Appetite for an Alpha (Omega Quadrant #4)

Chapter 19

19

P ierce scribbled a few more notes in his pad, shaking his head. The three socialite omegas were oblivious to the needs for a charity event. They walked around the banquet room, deciding where they’d place this and that when it was obvious the space was too small for their needs. He could fit a tight hundred in there, but that was without display tables, raffle tables, and all the other odds and ends the trio were discussing.

“Honestly, gentlemen, I think this space is too small for the event you’re looking to have.” Which he’d told them before the meeting. It was a waste of his and Max’s time.

“How much would it cost to close the entire restaurant for the night?” the leader of the group asked. Pierce had already forgotten his name. He scanned his notes.

“Thousands more, Mr. Magnusson,” Pierce murmured. “I’d have to run some numbers to determine just how many.” He’d only closed the entire restaurant once for a private event, but that had been a decade before. He couldn’t quote that figure.

“A guess?” the third asked. He didn’t have that one’s name in his notes. Pierce thought he’d overheard the omega called Jay.

“Somewhere in the neighborhood of a hundred thousand, probably.”

All three gasped.

“But it’s for charity,” Maybe-Jay said, frowning. “Surely you’d give us a better deal than that.”

“If you want me to close the restaurant, I’d need to recoup a normal night’s business on top of whatever you were paying for the event,” Pierce said, grinning. “That’s why we’ve only closed it once before. It’s too costly.”

“You’re sure there’s not enough room here?” Magnusson asked.

“From all of the extras you want to include, I don’t think it will be. You don’t want to be cramped—and I’ve got limitations from the Fire Marshall, too. If the parameters you shared with me are accurate, you need a room almost twice this size.”

“And you have no other rooms?” Magnusson asked.

Pierce shook his head. “Not currently.”

“Not currently. Does that mean you might have another space in the future?” Maybe-Jay asked. He seemed the more reasonable and levelheaded of the trio, and the look in his shrewd eyes bore a strange resemblance to someone Pierce knew. He just couldn’t figure out who.

“As of right now, no,” Pierce replied. “Perhaps for your following year’s event if all goes well.”

The three looked between one another.

“I’m sorry we came and wasted your time,” Magnusson said. “I really did think we could fit in here. I love your food so much. I was just telling Jay that he really must come with us the next time we dined here. Once he did, he’d know why I wanted the event here.”

“We’d love to book a reservation for you on the way out,” Max said.

“I won’t eat here,” Jay replied.

Pierce frowned. “Is there a reason why?”

“Yes. Though, I’m sure that reason has moved on by now.”

“One of my employees?” Pierce asked, stiffening.

“Yes,” Jay said, but no more.

“Do you mind elaborating?” Pierce asked. “If there was a problem with one of my employees, I’d love the chance to make it right. We pride ourselves over our service here.”

“Oh, it wasn’t your service,” Jay replied flippantly. “It was a personal matter and had nothing to do with the restaurant.”

“His son,” Magnusson said. “The hellion. They’re estranged.”

In that second, Pierce recognized the look in Jay’s eyes. It was the same look his omega gave him when irritated. “You’re Brett’s papa.”

Jay got an odd look. He narrowed his eyes at Pierce.

“If you mean Brett Boyd, then yes,” Magnusson answered for him.

Pierce closed his notepad and smiled when all he wanted to do was scream. A small, petty part of him wanted to go in the back and drag his very pregnant omega out to rub it in the man’s face, but he thought it best to get the men out of the restaurant as soon as possible. If Brett wanted to confront his parents, fine, but he didn’t need to come face-to-face with his papa before he was in the right frame of mind. “I think we’re done here. We unfortunately don’t have the space for your event, but I wish you good luck in finding another venue.”

“Well, what if we found another venue, but brought you in for the catering?” Magnusson asked.

“We could d—” Max started before Pierce interrupted.

“We’re no longer doing any off-site catering, I’m afraid.”

The three omegas eyed him, clearly not pleased with being told no. Max watched him, a bit stunned, too.

“Max can show you gentlemen out,” Pierce said, leveling his gaze at Jay Boyd. He narrowed his eyes. “Have a nice day.”

