“No. He’s nineteen, and high-strung. Neither of which would be good for me. We can let him think this will happen, if it will keep him calm, but it’s not.” A wistful look crossed Abel’s face, quickly replaced with his usual calm determination. “Not unless it’s the only way out. If he needs to be mated, we’ll have to come up with a few candidates.” Abel turned a cheeky grin on Mac. “Maybe you should take him on. He’d keep you on your toes.” His voice held an odd tone, one Mac found hard to read.
Mac laughed sourly. “Only until the mating. And then whatever it is happens to him, happens. I don’t want to be responsible for that.” He pulled up outside his house. “You can put them here, if you want. I can move back to bachelor quarters. I’ll give Duke a call and have him clear my stuff out.”
“You sure about that?”
“Yeah.” Mac nodded. “Poor kid. Someone’s got to do something nice for him.”
“Yeah.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
My ride over to the motel wasn’t the most comfortable. They crammed me into the space underneath the back seat of the car. Red—Mac, I guess I should get into the habit of calling him—told me it would hide my body heat from the infrared sensors at the gate. They made me stay in the box all the way, because my paperwork wouldn’t explain me going to pick up my dad, only being picked up with him. And then I worried that we’d be stopped and the car would be searched, but nothing happened except a long boring car ride that I was too sick to my stomach during to sleep through. But the feeling when I crawled out of the car and saw the dirty rat trap Dad and I were staying at was worth the discomfort and the worry.
Mac still held my arm from when he’d helped me out of the car, his hand warm where our skin touched. It was comforting, in a way I didn’t like. “We’re here. Which room is your father in?”
“He’s at the end.” I paused. Mac had been good about this all, explaining everything, reassuring me constantly. He’d been patient when I’d had problems forcing myself into the box under the seat. And now he stood here, like a sheltering wall of werewolf, ready to follow my lead. If I didn’t mostly hate alphas, I could almost like him.
“We’ll walk down with you,” the Alpha said.
“I should probably go in first,” I said. “If you go in, he’ll think we’ve been caught.”
The Alpha wore an undecided expression, but Mac reached out and touched his arm. “He’s right. If I’d been on the run for six years, I wouldn’t believe anything he said with two strangers looming over him.”
I did want to be grateful that he’d validated my opinion. I was omega, not stupid. I shouldn’t need an alpha to agree with me before people listened. But the Alpha nodded thoughtfully, and leaned against the car, and I had to accept it, though it made me grit my teeth in frustration.
“Go ahead, then. We’ll wait here. Wave out the door when you want us.”
I’d never want them, but I didn’t say it. I knew what he meant.
A shadow paced back and forth across the window of our room. I reached for my key, then realized that it was gone, with all my other things—ID, money, phone. A flush of shame heated my cheeks for a moment, then I gave up and knocked on the door. “Dad, it’s me. Let me in, I’ve lost my key.”
He wrenched the door open and pulled me into a rough hug, weeping harshly into my hair.
“Hey, it’s okay, I’m all right.”
He took a step back but didn’t let go of me, his fingers still tight on my shoulders. “What happened? I’ve been trying to call you, but it keeps going to voicemail.”
“Let’s sit down.” It was as much for me as for him. The evening’s events, and the one’s left to come, had stripped me of anything but the desire to sleep until the world had changed. But I had to get through this, even though I knew that what I was about to say right now, more than anything else, would cut him to the core.
We crawled onto the bed and I wrapped my napping blanket around me for the comfort of the memories it held.
Dad reached for my hand. “We’re in trouble, aren’t we?”
“Haven’t we always been?” I shook my head. “Maybe. Not our usual sort of trouble.”
Comprehension grew in his expression. “Jason, what have you done?”
I swallowed and jumped to the meat of it. “I went to the Mercy Hills Pack Alpha and offered myself to him.”
“No!” Dad jumped off the bed and scrambled for our backpacks.
