Chapter 15
I couldn’t stop looking at her. Mate. My mate. Her dark hair haloed her while she slept, pink lips softly parted. She’d been sleeping a lot since the heat ended, not that I blamed her. My joints were creaky from staying horizontal, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave her side. At least two of us were always in the bed with her, the others trading off whenever they ate or showered.
“She needs to eat.” Amir sat down where I could see him with a bowl of food. “Wake her.”
I didn’t want to disturb her, but he was right. She hadn’t consumed nearly enough calories to recover from the heat. I threaded my fingers through her hair, scratching lightly until she stirred, blinking those beautiful brown eyes at me. “Time for a meal, little dove.”
Callie groaned and rolled closer to snuggle against my chest. “Sleep.”
“You can sleep after you eat. You’re only going to get more exhausted if you don’t,” I reasoned.
Amir tapped her ass and she squeaked, my hand whipping down to cradle her butt cheek. He rolled his eyes. “I didn’t hit hard enough to hurt. Get up, princess. You’re going to grow roots if you don’t move more.”
Diego appeared at the foot of the bed and reached out his hands to her, wiggling his fingers. “Come on. I’ll help you up.”
Callie lifted one limp hand and Diego hoisted her up, giving me enough motivation to join her in the land of the vertical. The two of us got Callie settled on the couch, wrapped up in blankets. Amir fed her bites of macaroni and cheese, her mouth popping open like a little bird to receive each forkful while her arms were buried beneath the blankets.
I inhaled my own bowl sitting next to her, Diego at my side, and Miles on the loveseat across from us. Miles kept frowning at the tablet in his lap.
“What’s up?” I asked.
“I’d say not to worry about it, but I actually should discuss it with you.”
“With us or just with me?”
“You to start,” Miles replied.
I didn’t want to leave Callie, but she would be in good hands for a few minutes at least. I set down my empty bowl, pulled on just enough clothing to be acceptable, slid on a pair of slippers and followed Miles into the hall.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“I’ve been fighting with management on some paperwork they want Callie to sign to protect everyone from liability over the bonding.”
My spine stiffened. “But she already signed paperwork before we started. Doesn’t that protect them?”
“Not entirely. Not with so many witnesses and a recording. Every time I strike something out and send it for approval, they send it back with a refusal.”
“What’s so bad about what they’re asking for? Do we really think Callie would sue?”
Miles deliberately avoided my gaze, a sure sign that he was feeling guilty. “It’s too early to tell. They said if she does sue, they’re coming after you, which means they’re coming after the pack, and I can’t let that happen. But I also can’t let her sign this paperwork with what they’re demanding. All of it’s a fucking mess.”
“How do we get around it?”
“I’ve talked to the lawyer multiple times now and they’re refusing to budge. I don’t want to have to go old school with the situation.”
Old school? “What do you mean?”
“You’re legally responsible for her now.”
“And what does that have to do with her suing?”
“Obviously you could stop her from doing that.”
Bile rose in my throat. “I don’t want to control her like that.”
“And I don’t want you to either. If they would just fucking cooperate with me and let me adjust this contract, it wouldn’t be an issue. We also have to have a meeting with management because you still have shows contracted and I highly doubt you’re going to be able to do that now that Callie is involved.”
“Can any of us?” I asked. We were all Callie’s pack, even if I was the only one bonded. She would never feel comfortable with us fucking other omegas even if it was a contractual obligation.
“I haven’t talked to the others yet.” Miles shrugged. “A lot is up in the air right now and I don’t know how to fix any of it. We can’t lose three-quarters of the pack income and still give her the life she deserves. Hell, we might lose the entire pack income at this rate because they are not happy with me either.”
Fuck.
We hadn’t paid off the mortgage on the pack house yet, and continuing to do that relied on us having steady work. All of our financial opportunities had ground to a halt the second Callie’s blockers had worn off; we just hadn’t known it. And by bonding her I had totally eliminated my ability to financially care for her.
“I know it’s a lot.” Miles set a comforting hand on my shoulder. “Trust me, I’ve been turning this over in my head for days while you were all occupied. I’m going to try for one more negotiation. If I thought storming the castle would accomplish anything, I would suggest it and have all of us go there right now, but they’re being a bunch of stubborn assholes.”
“They’re not usually this difficult, are they?”
“We don’t usually give them this much trouble.” Miles swallowed hard and shoved a hand through his hair. “I’m going to tell them that I’ll bear the burden of any actions Callie takes against the company. As long as they have someone to blame that’s not them, I hope it’ll be enough.”
“Can’t we just talk to Callie about this?”
