Robin fell asleep in my bed soon after we were done. His scent normalized too. He still smelled of omega and of sex, but not of an omega in heat. Good.

I hoped he wasn't hiding any more of those pills. I wasn't sure if he knew, but more often than not, those drugs were abused in the worst ways. You only had to work at the omega shelter for a short while to learn that.

Sighing, I got up from the bed to take care of the condom.

It was only then that I noticed it was broken.

Fuck.

That was my first thought, and it remained my only thought for the next ten minutes as I stared at the cum-stained piece of plastic that should have protected us.

I had never felt so betrayed by an inanimate object in my life.

I swallowed, trying to convince myself that a broken condom wasn't the end of the world. It happened all the time, right? How likely was it that anything was going to happen? Robin's heat hadn't even been a real one. Those drugs had only induced a hormone rush, not heightened his fertility.

Right?

Calm down, Ben. You know there's ways to deal with situations like this.

Whenever omegas came to us after sexual assault, we provided them with morning after pills. There were always a couple in stock at the shelter. I could just go and grab one of those for Robin in the morning. Preferably early morning before too many people were around to ask me about it.

Taking a deep breath, I felt myself relax at least marginally as I discarded the sad remains of the condom. Things were going to be alright. At least, that was going to be my mantra until morning came.

I was just about to settle back down next to Robin when I heard an odd sound coming from my backyard. A soft yipping or something like that. At first I ignored it, but then it came again, and then I remembered the boys who rang my door before Robin and I had gotten down to business. They'd been searching for a runaway dog.

Could it be?

I rose from the bed again, careful not to rouse Robin, but he stirred anyway. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"There might be a dog in my backyard."

"A dog?" He looked at me as if afraid I might be losing my mind.

"Yeah, there were children here earlier, looking for one."

Robin sat up and rubbed his eyes. The yipping sound came again. Robin's eyebrows shot up.

"See?" I smiled at him as I threw on some clothes. Potentially finding a dog in my backyard was exactly the kind of distraction I needed now. Leaving the bedroom behind, I opened the door to the backyard and turned the outdoor light on. It wasn't super bright, but my yard wasn't big and the area the lamp illuminated was just large enough for me to see something out of place.

There was a yellow dog—a Golden Retriever?—in my back yard with his nose in my bushes. "Max?" I tried, recalling the name the boys had used. The dog glanced at me. Maybe he really was Max? He probably was. How many other runaway Retrievers could there be in Oceanport tonight?

Robin showed up in the door behind me. "Wow, there really is a dog. What's he looking at?"

I hadn't noticed that the dog was looking at anything, but now that Robin mentioned it... Max had his nose in the bushes again only seconds after noticing me. Whatever was in there was definitely more interesting to him than Robin and I were.

Robin thought faster than me and approached the bushes with the flashlight app on his smartphone turned on. "Oh dear," he muttered.

"What is it?"

"Well," he turned around to me with a wide grin, "you thought there was a dog in your backyard, but there's actually two dogs."

"Two dogs? What are you talking about?" Was there another one hiding in the bushes? If so, it must be much smaller than the Retriever. My bushes weren't that high, and I didn't see anything sticking out. Robin leaned down, and Max gave an excited bark—pleased that someone was finally paying attention? When Robin came up again, he was holding a small, furry bundle that sniffed at his clothes with its tiny nose. It was a yellow-haired puppy. A tiny little thing. I didn't know much about dogs, but this little one didn't look old enough to be out on his own. What was he doing in my backyard?

"Isn't he adorable?" Robin coed at the puppy. "I think it’s a corgi."

I stepped up to him to get a closer look at the small dog. "Yeah, might be... But how did he get here? And what are we gonna do about him?"

"I don't know, but let's get the dogs inside first. It's cold out here. Also, I want to take a picture and there’s too little light." Well, at least he had his priorities in order. As he spoke, he ushered all of us into my living room. "Here, hold him for a moment." Handing the puppy over to me, he pulled out his smart phone again to snap a picture. His eyes seemed to glow as he did so. I couldn't remember the last time I'd seen him so happy. All because we found a furbundle in my backyard?

I glanced down at the dog I was holding to notice that he'd gone to sleep in my arms—probably happy to have found somewhere warm. "Do you think someone threw him out?"

Robin let his phone sink, face falling. I could tell what he was thinking by the look in his eyes. He sympathized. He'd been this dog, abandoned on Christmas Eve. "I'll take him," he said with quiet determination.

"You can't keep dogs in your place," I gently reminded him. He rented the second floor of an old lady's house. An old lady with a dog allergy.

