Duke snorted and I caught a glimpse of a grin in the rear view mirror.
But a betrothal agreement… “So, he’s thinking he might want to back out before April?”
Abel shook his head. “I don’t think so. I believe he’s worried I’ll pull out before April, if you’re officially mated to me.”
“Why would he worry about that?”
“I agreed to hosting six omegas from the pack for a year, to see if they can find mates.”
I laughed, despite how it made my chest hurt. “Yeah, I can believe that. There was a stretch of about four years where one in three of our pups was omega. And those were the males. There were a few more females that popped up at puberty. No pack can support that many omegas.”
“Well, we’re going to try to support an extra six, anyway.”
“I’m glad. Thank you.”
He shook his head. “I’d been thinking about it anyway, after Jason came and I saw how well he fit into the pack.”
Duke chuckled. “And how happy he made Mac. Don’t tell me you weren’t a little jealous.”
Abel grinned and ducked his head, then raised his eyes to mine. “Not any more.”
A matching grin spread across my face and when he reached for me, I eagerly gave him my hand.
“So, betrothed,” he said, his grin shading from happy to goofy, which endeared him to me even more. “Now it’s really time to start planning our mating. Just don’t break my bank account.”
“Wait, what?” I stared at him, baffled. “It’s the omega’s pack who hosts the mating.”
“Part of the arrangement. And to be honest, it didn’t look like Buffalo Gap could handle the expense. It’s okay. It’ll be easier to have it at Mercy Hills, and that way you can keep control of it.”
“It doesn’t have to be big. I’m happy just to have you.”
He pressed my fingers and let go to sit back properly in his seat. “Don’t worry about it. It’s not a huge budget, but if this court case goes our way, I may be able to add to it. And it’s not every day that the Alpha of a pack gets mated, as I’ve been reminded by several people. So we have to spend something on it. I’m afraid it’s not just about us.” He shot Duke a look that said Duke had been one of the ones pushing him to make a splash.
“Oh.” I hadn’t thought about that. Sure, every omega I’d ever known had dreamed of an extravagant mating, but I hadn’t realized that when I mated the Alpha of Mercy Hills, my mating was going to become a public affair.
Oh dear. “I’ll make sure it looks more expensive than it is.”
He scratched at his beard and shook his head. “No, spend what you need. I’ll make it happen. There’s something else, and if you really don’t like it, I’ll tell them no, but I think it might be a good idea.”
“What?” I asked uneasily.
He twisted around in his seat again. “Laine, the lawyer who’s handling our case against Jason’s old pack, he called while you were still sick. Anyway, it came up while we were talking, where I was and why I was there.” Abel paused. “He has this journalist friend, and he thinks he can talk the guy into doing a story about us.”
“Why us?” That was what was puzzling me. Humans weren’t particularly well known for their kindly interest in shifters.
Abel went red. Not just a bit of pink on his cheeks, but bright, suspiciously red. I had to bite my tongue, literally, to keep from asking him what he’d done. An omega wasn’t supposed to challenge their mate, let alone their Alpha, but did I ever want to. I compromised by narrowing my eyes at him.
He cleared his throat, glanced over at Duke, then turned his attention back to me. “I, uh, sent him a picture.” He went, if possible, even redder. “I was bragging,” he finished in a smaller voice.
“Bragging?” I told myself firmly not to laugh.
Holland didn’t have that much self-control—I heard the tiniest of snickers from the seat behind me.
Abel’s eyes flicked briefly to the back of the van. “He didn’t think you were as attractive as I said you were.”
“You mean he thought you were head over heels in love and, therefore, not an objective judge.” Duke reached across the front of the van and landed a friendly punch on Abel’s shoulder.
Abel ignored him. “Since he didn’t believe me, I sent a picture. Then he did.”
“You sent a picture.” I was curious about that, but more curious about why he would agree to open our lives up to a journalist. “What would the story be about?”
“A love story. Ours. Romantic pictures, a bit of social and political commentary, lessen the misunderstandings humans have about shifters.”
