Chapter 30
30
Hazel
I was going to destroy my makeup because as soon as I heard Logan’s voice, tears filled my eyes and spilled down my cheeks. I went from pissed off at Thane to drowning in emotions as I heard Logan’s familiar chuckle.
“Yeah, Hazel, it’s me,” Logan replied, and I wished like hell I could see him for myself.
“Where are you? Are you okay?” I had so many questions that I couldn’t settle on just one. I was literally shaking with excitement as Rhett rubbed my shoulders, letting out a soft purr that helped ground me.
“I’m in Virginia,” Logan answered, sounding a little annoyed by that fact. “But I’m okay.”
“Virginia?” I repeated, stunned. “How in the world did that happen?”
Rhett leaned in. “You only have another moment before they’ll come to get us, love.”
“Who was that? Was that one of your alphas?” Logan demanded.
“You know about my pack?” My heart thundered in my chest. Logan probably hated me. He’d been taken away against his will— again —and sent somewhere alone while I’d been finding the loves of my life and getting my own pack.
His warm laugh surprised me. “Of course. The alpha who came to visit me told me about you and your pack. Plus, I saw the report on the news here when you went missing. Those APA fuckers took you again?”
I nodded, forgetting he couldn’t see me. “Yeah, but my pack saved me.” I turned and smiled at Rhett.
Grinning back, he wiped away a few stray tears.
“I heard the High Alpha was killed, so that’s something,” Logan mused.
“You’re really okay?” My voice caught.
He was silent for a beat. “Yeah, Haze. I’m good. I mean, this place isn’t a castle, but I’m safe. I have food and my own room… One that comes with a door that locks from the inside.”
I gasped out a laugh, remembering how our shack had always locked us in from the outside. “I want to see you.”
“I want that, too,” he replied. “I have so much to tell you, and there’s so much you need to tell me. I mean, damn, Hazel. A whole freaking pack?”
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered, tremors running down my spine. “Logan, I swear I tried to find you, but everything happened so fast and then I went back into heat and?—”
“Hazel, stop,” Logan pleaded. “You don’t have a thing to apologize for.”
“I should’ve fought harder to find you,” I hissed, furious with myself. I was the worst kind of friend.
“Even if you had, it wouldn’t have changed anything,” he assured me. “Where I’m at is where they bring unbonded male omegas who don’t want to live their life in a heat house or selling scent glands on the black market. I’m even going to college part time. I mean, it’s online, but it counts.”
“It absolutely counts,” I replied fiercely as Thane reappeared with a reluctant look.
Rhett’s hand settled on the small of my back. “We need to go, love, but I have Logan’s number. We’ll call him later from the house.”
I didn’t want to hang up. I’d just gotten Logan back. “But?—”
“Go,” Logan urged. “I’m supposed to meet up with some of the guys on my floor to work on helping a new guy build his nest.”
I swallowed around a sob. “Fine, but I’m calling you tonight.”
“Deal.” He hesitated. “I’ve really missed you, Haze.”
“I miss you, too,” I managed to get out before he ended the call. I promptly burst into tears, and Rhett pulled me to his chest while Thane extracted the phone from my death grip.
“Is she okay?” Thane asked Rhett, sounding concerned. Where was the arrogant playboy from a few minutes ago?
Rhett’s soft purr wrapped around me. “She’ll be fine. Thank you for this, Thane.”
“Of course. I wish I could’ve given you more time, but you know how our parents are. We really should get in there before they come looking for you,” Thane warned.
I looked at Thane, seeing him in a new light. The tight lines around his eyes that spoke of stress, the edge in his gaze I first took for arrogance seeming a lot more like intelligence. Like he was constantly scrutinizing the world for danger and threats.
Judging by the confused expression etched into Rhett’s face, he seemed to also be coming to terms with the fact that there was more to his brother than he’d thought.
Rhett’s hands framed my face, tipping my head back so he could wipe away the last of my tears with his thumbs. “Can you do this? We can leave now?—”
I shook my head and sucked in a trembling breath. “No. Let’s go meet your parents.”
Rhett grimaced. “I can tell them something’s come up.”
Thane cleared his throat. “It’s better to get this all over with today if she can handle it.”
