Landon

I was really disappointed when I woke up and found that Mark was gone. I wanted to talk to him. I had been planning on moving him into my house on our day off. When I texted him it took him hours to answer, and when he did, he assured me that everything was fine, but that he was tired and needed some time alone. I figured he needed space so I gave it to him, but it hurt like hell. Especially after our amazing night together.

When I saw him at the precinct the following Monday, I was shocked at how big his belly had gotten over the weekend. I tried to talk to him without making him uncomfortable, but nothing worked. He wouldn’t do anything but make small talk with me. Then, after I tried to get him alone to find out how he was doing, he wound up avoiding me the whole rest of the day. We didn’t go out in the cruiser because the captain wanted us to question some suspects. So by the end of the day, Mark and I had said maybe ten words to each other.

I went home that night feeling like I’d done something wrong somewhere. I couldn’t understand what had happened or how he could treat me like this after the way we came together. After so many years of hoping for something like this to happen, I wondered if maybe he never really did share my feelings. Maybe I forced him into an uncomfortable situation again and he was too polite to tell me to get lost.

But he had said that he felt like he belonged with me when we were in bed together. I hadn’t imagined that. But going over and over every word he said definitely wasn’t doing me any good. I had to let things lie for a while. I had to let him come to me.

The next morning, as I entered the break room, I walked in on some kind of fight. I had no idea what was going on, but I could smell the tension in the air. Mark was holding a maple glazed doughnut in his hand, but he was glaring at one of the officers—a jackass beta who was always trying to impress everyone with his smart mouth.

“It looks like you’ve gone up a whole dress size, Miss Lewis!” the asshole said to Mark from across the room.

I could see Mark’s face turning red from where I was standing. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?” he yelled.

“Dude, you look like you’re pregnant or something. You’d better lay off the maple-glazed for a month or two before you give birth to a king-sized donut!”

The five guys that were sitting at the table went into hysterics and Mark flew across the room. He grabbed the smart-ass cop by the collar and pulled him up off his chair.

Immediately my protective instincts kicked in, and within seconds I was standing next to Mark, pulling him away from the asshole and wrapping my own hands around the douchebag’s neck.

All I could see was that asshole’s ugly face, like I was looking through a tunnel, my laser-sharp focus on the object of my fury. I felt hands pulling at me, and I heard Mark’s voice yelling for me to stop, but I couldn’t release my grip. I was in the most intense fight-mode I’d ever been in in my life. When I finally came to my senses and pushed the asshole away, just about every cop in the precinct was standing around in a circle, staring at me like I was some kind of lunatic. I’d never gone off on a fellow officer like that. Ever. It didn’t matter how big of an asshole they were, I was always the one in control.

I watched as the beet-red face of the man in front of me turned a more normal color, and I listened to him gasp for breath until he could speak again.

“What the fuck, Harrison?” he said as he glared at me, then gestured to Mark who was standing near the door. “Is that your girlfriend now?”

I looked over at Mark and I could tell he was furious. And I could feel his anger coming off in waves that were directed right at me. He was furious with me because everyone in the room knew what I was doing. I was protecting him.

Thankfully, the captain barged into the break room and the conversation came to a halt. I was half expecting him to drag me into his office and chew me out for assaulting a fellow officer, but instead, he sent me and Mark off on an armed robbery that was in progress. He said he thought it had something to do with the arson ring and that he wanted us to handle it.

Without even looking each other in the eye, Mark and I left the building and got into my car. He didn't say a word to me on the way to the scene, and I honestly had no idea what to say, even though I felt like I was perfectly within my rights to do what I did. There was no way I could let anything happen to my omega or my baby, and Mark knew that.

"You know, you’re going to have to tell them something, and soon,” I said after we’d brought the assailants back into the precinct for booking. I kept telling myself to keep my mouth shut, but on the way back out to my car, I couldn’t hold it in any longer. “I mean, they can see that you’re changing, Mark, and … what the hell is that goddamned smell? Did you pour that body-wash crap over your head when you walked out of your apartment this morning? You smell terrible!” I said, glaring at him. All my frustration and hurt was suddenly erupting and I had no way to stop it. I wasn’t really angry at Mark, but that’s exactly how it came out.

“You’re mad at me? After what you did in the break room this morning? Do you realize how embarrassing that was for me?”

“For you? Do you have any idea how worried I’ve been? Every time I ask you, you say everything’s fine. But it doesn’t seem that way at all. You barely talk to me or look at me. And on top of that, every time I turn around you tell me how humiliating this whole thing is for you. Well, I’m sorry being involved with me and having my baby is so goddamned embarrassing! I’m sorry I ever tried to protect my fucking family! Jesus, just forget it!” I yelled, getting into my car and slamming the door. I sped away without saying another word to Mark. I left him standing there in the parking lot, and watched him get smaller and smaller in my rearview mirror as I drove away.

