Omega's Stepbrother

braver than he ever would be.
“Morning, hon, Penny,” Wyatt said, stopping beside his daughter.
Hazel brightened. “Morning, Dad! I was just about to make you breakfast.”
Wyatt melted. Hazel had been watching him cook since she could stand; at seven, she’d wanted to try slicing garlic cloves. At eight, she’d learned to fry an egg on her own.
He was so proud of Hazel, and despite his past with Max, Wyatt was immensely glad he’d decided to keep and raise his daughter. “Why don’t we save it for tomorrow? Aunt Penny’s here—I owe her a breakfast.”
Hazel glanced at Penny, who smiled. “All right.”
“Thank you, hon.” Wyatt took the eggs from Hazel, scooping her into a big hug. Her damp hair smelled like fruity shampoo—she hadn’t presented as alpha, beta or omega yet, so she didn’t have a distinctive scent. Wyatt thought she might present as alpha, though, with the way she scowled sometimes, trying to boss people around. “How are you this morning?”
“Great!” Hazel said, beaming, “I finished that coloring book Uncle Sam gave me.”
“That’s wonderful! I’ll look at it after breakfast, okay?” Wyatt said, ruffling her hair. “Want another book?”
“Nah. They’re kind of expensive. Uncle Sam said I could draw my own gardens and color them. I want to try that!”
“That’s a win-win,” Wyatt said, kissing her cheek. “You save money, and you get more to color!” He glanced over Hazel’s shoulder, at Penny. “What about you, sis? How’s your morning?”
“Same old,” Penny said. She was omega, with red curls, bright eyes, and round glasses perched on her nose. “Dealing with things at the lab. I think I’m finally getting on June’s good side.”
“Yeah?” He unhooked a couple of pans from the wall, sliced a pad of butter into one, and lit the stove.
“Yeah. Remember I said things were hectic after Dr. Kinney left? They put some random prof. in charge until they finally let June take over. Arguments, ahoy! The new prof. wanted to steer the lab in another direction. June finally got her associate professor status, so she put a stop to that.”
Wyatt winced. Politics was never fun.
“How about you?” Penny asked. “Raph said he was stopping by at the drive-in this weekend. I was surprised.”
Wyatt’s stomach dropped. “O-oh. Did he? He didn’t say anything to me.”
“I didn’t know you were on speaking terms with him.” Penny pinned him with a pointed look; Wyatt had always skirted the topic of Raph with her.
“Who’s Raph?” Hazel asked.
Wyatt froze. Penny’s eyebrows crawled up her forehead, almost to her hairline. “Really, Wyatt?”
No, not really. What was he supposed to say? Hazel, this is the stepbrother I’ve not spoken to in nine years, until last week. Then I had sex with him, and now we’ve agreed to get in touch. At least he was no longer in heat.
Penny folded her arms, tapping her foot. Hazel watched him expectantly.
“Raph is short for Raphael,” he said eventually. “He’s your step-uncle, hon. Your grandpa had Raph during his first marriage. Then Grandpa’s wife died, and he married Grandma. Grandma had me and Penny during her first marriage.”
“That’s surprisingly neutral,” Penny said, her eyebrows still raised. “Didn’t you have some feud with him? You never told me what went wrong.”
“Didn’t Raph tell you?”
She shook her head. Hazel looked between them, confused. And the silence in the kitchen dragged.
Wyatt sighed, cracking eggs into a bowl. Penny was a couple years younger than him—while Wyatt and Raph had exchanged surreptitious glances over their dinners, Penny had been buried in piles of science textbooks. She’d never noticed the tension between them at all.
“We fell out,” Wyatt said.
“For nine years? What could possibly be so bad?” Penny frowned. “I mean, he’s always been close to you. And you were both great friends, weren’t you? You couldn’t have been fighting over a bondmate.”
Wyatt choked, and tried coughing to mask it. Yeah, if you count trying to avoid becoming each other’s bondmate. “No, we weren’t fighting over anything.”
“So all the awkward family dinners these past nine years were for nothing?” Penny stared, affronted. “Mom and Dad have been asking why you don’t show up when Raph’s around.”
Hazel had that look in her eyes, that said Why have you never told me this? Wyatt whipped the eggs into a frothy mixture, then added half-and-half to the bowl. “You know I’ve always been busy at the drive-in during the holidays,” he said. “Hazel and I visit during the quieter days. Raph’s never around then.”
Hazel seemed to be satisfied with that answer. Wyatt breathed a sigh of relief.
“Just show up with him once, Wy. Are you going to wait a full ten years before you do?”
“Maybe twenty years,” Wyatt said.
Penny frowned.
Wyatt tipped the pan to slide the pad of butter around, then poured the egg in. “Come on, cut me some slack. Did you try the noodles at the party?”
“I did, actually.” Penny blinked, distracted. “They were good. Mom and Dad liked them, too.”
“That’s great! Hazel helped with the recipe, actually.”
Hazel dragged a high stool over to the stove, settling on it so she could watch Wyatt cook. “I still think it’ll be better with sweet chili sauce,” she said.
Wyatt grinned. “I might have to add that on as a special menu item. Then we’ll tell everyone about it, and you’ll be famous through Meadowfall, Hazel!”
“Kind of like Grandpa?” she asked, glancing at the TV in the living room, where they’d watched Chief Fleming shaking the president’s hand.
“Kind of like Grandpa,” Wyatt said. They’d both recorded the award ceremony on their phones—Penny, so she could show it to her friends, and Wyatt, so he could have a keepsake of his dad during his most famous moments. Had Raph watched that bit of news, too?
Penny smiled. “One day, you’ll be famous, too, Wyatt. Wy’s Drive-In is doing great.”
Wyatt shrugged. He didn’t need the fame—he already had his daughter. “I’ll give my chances to you. You’ll become a great scientist, Pen.”
Penny laughed, crossing the kitchen to hug him. Her arms were almost around him when she paused, nostrils flaring.