Chapter 22
22
Rhett
Hazel’s laugh rang through the kitchen as she and Jude made breakfast the next morning. Dressed only in one of Crew’s shirts that hung like a dress to her knees, Hazel bounced around the kitchen with a lightness I’d never seen in her eyes.
Sitting at the island and nursing my first cup of coffee, I exchanged amused looks with Crew.
“She’s happy,” he murmured.
I nodded as Kellan shuffled into the kitchen, bare-chested and yawning. His eyes lit up when he spotted Hazel, and he came up behind her and grabbed her by the waist. She let out a giggle and turned for a kiss before shoving him back.
“Sit,” Hazel ordered, pointing to the other bar stools on the side of the island where Crew and I sat. “Jude and I are making breakfast.”
“ I’m making breakfast,” Jude clarified with a smirk. “She’s distracting me.”
Her jaw dropped open in mock outrage. “I totally helped!”
Shaking his head and trying to hide a grin, Kellan went to the coffee machine and made himself a cup before taking the seat to my left. We watched as Jude and Hazel fought over the right way to scramble eggs and then argued over what kind of cheese to add.
By the time breakfast was actually ready, I’d finished my coffee and was contentedly watching my omega and my beta with a full heart.
Bonding with Jude had been one of the best moments of my life, but adding Hazel to our pack bond was another level. I’d never realized what our pack was missing until her sweet energy brought a sense of calm and peace that let me feel like I could catch my breath for the first time in a long while.
Once we sat at the kitchen table and started eating, I spoke up. “I received confirmation that the furniture we ordered will be delivered today.”
Hazel brightened. “That’s great. Are you guys sure you’re okay staying here?”
“We’re good staying wherever you are,” Kellan assured her before biting into a thick slice of maple bacon.
“The house has seven bedrooms,” Crew pointed out. “We could each take one to have as our own space.”
Hazel’s expression fell. “Sleep in different rooms?”
“No,” Crew answered quickly. “We can turn the master into a pack bedroom with a bed big enough for all of us. Plus it’s next to your nest.”
I sipped my grapefruit juice. “We’ve been a pack for a long time, and we know that sometimes we each need our own space.”
“Including you, sugar,” Kellan added gently. “Right now the bonds are new and we won’t want to be apart. But in a few months, we might drive you crazy.”
She arched a brow. “Oh, you definitely drive me crazy.” The sweet scent of her perfume filled the room.
I grinned. “The feeling is mutual, love.”
Blushing, Hazel dropped her gaze to her plate. “I guess it makes sense for everyone to have their own rooms. I figured I’d use mine as a closet since the nest is in the main bedroom.”
“Are there any rooms you’d rather us not use?” Crew asked. “This was your home first, baby.”
Hazel looked around with a sigh and slowly shook her head. “I get that, but this is our home now. I think my parents would want us to make it our own. It doesn’t need to be a shrine to them or the past.”
“Last night we turned in our resignation to the bureau,” Crew said.
Her eyes went wide, her fork pausing halfway to her mouth. “You did?”
He nodded. “We did. We’re not going back, and I spoke with my dad the other yesterday. We’re going to run point on security for the new omega foundation my mom has been working on.”
“Wow,” she murmured. “And you’re all good with that?”
“Absolutely,” I replied as Jude and Kellan said, “Yes.”
“We signed up to help and protect people,” Jude added, “and it’s become increasingly difficult to do that in the bureau. So much bureaucratic bullshit and red tape. Here we can make a difference.”
“What about Martin?” Hazel asked, her eyes worried.
Crew scowled. “We’re working on finding him. Oakley’s pack is planning to join ours in working security for the foundation, but they haven’t resigned yet. They’re working inside angles to find Martin.”
“I just want to know why he did it,” she whispered. “Why did he sell me out to Donovan?”
Kellan grabbed her hand. “We’ll find out, sugar. And he’s gonna pay, I promise.”
“I know.” She hesitated.
“What’s up, baby?” Jude asked as we all caught the shift in her mood.
