6. Zephyr
Zephyr
Most alphas who share the same omega as a mother would see themselves as brothers. That’s not the case when you’re a Baron. We are competitors first and foremost in a match for excellence.
Well, the other three, Xavier, Fox, and our youngest brother, Onyx, are. Phoenix and I are just hoping to scrape through life as a team as unscathed as possible.
Which is why I’m the one in handcuffs standing in Tri-Lakes Penitentiary.
I took the fall so Phoenix could get home safely.
The final shatterproof glass containment walls reveal a view straight down the sidewalk.
At the end of said sidewalk and across a small parking lot is the competition and worse.
Fuckin’ great. They brought my dad. Assholes couldn’t bring their sire instead?
The all-spectrum handcuffs are finally removed. But I keep my shadow tamed, pooling limply away from the sun streaming in through the large glass windows. It’s unassuming and not intimidating in this shape.
The warden made a special trip down from his office to see me off.
I stand before him, a large alpha with broad shoulders who dwarfs my six-foot athletic frame, feeling small. I can only guess what his shadow shapes are because, in general, the larger you are, the larger the shadow, and the larger the shadow shift.
“I don’t want to see you back here, Baron,” he growls.
Oh, definitely some sort of bear.
“No intention of returning,” I answer aloud. No intention of being caught again. I keep that to myself.
As if he can sense my unvoiced statement, he shakes his head and pushes out an aggravated snort. “A punk like you. You’re wasting fuckin’ opportunities and potential. Can’t believe you’re a Baron.”
“Thank you.” I smirk.
It’s not his fault, after all, that I’m trying my best to not be like the rest of them. Money and power hungry.
“Get out of my prison.” He presses his badge against the side door, and the glass wall opens, breaking the seal that kept me contained.
I’m quick to walk through the opening and push the vestibule door open. For the first time in three months, I walk out into the natural sunlight. Free.
My shadow parts from me, stretching around my feet, blocking itself from the sun at the correct angle in its favorite shape, the maned wolf.
My attorney, Abraham, and my sire, Vega, lean against their respective vehicles while Xavier stands between them, one hand in his pocket and the other holding his phone that he’s scrolling through.
I understand why my attorney is here and why, on such a long drive, he’d bring his mate, my brother Xavier, but why did they bring my sire? It’s not like I’m going home with him.
I stop before them, looking back and forth between each alpha. “Fancy seeing you here.”
“Don’t start with your smart mouth,” Vega growls.
Respectfully, I lower my gaze, then my head, and look away from him toward Xavier.
“Conditions of your release.” Abraham picks up his tablet and a file folder off the hood of his very expensive black car, and I raise my gaze to meet his. He begins to read from his tablet. “You are not to fraternize with any criminal or unlawful citizen.”
Vega snorts.
“In order to make a formal purchase of an omega, within the next twelve months, you will need to take a two-week remedial course and another four-week good-citizenship course. If you fail either of said courses, you will be evaluated. This evaluation will be for determining your fitness to ever possess an omega.” Abraham pauses, waiting for me to meet his eye.
The gravity of what he’s saying doesn’t escape me: Fuck up the hoop jumping, and you’re potentially omegaless indefinitely. So, either wait a year until legally cleared to purchase an omega in an open market sale, or don’t fuck up the ‘educational programming’ to keep one if we buy early.
Hoop jumping won’t make a difference. Phoenix and I aren’t ready to establish a pack, let alone start omega shopping.
We want to stay together in the same pack, and it’s a tall order to find others who would even consider it.
Well, except for Lazarus and he isn’t sure he wants us.
But that doesn’t mean I want to jeopardize our chances.
After a nod from me, Abraham continues. “For all intents and purposes of the court, you reside and live in the household of Family Baron under direct supervision of Vega Baron for the remaining three months of your sentence.”
Ah. That explains my sire. They needed a responsible, upstanding citizen, on paper anyway.
“Look like a good citizen, at least on paper.” Xavier’s words echo my thoughts.
“Don’t fucking start shopping or you have to suffer through those gods-awful classes, and if anyone asks, you live with Vega, and do crime better.
” Xavier huffs. “Can we leave now? Lording the threat of not getting an omega over him really won’t work.
It’s not worth our time. Look at Fox as proof. ”
Vega growls. He’s made it abundantly clear at family dinners that he’s unimpressed with the life I’ve chosen in customizing motorcycles and their sales. It’s not as flashy as his million-dollar businesses. It’s not enough to earn points for the Baron’s family game.
Abraham looks at me and shakes his head. “I don’t like having to defend your ass. You don’t even pretend to have remorse. So, if you could please, I don’t know, take criminal lessons from Fox, it would be greatly appreciated.”
“Understood, don’t get caught.” I nod and remind myself that he advised me to take the deal because I did just that. I got caught.
Abraham claps me on the shoulder as he walks around to the passenger side of the sports car.
Xavier smiles and rolls his eyes. “See you around, Zephyr. Thanks for making this year an easy win.”
He climbs into the black sports car and closes the door before I even get to respond.
His involvement with the club is high-level, secretive.
He only meets with Revenant, Mayhem, and Fox when he has information or wants something done.
I won’t see him again until Mom makes us come together for a holiday, and even then, it’ll probably be too soon.
The car, with vanity plate XBARON MD, drives out of the prison’s parking lot, and after the engine sound dissipates, it’s me, my sire, and his silver pickup.