From the looks on their faces, it was clear that his clipped tone had not gone over well. The three stormed out in a huff, but fortunately silent. He grabbed Max’s arm and whispered, “Take them down the longer way so I can get into the kitchen and ensure Brett doesn’t come out.”

Max nodded and slipped out behind the men.

As soon as they were a few steps ahead, Pierce took the shorter route and nearly ran down the stairs, headed for the kitchen. Just before he reached the door, Brett came out carrying a handful of invoices and his nose in one of them.

Pierce swept in and stepped in front of his omega, trying to block him from view. Brett nearly ran into him.

“Oh good, I was just coming to look to see if I could borrow you for a minute. I think I’ve found an ongoing discrepancy in one of our vendors’ invoices.”

Pierce urged Brett back toward the office. “Let’s go sit in your office and look them over.”

“Okay,” he said before spinning back around. He handed the invoices to Pierce. “The baby’s kicking my bladder to hell today. Let me go pee before we go.”

“Use the one in the back,” Pierce murmured.

“I know you prefer us not to use these out here, but it’s right there,” Brett argued. “And I have to go.”

“Brett, you need to get in the back now,” Pierce said.

Brett frowned, a hint of a smile on his lips. “Why do I need to get in the back now?”

“Please trust me and go into the kitchen,” Pierce whispered.

“Brett? Is that you?”

Pierce closed his eyes for a second before seeing the look of panic on his omega’s face. “Go to the back. I’ll get rid of him.”

Brett shook his head. “No. I won’t spend the rest of my life trying to avoid my parents.” He brushed past Pierce.

When Pierce spun, he noted the almost comical looks of surprise on the three omegas’ faces as they stared at Brett’s swollen belly.

“Brett?” Jay Boyd finally asked. “What is this?”

“I’m not a beta. I’m a latent omega.”

Brett’s papa looked him up and down. “Had you come to your father and me, we could’ve gotten you into some of the elite omega balls and found your fated mate instead of whoever it is you’re demeaning yourself with.”

“Demeaning?” Brett asked. “Who said I was demeaning myself?”

Magnusson leaned closer. “You’re not that omega who was taken on the street last year, are you?”

Brett’s papa gasped. “Oh, please tell me that wasn’t you!”

“It wasn’t,” Brett said under his breath.

The omega who wasn’t Magnusson or Jay spoke up. “I heard about that on the news, and I can’t even imagine going through that. I’m so glad that wasn’t you. He’ll never be allowed in polite society again, poor thing.”

“You don’t blame him for what happened,” Brett snapped. “Do you?”

“Well, the blame must go on someone,” the other omega said, and Magnusson nodded in agreement. “It surely can’t be the alphas who were rightfully in the Alpha Quad, minding their own business. The omega was where he didn’t belong.”

Three peas in a pod, all of them rotten. Pierce growled low in his throat, and the trio’s gaze whipped to his.

“He had no idea he was really an omega. Just as I didn’t know,” Brett said. “Am I to blame for my nature, as well?”

“Come on,” Jay murmured. “I remember you pretending to be an omega when you had playtime as a little boy. You’d cradle those babies and call yourself papa. Somewhere deep inside, you knew. He probably did, too, and tempted fate.”

“Do you remember your first heat?” Brett asked his papa. “How scared you were? How unnerved and confused you felt? Because I had my first one seven months ago and it was utterly terrifying. It was even more terrifying for that poor latent omega who had the misfortune of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Do none of you have any compassion for him?”

All three omegas looked blankly at Brett.

“Maybe this is why you’ve always been so listless,” Brett’s papa said. “You were waiting around for your alpha all along. We sure did waste a college education on you now that you’ll be popping out babies and not using that accounting degree.”

“Of course he’s going to use it,” Pierce said. “He’s Lambeau’s bookkeeper and office manager. I wouldn’t know what to do without him.”

“You’re still working?” Brett’s papa asked, aghast.

“I am.” Brett slipped his arm through Pierce’s. “I work for my alpha.”

Jay pointed at Pierce. “Him? He’s old enough to be your father!”

