4. Graeme #4
I was stunned. She’d raised him in a certain way and then allowed him free rein.
In what realm of possibility could any omega be allowed out in the world, unprotected, unsupervised, and unescorted, without consequence?
It was madness. They were lucky Avery hadn’t been taken from them long before I showed up.
Any suitor could have followed him home, or wolves who had caught his scent on the air, known an omega when they smelled one, and taken the chance that he was alone.
I had no idea how he’d been so fortunate.
“Are you certain he’s your mate?” she asked gently. “I don’t mean to doubt you, and I mean no disrespect, but we’re very close, he and I, as I am with all my children, so it makes no sense he wouldn’t have shared with me that he found his mate.”
She was choosing her words carefully, and when I glanced at Kat, looking for an ally, I was startled by the way she was gazing at Mrs. Huntington—brows furrowed, face drawn tight, eyes narrowed so no stray tear dared well up or, heaven forbid, fell.
She was the picture of concern and sympathy.
But why? Why would my ultra-capable assistant be concerned with—and then it came to me.
I was standing there trying to make this woman see that everything she’d taught her son had been wrong, when it was him and his easy charm and swagger, nothing forced, nothing fake, no pretense, that had utterly bewitched me.
He was who he was because the woman standing before me had raised him without the restrictions on mind and body that every other omega I’d ever met had been taught from birth.
They cleaved to their limitations and looked for freedom and fulfillment through their mates.
It was precisely Avery’s independence that had me so enthralled.
None of this, however, resolved my concerns over the heat that he would soon find himself in no matter what his mother’s thoughts were on the subject.
“Mrs. Huntington—” I sighed, taking a breath before I continued. “—forgive me. I was thrown by your revelations about how he conducts himself and where he lives. I meant no disrespect.”
Her face lit up in relief, and she stepped closer and took my hand. It wasn’t at all proper, her touching me without my permission or that of her mate, her husband, but already I was coming to understand that Avery was unusual, and so was his family.
“I would further postulate that the reason he didn’t go to you immediately upon learning I was his mate is owed to you raising him to believe his human side is more important than his wolf. He called me his mate, his alpha, but they were just words; he doesn’t truly believe them. Not yet.”
She pressed her lips together and nodded, almost grimacing. “I suspect that’s correct. Avery and his wolf do not get along.”
“How so?”
Her deep exhale told me it was a long-running point of conflict and debate. “I’ve told him since he was young that his wolf is not something to be fought, but instead embraced and cherished.”
“But he doesn’t listen to you,” I surmised as she withdrew her hand.
“No. He argues the point with all of us: me, his father, his brother and sister, their mates, aunts, uncles, anyone who brings it up.”
I held her gaze. “And therein lies my contention,” I apprised her gently.
“Your son, who you have raised to be self-sufficient and strong, was educated about what to expect when he encountered alphas who might consider him for a bonding, but he was never told what it would be like to find his mate.”
“Because omegas don’t have true mates,” she replied shrewdly. “They’re made to create a home, raise and nurture children, conform to whatever environment they find themselves in, but not to join with a single alpha. It’s actually tragic when they do.”
“I know all about omegas. My mother was one.” I needed the lesson on what an omega was and wasn’t to be concluded. I didn’t need to be reminded why Fiona Davenport had fallen into ruin after the death of my father; the fact she had was enough.
“Your mother was an omega?”
“She was, yes.”
“And she’s gone now,” she surmised with a sigh. “I’m so sorry. But as your own mother was an omega, then you understand an omega bonding with an alpha is––”
“Pardon me for interrupting. I’m not talking about bonding but about mating,” I stated, needing her to hear me. “I know how omegas who are bonded by contract behave, but I am not at all familiar with what occurs in those who are mated. I suspect not many are, yourself included.”
Moments of silence ticked by as she stared up into my face before she finally nodded. “You’re absolutely right. Forgive me.”
“There’s nothing to forgive; I simply need you to grasp what I’m telling you. Your son left here thinking that his mate is secondary to everything else in his life, and I am not.”
“No. No, you’re not.”
“And I believe that him going into heat is not only likely but guaranteed.”
