Chapter Two

Aziz

The last thing I want in the world is for Jack to leave.

All this time, I knew I couldn't have him but at least he was here. I would see him at meals. Watch as he cooed at his baby boy and smiled at the jokes others told.

A few months ago, everyone was sitting around the family table, joking about watching our cursing around the ever-growing babies, and Jack said something that plucked all my strings.

"And sometimes an omega just has to beg his alpha to fuck him. Hammer, you might be the leader around here, but I'm saying fuck."

My hyena perked up at the words, as though he were talking about me.

Me being Jack's alpha simply wasn't possible. I had a mate. One betrothed to me since we were born on the same day almost thirty years ago.

I had the mark on my thigh to prove it.

With the mating set from the beginning of our lives, we accepted it as fact. Bella and I went through the motions. Had the ceremony. Became friends. Then lovers. But we were never in love with each other, and we weren't pretending to be fated mates.

Our clan didn't believe in those any more.

The number of hyena cubs had dwindled before we were born. Both of our parents were arranged mates and took it as a sign that our clan should move to arranged matings instead of waiting for Fate to wave her magic wand or whatever the fuck she did.

I loved Bella in my own way but, once I was recruited by Hammer, she understood my moving on and supported it. She had become a doctor in direct opposition to our clan's rules about females getting an education, but I would never stand in her way. She was our clan's best healer. It made sense.

Once she got her degrees, she moved back to the clan and, since she was the daughter of the former alpha and he had no other children, she became the first female alpha of our clan.

I checked in with her a couple of times a week, and she loved leading our clan into a more progressive way of life.

She was bringing them into the twenty-first century with a grace I didn't possess.

"Isn't it great?" Pop-Tart clapped me on the shoulder. I didn't even know what his name meant until someone showed me a box of the sugary pastries and explained the connection. We didn't have those where I was from. One taste of the dry, cardboardy things told me why. I didn't see how he could eat them without a gallon of water to wash them down.

"What's so great?" I asked, shaking myself from the depth of my thoughts about Jack moving and why in the fuck I was so torn up about it. I should've been happy for him. He and his son, Bryant, were going to a place where he could get some education and move on from all his abuse and trauma. It was a good thing. Right?

"Jack and the others having a new place to live. Not that I want them to leave, but we've set up so many services for them to learn a skill or get a degree or a license. This way, they can support themselves."

Pop-Tart was right, of course. The other omegas needed something to believe in, and who better to believe in than themselves. With what they had gone through, they were the strongest, bravest people in this warehouse.

"It's good for them. Yes." I heard my clipped tone but couldn't help it. My chest constricted every time I thought about Jack being away from me. "Is it safe? Is he…are they all going to be safe?"

Pop-Tart came to stand in front of me, nailing me in place with an inquisitive stare. "He?"

"They. I corrected myself. Answer the fucking question."

I turned from his knowing stare and made myself another cup of coffee. It was three in the afternoon, but my nights hadn't been restful in quite a while. When I closed my eyes, I saw Jack. It felt in some ways like cheating on Bella, but it also felt like being mated to Bella was being unfaithful to Jack.

Plus, there was the constant pushback from my hyena about being in my bed instead of Jack's. Jerking off in the shower instead of coming inside the omega.

My hyena claimed Jack was his fated mate. His omega. Our everything.

But my word was my bond, and I never broke a bond. I was nothing without sticking to the promises I made, even when everything in the world was against it.

Pop-Tart huffed out a laugh. "Okay. I'm going to guard there when I can, and the others will rotate."

"They have omegas here, and babies. We shouldn't take Hammer, Tyrus, and Mav away from their mates. It's not right."

"Then what do you propose?" Pop-Tart asked, pouring his own cup of the hot coffee.

"I'll stay there and stand guard until we get someone permanent." I couldn't even look him in the eyes. Pop-Tart was underestimated around here. Hammer used him as an assistant more than anything, but the male was sharp-witted and observant. He could do my job well if given the chance.

"Who's going to do stakeouts?"

I shrugged. "Tyrus said we haven't gotten leads in a while. Not good ones, at least. The fuckers are covering their asses better lately."

"There's a spare room we had planned for an office you can stay in. That okay?"

I nodded, trying to seem nonchalant about again being so close to Jack. "Yeah. That works."

"Done."