She swallowed and glanced up, looking ready to burst into tears. “I’m insanely happy, guys, but you know what I wanted to do as soon as I woke up? Tell Calla and Logan that we bonded. I know I can tell Calla, but I still don’t know if Logan’s okay. I miss my friend. He deserves to know that Donovan’s dead and the APA is gone.”
The wave of sorrow and grief that slammed into me through our bond sent my alpha into a snarling growl. Our omega was unhappy, and I had to fix it. Glancing around the table, I noticed the others wearing similar expressions.
“We’ll find him and make sure you can talk to him,” Crew vowed. “I promise, sweetheart.”
She sucked in a wobbly breath. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to ruin breakfast. My hormones are all over the place.”
“It’s normal for a newly bonded omega,” I assured her, even as I willed myself to stay seated and not walk around the table to pull her into my arms.
At the word bonded , Hazel touched her neck. When her fingers brushed against the healing bite I’d left behind, a shudder ran through me and lodged in my cock, thickening it almost instantly.
I watched Kellan and Crew hiss, reacting the same I did when Hazel touched their marks. Little minx had been bonded less than a day and already had her alphas by the knot.
Who was I fooling? She’d owned us from that first night.
Shame pooled in my gut when I remembered how I’d tried pushing her away. Tried fighting our connection because I’d been so afraid of what it would mean for us as a pack and for my bond with Jude.
Glancing at my beta, he winked at me. Adding Hazel to the mix had been exactly what we’d all been missing and hadn’t even realized it. Now, I couldn’t imagine a world without her in it.
Jude clamped a hand around my thigh and squeezed, drawing my attention. I leaned over to kiss him quickly as my phone started to buzz in my pocket. Annoyed, I fished it out and was ready to turn the bloody thing off when I noticed the caller.
Freezing for a moment, I stared at the phone as though it were a bomb.
“Rhett?” Hazel’s sweet voice was full of concern.
Jude leaned over my shoulder. “Want me to take that?”
I shook my head and pushed back from the table. “Excuse me.”
I felt the weight of their combined stares as I turned and stalked from the room before answering the call. “What?”
The responding chuckle grated on every one of my nerves. “For someone who just bonded a particularly stunning little omega, you don’t seem all that thrilled, little brother.”
Inhaling, I mentally counted to ten. “I can assure you I’m quite happy, though I am rather annoyed that I had to leave her side to take this call.”
My brother’s soft chuckle turned into a full blown laugh. “Sure you are, Rhett.”
I gritted my teeth and shut the doors to the room that must have served as an office when Hazel’s father was still alive. The large, rectangular room had two walls of built-in mahogany shelves. A glass desk was facing the door with a large window overlooking a garden behind it. There was also a simple brown leather sofa adjacent to the desk, and I walked over to sit on it.
“Spit it out, Thane,” I demanded.
It had been damn near a year since I’d spoken to my oldest brother. Thane was every bit the son my parents had molded and shaped into the alpha of their vision, and he’d cemented that place when he’d joined the younger Anders’ pack.
As in the son of President Anders, a man who seemed hell-bent on controlling and limiting omega rights until they were little more than chattel.
And Thane had, essentially, joined his family.
“You’re not still pissed off about my pack choice, are you?” He sounded genuinely confused. “I supported you when you joined Pack Dutton.”
I scoffed. “You didn’t say a word when Mother and our fathers tried their damnedest to end my relationship with Jude.”
Thane huffed. “If your relationship can’t withstand a few storms, then I’d say you have bigger problems than whether or not I stand up to Mummy and Daddy on your behalf.”
“Go to hell,” I snarled, ready to hang up.
“Fucking hell,” he muttered, “just wait a bloody second, all right? Believe it or not, I didn’t call you to quarrel.”
“Considering our pack stances are diametrically opposed, I don’t see how else this could have gone,” I retorted.
He went quiet. “Do you really think so little of me, brother?”
“I’ve yet to see evidence to the contrary,” I shot back. “Now, tell me what you want because I have an omega and beta who deserve my attention more than you.”