That would be…good. But I still wasn’t sure I was comfortable with the idea. “How much time do we have to spend with him?”
“Enough so that he gets a story, or stories. It’ll depend—he may not want to do it, but Laine says he likes to pull the establishment’s tail, and that’s something we need.”
I didn’t understand how a story in a newspaper would help, but I was willing to believe that Abel understood it, and I trusted him. “Okay.” Now that the question about the reporter had been answered, I could solve the mystery of my other one. “I didn’t know you had a picture of me.”
“Cell phone. We had the pups out to the playground. It’s a nice picture.”
“Oh.” I held out my hand. “Let me see?”
He pulled out his phone and brought up a picture, then handed it back to me.
It was me and Teca by the climbing bars. She was standing at the top, holding her arms out to me, and I was waiting at the bottom to catch her when she jumped.
It was a good picture. I flashed him a flirtatious look, and began swiping through the rest of the pictures. “A picture?” He had…I lost count. Pictures of me, pictures of the pups, pictures of Macy and Jason and Mac, pictures of pack members. I looked up at him. “When did you manage to take all of these? I didn’t even notice, you sneaky creature.”
He grinned. “I can’t have you with me all the time, so I take pictures.”
Hmmm. I considered the cell phone, and its capacity as a camera.
Yeah, I needed a cell phone.
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Abel shrugged, trying to settle his suit more comfortably, but there was only so much that could be done to adjust a store-bought suit to fit someone his size. He sat next to Laine and Garrick at their table in the courtroom, fixedly ignoring Orvin and his lawyer at the other table. The courtroom buzzed with conversation. Abel just wished it was over so he could move forward.
“All rise.”
Everyone stood as the judge entered, and then the battle was on.
Laine brought out the police evidence, what little there was, poorly documented and sloppily done. Orvin’s lawyer brought out the current hostilities between the pack and how the police hadn’t been able to find the shifters who had driven the car. Laine countered with the registration of the car, and Mac, Duke, and Abel’s testimony.
Things got really interesting when Jason was called up to testify.
“Your Honor,” Orvin’s lawyer said. “Under pack law, Jason Mercy Hills does not have the legal standing to testify.”
The judge looked down at Laine. “Mr. Montague, is this true?”
“Indeed it is, Your Honor. Under pack law, an omega shifter is not considered to be a person.”
“Really?” The judge appeared to consider this new information. “I have to ask—are we operating under pack law here, or human?”
Laine answered the judge with a straight face. “I believe that is up to you, Your Honor, to decide.”
“I rather believe it is.” He turned to Orvin’s lawyer. “Mr. Gillam, we are in a human court of law. Therefore, human laws prevail. I will permit Mr. Jason Mercy Hills to testify.”
“Your Honor—”
“No, Mr. Gillam. You’re the one who started us all down this path by filing the first case in our judicial system. Learn to live with the consequences of
your actions.”
And that was when everything began going their way.
By the end of the day, their quarter of a million penalty had been reduced to fifteen thousand dollars, then further reduced by the value of the car that had been totaled. The sheer amount of sarcasm in the judge’s decision was beautiful, and set a precedent for omegas being considered as people, at least in the human courts.
Abel maintained a calm demeanor until they were out of the courtroom, and then he cut loose. “YES!” He hugged Duke, then Mac, and even Jason, though it was slightly impolite to do so with another shifter’s mate, but this was too big to stand on tradition. And Mac, after a first jerk of startlement, didn’t seem bothered by it. Though maybe Abel shouldn’t have set the precedent—anyone trying to do the same to Bax was at serious risk of body injury.
He had to call Bax. Stepping off to one side and, ignoring the curious and antagonistic stares of the humans around him, he pulled out his cell phone. “Hey, gorgeous.”
“I take it the case went well.”
“It went amazingly. Plan the mating of your dreams, my love.”
“Anything?”