She glanced at Kat and then back at me. “Because the two of you mating is a once in a lifetime thing,” she concluded. “Yes?”
“Yes,” I rushed out, thrilled that she finally heard me.
She reached for me, and I took her hands in mine, holding them gently. “Then we’ll have to make sure we get the two of you back here first thing tomorrow.”
Had I heard her correctly? “Mrs. Huntington,” I blurted out, “we need to sign the contract now so that I may leave here and go to him.”
“I’m sorry,” she said, eyes narrowed, brows furrowed, taking a step back from me. “Without his informed consent? This is what you’re suggesting?”
“Ma’am, he’s an omega. He has no say, only the alpha who claims him does, and the head of this household, your husband.”
She nodded slowly. “Certainly. Please come with me.”
I glanced at Kat, who looked just as confused as I was, and then fell into step beside the matriarch of the Huntington family, very much off balance with her sudden deference. It didn’t matter, though, how uncomfortable I was. Only having Avery’s contract in my hands did.
When we stepped into the main room, as expected, everyone stopped and turned. I was a cyne , after all. We were few and far between, and I was an earl to boot. Money, property, and a huge dowry was in store for the Huntingtons, and every person in the room was aware of that fact.
I saw the faces of the omegas I’d brushed off, walked away from.
As the crowd parted and we reached Mr. Huntington, his son and daughter joining us, I gave a slight bow, and as was custom, he gave a much deeper one, which was necessary given my rank and title, and then we were facing one another in silence.
“Sir,” I began, my voice far steadier than I felt, “I would like to speak to you about your son Avery’s contract.”
The room erupted into a din of people all speaking at once. I would soon be fielding a circus of social invitations; of that I had no doubt.
“Of course,” he replied over the cacophony, giving me a trace of a smile, extending his arm and pointing the way toward an archway that led from the great room, ballroom, whatever they called the enormous room in their home.
Once we were in the hall, along with Mrs. Huntington, his son and daughter, as well as Kat, Mr. Huntington addressed me.
“Mr. Davenport,” he began, “I have a copy of the contract to give you to go over, and then when we set the date to discuss terms we can––”
“No, dear,” Mrs. Huntington, declared softly, demurely, a tone that she had, as of yet, not used in my presence. “Mr. Davenport means to sign the contract immediately and take ownership of your son this very evening.”
He stopped and rounded on me so unexpectedly that both Kat and I took a defensive step back, with her moving in closer than usual, as unnerved as I was.
“What reason would you have for wanting your suit to move forward so quickly?” he asked, glowering at me.
Instead of saying, “I had sex with your son in your laundry room,” I replied with, “He’s my mate, sir. Not a bond mate, but a true one.”
He was taken aback, as was everyone but Mrs. Huntington. I could see it in their stunned expressions, all of them appearing as though I’d told them I was a unicorn.
“There’s no question about it,” I pressed on. “If you ask him, he’ll agree. He’s mine.”
Mr. Huntington nodded and then took a breath. “To be clear, sir, he’s mine . And until I hear from my son that he is indeed your mate, and, moreover, he wants to be, all I can provide you with is the copy of his contract, as I stated earlier.”
I glanced at Mrs. Huntington, who had her arms crossed and her brows lifted.
The I told you so was clear as day. “Perhaps you don’t understand his present peril,” I apprised my mate’s father.
“But I firmly believe that I’ve put him in heat.
And, as he is truly mated rather than a chosen bond mate, I suspect that what he will experience will be far more extreme than what occurs with a normal bonding. ”
Mr. Huntington’s glower turned into an outright glare of disapproval. “Being an alpha myself, I know the only way you could put him in heat would be if you placed my son, my youngest, my unbonded omega, into a, shall we say, compromising position.”
Four people staring daggers at me.
“Tell me, sir,” he demanded, grinding out the words, “have you violated all rules of propriety, hospitality, respectability, and decorum this evening, and compromised my youngest?”
It was a horrific breach of conduct, and ridiculous at the same time.
No one in their right mind thought omegas were virginal ingenues.