“Where did I go wrong with the two of you?” Dad shakes his head, deep frown lines marring his face as he looks me over with narrowed eyes.
It’s a rhetorical question, but I shrug and tuck my hands into my pockets, knowing a lecture is brewing.
After stepping away from the truck, he opens the passenger door for me. Walking past me to go to the driver’s seat, he mutters, “At least one of them stays out of prison.”
I don’t bother pointing out that Phoenix just hasn’t been caught since we do the same things, and I always take the fall. This isn’t the first time I’ve been locked up. It’s just the longest time.
Our doors slam at the same time as Vega and I trap ourselves in the vehicle together.
The prison is almost five hours outside the city, and being stuck in a truck with him for that long feels just as restricting as the confinement blocks I’ve lived in for the last eighty-seven days.
But no matter how stifling the air is, no matter how small the cab feels, and no matter how annoyed Vega is with me, I’m physically safe.
About two miles down the road, I close my eyes.
“You didn’t get enough rest in prison?” my sire mutters.
Drawing a deep breath, I open my eyes again. “No. It’s hard to sleep with all the lights on.”
“Well, if you and your brother spent half as much time building lawful businesses as you do running around on your stupid motorcycles, you could be at home in a nice nest with an omega.”
The judgmental resentment sets my nerves on edge. Especially since his ‘lawful business’ involves some ethically wrong practices. Just because it doesn’t break the law doesn’t make it more okay.
By now I should have learned better than to let his words get to me, but my hackles rise, my shadow, sick of containment, pushing around me protectively.
“Throw your temper tantrum, you’ll be out of my hair soon enough.
But if you get caught in the next year and it comes back on me, I’ll tell them to give you the maximum sentence.
You’re twenty-six and too fucking old to be playing this shit.
” He squeezes the steering wheel, and it squeaks in his grip.
Vega’s shadow fills the truck, darkening the cab, anger radiating toward me.
And, after a few more miles, he speaks again.
“You know I’d give you work. You could take over the family business.
It wouldn’t have to go to your cousins. I’d rather it stay with you.
You could even win Grisham’s stupid games. ”
No! my brain screams, but I know better than to let that out.
I draw a deep breath. “I’ll think about it.”
“You’re a better welder than all of them combined.” Vega tries to convince me.
He’s not saying that to flatter me because, despite my ‘lack of drive’ and ‘zero respect for him,’ I am good at what I do.
I take pride in being the best at it. But his offer isn’t what I want.
It’s too many meetings, piles of paperwork, and dealing with disgruntled customers, and not enough welding and fabricating.
People and meetings don’t leave room for blueprints and building.
He takes the next exit. Which only leads to residential areas and farmlands; there’s not even so much as a fuel station.
Once we crest the exit, in the valley on the other side, I see why we’ve pulled off. Four motorcycles are parked on the side of the road with four riders. Three larger individuals and one with a smaller frame. One has his back turned toward us, and the white Sleipnir greets me.
And in the glint of the sun, my blue bike sits among the rest.
Vega pulls onto the shoulder but doesn’t unlock the doors. I try to pull the latch, but he relocks it.
“I’m serious, Zephyr. Get smart.” Vega snaps his fingers, and I look him in the eye.
“I will.” I nod absently, but my heart soars at being back with my people, my chosen family, and away from my sire’s crushing expectations.
He puts the truck in Park, and the doors unlock.
My feet hit the ground, and Vega stops me. “Call your mother.”
“Yes, sir,” I answer before letting the door fall shut behind me.
Vega hooks a U-turn and speeds down the entrance ramp. He’s back onto the highway before I can even step away.
It leaves me with the homecoming I wanted to begin with. Well, almost.
Prez, VP, and the medic stand with their omega. I wanted to see Lazarus and Phoenix.
When I approach, Vega long gone, they wait with smiles all around. But, four of them and four bikes . . .
“Please tell me you didn’t let Evangeline drive my baby.” I wince, thinking about all the ways that could have gone badly.
“Pft. Like they would let me do anything so dangerous.” Evangeline rolls her eyes.
“Salem drove the cargo van with it safe and sound inside,” Mayhem says before bringing their omega close to his side.
“It’s good to have you back, brother.” Revenant offers his hand to me, and I get pulled into a hug. He pats my back before I’m passed off to Mayhem, who gives me the same treatment.
Fox, my actual brother and not just club brother, offers me a fist bump, but when I connect with his hand, he lunges forward and wraps his arms around me.
He then gives my mom’s signature three squeezes before letting me go, not saying a word as usual.
I close my eyes for a brief second, remembering what his voice sounded like before he stopped speaking.
“Let’s get you home. Lazarus and Phoenix got stuck on a club run, and you being three days early was just shit timing. It wasn’t intentional.” Mayhem assures me, offering out my keys and a new cell phone.
Rather than have my belongings waiting in some storage box in the prison, Abraham had them delivered back to the club, and then today he brought me jeans and a T-shirt so I didn’t have to buy the shitty prison sweatpants and shirt.
I throw my leg over the bike, and Rev asks, “Forgetting something?”
He tosses black leather at me.
My cut feels just as I remember it, and I don’t bother looking it over before shrugging it on. It’s more than just a symbol of my loyalty to the club. It’s a feeling of belonging and protection. My shoulders relax, not from the weight of it, but from the relief it brings.
Having the token of my life back feels like a step in the right direction. That the last . . . gods, who knew eighty-seven days could be so long . . . were just a nightmare masquerading as someone else’s sick fantasy.