"It'll be fine," he insisted. "The dog won't bother Mrs. B. if I keep him on my floor. Look at the little thing. We can't just leave him!" Poor Robin. He would never admit it, but I knew all his little tells, and by the way he bit his lower lip, I knew he kind of wanted to cry.

"We're not going to leave him," I decided. "We'll have to see if we can locate his owner and if we can't, I'll keep him." I had a nice backyard and I could probably take the dog to work with me. The omegas at the shelter would love the cute little bugger. How bad could it be?

"You will?" Robin's face lit up and he pressed a kiss on my cheek. "And here I thought you hated babies."

I cringed, not wanting to think about babies or the broken condom I'd thrown away maybe twenty minutes ago. "I don't hate babies." I just didn't want to be a parent, which was different. "And this isn't a baby. It's a puppy." An adorable puppy who would keep me company even when Robin went on to his next boyfriend. "Also, speaking of locating the owner, I think we need to get this Golden Retriever home." I pointed at Max, who sat by the back door wagging his tail. "His owner was rather upset at losing him."

"Aw, I'm sure. He's such a good boy," Robin said, petting the Retriever. "Finding the puppy like that."

I walked to the dresser next to the front door where I'd placed the note the boy who rang the door earlier had given me. It had his phone number on it. Max barked again as if he knew I was going to call the boy and he was ready to go home. What a little rascal. Still holding the sleeping puppy on one arm, I got out my smart phone, dialed the number, and waited.

"Hello?" The young boy's voice greeted me on the other end of the line.

"Hi, this is Benjamin Ravan. I believe I've found your dog. Is he big, yellow and very trusting?"

The kid gave an audible sigh of relief. "Yes, that's him! I'll come get him. What's the address?"

I gave it to him.

"Thank you so much, sir!" he said before hanging up. Nice kid. I was glad to be able to reunite him with his dog. Putting the phone away, I looked back at Robin, who was still petting the dog.

"I wonder if I know your owner," he mused, stroking his fur.

"You probably do," I commented, walking over to the fridge so I could give the dog a treat. I had no idea what I was going to feed the puppy when he was up, but for now, I could throw Max a slice of ham.

"I don't teach every kid in Oceanport," Robin gave back.

"No, but most of them," I said, trying not to get run over by the Retriever, who had noticed the ham in my hand. Robin taught fourth grade at Oceanport Elementary School. Why the hell he wanted to go back to school after everything he'd been through, I had no idea, but he claimed to like his job.

Once Max had received his treat, I wrapped the puppy up in a blanket and set him down on the couch.

"We'll have to find a name for him," Robin said.

"If we can't find the owner, yes." Secretly, I was already kind of wishing that we wouldn't find the owner. The tiny dog was starting to grow on me. He was just so cute and warm. I knew alphas weren't supposed to be enamored with cute things, but whoever made up that stupid rule had clearly never held a puppy.

Only a few minutes after I'd taken care of the puppy, the doorbell rang. "C'mon, Max," I called the Retriever to me. "Time to go home." Max didn't need to be prompted; he ran to the door as if he knew exactly who was on the other side of it. When I opened it, I was faced with the red-haired boy from earlier, accompanied by a grown-up alpha—probably his dad, judging by the hair color.

"Max!" The boy called out and then dropped to his knees to let the dog slobber all over his face.

"We're very sorry to trouble you," the alpha addressed me. "Thank you for finding our dog and calling. Christmas was about to be ruined."

"It was no trouble, Mr. Hayes." Robin spoke up from behind me. "Please enjoy your Christmas."

Mr. Hayes nodded. "Thank you. We'll be more careful from now on." He looked around. "You have a nice house. I didn't know you lived here."

Right, I'd only given my name on the phone. The alpha hadn't expected to run into a teacher he might know.

"Oh, I don't live here," Robin said, growing visibly uncomfortable. I understood only too well. He'd been spotted in an unmated alpha's house in the middle of the night. This was Oceanport. There were going to be rumors. As a teacher, Robin had a reputation to protect. "We're just friends," he added, as if that could ward off any potential talk the town could get up to.

"I see. Don't worry," Mr. Hayes said with a kind expression.

"We're not here to get you in trouble," the boy added. "Thank you so much for finding Max!"

"You're welcome. Max wasn't the only dog we found either," Robin said with a twinkle in his eyes. "Turns out Max spotted a puppy in Ben's backyard. Your dog is a true hero."

"A puppy?"

"Yes, he's sleeping on the couch now," I said, not wanting anyone to disturb the little one.

"Do you think someone abandoned him?" Mr. Hayes asked.

"Maybe," I agreed.

He shook his head. "Awful. In any case, we know a good vet if you need one. One who won't mind getting up to work on Christmas morning to help a puppy in need. Here, let me give you their number."

