CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Hiding in the bathroom wasn’t exactly the mature, alpha thing to do, but how the hell could he talk to Mir when he’d hidden so much from them?

The combination of scents, pregnant omega, his childhood home, plus Mir’s vulnerability as they clutched his used shirt to their nose made Tavish’s head spin as he came out of the bathroom. He was in bed beside them, curling his body around theirs before he had time to think. Once he was surrounding Mir, his beta medical professional self tried to work out why his alpha mind was behaving this way, beginning with his own anomalous behavior.

I hit Telish.A full-on, rage-induced, unhinged, punch. Even more amazing was that the head of the Grabar empire had not only failed to immediately rip his throat out, he’d been pleased. When his father’s words made Mir flee, not only from Telish, but from himself, it made him see red. Attacking the most powerful alpha in the district had been irrational, stupid, and a totally alpha reaction to a threat to someone under his protection.

And Mir had done exactly the same thing to Natelle. A smile curved his lips. He would have loved to have seen that. Would Natelle parade the bruise—and knowing Mir there would be one—to garner sympathy tomorrow, or would she try to cover it with makeup?

He had no worries at all about Mir’s ability to defend themselves against another omega at any time, and they would likely be able to take most betas when not pregnant. The scars on the muscular body in his arms screamed of Mir’s incredible vulnerability to at least some alphas. And there were a whole bunch of powerful alphas here.

Luckily, Mir seemed to be growing a significant fan club, of both beta and alphas, which should please him. The more people who cared about Mir and their babies, the better. His arm tightened around Mir a little more at the thought of the smiles and banter Mir had exchanged with his family, particularly his father and brother.

Jealousy was such an ugly emotion, and he, more than most, knew how much it could harm when mixed with alpha hormones. It’d been so much easier when it’d just been the two of them. He began to see why his father only had affiliated betas on the estate. In some ways, the bond between an alpha and his affiliated beta was even stronger than that between mates. Affiliation was a choice, whereas guardian changes didn’t require the omega’s consent. Unless the couple were an alpha and omega who had completed the physical bonding process, they could break up. Affiliation, like bonding, was for life, but bonding was a purely alpha choice.

If he’d knotted inside Mir while he bit them, to create the bond, he would have risked the pregnancy. Knowing he’d done the right thing didn’t stop Mir’s neck calling to him. He wanted to bite it while buried deep inside them, with his knot contained by tight, wet heat. No one could ever take Mir from him then. Idiot. That was a hormone-driven lie. Yes, he’d always be able to feel Mir’s emotions, and they would feel his, but that didn’t mean they’d be physically together.

Mir’s parents had bonded illegally and look what happened? The fact that neither of the couple would ever reproduce again was immaterial. Even if hundreds of miles separated them, they would still feel the other’s emotions. He couldn’t conceive of experiencing Mir’s fear and not being able to hold and reassure them. It would destroy him, and the backlash would only hurt Mir more.

If anyone checked Mir’s real registration records, they’d see Corish Reeve was their guardian, and he could take Mir with the backing of every court in the land. Even without a bond, just the thought of that had Tavish resting his nose against Mir’s hair to reassure the primitive part of his brain that they were together.

How had Mir’s father not hunted down his stolen bonded mate? Although they hadn’t bonded, nothing—his body tensed with the intense emotion—nothing would prevent him from going after Mir. Unless they told him they didn’t want him, and he’d feel that rejection through a bond, if, no, when, that happened.

As soon as Mir recovered from the birth, as long as Mir consented, he’d do it. A despicable, nagging little voice at the back of his mind told him that he’d probably do it anyway, consent or not. And if he did that, he’d deserve to feel Mir’s hatred for him until the day he died.

Maybe he should take a leaf out of his father’s book. As a child, his feelings for his sire had switched from hero worship to abhorrence, but he’d settled on spending as little thought on Telish as possible as an adult beta. Manifesting had changed all that. Through his new perspective, his sire was the consummate alpha. Telish embraced his alphahood, enjoying and manipulating the advantages and dismissing negatives as inconsequential.

But Telish treated people like assets, testing and constantly evaluating their usefulness to the family. Like he’d done with Tavish earlier.