“I can handle it,” I confirmed, my gaze slicing to Thane.
Thane’s eyes glowed with approval. “Good. Just play your role, let them fawn all over you and make their comments. You’ll be home with your pack in a few hours, and this will all be a memory.”
“Thank you for giving me Logan back,” I murmured, sweeping my hands over my clothes to smooth any invisible wrinkles.
Thane nodded, and when he turned on his heel, Rhett took my hand, and we followed him into the dining room.
In the center of the restaurant, under two massive chandeliers, was a table set for ten. It was easy to see who Rhett’s parents were. Mirabelle was standing to the side, but three tall men stood together like a wall of judgment as we came in, each looking more serious than the next.
Jensen was already seated at the far end of the table, sipping on a drink. Two other men in suits were on their phones, one talking and the other typing out a message. A third man stood to the side, looking uneasy, with a camera clutched in his hands.
Thane broke away from us and went to sit beside Jensen, but I felt his gaze lingering on us as we approached his parents’ pack.
“Fathers,” Rhett spoke, his tone hard as he angled his body so he was slightly blocking me.
The man in the middle, dressed in a navy suit with artfully styled windswept blonde hair and cold brown eyes stepped forward. “Pleasure to see you, son.” He extended a hand to Rhett, and when their palms met, I heard the snick of the camera.
“Hazel, this is my father, Senator Coulson,” Rhett said. “Father, this is my omega, Hazel.”
The senator’s smile was warm and practiced. “Please, call me William. It’s wonderful to meet you, Hazel.” He extended a hand, and I took it.
“You, too,” I murmured, trying not to flinch at the sound of the camera snapping.
“Allow me to introduce my pack,” Senator Coulson said, pulling me forward. “Henry, the Duke of Aracossa.”
The man with salt and pepper hair and an aristocratic nose stepped forward, his shoes shined enough to reflect the chandelier. “Welcome to the family, Hazel.” He shook my hand and another photo was taken.
“And this is Garrett.” The senator nodded to the last man, who bore a striking resemblance to Rhett. They had the same dark hair and sharp jaw. Both were tall with leaner builds.
Rhett had previously told me that he and his brothers each knew who their fathers were. Sterling was Henry’s, and the heir to Aracossa. It was why he primarily lived in England along with his own pack. Thane was the senator’s son and worked closely with his father in politics in D.C. And Rhett was Garrett Coulson’s biological son.
Other than looks and a rather stoic personality, the two couldn’t have been farther apart. The plan had been for Rhett to follow in his father’s footsteps in their generational legal practice that dated back to the eighteen-hundreds on the east coast, but Rhett had taken a criminal law class and become fixated on criminology, opting to go into law enforcement instead of legal practice.
His family hated his career choice almost as much as they disapproved of his relationship with Jude.
Personally, I was grateful for that criminal law class. My life would’ve ended up a lot different if not for Rhett deciding to follow his passion.
“You look well, son,” Garrett added as an afterthought. He smiled widely. “Having an omega in your bed agrees with you.”
Rhett stiffened, and I felt a wave of fury ripple through our bond as his father took the opportunity to make a subtle dig at Jude.
I forced a grin on my lips. “Jude and I definitely keep him happy.”
Thane coughed, smothering a laugh as Garrett glowered and stalked away, grabbing a seat and plopping into it. Not wasting a second, Mirabelle scrambled into the chair beside him.
“Shall we?” William tugged at the sleeves of his jacket and motioned for us to sit down.
Once Rhett and I took our seats, everyone else sat except the photographer. He kept snapping pictures, and I tried to remind myself not to look like I was sucking on a lemon.
I didn’t see a menu at the table, and I realized the meal had already been selected when a handful of waiters in white and black arrived with the first course.
“We heard you left the bureau,” William began, stabbing his fork into the crisp lettuce of his Caesar salad.
Rhett nodded. “I did.”
“And you’ve moved to California?” Garrett seemed unimpressed as he sipped his water.
“The pack decided to take a new role working for the Duttons,” Rhett explained. “We’ll be managing security for their omega foundation.”
William smirked. “How nice.”
Mirabelle draped her linen napkin across her lap, looking tiny between Garrett and William’s hulking frames. “Perhaps you could find time to finish your studies, Rhett. Your father would love to have you as a partner in his practice.”
