Chapter Ten
Eleven hours later
Ford
“I thought he was only supposed to sleep for twenty-four hours?” Chase glared at Ford over a bottle of beer.
Ford yawned and checked his watch. “That’s what I was told.
” He wasn’t bothered, because the clash of OX and since Lucky had never had a heat the complex combination could be confusing Lucky’s body, never mind the influence of Fugue.
Ford turned to give Chase his full attention, laying an arm across the back of the sofa.
“What d’ya think about this bond business? ”
Chase had been avoiding the topic and he was sick of being patient. They were running out of time. Lucky could wake up soon and Ford still hadn’t formulated a plan.
While Chase sipped his beer, Ford extended a finger to brush the shell of his ear.
Chase tipped his head against the sofa, allowing another lingering contact before rolling his head to look Ford in the eye.
“I’ve never heard of a three-way bond before.
I never thought I’d have to compete with someone else for my mate. ”
“Is that what you think’s happening here?” Ford cocked his head, surprised. “We ain’t competing. We’re like the chocolate fudge brownie on top of ice cream. We can be enjoyed individually, but we’re so much better together.”
Chase laughed, a loud, happy sound that made him want things Chase wasn’t ready to give. “You’re ridiculous.”
Ford shrugged off the potential insult, loving how warm and accepting Chase looked.
He was curious if Chase felt the pull Ford did, tugging him towards an alpha who should have been out of bounds.
Ford curled his free hand around Chase’s neck, drawing his full focus, and brushed a thumb across his Adam’s apple.
Blue eyes flickered behind his eyelashes and he relaxed into his seat, releasing the tension.
Unable to resist that hot look, Ford leaned in and dropped a tester kiss to Chase’s jaw. He looked at Ford like he was scared of what might happen next, but was that because he wanted it or because he was afraid he couldn’t control himself?
There was only one way to find out.
Ford captured Chase’s lips in a kiss and straddled his lap. He didn’t want Chase running off before they’d given this a decent chance.
Ford kissed him over and over again until Chase grabbed his hair to hold him still and gently nipped his bottom lip.
That was such a sweet move, something he imagined Lucky would melt at, but Ford was no omega and Chase didn’t need to be gentle.
The second Ford’s lips parted, Chase licked his way inside, intensifying the kiss to the point where all Ford wanted was to ravish him.
Maybe when Lucky woke up, he would.
* * * *
Lucky
There was a funny taste in his mouth when he woke up, and he desperately needed the bathroom.
He frowned at the chandelier above and sat up, his body weak and sore.
Scratching his head, he found his hair lying loose, annoyed by the three knots he found.
He always braided it before going to sleep, because his hair was so long.
Lucky slipped his feet off the mattress, searching for anything familiar.
The room looked like a magazine—a bed big enough for five people to sprawl comfortably, a double-width window opposite with its curtains shut, cream and leather furniture, two separate armoires on either side of a door to his left that sat ajar.
He’d never been in such a fancy hotel before.
Once he could stand steadily, he’d take pictures for his papa. He’d love this place.
Ignoring the rest of the room, he stood, not surprised that his knees wobbled. He crossed to the bathroom, leaning on whatever furniture was there—a plush armchair, a console table and a plant table with an orchid.
Lucky pushed open the bathroom door, relieved himself, washed his face and hands and contemplated taking a shower, but he wasn’t confident that he could get in and out of the massive bathtub safely.
Leaving the bathroom, he walked to the double doors that must lead to the main hotel suite. Lucky brushed at his hair to hide how matted it was, and cracked open one of the doors. He could see a sofa with its back to the room, but his attention was on Ford, facing him but making out with Chase.
He contemplated whether to close the door and leave or interrupt. A yawn caught him by surprise, so loud that the two alphas sprang apart. Lucky shook off the yawn, stunned that Chase shoved Ford to the side, where he sank into the sofa, unbothered.
Ford beamed at Lucky like he was a sight for sore eyes. “Morning, flower.” He slowly untangled from Chase and rounded the sofa. “How you feeling?”
“Strange.” Lucky wasn’t sure what the right word was, but he remembered making the decision to take Fugue, which was living up to its name. “Is there water?”
Chase shot off the sofa and rushed to the left of the room, where a trolley sat with various food and drinks. He crossed to Lucky and handed him an uncapped bottle of water. “Take it slow. You don’t want to make yourself sick.”
“How long was I asleep?”