“She’ll have years to be able to take action against the company if she wants to. They want security before she leaves the hotel.”
Frustration built, radiating like heat off embers in my stomach. “That’s not fair.”
“No, but we’re not the ones with the power here. I just wanted you to know before I throw myself under the bus.”
“Miles, you can’t do that.”
“I can and I will. I recruited our mate; I was a dumbass who didn’t think about cuffs and collars. Let me protect the pack. Callie needs you all way more than she needs me.”
I growled. “Don’t fucking do that, Miles. We are all her pack. You don’t have to be a martyr. Tell them Callie can sue all of us instead of them. If we fuck up in taking care of her, and in making her want to be part of this pack, badly enough that she wants to take legal action, then that’s our own fucking fault at that point.”
“Kai…”
“Don’t be a dumbass. We’re in this together. I’ll take responsibility for my own actions. Not a fucking one of us thought of cuffs and collars even after scenting her. We’ve done this long enough we should’ve known it was different just as much as you. So, you tell those fuckers if they want to be cowards, they can be, and we’ll take care of our own.”
Miles hesitated, but eventually nodded. “Let me adjust the contract and send it back. Go back to Callie for now. I’ll take care of it.”
I stared at him for a long moment. “If I find out you took sole responsibility for this, I’ll kick your ass.”
His smile was small, but it was there. “Noted.”
I felt bad leaving him in the hallway while he made the phone call, but I was already itching to touch Callie again. She was comfortably inside her blanket burrito and immediately started purring when I sat down next to her, tilting the whole mountain toward me so she could lean against my shoulder.
“Feel better after eating?”
Callie nodded.
Amir fished out a fruit tray from the cart the staff had brought to us and stabbed two chunks of watermelon onto a fork, holding it out for Callie. She ate both obediently.
I didn’t want to think that we could fuck up so badly she might come after us, but she had every right to do so if that was how she felt. I wanted Callie to be happy for a million more reasons that didn’t involve the risk of being sued. She was our forever now, and that meant we would take care of her one way or another.
“Can you come in here?” Callie asked.
“I’ll have to unburrito you to do that.”
“That’s okay.”
Amir helped me untangle her. I stretched out across the couch and Callie draped herself atop me.
“You are wearing way too many clothes. If I have to be naked, so do you.”
“In all fairness,” I said, “you don’t have to be naked. If you would rather have some clothes, we can get some for you.”
She pouted and I followed my instinct to nip it.
“If we both have clothes, it feels weird.”
I stripped off my shirt, which was a task and a half because she refused to get off of me first. “Better?”
Callie shook her head. “More.”
I wrestled my way out of my pants, and when I was bare, she settled her weight completely on me, her face tucked against my throat.
“Perfect.” She immediately started purring again when Amir piled on the blankets we had removed before.
Having her this close soothed my worries. I struggled to keep the contract Miles was dealing with in my mind while I had a content omega in my arms.
“What do I do about all of my stuff?” she asked.
“What stuff?”
“My apartment.” She yawned and snuggled closer. “In LA.”
I had almost completely forgotten she still had a home somewhere else. She would have friends and family we would all need to meet, and a shithole ex-fiancé we would have to navigate. “We can pay for a company to pack up your things and ship them here if you want to stay with us.”
“Stay with you ,” she mumbled, sinking closer to sleep with every second.
I caught Diego’s eye, noting the worry pinching his brows and the frown turning down his lips. “Only you?” he whispered.
“She probably doesn’t mean it,” I said quietly, not wanting to disturb her. “It’s too early to decide anything for sure.”
That didn’t seem to assuage any of his worries. Our home would fit Callie just fine. Honestly, it was probably far better than what she was living in now with all of our combined incomes going toward it. It wasn’t a huge mansion, but we hadn’t skimped on luxury.
Fuck me.
If she didn’t want to stay in Vegas, I couldn’t stay either. I didn’t want to think about leaving my pack, but Callie was my bonded mate, and that took precedence on both a legal and instinctual front.
LA wasn’t unfamiliar to me. Diego and I had both grown up there, but our work was here. Or at least his was, for as long as it lasted. I wouldn’t be able to continue. If I had my way, I would never touch another omega again. The sweet, beautiful omega in my arms was it for me, and no matter how much agony it would cause me to leave here, if that was what she wanted, I would make it happen.
I could make her stay, but just the idea of using my power like that made my stomach twist. I had to let go and let Callie choose what was best for her. If she thought that was LA or anywhere else on the fucking planet, I would follow her to the ends of the earth, heal myself with her presence, and try not to think about the heartbreak of leaving the others behind.