Henry’s laugh was brittle. “The boy’s nearly thirty years old, Mira. He’d be the laughing stock of any collegiate campus.”
Garrett was frowning as Rhett added, “I’m quite content with my pack and what we’re doing.”
“Of course,” William said. “Though, omega babysitter doesn’t have quite the same ring as federal agent.”
One of the men I didn’t know leaned forward. “But we could spin it as your son taking the time to use his experience as an agent to help secure omegas.”
The other man beside him nodded. “Absolutely. There’s a story there that would show how your family looks out for even the meekest of society. Especially when his own omega suffered such a terrible ordeal.”
William rubbed his jaw, leaning back in his chair. When he caught me staring at the two strangers, he spoke up. “Holden and Nichols, my aides.”
I caught Jensen rolling his eyes and motioning for the waiter to bring him another drink.
“So, Hazel,” Mirabelle started, “tell us about yourself. You grew up around here, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” I replied, pushing my lettuce and croutons around the plate. I really didn’t have an appetite, and feeling Rhett’s strain through our bond was making me queasy.
“And your parents died when you were seventeen?”
The bluntness of her question stole my breath.
“Mother,” Rhett hissed, his hand squeezing my thigh under the table.
Mirabelle only blinked. “What?”
I swallowed around the lump of emotion in my throat. “Yes. A car accident.”
That might not have actually been an accident at all.
“Drunk driver?” William asked.
I managed a nod.
“We’re actually working on a platform to discuss the ramifications of drunk driving—accidents like what happened to your parents are almost commonplace,” he added, waving a dismissing hand like their deaths were just another statistic.
I lowered my fork.
“Perhaps if you came to Washington and spoke at a hearing, giving your own personal testimony, it would help,” William finished.
“No,” Rhett snapped. “Hazel’s trauma isn’t fodder for your reelection campaign.”
William’s eyes narrowed, looking ready to lay into Rhett for daring to speak against him.
“She’s a newly bonded omega,” Thane muttered from the other end of the table. “The optics of her willingly leaving her pack to go on a press tour might make their bond seem less than idyllic.”
William paused to consider Thane’s comment. “You’re probably right.”
I released a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.
“The whole pack could come,” Mirabelle suggested. “I mean, a union between our pack and the Duttons… Well, the stories practically write themselves.”
Holden perked up. “Mrs. Coulson is correct. It’s like the east and west coasts coming together. Both of your families are extremely well known.”
“Practically royalty,” Nichols chimed in, looking excited.
“I am royalty,” Henry huffed.
“Of course, Your Grace,” Nichols corrected, his face turning red. “But the Duttons are similarly famous in most west coast social circles.”
“The Omega Gala,” Mirabelle chirped, grinning when all eyes turned to her. “Everyone will be there. Rhett, your pack simply must attend.”
“We’ll discuss it,” Rhett ground out.
“Oh course,” Garrett agreed with a cruel tilt of his lips. “You have to ask your pack leader for permission.”
“It’s my fault,” I blurted out, needing to take the pressure off Rhett. “I’m still pretty shaken up over what happened, so I tend to want to stay close to home.”
Mirabelle pressed a hand to her chest. “Well, of course you do. But this event is the event. The Omega Gala is where some of society’s most promising omegas make their debut. Packs get the chance to mingle with them and place bids for their time. It’s all very romantic.”
It sounded like being sold at an auction block to me.
My smile was as fake as my bright voice. “That sounds wonderful.” Needing something to do, I grabbed my water goblet and took a big drink.
“And it’s only weeks before the primary elections,” she added. Her wistful gaze turned to Rhett. “Having you and Hazel there, alongside your pack, would look wonderful to voters. Remind them that your father is a family man first.”
I choked on the water.
“Are you all right?” Rhett demanded, his arm going around me with concern as I coughed and spluttered.
Eyes watering, I managed a nod. “Just swallowed wrong.” But I caught Jensen and Thane sharing amused smirks before Thane winked at me.
The waiters surged back into the room with the next course, and I wondered how many more there were before I could get Rhett out of this room and away from these people.
They might’ve given birth to him and helped raise him, but this wasn’t his family. Not anymore.