“Dad! Dad, listen to me.” I hoped the Mercy Hill wolves weren’t standing outside listening in, or they might come bursting through the door. “Dad, it’s okay. Listen to me!” I slammed my fist down on the mattress. That got his attention, and he stared at me with wounded eyes. “It’s time to stop running. You’re tired. I’m tired. And I’m not thirteen anymore. You need medical care. I—” I paused and drew in a ragged breath. “I offered myself to the Alpha under two conditions. He’s going to bring in a contract for you to sign. One is that you’ll always have a home, and they’ll provide medical care for you, fix your headaches. The other one is that I can have a garden, and that he makes sure I get enough time to work it properly.” I crawled over to the edge of the bed and held my hand out to him. “You’ve given up so much for me, and if I could see a future, I’d be halfway out that bathroom window right now.” That brought a small, wistful smile to his face, and he took my hand and squeezed, though tears welled up in his eyes. “It’s going to happen sometime, we both know it. This is a rich pack. And if it’s going to have to happen, I want it to be somewhere where we won’t want for anything. If I have to give myself up to them, then they’re damn well going to pay a decent price for me.”
Dad sat down beside me and pulled me into another hug. He kissed the top of my head, then laid his cheek against my curls and said, “You were always so smart. I thought it was sin that you were born omega, that you’d never get to use that intelligence.”
“I don’t think he wants a stupid mate. If anything, as long as I’m not disobedient, I don’t think he’ll mind if I have interests. There’s just that sense about him. Even his head of security is smart, not just a big bruiser. And he’s in charge, but he doesn’t seem to need to be in charge, you know? I was a real smart-ass, but he didn’t get fussed about it.”
“You’re certain about this?”
“I am. I’m tired. I want a home. I want a garden. I need to look after things. He’ll get some pups on me, and then you can be Grandpappy.”
He chuckled. “Your mom was looking forward to spoiling your pups and sending them back to you.”
“You’ll have to do double duty then. They’ll never want to live with me when you’re through with them.”
His arms tightened around me. “All right.” He sat up and his grip loosened. “Let me meet this suitor of yours, and I’ll let him know if he’s good enough to mate you.”
“You’re the best, Dad.” I wanted to stay there, and not put an end to our last few moments as a family, but I didn’t know how long the alphas would leave us be. “They’re just outside. I’ll invite them in?”
He nodded, and let go so I could go to the door and beckon the two men inside.
The Alpha entered first. I was surprised when he nodded respectfully to my father and call him ‘Sir’. Then Mac came in, closing the door behind him, and repeated the performance. It had to be a performance—Dad wasn’t an alpha, not even a beta, just an average delta wolf, an ordinary guy. But they treated him like they were negotiating with the head of another pack, asking if he wanted changes made in the contract, initialing the new part that said I had the right to leave if I wasn’t happy, or that he could take me away if he had reasonable belief that I was being abused. They spent an hour hashing out what reasonable belief was, and what standard of proof should be expected. The Alpha surprised me again by hobbling himself even further by giving me two months to decide if I wanted to mate within the Mercy Hills Pack, and that in the meantime I would be hired to work in a new section of the community g
ardens, paid at a rate that made my eyes widen. No one paid omegas; their labor was required.
“We pay omegas,” the Alpha said gruffly. “Your housing allowance comes out of it, and standard food rations, but there’s always a little left over. Amazon does deliver to our gates, even if some other mail-order places won’t, so you might want to set yourself up with an account. We’ll get you a credit card you can use there.”
“I…Thank you.” I took the contract to read it over, as well as I could. I used to love to read when I was younger, but I hadn’t done much the past six years and my skills were rusty. I knew what all the words sounded like from years of watching TV, but matching the sounds up to the letters on the page was sometimes a challenge.
All three of them waited patiently while I parsed the words and asked my questions. We made a few changes, guaranteeing me a minimum of ten hours a week in my garden, and extra help if my garden needed more time but my duties kept me busy elsewhere.
Duties. I suppressed a snarl, and then the sigh of resignation that came after. This was it, the end of my life as an individual. From now on, I would be an accessory, the mate, and I’d have to beg and bargain for everything I got. But, looking at the shitty hotel room, our cheap-ass clothing, and thinking about the all of forty dollars in my wallet—currently in the Alpha’s possession—I couldn’t regret it. Maybe later I would, but right now, I knew this was a choice that had to be made.