"Thank you. That would be great."

Robin turned to the boy while Mr. Hayes saved the vet's number in my phone. "Are you liking your new school, Conner?"

The boy shrugged the same way I would have at his age if someone asked me how much I liked school. "It's all right," he said. "Having to take the bus is a little annoying."

Robin nodded thoughtfully. "We really do need to see about getting better education for omegas within Oceanport, don't we? Honestly, I'm glad you chose to transfer. I think you made the right choice."

"We're very happy with that choice too," Conner's dad said. The both of them thanked us again and then they were on their way.

Robin exhaled as he closed the door on them. "I hate meeting parents in my off time, even when their kids aren't my students anymore."

"Think he's going to keep his mouth shut?"

"I hope so. I've got enough coworkers judging me for the fact that I'm not married yet."

"They seem like a nice family, though."

"Yeah, and he gave you a number for a vet, didn't he? We can check that out in the morning."

"We will, but uh... there's something else we need to do in the morning as well."

My friend shot me a curious look and sat on the couch next to the puppy. "What's that?"

How to say this? It was probably best to just give it to him straight, wasn't it? "The condom broke," I said as matter-of-factly as possible. "The shelter has morning after pills. I can get you one." Problem stated and solved.

"Oh." That was all my friend said for a long time. With his hand, he lazily petted the puppy, and his eyes had a far-away look in them. I wondered what he was thinking. "You don't have to do that," he said after a full two minutes of silence—I knew because I counted the seconds.

"What do you mean?" I asked, although I felt like I already knew the answer, because I knew Robin. I was painfully aware of how much he wanted a baby.

"I don't need that pill." Robin licked his lips and locked eyes with me. "Aren't they supposed to make male omegas sick? It’s unlikely I’ll get pregnant anyway. What are the chances I’ll get a baby for Christmas?" Robin laughed bitterly as if to imply that nothing good ever happened to him on Christmas.

I shook my head at him. "You don't want to get sick? C'mon, that's not the reason you don't want to take that pill. You can be real with me."

"Can I?" Robin sighed. "I don't want you to get mad at me. I don't want to get into another fight like when we..." He trailed off, but I knew what he wanted to say. He didn't want us to fight like we had when we broke up. I didn't want that either. Ever since we were children, Robin was the most important person in my life. We'd gotten each other through difficult times growing up, providing one another with the emotional support we didn't get at home. I’d kept him safe from bullies and he’d patched me up when I'd had a run-in with my father's fists. I needed him around. If only so I could watch him from the sidelines to make sure he was doing okay.

"I'm not going to fight with you," I said. "But you have to know that I don't want..." I gestured with my hand, trying to find the right words.

"You don't want to be a parent. I get that." Robin looked away from me to focus on the puppy again, which told me just how nervous he was. But he wanted this potential baby more than he wanted to avoid a fight with me. "I just..." He paused. "Aside from you, all the alphas I date turn out to be assholes. What if this is my only chance to have a child with a decent person? I mean, if I could just go to a sperm bank... but those aren't available to omegas. At least not to unmated ones. I've looked into it."

My mouth fell open. "You've thought about sperm banks?"

Robin met my gaze again. "Is that so shocking to you? I'm sure I could manage to raise a kid by myself if society let me, but nooo, omegas can't possibly be trusted to do anything on their own. This one place I called, they told me they couldn't help me because alphas wouldn't find me attractive anymore if I was raising some stranger's kid. They said I would regret it. Can you believe it?"

"I'm sorry. It sucks that nobody trusts omegas to make decisions about their own lives." In my line of work, I'd heard enough horror stories to confirm this for me. "But if you're pregnant from me, don't you think that concerns me too?"

Robin licked his lips again. "It doesn't have to," he said quietly. "This baby will never know you're his father, if that's what you want. No one will know. He'll be my kid."

I could tell by the way his eyes bore into mine that he was serious about this. Whatever happened, he would never involve me in this. If this kid didn't know I was his father, if I wasn't going to be his parent, there was no way for me to turn into my father, was there? That thought alone let me breathe easier. But I had to make sure my friend knew what he was doing. "What about your reputation?"

"Fuck my reputation."

I raised my eyebrows at him. He couldn't really mean that. He'd worked too hard to get where he was.

"I mean it," he said as if he could read my thoughts. "If the school wants to get rid of me when they hear of my pregnancy, let them. But I don't think it'll come to that. The schoolboard isn't that old-fashioned. At least not the majority of it. I'll make up some story that'll please them."

"You're really going to do this," I realized. "If you're pregnant."

"Yeah, if I am." But he laid his hand on his belly like he was already convinced of this fact.

And there was nothing I could do.