Being in close proximity to Mir’s relaxed body and contented scent dampened his anger at the thought that his father had intentionally distressed Mir merely to test him. Just like everyone else, his father hadn’t considered hurting an omega’s feelings as wrong. He smiled to himself at Mir’s response to Telish’s apology. It had put his father more on the back foot than his own relatively ineffective punch.

Unfortunately, apart from when they’d been eating, that had been the last time Mir hadn’t radiated some level of distress all evening. It spiked alarmingly when they’d seen Langish and then again when his alpha brother spoke about his twin.

Mir’s distress was only due to being in close proximity to another alpha. The supposition was distinctly suspect to his beta self. He wanted it to be accurate, but Mir hadn’t reacted like that to the other alphas in attendance, including Telish.

The inescapable conclusion was that Mir had recognized Langish by sight but had calmed down when he got near enough to detect his scent. His twin brothers had been virtually identical the last time he’d seen them nearly a decade ago, apart from their scent, and there was no reason to think they no longer resembled each other physically.

The question that rolled around his mind as the minutes of darkness ticked by was what he should do about his absent brother being mixed up in Mir’s and maybe other omegas—abuse.

The fact that such a revelation could tear his family apart didn’t overly concern him, although he had to admit to enjoying being accepted again. It was stupid, but even after all these years, there was a part of him that basked in the approval of his father, older brother, and untie. But his life didn’t revolve around the Grabar clan anymore; he had his own life and his own family to look after.

Tavish pressed his nose to Mir’s neck again, breathing in the sweet scent of pregnant, relaxed omega, and not just any omega, his omega. Even if it wasn’t legally true, every fiber of his primitive soul believed it.

Mir’s neck was about the only area of their body that didn’t sport a scar. The urge to add another one to the collection, right here, where everyone could see it in a few short hours was nearly as extreme an impulse to mate. The fooling around they’d done had heated his blood like nothing else ever had, until his insensitivity spoiled it, but he didn’t regret initiating the intimacy. The pain from his uncontained knot had been punishment enough.

Covering Mir in his scent and rubbing theirs into his skin had satisfied the practical need to prove they were mates to his family, but it had caused more emotional issues than it had solved, at least for him. The urge to knot deep inside and sink his teeth into that pristine neck made his cock rise and his teeth itch. He shifted his ass back, out of range of Mir’s delicious ass. That Mir wouldn’t refuse him made it even worse.

Bonding was the ultimate connection between two people, one he’d witnessed on a few occasions during his time at the hospital, and he’d always been curious about it. Modern medical texts saw it as an unwanted byproduct of their mixed species heritage, an aberration that should have been removed during the initial development of Homo malthusiens.

His father had been pleased that Mir bore no bonding marks. Telish had never bonded an omega, as he didn’t want to endure their distress when he put them aside for a newer model. Few bonded individuals ever chose to take another permanent partner, even if their mate passed away. For Telish, and probably for Langish too, the Grabar empire mattered, not the individual and that was damn sad. Telish had never experienced the love Ma had for him. If she had ever loved him, rather than just doing her duty. Then he remembered Ma’s proud devastation when she’d explained that Pa was putting her aside.

Seen through alpha eyes, Tavish had no doubt that Ma had loved him, and if his parents had bonded, Pa wouldn’t have put her aside. As an omega medical specialist, he now knew that the stress of knowing she’d lose her mate after she delivered might well have caused the issues with her labor. His ma had literally died rather than be replaced.

Tavish wanted that all-encompassing love. He wanted everything Mir could give him, their fear, anger, contentment, and love. What Mir wanted remained a mystery. Mir’s head was a puzzle he could work on for his entire life and probably never solve even with a bond, but he wanted to try.

He groaned as he realized he’d spent the last hour thinking about what he wanted, rather than considering Mir’s point of view. Like a typical alpha his mind had been on his knot.

Tomorrow, he’d start treating Mir like he should, like an intelligent, thinking person who deserved the truth rather than lies and what-ifs. Secrets that had protected him far more than Mir. If he hadn’t stuck his head in the sand, Mir might have been more prepared for seeing Langish, for seeing Corish’s name on their guardian certificate.

The belly beneath his hand moved, and Tavish smiled, but it didn’t last long. He was dealing with more than Mir now. Maybe the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, should wait until the babies were safely delivered and legally safe.

Mir’s relaxed scent was sweet intoxication, and it satisfied him down to a cellular level. Exhausted and euphoric because his mate was currently protected and content, he followed Mir into slumber.