Instead of standing on the sidelines of the huge tennis stadium, Brogan feigned sickness as a way out, “I do feel woozy, I’ll just get a taxi back to the hotel.”
Snapping out of his fugue, Jaden offered, “I’ll take you back, I was just here to watch Irina, but she’ll understand if I take a sick friend back to his hotel.”
The ride was not as uncomfortable as Brogan thought it would be. Instead of asking questions about his conversion the conversation was football and Jaden’s goals for his team. They were standing outside his and Cade’s hotel room when Jaden stopped pretending and asked what he really wanted to know.
“Why didn’t you tell me that you wanted to become an Omega, because I would have gladly made you mine,” Jaden surprised him by saying.
“Wait- what?” Brogan asked surprised by the confession.
He should have known that there was a reason other than making sure he made it safely to his room. Brogan had prided himself of his ability to resist Omegas when he‘d been an Alpha, but he hoped that he’d never been this much of a douche where the Betas he’d pursued had been concerned.
“Don’t pretend that you didn’t know,” Jaden accused with a touch of anger in his voice, “You were always teasing me, touching me. Those stupid jokes and always there when I wanted you to be.”
“I was trying to get you to sign on with our company because I know that Lindsay had someone after you as well.”
“That was more than trying to get me to sign, hell I was so convinced that I had researched how to turn you. I had purchased a sedative to make sure that I had you nice and pliant. I can still make you mine, Brogan. I can fuck his claim right out of you.”
For the first time Brogan looked at Jaden as a man and not a friend and realized that the man was good looking. He was a tall blue eyed blonde who with muscular build who stood at least three inches over six feet, and he made Brogan wonder. He wondered if he had been flirting with the quarterback and he knew he hadn’t been, he had a type. Both Lara and Cade were small and made him feel protective – at least Lara had but he didn’t know why Jaden though he had been flirting with him over the years.
This was not happening, Brogan didn’t want to be Cade’s Omega but despite what he’d done to Brogan he was a decent one, but Jaden behaved like Brogan used to and to have a dick like Jaden as his Alpha would not be pleasant. Quickly he palmed the keycard in his pocket, waiting for the right moment to escape into his room.
He was saved by the bell - literally. Jaden’s phone rang and it was his girlfriend, Irina. When the quarterback turned his back to talk to her, Brogan quickly entered the card into the slot and slipped into the room. As he closed that door, he saw Jaden trying to stop it from closing.
When he was safely ensconced in the suite he and Brogan were sharing, Brogan paced the room while he thought about what just happened. Jaden, a man he thought of as at best an acquaintance had been planning to turn him by force.
He had often accused Cade of raping him, but he knew that that wasn’t the truth, Cade won the battle between them fair and square, he was just bitter because he hadn’t come out the winner. Also, while he was being generous, he knew that he had a great Alpha, but Cade needed someone who appreciated him, and Brogan wasn’t that Omega.
Cade would know it too when Brogan killed his baby.
When his father first mentioned aborting the baby, Brogan was on board because he wanted to do something that would not make Cade so noble and take him back, and Brogan was not ready to be a parent, so this worked for him.
What he hadn’t counted on was the cuddle sessions with Cade to change his feelings. If he gave in and stopped fighting, he and Cade would have a good life, but he didn’t want to give himself up to belong to someone.
Jaden had mentioned that he could break the bond between him and Cade and if given the chance he could, but there was also a medical way to break the bond and that’s the way he and his dad were going to free him.
After several minutes of pacing around the hotel room, Brogan discovered that he really was tired.
Tired of everything. He was tired of fighting his fellow Omegas, tired of fighting Cade, and most importantly, tired of fighting his biology.
If he stopped fighting and just gave in, his life would be easier, but it’s hard to give up things that he’s taken for granted, like driving or ordering a drink when he needed one. Because he could only drive when Cade or another Alpha or Beta was in the car, he had stopped altogether.
He had purchased his car because he liked to drive. Fast. There had been times in the past when the weather or circumstances wouldn’t allow him to sit or run, he would just get into the car and drive to clear his head. He would let the top down and the only thing he had to concentrate on was the road and he couldn’t do that with a passenger. It wasn’t the same with a passenger.
Moving around that hotel room he realized that this was one of the few times he has ever been alone, but he’s sure that wouldn’t last because super Omega, Benji could be counted on to tell Cade that he’d been sick.
Since he did have the alone time Brogan decided to use it wisely and crawled onto the bed and had a good cry before Cade arrived.
He hated crying and had often accused Benji of using tears as emotional blackmail but since the claim, he seemed to always be on the verge of tears. He knew that being pregnant made him more emotional, but he tried his best not to cry in front of Cade because the Alpha would think that he’d won when Brogan was just beginning to fight.
The tears had barely dried when Cade quietly entered the room a few minutes later. Hoping that he would be left alone, Brogan pretended to be asleep, but he almost gave himself away when Cade stopped by the bed and lovingly moved his damp bangs from his forehead.