“Aside from flying the whole pack down to Bermuda for a beachside ceremony.” Duke touched his arm and gestured toward the door. Abel nodded, and Duke went to gather the others.
Bax laughed. “I won’t do that.” His voice softened. “When are you coming home?”
Abel glanced around the lobby of the courthouse and found the others waiting in a tight group. A ring of empty space surrounded them as the humans walking past gave the group a wide berth. Abel suppressed a grimace. Superstitious, specist, and resentful were the words that came to mind when he thought of humans. He hoped this article idea of Laine’s helped. “We’re leaving now.”
“I’ll make something for you to eat when you get here, then.”
In the background, Abel could hear Fan trying to get Bax to give him the phone. “Put him on. He sounds excited.” He listened to the sound of Bax coaching Fan on being careful with the phone and then Fan was on.
“Hi, Pap.”
“Hi, Fan.” And he smiled as Fan detailed his day.
CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
What the hell was I thinking when I agreed to talk to the reporter? I sat on my couch with my pups beside, stiffly uncomfortable. Well, I was. The pups were whining and restless. And the reporter was still trying to get a decent picture of us.
Finally, I lost my patience, and since Abel wasn’t there, I let fly. “You know, maybe we could do this some other time. I have work to get done, and the pups have been inside all morning.”
“That might be a good idea. I’m not sure this is the look I’m going for. You guys want to go outside?” he asked the pups.
“Ugh, yes.” Fan jumped down off the couch, and I grabbed him before he could run off.
“No. You don’t talk to people like that. Apologize.” Okay, maybe that was a better idea. I was too grumpy now to get much done in the office anyway.
He growled at me and crossed his arms.
I was acutely aware of the reporter watching this all with great interest. Fuck. I leaned down and said in a low voice, “Abel wants this man to like us. He isn’t going to if you growl.” Abel’s name was like the magic word with Fan now, and that was all I had to say to get him to come around. I didn’t like it that I had to do that, but Abel had told me that he had to do the same thing, using mine, so I didn’t really have anything to complain about. That didn’t make it any less frustrating.
Fan sighed loudly, but he turned to the reporter and asked, “Do you want to go play on the slide?”
“Sure,” the man said.
We put on coats and boots, and gloves to protect our hands from the cold metal. Well, all except for Noah, who heard the word ‘out’ and immediately began to change. I whisked him off to the bedroom he now shared with Fan to finish the job, then repeated the action with Teca. The reporter watched while I bundled the other two pups into their warm clothing, not helping. I think he took a picture, but I was too preoccupied with getting the pups dressed as quickly as possible I really didn’t pay attention. It would have been easier if I could have known what he was looking for—I would gladly have given it to him. But when I’d asked, he’d just said, “Be yourself.”
The whole thing was easier at the playground, with the pups to watch over. Fan climbed and slid and shouted with some of his friends while Beatrice played in the sandbox. I sat on a nearby bench and played fetch with Teca with one hand, and tug-of-war with Noah with the other.
“Dabi!” Fan yelled. “Catch me!” He climbed to the top of the bars and stood with his arms out.
“Don’t you move, Fan!” I yelled, and abandoned my other two pups to rush over.
Fan hardly waited for me to get there before he launched himself into the air. I caught him awkwardly and we tumbled to the ground.
“Dabi!” he scolded. “You’re not supposed to fall. Pap doesn’t.”
“Pap is--” I’d started to say, when I was interrupted.
“Pap is a lot bigger than Dabi,” Abel told him, picking him up by the back of his pants. He was shirtless, wearing a disreputable pair of old shorts, and had obviously just finished his morning run with the security crew, who milled around in the background.
Fan squealed with laughter. “Pick me up like a suitcase, Pap!”
“I already did.” He swung him around a little before offering me a hand up. “You really aren’t supposed to fall, Dabi,” he teased.
“You already said that,” I told him tartly, then fended him off. “No, you’re all sweaty and I’ll have to wash my jacket again.
