she was going to do that.

"Did your driver drop you here?" I asked Inika as we left the hotel.

She gave me a sidelong look. "It's a fifteen minute walk, Blake. Even I'm not that pampered."

I snorted. "My mistake. We'll walk you home."

"You don't have to do that."

I huffed impatiently and she tipped her chin down to hide her smile. Chivalry didn't come naturally to me, but there was no way I was letting her walk home alone.

"Can we go to the playground?" Freya asked excitedly, looking wide-eyed at the elaborate setup across the road which was already crawling with children.

"I'm in no rush," Inika volunteered. "I mean, I could just walk home alone, but I suspect you're going to get all alpha about that. I don't mind waiting while Freya has a play."

"If you're sure," I said, grabbing Freya's hand before she could sprint directly into traffic and leading her towards the crossing. "She has a radar for playgrounds."

Inika laughed, buttoning her cream cardigan against the faint chill in the wind as we crossed the road. The moment we were safely on the other side, Freya shot ahead as if we didn't exist.

"It's probably not the worst idea to run off some energy. She sat so politely at afternoon tea," Inika said, watching Freya fondly as her fairy wings flopped lopsidedly behind her.

"She did," I agreed, proud of how well-behaved she'd been, considering she was being raised by wolves. "Thanks again for inviting us. I think this might be something Freya remembers for the rest of her life."

I got the briefest hint of pure contentment from Inika's scent before she pulled out a glass tube of Om-Guard from her purse and began rolling it on her pulse points. I irrationally wanted to snatch it out of her hand and throw it away.

Inika covering up her joy just seemed wrong .

"I've been thinking, and I, er, owe you an apology," I said quietly, while Freya made a beeline for the swings.

"Me? Why?"

I frowned, looking at Inika out of the corner of my eye. "For being a dick?"

She dragged her lower lip between her teeth, valiantly trying not to smile. "I assumed that was just your personality."

"It is. I'm sorry about it."

This time, she did laugh. Suddenly, the sun felt a little warmer.

"Don't be. I like to think I'm quite secure in myself—it takes a lot to hurt my feelings. And I like your personality. You're refreshingly honest. Refreshing honesty is in short supply in my life."

"Too many people telling you what you want to hear?"

She hummed in agreement. "It's not their fault, of course. Most of the people I interact with are either on my payroll or Om-Guard's. It would be unreasonable to expect them to speak freely around me."

"You must have friends, right?"

We both fell silent for a moment as Freya sprinted up to me, shoving the fairy wings she'd insisted on wearing into my hands before booking it towards the slide.

"I do." Inika was quiet and thoughtful for a moment, and I watched her with probably too much intensity, hanging on her every word. "My closest friends are the ones I grew up with at Anworth Hall. But they've all found mates, and most of them have had children. We're in different places in life."

"Do you not…" I cleared my throat. "Do you not want those things?"

"Yes and no. My mama nearly died having me. She instilled a fear of childbirth in me since I was old enough to talk, though she regrets it now that I'm not giving her any grandchildren. I'd like a mate—if I could choose him for love, and he cared about more than just breeding me."

A shudder ran down my spine at the sordid term. "Play fair, princess. We're out in public. I don't even want kids, but when you say shit like that, I at least want to practice making them with you."

She snorted, bumping my biceps with her shoulder. "Blake! I can't take you anywhere."

Fuck . What did it mean that I wanted her to? I wanted to tease her in public, and I wanted her to roll her eyes at me then beg me to fuck her the moment we were alone.

It's just because you can't have her , I reminded myself. It'd never work out in real life. You're not going to take her to Leviathan . She's not going to take you to her high society events.

There's no world in which Blake Alwis and Inika Dara made sense together, no matter how tempting the idea was.