“Roughly thirty-seven hours.”
Lucky choked on a sip of water and stared at Ford in confusion.
“We were starting to worry somethin’ went wrong. I’m glad you’re awake.” He leaned in to kiss Lucky’s temple, then stepped around him. “I’ll run you a bath.”
Lucky watched him go, speechless, then turned to Chase for an explanation.
“Let’s sit while we wait.” He helped Lucky to the sofa, even though he wasn’t that frail. Chase waited until he was sitting comfortably then perched beside him to brush a strand of hair from Lucky’s eyes. “We’ll get your hair brushed after you’ve had a bath. Your papa packed some stuff from home.”
Lucky cocked his head, surprised by the tenderness in Chase. “Were you that scared?”
Chase nodded, not denying it. “We both were,” he said, including Ford again. Was that a sign that he accepted this three-way bond, or was he afraid to exclude Ford in case Lucky walked away from their bond as true mates?
“It’s not because you’re not enough,” he promised, afraid he’d think Lucky wanted another alpha mate. “I don’t want you to feel like I’d force this on you. I won’t ask you to accept Ford into our bond if you don’t want him there. It will be hard, but I’m sure―”
“Don’t apologise, because you did nothing wrong,” Chase protested, sounding like he’d made peace with their bond while Lucky was sleeping. “This is new and confusing, but you were adamant that Omha was guiding you. Do you still believe that?”
It wasn’t a belief and Lucky opened his mouth to argue, but stopped when Chase’s meaning sank home.
“I still believe in Her, in what I feel,” he promised, glad he didn’t doubt Omha.
This wasn’t even about Omha, but about whether Lucky had changed his mind, whether he stood by what he’d said and trusted that Omha had given him two mates.
Chase gripped Lucky’s fingers tight. “When you kissed him, I should’ve been jealous, but there was nothing. I could see from how he looked at you that it was real.”
Lucky smiled, unable to find the words to express his relief.
“Did you think Ford just pounced on me, to hell with what I wanted?” Chase asked with a knowing smile.
He almost commented on how he’d found them, but thought better of it. “Let’s face it, he would.”
“Course I fuckin’ would.” Ford stood in the bedroom doorway, blatantly eye-fucking both of them. “I hit the jackpot with two hot mates. Now let’s get your ass in the bath.”
Sinking into the hot water, the weariness in Lucky’s bones faded away. He’d been right about his inability to get in, and had hated the vulnerability and rush of nerves that consumed him when Ford thoughtfully lifted him in. “Did Jesi explain everything?”
Ford lifted a cloth and crouched at the side of the bath. “Yeah. That kid knows what he’s doing.”
There was so much fondness there that Lucky couldn’t resist asking, “How did he become ORT?”
Ford dunked the cloth into the water and scrubbed a bar of soap across it. “He was sold into the Market by a family member when he was young,” he said while Lucky soaked in the water, letting the heat ease his aching muscles. “He was in the Market for years.”
Lucky remembered meeting him once. “Years ago, he came to the police academy to discuss the ORT from an omega’s perspective. My father took me, because I wanted to join.”
Ford’s smile made butterflies flit in his stomach. “You wanna be ORT? Sounds like a good plan.” He dipped the cloth into the water to lazily wipe over Lucky’s legs. “Dont’cha agree?” He looked back at Chase, who sat on a dining chair just behind him.
“Absolutely.”
“Jesi’s seen plenty shit over the years.
Both in and out of the Market,” Ford continued, lathering Lucky’s legs from ankle to thigh as though he’d done this before.
“Every ORT has a moment of awakening, when they realise how fucked-up this world is and that they’re willing to do anything, break any law, bend all the rules, just to get an omega the hell out of whatever shit hole they’re trapped in.
“Jesi was my awakening. We raided this mansion—crystal everywhere, marble ornaments in every corner, more money put into a single fucking vase than I’ve seen in my life.
We swept the estate, found a dozen omegas trapped in the wine cellar, chilled to the bone, and made our way upstairs.
In the office, there was Jesi. Naked as the day he was born, gun in hand, dead owner sitting in the chair across the desk.
” Ford shook his head and lifted Lucky’s hand to sweep the cloth over his arms. “Never been so fucking proud in my life, until I seen you resisting a heat. I ain’t never seen anyone fight OX, but I sure as fuck never seen an omega call on Omha to protect them. ”
“Not since Jesi?” Lucky guessed, and was glad that made Ford smile.