Chapter Fourteen

Clay

When Jeremy had told me about the mission, I didn't ask very many questions. He'd been so broken, so afraid I couldn't see past what he did to see the man he was. He didn't understand that he did what he did because of who he was. The man I fell in love with.

For the next couple of weeks, I tiptoed around asking any questions. I knew there were some omegas here, but not all of them. And when I woke up from my dream and my stomach clenched, it was time to ask him. Delaying wasn't doing either of us any good. The messed-up part was, waiting to ask him could seem like I wasn't trusting him when really, all I was trying to do was protect him.

"Jeremy." I shook his arm gently. "Jeremy?"

"Yeah?" He sat up. "What's wrong, mate?"

"I was wondering… Some of the omegas are here, but where are the rest?"

"We have another safe house. You know Jack who everybody talks about? He sort of runs it with his mate. We can go visit."

"Yeah, let's do that." I started to climb out of bed.

He yawned. "It's two in the morning. We might want to wait a little while."

"Oh." I chuckled. "Yeah, let's do that." I leaned down and kissed his cheek. "Just gonna use the bathroom."

I padded into the bathroom but, as I crossed the threshold, my stomach clenched again, and I stumbled to the toilet and lost my dinner into it. I hoped my mate had slept through it. After I cleaned up, I went back to bed, and he wrapped his arm around me. So much for sleeping through it.

"You don't have to eat the clams next time." He kissed the side of my neck.

"Oh yeah." I'd forgotten how many of those I'd eaten. They were good, but also, he was right—probably not the best idea, considering we were landlocked. That explained the stomach ache. I couldn't even be mad at it. The tummy ache resulted in me asking what I'd wanted to know.

The next time I woke up, the sun was already in the sky. After we got ready for the day, we joined everybody for breakfast, but I was antsy, and none of the food seemed like a good idea. I was going to see another part of Jeremy's life, plus I was going to see another way that they were helping and possibly that I could help.

It was farther away than I thought, and the car was giving me a little motion sickness. When we stopped, I stumbled out, bending over, my stomach once again not feeling great.

"You okay, mate?" He was instantly by my side.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just… I need to stay away from those clams. But also, the car ride mixed with the clams…"

"We can stay here if you want. I'm sure Jack has a spare bed for us." Although, when we walked inside, I wasn't so sure. They had turned part of the common room into quarters for people to sleep in, and Jack was talking about an addition when we came upon him.

"This is my mate, Clay. Clay, this is Jack."

"Oh, it's great to meet you." He came over and hugged me. They all seemed to do that—just skipping over the human patterns of handshakes and being standoffish.

I'd heard a little bit of Jack's story. He was one of the first omegas they saved and had been very pregnant with his son, Bryant, at the time. Looking at him now, he gave no indications that he'd ever struggled like that. Not that you can tell what someone's past looks like, but still.

"Let me show you around. Jeremy, go find something to do."

My mate looked at me, and I nodded. He laughed as he said something about finding a snack. The grand tour was great until I found myself dashing into a bathroom again. When I walked out, Jack looked at me with a smile.

"Yeah, the first three months are rough."

"Come again?"

"Pregnancy. The first three months are the worst, but it gets better from there."

"I'm not… Whoa. You think I'm pregnant?"

"Yes?"

It would make sense. It wasn't as if Jeremy and I weren't doing the things that mates did to have babies. My mind had been stuck on stress and clams, so it hadn't been a thought.

Jack's phone rang and, when he answered it, he mentioned something about planning to go there anyway.

"Looks like I'm headed for your neck of the woods." He stepped into the bathroom, grabbed something from under the sink, and shoved it into his pocket. "Let's go see if your mate got dragged into helping with the new room dividers. If he did, I'll drive you home, and we can hang out after my meeting with Tyrus. Spreadsheets." He rolled his eyes. "My mate is having a father-kids day, so I'm ready for an adventure and apparently math."

Sure enough, my mate was knee-deep in a project. He looked hot as the sun, bending over to hammer things in place, and I could have stayed there and watched him all day. But spending time with Jack sounded great, too.

We'd barely arrived at the warehouse when he handed me a pregnancy test. "Take this."

"I will."

"Now?"

"How about when my mate gets here?" Silly me, thinking I could wait that long, although I did put in a valiant effort, not peeing on the stick until my mate had worked his way home. That was almost like willpower, right?

I might've made it, too, if he didn't get home just in time to do his perimeter run. Those "easy" dividers they found on the internet were apparently anything but, and he swore he'd never build another one. But I knew better. If more omegas came, and it was needed, he'd be the first to volunteer to do them. That was just who he was.