“You’d do well to remember that,” he cautioned. “I am calling on behalf of our parents.”
“What? Jefferson was too busy to ring me himself?” Typically communication between myself and my family went through third parties. I conversed more with Jefferson, my father’s aide, than any of my parents.
“Hysterical,” he drawled. “Actually, I volunteered to call you. Believe it or not, Rhett, but I am happy you’ve found an omega.”
“Because my pack couldn’t possibly be complete without one? Or because a beta would never be enough for me?” I didn’t bother hiding the venom in my words as I threw back arguments my parents had lobbed like grenades at me for years.
“God, you’re such a stubborn little shit, you know that?” Thane’s temper finally made an appearance, and I could picture my brother pacing as he scolded me. “In case you need reminding, you reached out to our parents to help locate your missing omega. I was the one who spoke to President Anders on your behalf, you fucking twat.”
Irritation prickled at my skin, and I rubbed the back of my neck like that would help it diffuse. He was right. I had reached out to my parents because I knew they had the necessary pull to get Hazel’s kidnapping the attention it deserved.
I clenched my teeth as the office door opened and Hazel slipped inside.
“What do you want, Thane?” I asked as Hazel padded barefoot over to me. She sat beside me on the sofa, folding her legs up like a pretzel as she watched me with big eyes.
“Now that your omega has been found, our parents want to meet her. We’ll be in Los Angeles in a few days for a global summit. It will be a good time for Hazel to meet the family,” Thane explained.
I stiffened. “No. Hazel isn’t part of the deal.”
She blinked, her mouth falling open a bit. Unasked questions glittered in her eyes.
“She is ,” Thane countered. “You wanted your omega back, and you got her. A lunch and a few pictures isn’t asking that much in return.”
Tipping my head back, I glared up at the ceiling. “I’ll have to discuss it with my pack and Hazel.”
Thane’s responding laugh was humorless. “You do that, little brother.”
Sighing, I glanced at Hazel and realized my brother might actually be able to help me with one more thing. “I have another request.”
He snorted and I imagined him wavinged a hand for me to continue. “Very well. What is it now?”
I looked at my omega, at her sweet face, and knew she was worth whatever headache this request would cause. “One of your packmates is still on the board of Omega Affairs, correct?”
“Jensen is, yes.” Thane sounded a little baffled. “But OS already granted your pack permission to bond your omega.”
“Omega Affairs handles male omega housing placements, don’t they?”
Hazel’s breath caught, and I held her gaze as I continued. “We’re looking for an omega that was being held captive by the same criminals who took Hazel. After we rescued them, he was taken into custody by OS, and we haven’t been able to find him since.” I took Hazel’s hand in mine. “He’s very important to my omega.”
She mouthed thank you , and I felt my heart swell.
“What’s his name?” Surprisingly, there was no judgment or taunting in Thane’s question.
“Logan Hayes,” I supplied.
“I’ll let you know what I find when I see you in a few days, brother,” Thane answered and then hung up.
I pocketed my phone once more and caught Hazel as she threw her arms around me.
“Thank you, thank you!” Her delighted squeal was exactly what my heart needed.
I rubbed my cheek against hers, scenting her. “My family wants to meet you. They’re demanding it, actually.”
“Oh. Um, okay. When?”
I settled her on my lap. “In a few days. They’re coming to Los Angeles for an important meeting.”
She nodded slowly. “I’ll be on my best behavior, but if they insult Jude…” Hazel knew of my rocky relationship with my family, and that my decision to bond with a beta was a major issue of contention.
“If they insult Jude, all bets are off,” I vowed. “But I imagine there will be a decent amount of photographers around to memorialize the event. Everything is about optics with my family, and they’ll use your kidnapping and bonding with our pack to help further their agenda. That should keep them in line. I hope.”
She squared her shoulders. “Bring it on. I can handle asshole parents as long as I come home to you guys.”
I cuddled her to my chest. “You’re perfect beyond words.”
Her nose scrunched. “I’m really not.”
We’d have to agree to disagree on that point because I’d never concede that she was anything less than the perfect woman for me. For us.