I passed the contract to my dad. “Sign it.”
He leaned toward me and whispered, “I won’t let anyone hurt you.”
“I know.” And then I watched him sign my life over to the Mercy Hills pack.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
It had taken shockingly little time to gather up the two newcomers’ possessions. Mac packed the backpacks and the laptop into the trunk, but Jason refused to be separated from the blanket, so that went into the back seat with him and his father.
He and Abel exchanged looks over the roof the car. “You ready?” Mac asked.
Abel nodded. “Fingers crossed.”
Mac laughed. “We need more than that.”
“Maybe the omega will help.”
“Maybe.” Abel bent to get in the car, and Mac followed.
As they drove, Abel coached their passengers on what to do and say when they got to the gates. “Give me your wallet,” he said to Jason’s dad. He passed it over without comment. Abel took the cash out and put it in his, then tossed the rest out the window. “You were mugged waiting for us. They didn’t bother with your backpacks.” He paused. “Damn, the laptop.”
Mac glanced over at him. “Do you want to stop and put it under the seat?”
Abel checked the time. “No, we’re going to be cutting it close to get back by curfew as it is. I’ll claim it as mine.” He twisted in his seat to look at Jason. “Is it passworded?”
“Yeah.” Jason paused. “They’ll never believe it’s yours. It’s full of movies and stuff.”
“Damn.” Abel rubbed his hand over his mouth. “We’ll have to try anyway. You may lose it. I’ll replace it for you if you do.”
“I don’t need charity.”
Abel smiled. “You say we’re going to end up mated. What’s mine is yours.”
Mac watched as Jason sagged back in his seat and turned his gaze on the world passing by. What are you doing? Mac mouthed. He was happy to see that Abel seemed to have changed his mind about the mating.
Trying to help, Abel mouthed back. Then he turned back to his phone and started tapping at the screen.
The rest of the drive passed to the music of the local radio stations, going from pop, to country, to the pack radio as they got within range. They had only ten minutes to make the gate, and nerves made Mac put his foot down, but only slightly. He couldn’t afford to get stopped for speeding, and all the complications that came with the prejudice against shifters. Out of habit, he checked the tabs on his coat collar to make sure it was still there. He noticed Abel do the same, then reach into the inside pocket of his elegantly tailored coat.
Abel pulled out an envelope and took out a set of papers and a couple of pairs of tabs. “Here, I almost forgot. These are old, but they’ll have to do. I put new electronic signatures on them, so they’ll come up as from your pack.” He extracted a couple of pages from the pile, then passed everything else back. “Your permits to travel, too.”
Mac heard paper rustling in the back, then Jason spoke up. “Reason for travel: Marriage?”
“That’s what you offered, right?”
Jason made a muffled noise, but when Mac checked the rear view mirror, he was looking out the window again.
Their exit came up. Mac’s shoulders tightened, and he forced himself to relax. There were humans manning these gates that would notice something like that, and their fast-printed papers certainly weren’t going to hold up to a close inspection.
“You ready?” Abel asked.
Mac nodded and flicked a glance at the rear view.
Abel turned in his seat. “We’re coming up to the gate. Remember, you have every right to be here. You’re coming to stay for a while to see if you can find a mate. Your father is coming as chaperon.” His voice softened. “They’ll likely say some cruel things. Just keep your head down and don’t respond.”
And then they were slowing down for the gate. Mac rolled down his window as they came to a stop.
A human in the dark green uniform of the Bureau of Preternatural Beings stepped up Mac’s window, flashing a light around the inside of the car. Mac kept his eyes focused straight ahead, but he knew with the same certainty as if he were facing the back seat when the light landed on Jason and stayed there. “So this is the omega you were talking about.” He snorted and opened the back door. “Get out.” He shone the light on Jason’s father and added, “You too, gramps.”
