Omega Teacher’s Secret

hot on his skin. Brad sucking on his scent gland, like maybe he wanted to mark Ian. “Nothing happened, and you saw nothing.”
June snorted. “All right, I saw nothing.”
Ian bit his lip hard, wishing the pain stayed. Wishing he hurt enough that he’d remember before he fucked things up again. He never did manage, though.
They strode through the hallways in awkward silence, until they reached the lab. Ian brushed down his clothes, trying to get rid of the musky scents. Didn’t want to think about Brad, didn’t want to know if Brad was still standing in the hallway, or in the classroom, realizing just how depraved Ian had been. Gods, if anyone else found out about tonight…
Ian swallowed, opening the lab door. Pasted on a smile when he saw Gwen napping on the desk, other students on the computers around her. The students looked over at the musk; Ian kept his face straight, crouching beside Gwen.
“Hey, Gwen,” he whispered, squeezing her shoulder. “It’s time to go home.”
Gwen stirred, squinting at him. “Daddy?”
Ian smiled and rubbed her back. Wondered at what point Gwen would grow up, and start to see all his mistakes, too.
June paused next to him, handing over a stack of stickers. “Here’s the rest of them. She really likes the trucks.”
“Thanks,” Ian said.
He tucked the stickers into his bag, glancing up when June didn’t move. She was staring at Gwen, then Ian, and Gwen again. “Hang on,” June said, her expression calculating. “Those eyes. You never mentioned an alpha.”
She glanced at the lab door, and Ian realized with a sinking heart, that June had figured out who Gwen’s other dad was.
“Does he know?” June asked, her forehead wrinkling in concern.
Ian shook his head, needing to get out of here so he wouldn’t combust on the spot.
“Holy hell, McMillan.”
“Yeah,” he said tiredly. Harold’s orders.”
June looked incredulously at him. “So this will go on forever?”
Ian grimaced. “No. I ended it tonight.”
“Didn’t seem to me like you were ending things.”
It wasn’t as though Ian had much in his control, when his heat had descended upon him out of nowhere, and the alpha from his past had shown up in his class, right at the moment when Ian had been most vulnerable.
He’d told Brad he wouldn’t see him again, though. That had to count for something.
Ian scooped Gwen to her feet, packing up her color pencils. “Let’s get going, hon. It’s bedtime for you.” To June, he said, “Thanks for watching over her.”
June looked dubiously at him. “That isn’t much of a coping mechanism.”
“I know. I try.”
“Well, try harder.”
Ian smiled tiredly. He wasn’t sure how to answer, or how to deal with this. Coping wasn’t his strong suit. At least he wasn’t drinking, or snorting coke. His body ached, though, still hungry for Brad’s presence.
“I’ll see you next week,” he said. “Say goodnight to Aunty June, Gwen.”
Gwen rubbed her eyes, waving at June. “Night night, Aunty June.”
June waved, and Ian looked away so he didn’t have to see the pity in her eyes. He was still keeping afloat. Gwen was still healthy, she was happy, and as long as she was okay, it didn’t matter what Ian did to maintain the status quo.
As long as he didn’t burn himself to the ground… things would be fine, wouldn’t they?

4
Ian
A week later, Ian discovered he was pregnant.
The honey scent was faint at first, barely-there, so Ian had missed it for a whole two hours.
He was sitting with Gwen, watching her open her presents, when she stopped. “Smells like honey.”
“What smells like honey?” Ian asked, gathering the pieces of torn wrapping paper around the Christmas tree. “The kitchen?”
Gwen frowned. Then she crawled toward him, sniffing. “No. Smells like you.”
Ian stared, then sniffed at himself. He smelled like rose, and that was sweet enough. But when he sniffed again, he realized Gwen was right—there was a faint, underlying sweetness on him, more apparent now that the musk from his heat had faded.
He’d smelled that honey scent before, once upon a time. After he’d been in heat, and he’d conceived Gwen.
It couldn’t be possible, though. He was forty-seven. He was getting on in years, and his body shouldn’t be able to support another life.
You want my cock, Brad Saxon had said last week, in the dimness of the classroom. You want to be thoroughly fucked.
Ian stopped breathing, staring down at his belly.
It couldn’t be happening again. Gods knew Ian was too old to bear another child.
He looked up at the windows, squinting at the bright morning light. He smelled the dish soap from the kitchen, heard the TV blaring from the apartment downstairs. He was over-sensitive to light and sound right now, and he’d thought he’d merely been falling sick.
What if I’m pregnant again?
Ian stared at Gwen, the possibilities crawling through his mind like molasses. Gwen was unwrapping the biggest gift of all—a light-up rainbow truck. She was smiling the widest he’d ever seen, and Ian could barely focus on her delight.
He hadn’t used a condom with Brad last week. Hadn’t been on BC, hadn’t done anything to try and stop a pregnancy. What was I thinking?
Had he really thought he wouldn’t get pregnant, fucking Brad like that?
His body warmed at the memory. Ian bit back his groan, pulling up his shirt. His belly had never returned to being completely trim after the birth, but that had been okay. Ian hadn’t thought another alpha would be interested in him.
And now… there was a growing clump of cells in his body, a fusion of his DNA with Brad’s.
Ian panicked as Gwen pried open the truck box. What do I do?
He didn’t have the funds to support another sick child. But if the baby turned out healthy… Ian still had some of Gwen’s baby things. It wouldn’t be terribly expensive to raise a second child.
And that child was Brad’s, too.
Ian bit his lip, his face growing hot. What are the chances that my second child is yours, too?
Am I keeping it?
If he did, Ian couldn’t tell Brad about