It felt so good that Brogan almost forgot that he was pretending to be asleep and lean into his Alpha’s hand, but before he gave himself away, the soothing touch was gone.
“Hey, Benji,” Cade whispered into the phone. “He’s asleep, but I want to thank you for letting me know what happened because I don’t think he would have called me.”
Cade was right, he would have never called him because pregnant or not he was not weak and there was no reason for him to run to Cade for comfort because he felt a little ill or embarrassed. He was strong so he couldn’t understand the tears that fell from his eyes when he heard the soft snick of the door as Cade left leaving him in the solitude he’d longed for.
Judging by the waning sun, Brogan slept later than he had anticipated, but if he were being honest, he really hadn’t intended to sleep but his stressed-out body had other plans.
“Hey sleepyhead,” Cade teased as he walked into the room from the adjoining bathroom. “I was just about to wake you to get ready for tonight.”
“Why did you let me sleep so long?” Brogan asked as he stretched and yawned. “I was supposed to help Benji finish with the gift bags and hanging the posters.”
“Don’t worry, apparently Jaden Matthews felt so guilty about triggering your nausea, that he helped with the posters and some of the senior volunteers helped with the gift bags.”
If Cade noticed that Brogan’s body stiffened at the mention of the quarterback’s name, he didn’t mention it, “I let you sleep until the last minute, but you do have about a couple of hours before we leave, okay.”
“Yeah, sure,” Brogan said as he tried not to let the anger show that Cade - his fucking Alpha didn’t pick up on his distress and was happy that the man who wanted to forcefully make him his helped Benji hang some goddamned posters.
Hoping to get a reaction from Cade, Brogan tried to project some form of emotion over their fragile bond, but there was no reaction from Cade.
When Cade removed his towel to step into his boxer-briefs, Brogan shook his head and walked into the bathroom and slammed the door in anger, but even that small satisfaction was taken from him because the door slowed down before snicking close.
It’s a good thing that Cade was
used to Brogan ignoring him because he didn’t question the lack of response. He couldn’t wait to get back to South Carolina and end this farce of a mating. Why would he want to be mated to someone who couldn’t tell when his mate was unhappy?
After his shower Brogan tried to ignore Cade as he began to dress. The man was watching him as though he was a six-year old just learning to dress himself. Did he think that he couldn’t dress himself or did he think that he was going to pass out again?
For a second as he dressed in the tuxedo he’d brought for the dinner, he toyed with the idea of pretending to be sick but knowing Cade he wouldn’t be left alone. No, Cade would either stay behind or he’d get Benji or one of the other Omegas to stay with him and that was not what he wanted. Having to spend the evening with any of them would really make him sick so he dressed.
As he was buttoning the last button, the suit didn’t feel as fitted as it had when he’d purchased it, and the stare from Cade told him that something was wrong, so Brogan turned and looked at himself in the mirror and was shocked at what he saw.
The expensive tux that had fit him last month when he’d last attended one of these parties now hung on him like a kid playing dress up in his father’s clothes. How could he have lost that much mass in such a short time.
Fucking Omega Genes.
Turning towards Cade Brogan held out his arms in defeat and whined, “What am I going to do? I can’t wear this I look like an idiot.”
“There’s a store in the lobby that caters to Omegas, let’s go down and see what we can find.”
The water from the shower had relaxed him and had washed some of his tensions washed down the drain but it all came back on the elevator ride downstairs when Cade advised him that he signed Jaden Matthews this morning and he’s excited by the things that he has planned for the charity.
He gritted his teeth at the announcement and just went over the offering in L’Omega. Brogan cringed when he saw the name of the store. Was the poor attempt at French supposed to make it sound more sophisticated? He hoped the clothing offer was better than the name.
Brogan wanted to get some more comfortable underwear but found the shop offered very little in the boxer briefs he preferred. He found some but in outlandish colors where he just wanted plain black or white. The ones he did find in black and white had an opening in the back and he didn’t want those. Or he could get the Omega panties which... just no. When he expressed his concern to the sales woman, she told him she would look and she what she had in the back.
When she left Brogan turned towards Cade whom he found gently touching the panties. His face bore an expression of want and longing that echoed lightly over their bond making Brogan want to give him this.
“I found a pack in your size,” the sales woman’s squeaky voice broke through the moment and severing the bond.
They didn’t have much time and because this was an Omega shop Brogan didn’t get another tux because they didn’t sell them. Omegas didn’t wear tuxes, so instead he found a nice suit in a pastel color that Alpha Brogan would have said made him look like an ice cream cone, but Omega Brogan loved it and so did Cade.
Before they left the shop, Cade voiced that he needed some other things since his body had changed, so they also came away with jeans, dress pants shirts and t-shirts and when Cade wasn’t looking, Brogan slipped in a pack of the panties as well.
