Baby Boy || Gay MxM || Omegaverse

9. Like a Rose

"Baby?" I tried again, closing the fridge.

He glanced at me, then turned his back to the window, his expression blank.

"What's the matter?" I asked quietly, making my way to him.

"It's my alpha again..." he mumbled. "I don't get it... Why doesn't it like the yard?"

"Did it get worried again?" I asked, putting my hands on his lower back.

"Yeah..."

"Your alpha just needs time," I said reassuringly, giving him a soothing smile.

"I can't even look out the window without it getting worried," he said.

"Baby... These things take time. You both are doing great," I said, caressing him. "And we have all the time in the world."

He let out an annoyed sigh. "We've been stuck indoors for almost two weeks. Aren't you getting bored?"

"With you, never," I said sternly, leaning in to rub his nose with mine. "You don't worry about this old mafioso, okay? My lazy ass is thrilled about this break."

He chuckled lightly, then leaned his head against mine, breathing in my scent. "I just don't want you to–"

"No. Stop. None of that, okay?" I told him. "You're my baby boy. You're the rest of my life. No matter how long it takes, weeks, months, years, I'll be happy to stay with you inside these walls until you get better."

He let out a little happy hum, his smile growing wider. He rested his hands on my cheeks and closed his eyes, melting my heart.

"The rest of your life, huh...?" he whispered.

"The rest of my life," I whispered back just as quietly.

Even though it broke my heart knowing that the rest of my life was much, much shorter than his...

"Can we... After we eat... I want to go outside. Just for a moment," he said carefully, saving me from the heartache of thinking about him all alone once I'd be gone.

"Of course. Anything you want," I said, wiggling my nose against his.

Later, after we finished eating, we headed outside. We'd had a couple of short walks around my garden in the past few days, but Rene's alpha was slow at getting used to being outside. When we stepped outside, Rene stopped to stare at the shadows, his alpha again on high alert. He inched closer to me until he had glued himself to my side. I put my arm around him while he slowly took a hold of my clothes, his eyes wide as he looked around. It hurt to see him so scared. I assumed the dim light of the setting sun was making things worse, since he wasn't calming down at all, no matter how long we stood there.

"I..." he began, his voice weak and shivering. He turned to stare at yet another bush, pressing himself tighter against me. "I, uh..."

"It's all right, baby boy. Maybe we should try again tomorrow. It's getting too dark," I told him soothingly, battling against my own alpha – Rene's distress was really working it up.

I wasn't sure if he even heard me. He turned back around and stared at the gates looming in the distance. He fell completely immobile. It didn't seem like he was even breathing as he listened. All my senses were in overdrive while I tried to detect anything out of the ordinary. There was nothing, but my alpha didn't like this. It didn't like this at all.

"Let's get inside," I said, and almost pushed Rene through the doorway.

"I don't get it..." Rene whispered while I closed and locked the door. "It's like my alpha is getting worse..."