Conner

After Antonio and I made arrangements for the journey, I went in search of Skye. He was curled up in the sun room, wrapped in a blanket.

“Sweetheart? Skye?”

He glanced at me briefly and I could see he had been crying.

“What’s up?” he asked, his voice cracking. “Do you need help getting ready to go?”

I moved to him and lifted him into my arms. “No sweetheart, we don’t need help. I’m here to check on you. You left really fast without telling us everything you wanted to.”

He burrowed against my chest and sighed. “It’s okay. I don’t want to get in the way of your duties. I know you’re both important.”

“You could never be in the way, sweetheart.” I said softly. 

We sat in silence for a while before I realized that he had fallen asleep. After a moment, I shifted him just enough to pull the blanket away from his shoulder, baring the place where my claiming bite would eventually go. I didn’t think he was ready for that step yet, but I hated to leave him unprotected in that way. 

There was an ancient pack law that most packs thought should be abolished, where an omega without a claiming mark was free game to the pack alphas until a mark was given, forced or not. It was the first rule that I had openly stated would not be followed in my pack. It still made me nervous to leave him without some sort of mark, but I trusted the alphas of my pack.

I stayed in the sunroom until it grew dark, then gently lifted Skye and made my way to our bedroom.

***

The next morning, we left Skye standing on the porch. His crestfallen expression sent a pang through my heart as the car pulled away and my stomach felt like it was about to revolt. One glance at Antonio showed he wasn’t fairing much better. 

“Are we doing the right thing, leaving him here alone?” I asked softly. 

“We need him to be safe.” He responded, but there was a note of question in his tone. “It’ll be okay. He’ll be fine.” He whispered.

I turned back to catch one more glimpse of Skye, but trees blocked the view. I turned back in my seat and wrapped my arm around Antonio.