The store delivered the rest of his goods to their room while Brogan dressed in the dressing room, and the way his Alpha smiled at him made Brogan glad he’d put the panties on under the suit. They were meant to fit his new body and they did wonderfully he thought as stared at himself in the mirror and loved the way they cupped and lifted his ass making it look tempting in the new suit.
The shopping spree had put him in such a great mood, that it wasn’t until they were on the red carpet walking in behind the stars that he realized that he was going to have to face Jaden again. Because he and Cade were not famous, they would be rushed through but not before Brogan had to suffer through watching Jaden and Irina being interviewed.
This was going to be a long night.
It would have gone easier and faster if Brogan had been allowed to do his job and make sure that everything was okay but Benji was being pissy and would only allow Paige to assist him, so Brogan had to stay next to Cade and listen to him accept accolades that belonged to Brogan.
The only thing that would have made the evening worse was having to smile at Jaden after his confession. Each time he replayed that confession through his mind he wondered how could have been so blind to Jaden’s feelings, that the man had wanted Brogan enough to drug and rape him.
They were there an hour before Jaden approached them. Just as he stopped in front of Brogan and Cade, a waiter passed, and Jaden snagged two glasses of champagne: keeping one for himself and offering the other to Brogan.
“Brogan’s pregnant,” Cade grinned and held his hand up to block the transfer of the glass.
Brogan almost gagged at Cade’s boastful announcement. Suddenly he had the urge to wipe that smile from the little man’s mouth by announcing that the alcohol didn’t matter because as soon as he could, the baby was going to be gone.
“Oh, so that’s why you were so ill this afternoon?” Jaden queried as he took a sip, pretending that he didn’t get that information from Benji this afternoon. “You’re a lucky man, Cade.”
“I know,” Cade smiled as he looked at Brogan.
The conversation made Brogan’s skin itch.
He felt like a prize heifer who was being shown off and any minute he expected Cade to pull his lip back and show Jaden his teeth. The thing that made it worse was listening to the pair discussing their plans for Jaden’s charity, and damn if Cade’s ideas weren’t better than anything Brogan had ever come up with. Jaden realized that they were better as well and for a moment he actually paid attention to Cade while he and Irina stood by their sides bored.
As the Alphas discussed their plans he half listened to the mindless chatter from Irina as he watched the pair. Even though Cade was several inches shorter, he commanded more attention than Jaden ever could.
Jaden was known for his fast thinking on the football field, but off the field, Cade ran circles around the man. Over the past few weeks, he’s been subtly attempting to bring Brogan into his business decisions, and Brogan had cockily thought that it was because Cade needed his help, but he didn’t.
Once he studied the plans and events Cade designed for his clients, the sheer genius of them made Brogan look like an amateur, making him understand why Lindsay wanted Cade in his company. Good thing for them that the man was too stupid and allowed him to slip through his fingers.
As the party progressed, Brogan was left on his own as Cade talked business and made new contacts. He wasn’t complaining, it was just that he felt awkward here. Benji knew what his role was, he was born to it, but Brogan wasn’t, he was still in the mindset of an Alpha, even though the Omega was trying to push through so he wanted to be in the group discussing which team was going to win the Super Bowl not the one discussing the best caterer.
The first chance he got Brogan made his way to the small alcove outside to get some quiet. Mimicking Jaden’s earlier move, before anyone noticed, Brogan grabbed a glass of champagne before stepping outside to the wonderful quiet. It was nerve racking to have these people stare at him as though he was a science project instead of a man.
He had barely taken a sip when his hiding space was invaded.
“What will your Alpha say when he learns that his pregnant Omega was drinking alcohol?” Jaden mused.
“I don’t plan to tell him, so I guess it won’t matter,” Brogan snarked as he tossed back the contents of the glass.
“Aren’t you worried about the affects the drink will have on your pup.”
“Don’t worry about my baby, but if you want a child to worry about, then that’s a conversation that you need to have with Irina.”
Jaden shook his
head, chuckled and moved towards Brogan, “You’re the one I want to talk with about having my babies. You can give Cade his but afterwards any pup you bear will be mine.”
“I’m flattered, but I belong to someone already,” Brogan advised the man as he pulled his collar back and revealed his claim mark.
Jaden smiled and ran a finger down Brogan’s cheek and shook his head, “He’s not good enough for you. I’ve been watching you all evening and I can tell that you’re stressed out, but he’s done nothing to ease your stress. You deserve better; let me give it to you.”
Taking a different tact, Brogan gave Jaden his biggest fake smile and lied, “I’m honored that you want to mate with me, but I’m satisfied where I am. Cade is a good Alpha, he’s strong and attentive and the father of my unborn child.”
“I could make you mine whether you wanted it or not,” Jaden threatened.
“Perhaps you could, but Cade and I are true mates, even if you manage to turn me, I’m always going to want him, to be his.”
From Alpha to Omega Page 13