Chapter Sixteen — Sweetness

Alma and her very energetic sons stayed a little longer, complimenting Maria on her pancakes and enjoying a reading session with Joseph of one of his latest books for his nephews.

He’d liked seeing Maria interact with the boys over breakfast, smiling at them a little politely but quickly growing fond of them over the little stories they told her. Now Charlie and Aiden crawled all over him in an attempt to make him play while Alma helped Maria with the dishes.

“What do you plan on doing now?” Alma asked, seemingly pulling Maria out of her thoughts.

“What do you mean?”

Over the loud lion roars of Aiden, Joseph concentrated on their conversation to listen to what his sister was saying. He would not allow Alma to make Maria feel uncomfortable.

“I mean, you are still a missing person and your face is still on the news. Staying here is all good and fine but what about grocery shopping, going out, or doctor’s visits? Someday, somebody will recognize you.”

Joseph knew she was right and it scared him more than he’d like to admit.

“Alma, don’t you have that thing today?” he asked, barely holding himself together as Charlie leaned his entire weight on his damaged leg. Yelling at him would only prove to Alma that she was right about his leg and she would not stop annoying him until he saw Dr. Fleet about it. Why couldn’t she understand that as long as he didn’t know anything specific, he could still lie to himself that everything was fine?

“What thing are you talking about?” she asked with a smirk. Whenever he wanted to get rid of her as a teenager, she had “a thing” she definitely needed to get to and leave him alone with his buddies or a girl he fancied. Right now, he wanted to be alone with Maria to talk about what had just happened. How could she really think that he would ever send her away after everything she told him? They definitely needed to set some things straight, first and foremost that he would never kick her out.

“Yeah, you’re right about that “thing”. I almost forgot about that.” She smiled at him with a telling wink and gathered her sons to leave.

Joseph fought through the pain as he accompanied them to the door, helping Alma to dress Aiden in his bright orange winter coat.

“Promise me, you will speak with Dr. Fleet. And this time, don’t lie to me. I always know when you lie.”

“I promise.” He did his best to look convincing, but her sad eyes told him she knew he wouldn’t keep his word.

“You know, you can always move in with us.”

“You already sleep on the couch so that the boys have proper bedrooms, there’s no space for one more,” he said and ruffled Aiden’s unruly curls reminding him of his own. “And I couldn’t leave Maria alone. As far as I know she has nobody else.”

Alma’s lips spread into a smirk. “Look at you getting all mushy for an Omega. I knew you would get back to your senses. Who knew it took a snowstorm for you to finally realize that?” Her expression turned serious again. “What she’s been through is no joke though. If anyone finds out she’s been hiding here, they will start asking questions. Unless you are willing to put up with them and the media circus it would most likely entail, smear campaigns and all that jazz all over again, you shouldn’t lose your heart to her.”

Joseph rolled his eyes and let out a sigh. “Alma…”

“I’m just worried about you, big boy. That’s my job.”

She pressed a kiss to his cheek and left with her sons, all calling their goodbyes to Maria. Joseph waited until their Subaru was no longer in sight before he closed the door again. He knew Alma was right. Not just about his leg and the fact that it was getting worse, but also about what staying with Maria would entail. Should anyone ever find her here, they would be dragged through the mud. The only thing that could then save them was her testimony that Chad had abused her and she had been forced to run away. Joseph closed his eyes and tried to drown out the memory of the last time he had been dependent on an abuse victim’s words. It had not gone well for him back then.

When he returned to the living room, Maria sat on the couch and massaged her hands, nervousness filling the air.

“Why did you think I would send you away?” he asked bluntly. He was too tired to dance around the conversation they needed to have right now.

“We never talked about it since we… became more. Are we more?” The last part was barely above a whisper like she felt stupid for asking it.

“Well, if you ask me, we are.” Joseph limped toward her and sat down by her side. He let out a little sigh. “I would never send you back to him, but I will also not lock you up in here. You are free to leave whenever you want, but I won’t make you.”

Maria nodded and thought for a moment before she glanced at his knee. “She’s worried about you.”

“She’s always worried. That’s Alma’s nature.” He rubbed his hand over his thigh. “It got worse after her boyfriend left her.”

“The father of Charlie and Aiden?”

Joseph nodded. Their father had never been any good, but his sister had fallen head over heels for him and out of respect for her and her sons Joseph held himself back with his opinion of him. Even now, after he had packed his things to leave her to care for his sons alone, Joseph still held back lest he slip in front of his nephews and destroyed the image they had of their father. They didn’t deserve the sadness he sometimes saw in Alma’s eyes when she watched him interact with his nephews.