Mac met Jason’s eyes in the mirror. “Just do what he says.” Jason nodded and climbed out of the car.
The officer spun him around, pushed him against the side of the trunk, and patted him down. Another one did the same to Jason’s father on the other side, though with a little more respect. A third, more senior officer, remained at the driver’s door. “Papers?”
Mac passed their travel permits out, inured to the frustration of showing them again to the man who’d okayed them two hours ago. “The dad has their papers, but they lost their wallets to a mugger.”
The officer grunted and gave their papers a cursory glance before handing them back. “They clean?” he called to his partners.
“Yeah.”
Jason’s dad was brought around the car to present his papers. When Jason tried to duck back inside the car, he was hauled roughly back out.
“Where do you think you’re going?”
“I thought we were done?” Jason wrapped his arms around him and even in the side mirror the tremble in his limbs was obvious. He was scared. Being an omega, he’d likely been sheltered from this sort of thing.
Mac cast a glance at Abel, then leaned out the window. “He’s just an omega. They don’t get out much.”
The senior officer smirked. “Marriage, huh?” He shot a glance at Mac.
Mac shrugged. “You know how it is. The young ones get tired of looking at each other.”
“What’s so special about an omega, anyway?” The one who’d patted Jason down—now that Mac could see him better, he was young. Probably new. It might be his first time meeting an omega, but he’d obviously bought into the power differential between humans and shifters. He dragged Jason over by the building, into the cone of one of the floodlights.
“Palmer, leave him alone. They’re as harmless as a lamb,” the first officer said in a bored voice. “They’re halfway to being bitches.” He walked over and pushed Jason back toward the car. “He’ll probably have a pup in him inside a month.”
The newbie looked sickened, and he hastily wiped his hand on his pants. “Fucking perverts.”
“Biology, you idiot. Go check the trunk.�
�
Palmer threw Jason an angry look and moved to the back of the car. “Pop it,” he snapped loudly.
Mac hit the button to open the trunk and tried not to think about the laptop.
It didn’t take long for young Officer Palmer to find it. “What’s this?” He brought it around into the light. “Thought you got mugged.” The other two officers put their hands on their weapons and took a step back.
Abel started to say something, but Jason got in ahead of him. “I had it wrapped in my blanket, sir, in case I dropped it. All he wanted was my wallet. I don’t think he noticed I had anything else.” And once again, that drop in tension happened, and Mac watched as the officers’ shoulders relaxed and their hands fell away from their guns.
The young officer tossed the computer into Jason’s lap. “Next time be more careful.” He stepped back and muttered, “Stupid mutts.”
Mac gritted his teeth and watched Jason in the mirror, but the omega simply wrapped his arms around the computer and bowed his head.
The slam of the trunk closing broke the spell. The senior officer closed Jason’s door and stepped up beside Mac. “Right, get inside before we have to cite you for breaking curfew.”
Mac nodded. “Yes, sir. Thank you.” He put the car in gear and drove carefully off.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I wanted to be pissed off at the guards, but I was still scared, and absurdly grateful that they hadn’t taken my computer. All that I had, outside of memories and my mom’s blanket, was on that machine.
Dad put a hand on my shoulder and I summoned up a smile for him. “Well, we’re through. And we won’t ever have to do that again,” I told him. Motion in the front seat flickered in the corner of my eye, a glance between the two alphas, but I ignored it. Well, tried to. I was way more aware of Mac than I had any right to be. Especially since my future mate was seated right next to him.
The Alpha turned to look at us over the back of his seat. “We’ve got a house for you to live in. The rooms are small, but it’s yours and there’s a bit of a yard if you want to have your own garden. Mac will come by tomorrow and give you the tour, show you where you can buy supplies and where you’ll be working.” He sat back with a satisfied smile, and I wanted to slap him for it. Then I reminded myself that I needed him to mate me and as far as he was concerned, he was getting more out of this than I was, so I shoved my resentment down and said a polite, “Thank you.”
Mating the Omega (MM Gay Shifter Mpreg Romance) (Mercy Hills Pack Book 1) Page 5