“He’s my fated mate. Are you saying fate got it wrong?” Brett asked.

Jay looked between them, appearing unsettled. “So, you’re mated to an old man and he’s making you work. Lovely.”

“Making him? No.” Pierce smiled at Brett. “He can do whatever he wants. Work. Not work. As long as he’s doing what makes him happy, that’s all that matters to me.”

Brett grinned. “I like the work. And I like that I’m helping my alpha take care of our family business.”

Pierce squeezed Brett’s hand before turning to Brett’s papa. “So, no. It wasn’t a waste. That degree led him to me, where he belongs. He wasn’t a waste, either, whether he was beta or omega, he mattered to me.”

“Although, I do wonder if that’s why I struggled so much to figure out what I wanted to do with my life. I didn’t know who I was. Not until I met Pierce.”

Pierce kissed Brett’s hand.

“I suppose if your alpha accepts you working in the office, then so be it,” his papa said, forcing a smile. “Did you already have a mating ceremony that you didn’t invite your family to?”

“Not yet,” Brett replied, his voice low.

“When are you two planning to hold it?”

Brett shrugged. “I don’t know. We haven’t really discussed it.”

Pierce frowned slightly but stayed mum.

“You are having one?” his papa asked, eyes wide. “Aren’t you?”

“Maybe,” Brett said. “I mean, it’s just a piece of paper. He’s my alpha and I’m his omega regardless.”

“I would feel better knowing my son had protections under the law,” Brett’s papa said. “And you need to be married—or mated—to get your trust fund.”

“I figured I no longer had a trust fund after I was exiled from the family,” Brett muttered. “But if I still do, then it comes to me when I’m thirty regardless.”

“Not now that you’re an omega,” his papa replied. “That changes the rules of the trust.”

“How?” Brett asked.

“An omega must be mated in order to receive his trust since his property becomes his alpha’s. An omega couldn’t be trusted with that kind of money.”

“Keep your money, then,” Brett said. “I don’t want it. We’ll be just fine without it.”

His papa eyed him. “You’ll change your mind. You always do.”

“Not this time,” Brett said. “I’ve finally found my path, and I’m happy. I’ll have a family of my own, one that doesn’t treat one child as subservient to the others, regardless of their class.”

“I was simply trying to impress upon you the way of this world, when I thought you to be a beta. I was doing you a favor.”

“No, you broke a child and made him feel unloved and unwanted,” Pierce spat. “Fortunately for him, he’s loved and wanted now.”

Brett’s papa looked between them. “I’m sure you’ll hear from your father soon. Maybe he can talk some sense into you.”

“Tell him not to bother,” Brett replied. “I have no desire to see any of you again. You’re horrible people. You exiled me… well, now I exile you from my life.”

Jay Boyd turned, his eyes shining with tears he didn’t deserve to shed. “Fine. If that’s what you want, so be it.”

Max helped usher them out before locking the doors.

Brett spun and wrapped his arms around Pierce.

He hugged his mate tight. “I’m sorry, baby. I’m sorry your family treated you so cruelly.”

“My new one will be better,” Brett said, his face pressed into Pierce’s chest.

“Damned right it will be,” Pierce murmured. When he lifted his gaze, he noticed Max was gone and they were alone in the dining room. “On the topic of mating ceremonies, are you still set against us mating?”

He’d asked one other time, when Brett was a few months along, and gotten a glare.

Brett leaned back and frowned. “Do you want my money? Is that it?”

“You do the restaurant’s books. You know we’re in good shape financially. I don’t need your money. I’ve got my own.”

“You have no idea how much that trust is,” Brett whispered.

Pierce shrugged. “Doesn’t matter. I’m quite happy with my life the way it is. With my omega and our baby on the way, our business, and our home soon finished above it. That’s all I need.”

“I love you,” Brett said. “For trying to protect me from him—and then having my back when I faced him.”

Pierce kissed Brett’s lips. “My only job is to protect and cherish you. I take it seriously. Ceremony or no.”

“You want to protect your omega?” Brett leaned against him. “I really have to pee now. Get out of my way.”

Pierce chuckled and stepped back, urging Brett toward the bathroom.