“Have you ever thought about children yourself? You have a way with them.”

There was something more to this question, he could tell, but he let it slide. After the events of the morning, he was too exhausted to invest the brainpower to question everything.

“One day maybe, but I am not seeing myself setting up a profile on a dating website and I don’t have the space in the house for a kid’s room,” he simply replied and slid his arm over the back of the couch, a silent invitation for her to cuddle up to him. Maria followed it a moment later. She sighed, visibly relaxing before she closed her eyes.

Joseph instinctively buried his nose in her hair, pressing his lips against the top of her head. They stayed like this for a few more moments before Maria stirred and pushed off the couch. She looked around the couch, something in her scent put him on edge. Why was she suddenly sweating? Was she slipping back into a fever? Had she been outside for too long again? Was it stress?

“Maria,” he called out for her, slowly extending his hand to touch hers. She blinked a couple of times and jerked her hand away when they touched. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to… Are you all right?”

She nodded but swayed. With one hand, she reached for his still extended one while her other pushed her hair out of her face. “I feel strange. I think I need to lie down a little.”

With that she left, steadying herself on the wall while she staggered out of the living room, leaving behind a trail of sweetness he had never smelled on her before. Worry crept up his back. If she was getting feverish again, he would have to act quickly.

Without thinking, Joseph followed her into their bedroom. She was building what looked like a nest, but as soon as he entered, she quickly undid it.

“If you want to nest, you can.”

“I know, I just… I didn’t mean to. I don’t know why it suddenly ended up like this.” She offered him a smile. “Is everything okay?”

“Yes. I mean, is it?”

She couldn’t meet his eyes for a moment. “I feel like an intruder,” she finally confessed then continued, “You have a family, Alma and the boys. You look so comfortable with them and even though you say you don’t want children now, I-I could never give them to you.”

“I think that’s something we should worry about when the time comes.”

“But I don’t want you to regret it in the end. You helped me and all I do is be in your way, causing you more problems than you already have.” She glanced at his knee and averted her eyes again. “I never want to be a burden.”

Joseph closed the distance between them, making an effort to walk as normal as possible and not show how his knee was bothering him with every step. He pulled her into a tight hug and purred until her muscles relaxed underneath his hands.

“You have never been, and will never be a burden to me, Maria. Do you understand?”

She nodded against his chest and sucked in a lungful of his scent.

“I feel dizzy,” she whispered and swayed a little in his embrace. Joseph let go of her and watched her crawl into bed. She pulled all the bedding over to her side and curled up underneath it. He had always hated it when his girlfriends hogged blankets, but he would let it slide this time because she was clearly distressed. A little sleep would hopefully help her, he needed to let Moose out for his mid-day round, and he wanted to call Omar and ask his old partner to dig a little into Chadwick Williams’ past.

Omar was more than surprised to hear from Joseph, but he was willing to help and accepted that Joseph wasn’t telling him details why he needed a background check on Rosslow’s mayor. He said it would take a few days to get back to him, but Joseph was glad he was going to help him in the first place.

After the call and Moose’s finished business, the Alpha turned worried about Maria again. He could check on her without waking her up. Just look, find out if she was burning up again, he told himself and opened the bedroom door.

Shocked, he stared at the image in front of him. Maria was naked, sitting in the middle of the bed and had rearranged all the blankets and pillows he had to offer in his home to build a nest. She turned her head over her shoulder, her eyes glassy and unfocused.

“More,” she whispered.

“What’s going on?”

“Alpha, more. Not enough.” Her voice turned needy.

Joseph approached her with cautious steps. “What is not enough, Omega?”

He sat down on the edge of the bed, mindful not to disturb her nest. He remembered that scent now from training at the police academy, but it was impossible. She had told him she couldn’t have heats. Yet, every indicator was there: high temperature, retreat to simpler communication, sweeter scent, nesting.

“More material. I need more.”

“I’ll see what I can find,” he purred and was glad to see her shoulders relax a little.

He went into the living room and retrieved the harder couch cushions and wool blankets along with two bottles of water. He had no idea what was going on, but he wouldn’t upset her by turning her away. If she was ready to run away in her right mind, he didn’t want to risk it when she was in primal mode.

When he returned to the bedroom, Maria lay on her back, her hands busy between her spread legs. Her heady heat scent filled the entire room. It was enough to make a man go crazy.

“Alpha, I need you. Breed me,” she whined and his brain shut off.

Maria welcomed him with open arms and sloppy kisses before he plunged his already hard cock into her, satisfying her primal need.

Joseph’s last conscious thought was filled with worry. Hopefully this was truly what she wanted, hopefully he wasn’t making a huge mistake by giving into her sweetness.