All night long I tossed and turned. I felt like a total jackass. I didn’t know if I was the one that had overreacted or if it was Mark. Or maybe it was both of us. I couldn’t understand what was going on with him. But that was the thing. I had no idea what Mark was going through. All I knew was how frustrated I was that I couldn’t do a thing to help him, and that everything I did as far as he was concerned seemed to have the opposite effect that I intended it to.

I thought about calling him, but I knew if Mark wanted to talk he would have called me. So I continued tossing and turning for the rest of the night until it was time to get up and go back to the station.

* * *

“Hey Captain, you wanted to see me?" I asked as I poked my head inside his office. The minute I’d walked into the precinct, one of the men told me the captain was looking for me. I hadn’t seen Mark yet and after what happened yesterday, I wondered if he’d even made it in.

"Yeah, Harrison, come on in. Have a seat." The captain gestured to the chair in front of his desk and I sat down. This didn’t look good to me. Any time I’d ever been called into his office before, the entire meeting was over with in less than a minute. Having me sit down meant the captain wanted to talk to me about something serious.

“I know you and Lewis are partners, but I have no idea how well you know each other outside of the precinct, so I’m going to assume you have no information regarding his leave.”

“Leave?” I asked, feeling like the wind had been knocked out of me. Mark took leave without telling me. He didn’t feel like he could come to me about this. But why would he? I yelled at him, then left him standing in the parking lot. Why would he ever trust me again?

“Yeah, he had to take a leave of absence. He said he doesn't know how long he’s going to be gone for, but to be on the safe side he took five months. He had to go out of state to take care of his parents. Apparently they’re both sick and need his help.”

"Take care of his parents? That's what he … that’s what’s wrong?” I asked. The hits kept coming. Mark's parents had been dead for almost 6 years now. They died in a car accident before he started at the Academy. It was actually one of the things that pushed him to join and make it through at the top of his class. At least that's what he told me, back when he was talking to me.

"Yeah, that's what he said. What? Did you hear something different?" the captain asked.

"No … No. I … I didn’t hear anything. I was just curious. So, what’s gonna happen? Am I on my own now? Or am I getting a new partner?" I asked. I was looking at the captain and I was trying to listen to what he was saying, but all I could think about was Mark. It killed me that he didn’t want to involve me in any of this. I felt so helpless when all I wanted to do was take care of him. It was in my nature to protect my mate and I couldn’t do that because he wouldn’t even let me near him.

"Yeah, I'm sending you out with a new cadet.” Captain Freelander looked down at the file on his desk and read off the name. “McMillan. Hank McMillan. He's just starting out, so he'll need some training and guidance, but he was ranked pretty high in his class, so I don’t think you’ll have a hard time with him. To be honest, I’m glad you’re available. You're one of the best cops at this precinct, and I know he'll learn a lot riding along with you until Lewis is back.” He paused for a moment, then continued. “There’s just one thing you need to be aware of, Harrison.”

“What’s that?”

“I need to make sure it won’t be a problem for you to work with an omega.”

I paused for a moment, not sure I was hearing him right. “No, of course not,” I said. “This new recruit is an omega?”

“That’s right.”

“Wow, that’s really great. You know I’m all for diversity. But did you really think there’d be a problem?” I asked, still stunned by all the new information I’d been given in the last couple minutes.

“Well, not every alpha on the force is as forward thinking. There are some guys around here who would walk out on me if I partnered them up with an omega. And not everyone is thrilled with the new hiring practices—”

“Wait, what new hiring practices?”

“We’ve got orders to start hiring omegas. Just a few to begin with so we can see how well the new policy works. But I’ll tell ya, I’m glad to be trying this first one out on the fairest and even-tempered cop I’ve got.”

“Well, I haven’t been feeling quite as even-tempered as I should lately, but I appreciate you saying that. So when did all this happen?”

“It’s been in the works for a while now. A lot of people have been on the police commissioner’s ass for years to get rid of those antiquated laws prohibiting all omegas from taking certain jobs. And finally, they’re doing something about it. They’ve tried a few omegas out in different government positions over the last year, and now they’re trying some out in the public sector—cops, firefighters, paramedics—to see if we run into any problems, you know … with heat. If things go smoothly, we’ll be hiring more in a few months.”

“That’s really exciting, captain. I’m proud to be one of the first cops to be in on this new policy. I just wish I could tell Mark. I know he’d be happy to hear about it.”

“Well, McMillan doesn’t start until tomorrow, so you can have the rest of the day off. Just make sure you’re in a little early in the morning to show him around.”

“Yeah, of course. And thanks, captain.”