Were some of them? Of course. The younger they were, the more likely the omega would be a virgin, but this was the twenty-first century, not some Regency nightmare.
The issue wasn’t with the omega being pure and untouched; the issue was with an alpha claiming an omega before the contracts were signed.
Avery could have screwed whoever he wanted to as long as that person wasn’t an alpha; for an alpha to sleep with an omega without signing on the bottom line was akin to stealing.
It was not something any upstanding alpha, or cyne , would ever do, much less admit to… but for one very good reason.
“I did,” I confessed, meeting his gaze, staring him down. “Your son is ruined for anyone else; no other alpha but me will ever want him.”
“I will have you censured!” Mr. Huntington railed. “And––”
“You don’t have to do anything,” I assured him, my tone soothing, kind, “because, as I said, I want him. All I need, sir”––it was my turn to draw out the words––“is your signature next to mine on his contract.”
“Absolutely not,” Ambrose Huntington, Avery’s brother, rasped. “Until we talk to Avery, we can’t do––”
“No,” his father murmured, his cold, hard gaze on me. “There’s nothing to be done.”
“Unless Avery was forced or––”
It was instinctive. My wolf processed his words before my human brain caught up. I had Ambrose Huntington off his feet, on the wall, my clawed hand wrapped around his throat. Second time that evening I’d lost control, but for two night-and-day reasons.
“That’s my mate you speak of so lightly,” I growled at him, making sure he heard my rage in every clipped syllable. “He’s more precious to me than my own eyes, and I would sooner cut out my heart than cause him a moment of pain.”
Time ticked by, wild, rapid beats of his heart and the loud, steady drum of mine.
“Yes,” he choked out.
“I more than merely want him; he’s my very breath, my home.”
Letting him go, he dropped to his feet and would have crumpled to the floor, sliding down the wall, but I pinned him there with two fingers to his shoulder. “You insult me and my family name far more gravely than I have yours with the mere suggestion of something so loathsome and vile as rape.”
“Please,” he rasped when I stepped back, placing his hand over his heart, “forgive me, Graeme Davenport. I was concerned for my brother and misspoke.”
Turning to face Mr. and Mrs. Huntington, I was surprised at the looks on both of their faces, especially Avery’s mother, whose head was tipped, a fond smile curling her bow-shaped lips. The dimples, which she’d given to her son, were also evident.
I squinted at her. “Ma’am?”
She rushed forward and took hold of my hand. “You’re a mess, just like him.”
“Pardon me?”
Kat snorted, but I didn’t look at her.
“You’re all grouchy and cold and aloof and growly on the outside, but I heard what you said, and that came from the heart.”
“I have no––”
“Come”––Mr. Huntington’s tone was now warm, pacifying––“let’s set the terms and get that contract signed.”
I turned to look at Kat then.
She shrugged. “Your mate is precious to you, Graeme; we all heard you.”
It felt like all the air left my body at once.
Mr. and Mrs. Huntington scrambled to hold me upright, both of them chuckling. Evidently, the fact I’d put their son in a compromising position paled beside my confession that I needed him more than air.
“He’s your treasure.” Mrs. Huntington sighed deeply. “You don’t expect him to make a home for you, because he is your home.”
I couldn’t get my voice to work.
She patted my arm. “Alphas, so ridiculous. If you’d just spoken up, I would have never doubted you. All I’ve ever wanted for my son was someone to see him for who he truly is. Someone to love him desperately and treasure him above all else.”
When had I said I was going to do any of that?
The look on her face was sheer adoration. “You’re going to be so good for him, so grounding, and you can make a home together, as equals.”
As what?
Kat snickered, and I turned to look at her.
“Sign the contract, boss.” She mouthed the words. “We need to find your mate.”
We did, yes. I had to set Avery straight about a great many things.
And even though whatever I’d said in the heat of the moment was crazy, and I had no idea where it came from, still, it was worth it because I would get what I wanted—Avery.
The more I thought about it, I had to wonder, how did an omega, raised like an alpha, go about dealing with being in heat?
Could he possibly turn to others to sate his carnal appetite?
I wasn’t going to give him enough time to find out.