Micah winced. “I don’t need to know.”
York looked pointedly at him. “Then you don’t need to know about last Wednesday, when Kai...”
Micah held his tongue. What had happened to Kai? Had Spike been with him? As the possibilities unraveled in his mind, he tried to keep his mouth shut. Except curiosity and worry gnawed through his insides. How had he not heard about it? “When Kai what, York?”
York cracked a tiny smile. “When Kai texted me to say he’s been on the team for three months, and he went out to dinner with them.”
Micah leaned against the counter, his chest heavy. He should be happy that Kai and Spike were moving on. “Oh.”
“As much as it’s damn weird to see you with them, you guys should get back together, you know,” York said. “Spike’s been asking about you.”
Micah’s heart skipped. “Why are you even telling me this? A couple months ago, you were furious that I was seeing them.”
“Because you lied to me.” A brief frown furrowed York’s forehead. Then he kissed Micah on the cheek. “But you’re still my dad. And they made you happy. I’ve forgiven you.”
Micah’s throat grew tight. Relief broke through his chest—not quite enough to ease the pain, but enough that he leaned against York, sucking in a shaky breath. For months, he’d been in limbo with York, not knowing if his son truly accepted him, and his relationship with Kai and Spike.
Now, though... it was a little too late for that. “Somehow, it feels like you’re everything I have left.”
York looked pointedly at Micah’s belly. “You could always call them and ask them to come back.”
Micah touched his belly, his baby kicking against his palm. “You should be complaining to me about your new sibling, not telling me to get back together with Kai and Spike.”
“I’m not letting you be a single dad,” York said, setting his cereal bowl in the sink. “Although if I help you raise my brother or sister, does that still mean you’re a single dad?”
For the first time in days, Micah laughed. “Will you, really?”
“Yes.” York looked indignantly at him.
“You should be raising your own family.”
York glanced at Micah’s round belly. “That’s family, too.”
Micah smiled a little wider, leaning into York’s side. York pulled him into a hug. It was comforting, leaning into York’s chest. But it wasn’t right, not in the way Kai and Spike had been.
Refusing to think any more about his mistakes, Micah rinsed off the dishes. He changed into some presentable clothes, then got ready to head out. “I’m dropping by the college for a bit. Some papers to sign off. Do you need a lift?”
“Nah.”
Micah slipped out of the apartment, and into the car. The college was a short drive away, all low-rise buildings and sprawling parking lots around the campus.
He almost expected to see Spike there, except he bumped into his ex-coworker, June Kindling, in the parking lot.
“Micah,” June said with some surprise. “I missed you when you were leaving last week.”
Micah flushed, looking away. “I wasn’t staying around for long, no.” Right now, he felt like a stranger in this too-familiar place. It felt like anyone could recognize him, and call him out on the shameful things he’d done.
June pulled him under the shade of a tree, glancing around. Then she met Micah’s eyes. “I heard that you were involved with a student.”
Micah’s heart squeezed. “I was.” At June’s sympathetic look, Micah felt brave enough to admit, “Two of them, actually.”
June’s eyebrows crawled up. She had gray eyes and short hair, and she smelled like birch. A couple years back, she’d become a tenured professor. Micah had hit tenure, too, but it hadn’t guaranteed him a job like he’d hoped it would.
“Bernard let you go because of the students?” June asked suspiciously.
Micah sighed. “Mainly that, I believe.”
June clucked her tongue. “That’s against the new law.”
“He had other reasons.” And now Micah flushed harder. It was one thing to admit to your alphas that you’d slept around for your job. It was a completely different thing to admit that to your ex-coworker. But what did it matter, now that he didn’t have the job anymore? “One of my alphas was Bernard’s illegitimate son. And Bernard... allowed me to be a professor under special circumstances. But that was twenty years ago.”
“And no longer relevant.” June narrowed her eyes. “You do a good job with your teaching.”
Micah’s cheeks grew warm. It wasn’t often that he received compliments about his teaching, especially from a coworker. “That doesn’t matter anymore, though.”
“Yeah, that’s the part I’m pissed about. Bernard’s been letting talent go, because he can’t see out his ass.”
Micah managed a smile. “I’ve been looking around for a job. There’s a couple of openings around California.”
“You’re leaving Meadowfall? What about your alphas?” June sniffed at Micah. There was just the barest hint of juniper left on him.
Micah shrugged uncomfortably. “I’ve broken up with them.”
At that, June sighed. Was she exasperated? “Gods, not you, too.” When Micah looked at her in confusion, June glanced at Micah’s belly. “You remember Dale Kinney, right? And Ian McMillan?”
The two omegas whom June had worked for, before they’d been let go and June had taken over their lab.
“They were dating their students, too,” Micah said.
“Yeah. They had their ups and downs, but in the end, they decided that they wanted their alphas more than they wanted their jobs here.”
“So you’re saying...”
June looked him in the eye. “Are you sure that breaking up is the right solution?”
“I’m not sure there is another solution.” Micah scrubbed his face. “They just turned twenty, June. I can’t possibly put my needs above theirs.”
June winced. “Okay, that’s a little young.”
Micah’s face burned. If June was going to judge him, too... Then he might as well get going. “I should—”
June grabbed his arm before he turned away. “Your alphas are still adults, though,” she said, lifting an eyebrow. “And none of this erases the fact that Bernard