He leaned in so Fan couldn’t hear and whispered, “You liked me sweaty last night.”
I went red and he laughed. “I’ll come out and play with you guys once we’re done,” he told the pups.
“What do you have left to do?” A tugging on my pantleg got my attention.
Abel nudged Teca away from my jeans. “Situps, pushups, lifts. You can watch, if you like.” He grinned cockily, and winked.
“Well, I wouldn’t want to miss that show.” Then, with a wink of my own, I added, “Duke’s really ripped.”
“You!” he complained, and swatted my ass, but it was all in fun. He already knew I couldn’t take my eyes off him.
I grinned and kissed him, then took Fan back. “Go show off for me then.” The freedom to tease and flirt—it was like being able to breathe again.
He scooped Beatrice out of the sandbox and said, “Absolutely. Come on, Fan, you can count.”
I settled back down on the bench while the men and women who worked security organized themselves into rows and dropped to the ground. Abel set Beatrice on his shoulders and had her grab his hair. Noah yipped at my feet and I picked him up and put him on my lap. I looked around for Teca, but she was fine, riding on Duke’s back in her wolf form. “Be careful with her, Duke,” I called. “She can’t grab with anything but teeth like that.”
“I’ve been gnawed by pups before,” he yelled back. “We’re good, right, Teca?”
She whined and braced her legs on his bag, panting happily.
“Crazy pups,” I muttered under my breath.
The reporter sat beside me. “They seem to like him.”
“He’s a good father,” I answered coolly.
The reporter snorted. “You don’t like me much, do you?”
I kept my eyes on the group doing their push-ups, with Fan counting each one. “I don’t know what you want.”
He made a tch noise. “I wasn’t sure what I wanted either, when Laine talked me into this. Really, I only came because I figured I owed him. He’s put me on to some pretty big stories before—I couldn’t just say no. But I think there is a story here.”
I turned to stare at him. “What do you mean?”
He shrugged. “Look at you. Look at this place. It’s like a family with thousands of members.”
“You’re not so far off,”
I said wryly. “It wasn’t that long ago that the packs were running into bloodline problems.” I scratched behind Noah’s ears. “There’s still a lot of relatives here. Mac and Abel are cousins, and Duke is a cousin of Abel’s, but not of Mac’s, but Stephanie—the redhead, is a first cousin to both Mac and Abel, and a second or third cousin to Duke.”
The reporter whistled. “That makes things complicated.”
“Yes, it does. But it’s what happens in a closed system.” Jason was working on chemistry now, and I’d picked that phrase up from him. It seemed a perfect description for the way the packs had been isolated for the first fifty years after the Enclosure.
“I think that’s why Laine asked me to come out and meet you. This certainly isn’t what I’d expected.”
“What did you expect?”
He shrugged. “Disorder, chaos, violence. I mean, I can feel that you’re shifters. There’s just something in the air here. But you’re far more…civilized than I’d thought I’d find.”
I snorted and turned back Abel. He was doing one handed push-ups now, with Fan on his back too. His eyes were on me and, without thinking, I whistled at him. He grinned and switched arms and I blushed again. So much for civilized.
The reporter spoke again. “You two are a real love story, aren’t you?”
I cocked my head to the side and studied him. “Did you think we weren’t?”
“I thought Laine was embroidering the truth a little. He does enjoy stirring the pot, and he’s got no compunction about involving other people in his schemes.”
“Scheme.” I didn’t really care for the idea of being used.
“Yeah. That’s what I call them. He calls them causes. I think some of the big cases he takes are only about publicity and making money enough that he can afford to do free stuff for worthy causes. All he needs is the armor and the fancy horse, and we’ll have to start calling him Sir.”
I tucked that away to think about it. “What do you think he’s getting out of this?”
The reporter shrugged. “Equality for all? He’s got a strong streak of fairness that really should have been beaten out of him in law school.”
Abel's Omega(Gay Paranomal MM Mpreg Romance) (Mercy Hills Pack Book 2) Page 25